Help me choose my next pan

Hi all--

As my little ones are developing ever larger appetites, I find myself cooking four of everything now: four steaks, four fish filets, etc, which means my 10-inch All-clad frying pan is getting too crowded to do its job well. I have a 12-inch Lodge cast iron pan, but I'm thinking that a bigger All-clad type pan would be useful at this point.

What do folks find most useful: a 12-inch or a 14-inch frying pan? Would a deeper 6-qt saute pan (which are 12 inches across) be of any use? Or do the deep sides lead to steaming/braising rather than searing?

Patrick

I have a 12" All Clad. It's large enough to fit a whole cutup chicken. I use it all the time for pan roasting everything from fish to Chicken Vesuvio.

Would a Lodge, two-burner griddle/grill pan meet your needs?

I ignored mine for years, thinking it too heavy and large for my needs, but recently rediscovered how handy it is for cooking multiple filets or chicken breasts. The two spots over the burner definitely get hotter, but I use mine almost like I would a direct/indirect fire--searing on the hot part, then moving to the middle, less-hot part.

One downside: no chance of making a pan sauce on it.

p.s. I also make multiple panini and grilled cheeses on it.

Sometimes I'll use my stainless steel roasting pan on the stove if I need more room than my 12" saute pan has.

Maple Leaf wrote:Would a deeper 6-qt saute pan (which are 12 inches across) be of any use? Or do the deep sides lead to steaming/braising rather than searing?

A 6-qt, straight-walled sauté pan is astoundingly useful. The straight sides won't create steaming or braising of meat unless you are overcrowding or adding too much liquid. In fact, the straight walls give you more surface area to cook on, actually making it easier to pan-sear meats.

A good pan like this is useful for:

-Pan roasting
-pan frying
-searing and "blasting"
-Braising
-Sauces, especially when you want to finish some pasta in the pan with the sauce

I think that this pan is especially good for things that you want to brown up a bit and then finish cooking with a little bit of steam. Hearty vegetables immediately come to mind (brown up some asparagus spears in a little olive oil then add a little water and cover for a minute or so to finish cooking). Also potstickers (brown them and add water & cover to finish cooking).

I made lamb meatballs in mine last night. Since the bottom is so large I was easily able to brown a large batch. Then, I removed them and made a quick tomato sauce and returned them to the sauce and covered to finish cooking.

If I had to choose one pan from my kitchen to keep, this would be the one (with my le cruset dutch oven to be a close second). It's very versatile.

Best,
Michael

Definately check out the Cuisinart 'Chef's Classic' line -- they have an all stainless-steel variety (as well as nonstick coated and hard-anondized aluminum, I believe). Much cheaper than All Clad but still well constructed with stainless steel and aluminum cores. I have a number of their pans and think they're great. I would suggest buying through Amazon since they're much cheaper there than in stores.

I also love my 6"-tall-sided saute pan. I am not sure if it's 5 or 6 qt. but I use it all the time. I brown things in it, then add my liquids, other ingredients, etc. and only have one pan to clean up (or one pan plus whatever dish I offload things so I don't crowd it up when browning).

i havent used the cuisinart chef's classic series that danimalarkey recommends, but if you are interested, i see the following online store has some good sale prices. justjoan
http://www.cutleryandmore.com/prodlist. ... LineID=210

Isthis the saute pan everyone is talking about? If so, it's a nice price!

Geo

There are many good recommendations here. I have the 3-1/2 qt Cuisinart Chef's Classic saute pan and it works great (should have picked up the larger size but that's another story). I also find the Calphalon 12" Everyday pan to be useful. You can find that pretty cheap on Amazon as well; I think I got it for $19.99 on a Friday sale. Check out TJMaxx/HomeGoods for decent prices on all, even All-Clad. You might also want to hit the restaurant supply stores for some less expensive options.

Check out the Tramontina TriPly collection. Same performance as All-Clad for a fraction of the price. I recently picked up the 12" saute pan for $49.99 at Tuesday Morning.

When it comes to skillets, I think the cheap aluminum kind with nonstick coating, such as you can find at any restaurant supply, work just as well as any expensive pan.

You can't use these if you have induction burners, though.

Maple Leaf wrote:What do folks find most useful: a 12-inch or a 14-inch frying pan?

Maple Leaf,

I have a few different sizes of All-Clad LTD fry pans, including a 10 and 12 inch during the week I'm mostly cooking for two and find the 10 satisfactory, though sometimes go to the 12. If I was consistently cooking for four I may go 14, though that is a very sizable pan for home use. Was me I might go with the 12 inch and use the price differential between the 12 and 14 to buy a Lodge two burner griddle, which Crrush suggested, as it sounds like you do a lot of stove top grilling of steaks, fish etc.

Link to previous Pots and Pans thread.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hi all--

Thanks for all the great discussion. I think you've managed to convince me that I could probably make use of a 12-inch skillet, and a big saute pan, and a double burner griddle! I may start with the saute pan, as that is the most different from anything I have now, and that Cuisinart at $60 seems like a great deal. Then maybe the All-Clad skillet from Cookwarenmore which remainders AllClad rejects with minor blemishes. I'll put the griddle on my Christmas list!

Patrick