pots & pans

Can someone kindly explain to me why restaurant supply stores sell aluminum pans, and it appears on the TV shows that real chefs use these lightweight pans.

Why then are we told that we home cooks must use $tainless $teel 18/10, non-reactive, etc. etc. if the real chefs use the flimsy aluminium ones that cost far less????

I don't think anyone has ever said that the home cook must use stainless steel. In the kitchens I have worked in we have used everything from the aluminum pans to copper clad. It really depends on a number of factors.

Cost- you mention that they are cheaper. This is as true for the restaurant as well as the the home cook.

Conduction- The burners on a professional range give off a more even heat. On most home ranges you will have drastic hot spots without something more solid to disperse the heat. This is why All-clad and their ilk sandwich the stainless around an aluminum core. Aluminum pans heat up quickly, a very important thing in a fast paced kitchen.

Skill - There is a lot to be said for being able to cook using a raw aluminum pan and not end up with half of your dinner stuck to the bottom. I'm not saying that the average home cook cannot do this, but I can't remember the last time I was cooking omelets at home and didn't use a high-quality non-stick pan.

Ease of cleaning - The harsh chemicals used in kitchens aren't really friendly to most finishes. So, why waste the money on a pan that is going to be replaced frequently.

FYI- These are my opinions based on my experience in the kitchen both at home and professionally.

Flip

I always assumed it was because professional kitchens beat the hell out of 'em and replacing them that frequently would be prohibitively expensive. But I don't speak from any kind of experience.

I think it depends on your end-use, too - for instance, IIRC, Alton Brown recommends a foodservice-style aluminum pot for pasta, etc. This would bear out what Flip says, because if you're planning to boil lots of water, hot spots and sticking aren't really an issue.

I recently traded up from cheap stainless steel with a small aluminum wafer on the bottom to a version of all-clad; it's amazing how much quicker the all-clad pots heat up. Our camping cookset is straight aluminum, it cooks like a demon (Flip is right, if you don't mind having your food stick or burn in spots, all part of the outdoor experience ) but looks like hell - and I did manage to get the fire hot enough at one point to melt one pan a bit.

Aluminum can be toxic and it is reactive to acid based foods (like tomato sauce). I try to avoid it in my kitchen, knowing full well that it is frequently used in restaurant kitchens.

Dmnkly pretty much nails it. if you were outfitting a kitchen in which people you didn't know were going to be using the equipment, would you buy them the super-pricey stuff?

restaurant cooks beat the equipment up.

also, consider this; most restaurants go out of business in the first year. knowing this, if you were buying pots and pans for a kitchen and you needed 50 eight inch saute pans, would you buy the cheapo $15 saute pans that'll last a year or so or the all-clad $90 ones that will last 10 years?

given the choice between lower up front costs and longer life span, most restaurant owners will (rightly, imo) choose lower up front costs. you can buy the good ones once the restaurant is making money and the investors are all paid off.

Well, considering all the great food pumped out in Chicago restaurants using the (cheaper) aluminium pans then it sure proves one doesn't need "all-clad" and "calaphalon" etc.

What do restaurants chefs choose for themselves at home? and why?

PS have restaurant chefs actually ever cooked with copper, and is it that big of a deal?

i have a mix. i have some all-clad ltd that i got for wedding presents. they're great pans and i'd buy more if they weren't so ridiculously expensive.

i have a bunch of cast iron, a few le cruesets, a few french carbon steel pans (de buyer), a hand hammered carbon steel wok, and a few restaurant-style vollrath aluminum nonsticks.

my go-to pans are the de buyer french steel. i love them. the label that comes on them says "warning--heavy carbon steel is not made for home use in residential kitchens".

Johnsoncon wrote:PS have restaurant chefs actually ever cooked with copper, and is it that big of a deal?

The stove at Trotter's is covered with beautiful copper cookware. Not that that really has any bearing on restaurants in general