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I acquired a metal Master Chef pot many years ago and it cooks perfectly. However, I am worried about using it in the oven and do not even know what material it is made of so Is there an easy way to tell if a pan/pot is oven-safe? is not too helpful to me. I was wondering if anyone had ever seen this V150D Master Chef pot and lid before or are better at Google then me, most of my searches turn up sites selling new pots and pans. I would love either a manufacturer's guidance or assured advice please if possible.

This is what it looks like:

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Stephie
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JamesT
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    What temperature would you like to use it at in the oven? I'd have no worries at all using it in a cool oven as a sort of slow cooker. I'd risk an all-stainless pan, not non stick (as this appears to be), in a much hotter oven for browning; the risk is pretty small. – Chris H May 07 '23 at 12:10
  • @ChrisH no more than 180C, probably in the 120-160C range. Thanks for the advice, I'm going to put it in the oven at 120C with just water, see how it goes, then bump it in stages up. – JamesT May 07 '23 at 13:20
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    @JamesT Worth noting that the water will stop the metal (at least what it's in contact with) from getting as hot as the rest of the oven, so depending what you plan to cook in it this experiment might not be representative. There are pans which are fine with water on a stovetop but would melt if the water wasn't there. – dbmag9 May 08 '23 at 07:00

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First, some background. The "MasterChef" cookware you have is branded after the TV Show of the same name from 2010 to present. During the run of the show, producers the Gander Group has had a series of contractors manufacture branded cookware, with no consistency or continuity. This cookware is unrelated to the All-Clad Master Chef Line.

Since the pan you have is not the same materials, design, or likely factory as the cookware currently promoted by the show, we can find out nothing about it online. Fortunately, we don't have to.

From the photos, I can see that the pan is all-metal, and is either stainless steel or a combination of stainless and some other metal, most likely aluminum (3-ply cookware). Handles are spot-welded on. You should be able to tell if it's possibly 3-ply by checking the thickness and weight; does it seem likely that there's 3 layers of metal there?

Either way, it will be fine in the oven as long as you don't heat or cool it too fast (e.g., don't put the hot pan down on a cold slab of granite or in a water bath). Even if it's not 3-ply, you won't want rapid temperature changes lest those spot-welds come apart (I know this from bitter personal experience). I'd also avoid putting it in extreme heat situations, like under a hot broiler, just because you don't know that much about the pan.

FuzzyChef
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    I just logged in to answer this myself, I needed to season my cast iron frying pan so put the pot in the oven with it at 140C and it went perfectly. Thank you for the extra details, nice to know the background of it especially as it's a nice pot! – JamesT May 08 '23 at 18:12