Getting to Know Your Pans

May 28, 2008

Here is a quick kitchen tip as a follow up to my post on cookware materials: know your pots and pans. Since I’ve started cooking, I’ve realized that heat recommendations in recipes (medium-high, low, simmer, etc.) don’t mean much. With a variety of cookware materials available and everyone owning a different stove, it is not surprising that recipes don’t always match.

I’ve learned the hard way - multiple times ending up with smoke-filled kitchens and small burns from splattering oil. You need to get to know your pans and stove, so you can adjust to the proper heat depending on the recipe’s suggestion. Maybe you have a restaurant grade, 35,000 BTU gas range whose pilot light will boil water. Or you could be working with an electric hot plate that has two settings, the hotter one necessary to melt cheese. Then consider your pots and pans, which can range from great conducting copper to heat retaining cast iron to stainless steel with hot spots.

When a recipe tells you to saute your vegetables over medium-high, you need to know how high to turn on your stove. Besides trial and error, here are a few tests that you can use to get to know your pans and stove. It probably isn’t worth it to do these all at once, but it could be helpful to test one each time you start heating a pot or pan.

Note the level of heat at which:

• butter burns
• olive oil smokes
• vegetable oil smokes
• vegetables saute quickly but don’t burn
• garlic will cook but not burn
• meat will sear properly
• meat will saute properly

Additionally, pay attention to how long it takes pans to cool down or heat up when the recipe calls for heat changes. Cast iron has a large heat capacity, so you may need to turn down the heat before the recipe actually asks for it, whereas copper transfers heat quickly, so it will respond quickly. I’m not sure of ways to really test this, but just be cognizant of how long pans stay hot when you are finished cooking.

One last suggestion is to put your hand over the pan to see how hot it is - simple, but if you do it enough, you could become comfortable cooking with pans and stoves that aren’t your own.

Anyone else have any suggestions? Any tests that I have neglected?

photo credit: Mel B.

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