Cooking pans and pots are like shoes. Your shelves are full of them, but only a few really get used. These are the ones that dont even get put back in the cupboard, going straight from use to use.
This is common for both footwear and cookware. You naturally slip into the most comfortable, well-worn flats, and you automatically grab your trusty, patina-seasoned pans and pots.
With the weight of so much good food resting on so few pieces of cookware, its good to know which ones you need in the kitchen. Whether you’re building a new set or cutting down your current collection, here are the 4 types of cookware you need to whip up any delicious dish.
Larger pans may have a small grab handle opposite the main handle. A pan of similar dimensions, but with less flared, more vertical sides and often with a lid, is called a sauté pan. While a sauté pan can be used as a frying pan, it is designed for lower-heat cooking. A stainless steel frying pan.
Sauté Pans (or Fry Pans)
If you’re going to own one pan — and love a quick-cook meal — you should own a sauté pan. Also known as a frying pan or stainless steel skillet, it’s the one to grab for stir-frying, sautéing vegetables, browning meat, and getting that perfectly crispy chicken skin.
Sauté pans have a flat bottom, relatively tall, straight sides, a long handle (sometimes even a secondary “helper” handle on the opposite side), and a lid.
In contrast to other pans with curved sides that take away from the overall bottom diameter, sauté pans offer a generous cooking area. Their flat bottom prevents ingredients from sliding back down to the middle of the pan and crowding together, while the high sides make it excellent for sauce-based dishes and catching any wayward splatters.
The best sauté pans — the ones that can cook food evenly — are ones that are thick. With more material to hold on to the heat, a thicker sauté pan provides better heat distribution and steady temperatures.
To help hold on to this weight, look for pans that have sturdy metal handles attached with screws or rivets. Sauté pans can hold a lot of food, and therefore need a strong handle to accommodate that weight — especially if you plan to do any pan-roasting or braising, and will move the pan from stovetop to oven.
Sauté pans range in both diameter (from 6-12 inches) and capacity (from 1-7 quarts). If its your first one, aim for something in the middle — say, a versatile 10-inch diameter pan with a 3-quart volume. This is the optimal size to make sauces and broths, and is still wide enough to wield utensils with ease.
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- Having the proper pot or pan for each dish makes the cooking process easier.
- When choosing cookware, consider the size, capacity, material, and overall construction.
- Each type of cookware has its own heating and cleaning method.
Cooking pans and pots are like shoes. Your shelves are full of them, but only a few really get used. These are the ones that dont even get put back in the cupboard, going straight from use to use.
This is common for both footwear and cookware. You naturally slip into the most comfortable, well-worn flats, and you automatically grab your trusty, patina-seasoned pans and pots.
With the weight of so much good food resting on so few pieces of cookware, its good to know which ones you need in the kitchen. Whether you’re building a new set or cutting down your current collection, here are the 4 types of cookware you need to whip up any delicious dish.
13 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Stainless Steel Cookware (What to Look For)
FAQ
What is a sauté pan with lid?
What is the correct name for a frying pan?
Should I get a frying pan with a lid?
What is a frying pan with lid?
A frying pan with lid can make cooking more enjoyable and easier to clean up with less risk of scorching food or breaking lids, which makes it perfect for those who don’t like to cook but still want an easy way to work one dish at a time on their stovetop without having to transfer things from pot-to-pan constantly. So what does this mean?
What is a frying pan?
A frying pan is distinguished by its flat shallow bottom and sloped sides. This design allows for easy turning of food. Frying pans are also available in a variety of sizes, which makes them versatile for different cooking tasks. Additionally, some frying pans come with a lid, which helps to retain heat and prevent splattering.
What is a small frying pan called?
A small frying pan is often called an egg pan. Egg pans are small and shallow, which makes them ideal for cooking single eggs. They typically have sloped sides, which allows for easy turning. Most egg pans come with a lid, which helps to retain heat and prevent splattering.
How do you use a frying pan?
Best for: Frying foods. The sloped sides of skillets and frying pans make it easier to use a turner to flip food as well as using the one-hand sauteing method, that is grabbing the handle and flicking your wrist to toss the ingredients, all while distributing heat over the wide, shallow base. Chef Austin’s Cookware Essentials: