Viking Professional 5-ply 8" Stainless Steel Skillet

My favorite size skillet in 5 ply made in USA! A great addition to my growing Viking collection.

This pan is perfectly balanced and weighted. Stays on the gas stove grates very flat. I love the large over sized handle. The pan heats up VERY fast which is great but beginners better watch this. You do not need near as much heat for same result. I can cook fried eggs and omelets in this perfectly. Not to mention sautéing veggies or pan searing a good steak. This is my first Viking purchase but will not be the last. I love this pan!

My first Professional Pan ever.. Usually I buy in the $40 range.. but saw Viking pans being used on a cooking show and thought.. give it a try..

I've always wanted to have fond in the bottom of my pan.. but non stick just never got that.. Well yesterday I got fond...

I fried up a Chicken Fried Steak in this pan, and I got lovely fond.. to add flavor to my gravy.. It was so good.

I'm finding that Medium is almost as high a heat you need to cook at with this pan. Like Cast Iron it holds heat so very well.. Easy to clean after letting the Pan cool down.

I was impressed with how fast I received my pan after ordering it as well.. Very prompt and within a week..Am I impressed with the service and the Skillet.. Yep. Sure am.

Bought this to compare against the Mauviel M'Cook. I am completely in love with the Viking handles (my glove size is a men's Large). I find them, by far, the most comfortable of any tried, and for a skillet where I'm frequently tossing and rotating, I could not give it up. Without doing heat dispersion tests, the 5 ply Demeyere would be my choice if the Viking were somehow removed from possibility, but I'm not as enthusiastic about its handle and overall balance compared to the Viking.

The Viking'a cooking surface is extremely smooth (moreso than All Clad and Mauviel) and is coated with a PTFE-free non-stick coating. If you get the heat right, eggs, pancakes and other foods usually prepared in aluminum-anodized non-stick cookware are a breeze even on uncoated stainless steel.

At $95 during pre-Christmas sales, this skillet was a VERY good buy and it'll last the rest of my life, if not longer. The only downsides (nitpicking) to me are: 1) It has a riveted handle, which I personally don't find a problem, but welded handles are slightly quicker to clean; and 2) At 10" in diameter, it's not easy to find a stainless steel lid for this.