Right prior to when you go shopping for a fry pan, in a specializing cookware store or a department store, you fear it is going to make you depressed, you know the selection is going to shock you, that the variety can't possibly make your decision easier, and for a moment you are quite jealous of your nonna for having an easy time since she only had a single fry pan (until you remember how hard it was to clean that one frying pan and you are again motivated to go out shopping). There is a huge selection of shapes, material, coatings, and you need to also, at the same time keep in mind what YOU like, what YOUR needs are, what makes YOU comfortable in a kitchen, and what YOU can afford. Materials The basic pan ranges are in Stainless Steel, Cast (Iron or Aluminum- plain or Hard Anodized) and Copper, which tend to be more expensive. A good idea is the combination between a few materials- such as the three layer Stainless Steel cooking pieces where both outer layers are a hard, resistant Stainless Steel yet the middle layer is a heat conducting efficient Copper or Aluminum. Since Aluminum is a cheap material frying pands are usually economical, but take care as they will be relatively "soft" so they can bend it they fall or get hit, you can choose to pay a bit more for Hard Anodized (an Electrolyzed Aluminum) that is significantly touger (yet still relatively economical) they all will have a non stick coating on it since cooking straight on Aluminum is not at all recommended. Aluminum is a great conductor of heat (but it does cool quickly once removed from the heat source). A comment about coatings- some are marketed as naturally manufactured and "Green" yet there have been comments saying they are a bit less efficient than older non-stick coat versions, the rule is that if the coat is unscratched and pan is used according to manual, my personal opinion is that you can use any non stick coat, but the environmental factor does sometimes mean the we make an effort today to assure a brighter tomorrow. Use non metallic spoons on any coating you use and store carefully so the coat will not scratch and will last longer, but remember- a coat, no matter how good, is still an external coat, not the material itself, and it will at some point, wear off. Cast iron frying pans are very unique, and are, on the one hand, some of the most durable fry pans available, and when the entire pan is cast iron, it can with great ease be used in ovens. But on the other they are very delicate and should be handled with care between uses (Rust, a big turnoff). They are optimal for a limited selection of dishes and cannot replace a simple general use fry pan for all your frying needs. Size Frying pans are available in any size between 10cm- 4 inch and 36cm- 14 inch, a general use fry pan should be about 26 cm - 10 inch, in diameter, that will handle a scrambled egg for 4 people and a few Bacon strips. Heating an oversized pan is comfortable but also costly as you waste energy heating a surface you will not use, also not using the entire surfaces will create temperature differences on the surface cold spots. Handle and Knob Most pans do not have a lid, if one is important for you- consider buying a saut? pan that will have a lid but will probably be quite wider and deeper than other pans. A glass lid is comfortable for seeing the food but it limits the temperature of an oven the pan can be placed in, as do handle materials such as wood or Bakelite. If putting the pan in the oven is something you use often, consider a fry pan that has a lid and handle from the same materials as the body. A good selection would have 3 sizes of Aluminum coated pans, a cast iron medium sized pan, a bigger Stainless Steel saut? pan and a large wok. That would satisfy your basic needs.
Author Resource:-
By Michelle Blu, writer and editor http://Friedpan.com We are enthusiast cookers, passionate fryers, and experts in all about the equipment needed to perfect it. Fried Pan- Fry pan, cast iron pan, wok- free tips, recipes and a fabulous pan shop!
Come NOW enjoy our FREE frying tips, and OPEN collection of Fried food recipes (Fried potatoes, Fried Chicken, Stir fry) and our hand selected FABULOUS Online Pan Shop!
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites