ANYWARE Ceramic/Aluminum Cookware Goes from Campfire to Cookstove
By Lorrie Baumann
ANYWARE™ is a new line of non-stick cast aluminum cookware that’s designed to go from the outdoor grill to the stove indoors and back again. It delivers quality cooking performance along with easy cleanup – even the soot from a campfire will wipe right off.
ANYWARE is made by Little Griddle, a company historically known for cookware designed only for outdoor use. “We knew that we needed a product that could go indoors,” says Jon Stein, the company’s President. At the same time, the company knew that if they decided to produce a line of cookware for indoor use, it still had to perform just as well in the outdoors – the Little Griddle brand and its outdoor-oriented customer base depended on it.
Two years of development work went into the line, which is made from a unique combination of cast aluminum coated inside and outside with a PTFE-free nonstick ceramic that’s compatible with high heat. The pans will go from grill top to stove top, in the oven or over the campfire or outdoor grill. Because the nonstick coating is on the bottom of the pans as well as the sides and the interior, the pans will clean up after they’ve been over a sooty campfire or gas flame with just a wipe from a paper towel or damp cloth.
The cast aluminum makes a pan that’s much lighter than the typical cast iron pan and that heats quickly and evenly. “It’s convenient to carry and easy to maneuver when it’s full of food,” Stein said. “The color and the gloss we get from the high-temperature ceramic is very nice…. We have created a product line that looks as good as it cooks.”
The ceramic surface provides good browning as well as nonstick performance, so it’s particularly accommodating for those dishes that involve browning the protein and then finishing with a pan sauce made in the same skillet, according to Stein. “Flavors stay with the food, not the pan,” he says. “At the same time, ANYWARE browns foods beautifully. We’ve been having a lot of fun cooking dishes that used to be very challenging on the grill.”
The current line includes a classic 12-inch ceramic skillet, available in red and gray; a ceramic double-burner griddle, available in gray; and a ceramic backwall griddle that’s a shape that’s very familiar to Little Griddle’s existing customer base of outdoor enthusiasts. Each of the four items retails for about $60.
Over the next few years, Stein plans to expand the line into a full range for a wide variety of cooking styles. ANYWARE is available for shipment now.
