french copper cookware

For more than ten years
we offer copper kitchenware made by Pierre Vergnes,
a small, very traditional crafts enterprise in Montagne Noire, South France.

The copper pots are walled with 2 mm of pure copper and on the inside they are tinned with lead free tin. Molten tin in its liquid state is applied by the hand of the craftsman. The residual traces of the hand polish demonstrates the manual effort. Tinning by hand in relation to the electrolytic procedure offers the advantage that the thickness of the coating can be individually applied to critical areas. Thus the durability of our copper pots is considerably extended.

Our copper pots are delivered with patina. If you wish a well polished copper pot, please give us notice at the end of the shop ordering process in the window: "Insert personal memo depending to your order". The polished copper pot comes without surcharge.
The handles of our copper pots and pans are iron cast, Pierre Vergnes uses copper rivets.

6 Videos about copper cookware
made by Pierre Vergnes:

 

Some “copper” pots of other producers are lined on the inside with steel sheeting. These pots are more resistant to everyday wear and tear than original copper pots. However the steel takes away the ideal heat distribution characteristics of true copper pots.. Please be also aware of the fact that steel and copper have different physical attributes. With intensive heating and cooling down the materials will separate, ruining the pot or pan.

In principle our copper pots are suitable for all kinds of stoves except for induction cooking. Please consider that the floor of hand made copper pots will not be perfectly flat compared to industry grade polished steel pots.

The advantages of copper

Copper is the perfect distributor of heat. The evenly distributed heat may be carsfully and individually applied as cooking needs demand. Professional cooks and ambitioned amatures the world around appreciate the characteristics of copper.

Pleasant side effects are that the danger of over heating is minimized and energy is saved with every meal cooked.

Important advice for handling copper pots

Don’t use hard instruments

As with all coated pots use only relatively soft cooking spoons made from wood or plastic. Particularly, when cleaning copper pots, never use aggressive, scratchy sponges containing metal.

Avoid over-heating

The melting point for tin lies just over 250°C. Take care that you don’t leave your copper pot unsupervised on the stove! Once the ground of the copper pot is covered with oil or fat there is no danger.

Copper pots are not suitable for the sharp frying

Short frying utilizing extreme heat does not destroy the copper pot, but the life span of the tin layer suffers from it. Copper pots are perfect for roasting poultry, fish, vegetables among many others.