Types Of Cookware And Their Uses
Fry pan -
A frying pan, fry pan, or skillet is the most widely used piece of cookware in home and commercial kitchens. They can be described as a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods.
Sauté pan -
The sauté pan is essentially a cross between a fry pan and a saucepan. It has a wide cooking surface for searing like you would with a fry pan, and deeper rims for liquids like the saucepan (A best of both worlds). The sauté pan can be used for both dry heat cooking and liquid cooking, allowing you to cook a wide variety of foods conveniently in the same pan.
Wok -
A wok is a deep, round-bottomed cooking pot that originated in China. A Wok's main purpose is to stir fry and it excels at that because it can handle the heat of a professional stove. The high heat and naturally Non-Stick surface means that less oil is required for cooking and the round bottom of a wok allows for heat to be distributed more evenly than a saucepan, meaning food is able to cook in less amount of time.
Saucepan -
A saucepan is a good tool for cooking anything that is mostly liquid. Whether that is making sauces (such as pasta sauce), soups, or tasks like stewing, simmering and boiling water.
Stockpot -
A stockpot is a large, deep pot that is usually used for making stock and cooking healthy meals. A decent stockpot is designed so it heats quickly and simmers for a long time evenly. A large stockpot is excellent for boiling water for paste, cooking a broth, boiling seafood, or making a hearty stew.
Casserole dish-
A casserole, from the archaic French word casse meaning a small saucepan, is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan.
Roasting pan -
A roasting pan is a piece of cookware used for roasting meat in an oven, either with or without vegetables or other ingredients. A roasting pan may be used with a rack that sits inside the pan and lets the meat sit above the fat and juice drippings.
Paella pan -
A cooking vessel that is used to prepare the traditional Spanish rice dish, paella. The pan is a large diameter, shallow skillet-like pan that may be made from cast iron, enamelled metal, or brushed aluminium.
Dutch oven -
A Dutch oven is a heavy-duty pot with a lid designed for browning meat and veggies and then simmering on the stovetop or braising in the oven. It can also be used for soup and more simple tasks like boiling pasta. It's often used to make bread as well. Brands like Chasseur and Staub are some of the best known, while others like Lodge and Cuisinart are standouts as well.
Crepe pan -
A crepe pan is a flat or round-bottomed pan that is shaped to effectively cook a thin crêpe. A crepe pan may be 8 to 10 inches in diameter with short side walls. This pan is also the type commonly used for omelettes.
Braiser -
A braiser is a round, enamelled cast-iron, aluminium pan with a wide base and sloped slides that are lower than a Dutch oven but higher than a skillet. It also has two generously sized handles that make it easy to lift and move around, and a tight-fitting lid that locks in moisture and flavour.
Steamer -
A food steamer or steam cooker is a small kitchen appliance used to cook or prepare various foods with steam heat by means of holding the food in a closed vessel reducing steam escape. This manner of cooking is called steaming. It is common for steamers to fit various sized pots such as the Scanpan steamer
Sautése -
The sautése pan is partly a fry pan, with a large flat base, yet the deeply sloped sides allow for a very large liquid capacity. This combined with a domed lid makes it a perfect way to cook large braises or roasts. The pans are ideal for slow roasting more so than searing high heat temperatures.
Stewpot -
A stew pot is a very versatile piece of cookware: you can use it to make sauce-based recipes, slow-cooked dishes with small pieces of meat (stews and casseroles) or large braised pieces. When simmering a slow-cooked dish, always use a low temperature.