frying pan - fi

[Chiliman]

go cast iron, you won't regret it.

[XxATOLxX]

Cast iron maintains its temperature best and lasts forever.

Also makes for a handy weapon.

[coredump]

Originally Posted by wavoman

Yep -- I cook with All Clad (see earlier post), but my wife cooks with enameled cast iron, in particular Le Creuset (which has factory outlet stores in nearly every outlet shopping mall). We have a lot of both.

Le Creuset can't be beat for slow cooking, etc. The dutch ovens and the fry pans (especially the new ridged ones with a sandwich press weight) are fantastic. But for flashy saute and one-handed flipping and flambe (lighting the booze you've poured in), it's All Clad all the way -- I cook only for show (and have burn marks on the wallpaper to prove it)!

Too bad Le Creuset is so expensive. I buy Lodge which seems to be exactly the same but for 60% to 80% less. Amazon will even ship it for free which is amazing. My $50 6 quart oven weighed 16 pounds.

[milkpowder]

Le Creuset products are ridiculously heavy. They seem to be every housewife's must-have kitchen gear though

Thick-based, stainless steel pots and pans for generally cooking. Cast iron for steaks. Black iron wok for stir-fries.

[Bob_McBob]

The difference between Lodge and Le Creuset is that Le Creuset stuff is ENAMELLED cast iron, which means it's non-reactive with acidic sauces containing stuff like tomatoes or wine. I use a Le Creuset dutch oven more than any other single piece of cookware. It is pretty much the gold standard.

As far as skillets go, the Lodge 12" cast iron skillet is an excellent choice if you are prepared to deal with cast iron. I don't use anything else for cooking up bacon and eggs. The All-Clad 12" pan here is just as good.

I do keep non-stick frying pans around for some stuff, but my skillets get used a lot to pan-sear steak and fish, which you can't do properly with a non-stick pan.

[Antishatter]

If you don't feel like you can murder someone by hitting them over the head with it then it is not thick enough, also get non stick and NEVER EVER EVER USE METAL ANYTHING IN IT. Also, only clean it by wiping it with a damp cloth. I would steer clear of copper and make sure it is thick and heavy.

[Edwood]

It's teflon all the way if you want the easiest clean up and use the least amount of oil. My old Lodge cast iron pan is my next choice. My stainless steel All-Clad is dead last. Stuff sticks to it unless you use plenty of oil, so anything wet like veggies and sauces are OK. Pancakes or crepes? LOL, no way. Telflon all the way for that one.

Teflon coating doesn't last forever, so I don't like to spend too much money on those.

-Ed

[Akabeth]

I use teflon on most of my cooking duties. Easy to maintain and cost-effective. On the other hand I use straight-out lined copper pans for the "higher-end" proper meals (I got a couple vintage ones too)

Once you go copper it's quite hard to turn back. It's amazing how evenly stuff cooks on those things. I just hate the maintenance of those things. I have to clean it up and polish it sometimes to prevent tarnish.

[SiBurning]

Of course, one size fits all.

One of my friend's says I have a cookware fetish. So be it. I have at least 14 frying pans, if you include the saute pan, saucier, etc. For heavy heat retention I use 1/4" anodized aluminum--calpholon. Some things don't like aluminum, so I also have thinner aluminum pans that are stainless lined--all clad mk2. For precision heat, nothing works like copper, which I bought lined with stainless because tin melts at high cooking temperatures. Then there's the omelette pan, which is my only stickless, and also 1/4" aluminum. Also need a saute pan or two and a chicken fryer, both of which are stainless with an aluminum disc bottom. Then there's the special items like sauteuse for things like bolognese, which is also solid copper for versatility. At 11" it's seriously heavy, so that's another aspect of this. Finally, there's some advantage to having something thin, like steel, for quick cooking things like crepes that might burn easily, but I threw mine out because they rusted.

Here's an online "course" that goes into many aspects of stovetop cookware. eG Forums -> Understanding Stovetop Cookware and the Q&A thread for the course eG Forums -> Q&A -- Understanding Stovetop Cookware

The all-clad outlet's a good place to get that stuff cheaper, if you don't mind dents and blemishes. I waited for a sale and picked up 3 of their mk2 pans 8", 10", 12" for something like $135. For non stick, calphalon commercial is probably the best--but they might have been replaced by a newer model. Amazon runs fantastic sales on them occassionally, if you can stand to wait for one. I picked up an anodized aluminum omelette pan for $25, but you can end up waiting a year. (Not to be confused with the thin Simply Calphalon Stainless-Steel 10" omlelette pan for $30.)

[BrookR1]

Teflon, when overheated, can give off vapors that kill birds. I have a house full of birds, so no teflon for me. I use stainless steel. I had cast iron skillets growing up, but gave them away. I now actually miss them.