Pans and pots come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. This post will help you understand the different types of pans and pots available for every purpose. We’ll start with non-stick cookware: these are great for eggs and delicate foods like omelets. They can also be used on top of the stove or oven to save time cooking side dishes while preparing a main dish at the same time. Non-stick pans are best paired with soft utensils such as silicone spatulas so that they last longer. Cast iron is perfect if you prefer cooking food more slowly because it heats up gradually but retains heat well once it’s heated up, so your food won’t get cold quickly if you turn off the burner.
Types of Pans
- Frying pans and skillets
- Roasting pans
- Works and stir-fry pans
- Saucepan
- Grill and griddle pans
- Sauté pans
Frying pans and skillets
Frying pans and skillets are versatile, shallow pans with flared sides and long handles. Skillets tend to come with lids and are slightly deeper than frying pans. Skillets and frying pans (including cast iron) are ideal for frying, searing, and deglazing, while skillets with lids are also good for keeping heat and moisture in a dish. You can cook just about anything in a frying pan or skillet through pan-frying, sautéing, high-heat searing, and other kinds of stove-top cooking methods.
A frying pan is a cooking utensil used to fry, sauté, or brown foods over direct heat on a stovetop or range. Frying pans are typically broad with short handles that stay cool during cooking. Frying pans come-ons of frying pans and skillets in round and square shapes. Frying pans are named according to their diameter such as 10″ frying pan, 12″ skillet, etc.
Roasting pans
A roasting pan is a durable, sturdy pan designed to roast turkey, beef, ham, or chicken, often made from stainless steel. It is often sold with a flat or V-shaped rack that raises the meat, allowing the fat to drip down into the bottom of the pan for easy basting. A V-shaped rack is helpful when you’re roasting a piece of meat, as it makes it easier to keep the meat steady as you turn it to roast. Flat racks tend to be easier to clean than V-shaped racks because food is difficult to clean from the bottom corner of a V-shaped rack.
If you are roasting chicken breasts or small vegetables like Brussel sprouts, a flat rack is preferable. Roasting pans are traditionally made of metal, such as cast iron or stainless steel. Some roasting pans can be used in the oven and over open flames such as campfires or grills. Others use a specific form for their intended purpose, such as those employed for roasting spit-roasted meats.
Works and stir-fry pans
Woks and stir-fry pans are best for stir-frying. They heat food more quickly than most pans and require less oil, and it’s very easy to move food around in their rounded basins. Woks and stir-fry pans both have high, sloping sides and are deeper than a frying pan – but a wok has a very small and rounded bottom surface area to spread heat evenly up the sides, while a stir-fry pan is flat at the bottom with a wider surface area.
You require a good collection of works pots to carry out your cooking successfully. There are several types on the market, but the most common are stainless steel, aluminum, ceramic titanium and cast iron. You can also find copper pans for sale too, but these are not suitable for cooking as they may react with certain foods. Try to use pans and pots of the same brands as these will be designed to work successfully together, including matching lids.
Saucepan
Saucepans work well for stewing, simmering, cooking grains, boiling water, and reducing sauces. The saucepan is round in shape with relatively high, straight sides, a long handle, and a tightly fitting lid. A sauce pan’s tall sides allow you to fit more food inside and heat the food evenly. For many people, the kitchen is where you store all of your pots and pans. For others, however, their saucepan has a special place in their heart. Saucepans are an incredibly versatile type of cookware that can be used for almost anything! You can use them to cook pasta sauces or soups, scramble eggs or even boil water.
Grill and griddle pans
Grill pans and griddles are usually square or rectangular in shape. Griddles have flat bottoms, and grill pans have raised ridges. Grill pans raise the meat away from the cooking juices and create black grill lines on the food much like the lines from an outdoor grill. However, the griddle’s flat surface is much easier to clean and is less likely to break delicate ingredients that might fall apart on the ridges of a grill pan. These pans are great for making tender meat, fish, and vegetables.
Sauté pans
A sauté pan is similar to a skillet, but it has straight, medium to high sides and a wide bottom surface area. This pan is ideal for sautéing and browning foods. Its tall sides are perfect for big batches of tomato sauce or for browning sausage and ground beef.
Sauté pans are versatile, shallow cooking pans. Also known as frying pans, they generally have low sides and a flat bottom with a long handle on one side. Sauté pans are best for cooking foods that need to be turned or stirred often during the cooking process, such as vegetables.
