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Managing Your Pots And Pans

The instructions on that recipe you want to try say that you need sauté pans. Or perhaps you are a new cook and you don’t know what kind of pots and pans to buy. What type of cookware do you need for your kitchen, especially if you’re just equipping it? Proprietor of the Versatile Gourmet, a cooking store and school near Pittsburgh, Teri Helfer, suggests three things: 8-inch skillets & fry pans, 8- or 10-inch sauté pans and 5- to 7-quart sauce pans. 

Although cast iron is popular, you would not want a kitchen with only this type of everyday pans. Of course, cast iron is wonderful and versatile, perfect for braisers & paella pans, and for griddles & grill pans. But you’ll need other types of chef’s pans because cast iron doesn’t do eggs, sautéing, vinegar or some other things particularly well. Stainless steel is great for sauté pans and for making soup. 

When asked what kitchen equipment they would want if stranded on a desert island, celebrity chefs Burt Wolf and Jacques Pepin agreed: a sauté pan with a lid, a sauce pan with a lid, a chef’s knife, a pair of really good tongs, and a stainless steel cooking spoon. For both the sauté pan and the sauce pan to make the chef’s lists demonstrates how crucial cookware is. The range of discount cookware is dizzying, but don’t be tempted to buy the set with the coolest carton or splashiest ad campaign. 

The essentials are saucepans for sauces and vegetables; skillets & fry pans for frying and main dishes; soup and stockpots for cooking pasta, soup and stock; roasting pans for roasting meat; and large heavy kettles with lids (Dutch ovens) for stews. Other pieces of equipment you should purchase when shopping are a pasta pot, a meat pounder, an inexpensive salad spinner, and a quality food processor.

Comparing The Choices

Starting with good soup & stockpots and heavy sauté pans, a handful of carefully selected pieces can make a huge difference – including the fact that good quality cookware made of the right materials can improve your cooking. Look for heavy gauge materials when shopping. “Good conductor” and “heavy gauge” are the key features to look at when comparing cookware. You may also have to look for other attributes before you purchase, depending on what you’ll be cooking in the pan. 

An awkward, gigantic stack describes how you put away your everyday pans, although you use them all the time. Just because they’re bulky and heavy compared to other items, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be stored properly:

1. Pull out all your cookware (including woks, roasting pans and steamers), together with their lids
2. Review your kitchen: does it seem sensible to put your cookware back in their drawer or cupboard, or do you need the space for something else?
3. Install a deep, slide-out drawer to house the cookware you purchase more efficiently
4. Target a shallow drawer for the lids

This info will help as you review the choices of everyday pans: small pots with vertical sides about the same height as their diameter are called saucepans. Sauciers are saucepans with rounded sides, and Windsor pans are saucepans with sloping sides. Pots that are taller than they are wide are called soup & stockpots, large pots that are wide and shallow are called braisers & paella pans or casseroles if they have two handles, and sauté pans if they have one long handle. 

The designer pans and pots available online include Le Creuset, handmade by French craftsmen with decorative colors and fancy shapes. There’s also Calphalon, the unique cookware that first brought professional cooking performance into the home kitchen. You can purchase Calphalon in just about any shape, size and form. Then there are Kuhn Rikon pans – chef’s pans you can cook and serve in. Check out our online superstore for the very best in designer pans available at the lowest prices anywhere.

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• Dutch Ovens For The Contemporary Kitchen

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