Tefal Active Fry 32CM Expert Pro

Over the years I have owned many frying pans and they all seem to suffer from two things: either the bottoms are not flat or food sticks to them better than tiles stick to the space shuttle.

Many suffer from both problems so when we took a holiday cottage in Cornwall this year we were surprised when we found that the frying pan provided was superb to use and very, very easy to wash up.

On our return I visited our local Argos and bought one for home use.

Tefal pans aren't the cheapest but this one is certainly one of the best, the Red spot changes from a patterned to a solid spot when the pan is up to frying temperature.
I tried a packet of sausages in it. There was no need to add any fat to cook them, they cooked evenly and none of them stuck. I tried fried eggs and bacon, both of which stuck like the devil in our last pan, an expensive stainless steel affair from Marks and Spencers, so I truly feel as though this pan passed the cooking test with flying colours.

The pan is laminated from several layers of aluminium, with a steel base and a black interior surface. For its size it isn't too heavy and, despite fairly heavy use, it has maintained its pristine finish.

After use it washes up very easily, a quick rinse under the hot tap to remove excess grease then a swish round in normal washing up water leaves it immaculate. The instruction leaflet advises that it can be washed in the dishwasher but that it might cause the finish to fade. As it is quite large it might be a bit of a problem in the washer but I have not found this to be a problem as it does wash so easily.

At about £17 it is quite expensive compared with similar sized pans but I can't help thinking that, in the long run, it will turn out to be a cost effective purchase.