Buying Guide: All About Cookware
Last updated on July 1st, 2022 at 10:07 am
Along with your commercial stove and oven, good cookware is one of the most important long-term investments you can make for your restaurant, or even your home, kitchen. A well-stocked kitchen likely contains most of the pieces listed below. Browse our guide to build your perfect cookware collection.
Frying Pan
Frying pans have curved side walls for easy stirring and sliding food out of the pan. They’re ideal for scrambling, sautéing, searing, and…well…frying. Their sloped sides prevent steam from forming in the pan.
Sauté Pan
Sauté pans have a wide bottom area for maximum heat conduction. They are ideal for sautéing, searing, de-glazing, poaching, and stir flying. Their straight, tall sides help contain food and expose all sides to heat and minimize spattering.
Stir Fry Pan
Stir fry pans offer deep, curved sides to promote excellent food movement. These flat bottom pans sit level on cooking surfaces as opposed to a traditional wok, which has a round bottom.
Sauce Pan
A wide bottom area allows for maximum heat conduction in straight sided sauce pans. They are ideal for creating and reducing sauces and cooking vegetables. They often come with a lid to control evaporation and accelerate cooking.
Tapered Sauce Pan
A tapered sauce pan features a small bottom diameter for less heat exposure. The flared sides allow for good stirring action. Tapered sauce pans are ideal when you need to cook at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.
Brazier Pan
The wide heating surface of braziers allows you to cook meats and vegetables in small amounts of liquid. Brazier pans are ideal for slow cooking and for hot baths along with tapered sauce pans for melting butters, heading sauces, or for blanching vegetables. With their large diameter and short side walls, they are a great multi-use pot in any kitchen.
Sauce Pot
Sauce pots are shorter and wider than stock posts to make it easier to work over the pot. They feature a wide bottom area for maximum heat conduction and they’re ideal for slow cooking stews, sauces, soups, casseroles, and roasts while reducing the amount of liquid. They often have two handles for easy pouring and movement.
Stock Pot
Stock pots have a smaller diameter and taller height to preserve liquids longer. Their dimensions force liquids to bubble up through the ingredients, maximizing your flavor. Stock pots offer a thick base for a good slow simmer and are ideal for soups, pastas, bulk vegetables and seafood.
Griddle Pan
A griddle pan has a wide, flat bottom to maximize its cooking area. Typically sized to mount over 2 or 4 burners right on your stove. Griddle pans are a great in place of a full commercial griddle and can cook eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, and sandwiches like a standard griddle top.
