3 minute read
High performance pots and pans
How to buy high performance pots and pans
Are you in the process of furnishing a gite kitchen for holiday rentals? Or renewing old equipment in your own kitchen? Food writer and chef, Ingrid Burling, offers this handy guide to help you maximise your budget and ensure that what you buy will last for years and cope with everything that you need it to.
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Tip 1 - Aim for a range with 3-ply or 4-ply bases. This makes for better heat distribution so that stews, soups and sauces will be less likely to burn. I bought tri-ply saucepans from the John Lewis Classics range (still available) 33 years ago, and they are still faultless and elegant high performers. Also, note that a pan with a good weight in the hand indicates robustness so it should not dent if you drop it. Something that you could use as a frisbee is to be avoided.....
Notice the thick, tri-ply base here - a good all-round performer.
Tip 2 - Buy pots and pans with handles that are split where they join the main body of the pan (see left-hand picture below) as this keeps the handle cool and so eliminates burns or you having to use cloths, which may not be safe. The one shown in the right-hand picture is the type to avoid - it gets super hot when the pan warms up.
Split handles stay cool
Solid handles get hot!
Tip 3 - Pots don’t need to have a spout, but do choose a range which has a lip all around each pan, so you can pour sauces easily from it, otherwise the sauce will run down the side of the pot or over your work surface, wasting food and causing you more work.
Tip 4 - Find a range which has holes in the side of the lid (see picture below) so steam can escape and the lid will stay nicely in place.
Holes in the side of the lid allow steam to escape and the lid to stay in place
Finally, a word about Teflon: if, like me, you loathe this, then a heavy ply base or copper-based pan will handle any sauces well and it is rare for things to burn in them. Make sure you buy the thickest gauge copper that you can afford.
Happy cooking!
Ingrid Burling
