Flavor Enhancement: By pressing meats during the cooking process, bacon presses and steak weights help to enhance the caramelization and browning of the exterior, resulting in richer flavors and appealing textures in the finished dishes.

Q:What are the disadvantages of using stainless steel frying pans?
A:The disadvantages of using stainless steel frying pans include their tendency to heat unevenly and their poor heat conductivity, which may require longer cooking times.

Copper frying pans are the most expensive on the market, but they offer many benefits that make them a great investment for serious cooks. Copper is an excellent conductor of heat, and copper frying pans distribute heat evenly and quickly, making them ideal for cooking delicate dishes such as sauces and eggs.

A sauté pan on high heat with oil or fat is used to fling objects back and forth into the air. Food cooked in this pan should have a golden crust and not be soggy at the bottom. Frying pans have slanted edges that allow cooking in a “jump and flip” motion. Using this strategy, you can cook quickly and evenly. It is easier to add and shake things into frypans than saute pans.

Best for: Almost any food that needs searing, including steak and burgers. Cast-iron pans are ovenproof, so you can use them to roast meats like beef or pork and to bake cornbread, deep-dish pizza, shepherd’s pie, and more. And they retain heat so well that they’re a good choice for deep-frying chicken, doughnuts, or other foods because they keep the oil at a constant temperature.

The details: Cast-iron frying pans are practically indestructible, and they’re handed down for generations in many families. That makes their typically low price even more attractive. And if well cared for, cast iron develops a patina that releases food almost as well as nonstick. But the pans are heavy, and you have to be patient when heating them up because they don’t come up to temperature fast. Once they do, however, they retain heat.

Our tests of coated and uncoated cast-iron pans show how versatile this cookware can be. We sear steaks, brown scallops, and bake cornbread to see how well a cast-iron pan works for home cooks. The best pans ace all these tests. We also judge how easy they are to clean. Because of the enamel coating, the coated pans are a bit easier to clean than the uncoated ones.

Here are two recommended cast-iron pans from our tests.