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.

    On the other hand, heavy enamel cookware remains the first choice for many professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts alike.  Heavy Enamel Cookwares sturdy construction and weight give a sense of durability and reliability, making it ideal for long, slow cooking sessions.  The heavy enamel cookware's thick enamel also helps prevent hot spots and ensures heat is evenly distributed throughout the cookware for perfectly cooked dishes.

Can You Put Stainless Steel Pans in the Oven?

“There are a few things to consider when you’re buying cookware, including how you cook, durability, and price,” says Lance Nitahara, an assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y. “On the low end of the price scale are nonstick and cast iron; copper is on the high end. But each does a different thing.”

Below, you’ll find advice on how to choose the right frying pan for how you cook, plus highlights of top-performing pans from CR’s tests, listed alphabetically and not by rank. You can see how all the pans we test perform in our frying pan ratings and learn more about the different types of pans in our cookware buying guide.

COMPARISON TABLE OF FRYING PANS

The benefit of a French skillet is that it is ideal for frying large quantities of food or making stews and sauces that require simmering. Its higher straight sides make it easier to cook with more liquid, while its broader base allows for even heat distribution. French skillets are versatile and can be used for various cooking tasks.

Stainless steel is a highly durable material and doesn’t chip, peel or scratch easily like soft metals such as aluminium. As chefs have to handle vigorous, pan-clanging cooking day in and day out, they tend to lean toward stainless steel cookware instead of aluminium cookware.

Another massive reason why stainless steel cookware has always been the chef’s favourite is the fact that it doesn’t react with acidic foods. This means, unlike aluminium cookware, stainless steel keeps metals from leaching into your meals, resulting in healthier and tastier servings.

However, aluminium cookware has its own set of advantages too. For example, aluminium is a faster and more responsive conductor of heat, making it a great choice for fry pans. 

A frying pan's thickness is measured in either gauge or mils. -1 mil is equal to 1/1000, so the higher the mil, the thicker the metal. The gauge works oppositely - the higher the gauge, the thinner the metal. A thick pan is more durable than a thin pan but may not conduct heat as quickly. Most commercial frying pans will fall between a thick 10-gauge construction and a thinner 22-gauge construction.

Yellow Enamel Pot And Green Enamel Pot

GRANITE OR STONE FRYING PANS

A frying pan, or skillet, has a round shape, sloped sidewalls, and a lightweight design, which are helpful features when tossing foods in the pan. Its rim is wider than the cooking surface to promote the quick evaporation of liquids.

Can a Carbon Steel Pan Go in the Oven?

As the market shifted towards non-stick PTFE-coated pans, the design of frying pans began to change. Stainless steel frying pans with non-stick coatings are now readily available.