equipment.
You can spend a lot of money on a pan. You can also spend very little. And for all those pans in between, there’s a world of techno-marketing speak, golden promises about how they ’ll never let you down, and all sorts of materials, coatings, shapes and sizes – making choosing where to spend your money seem daunting.
One thing you don’t need to worry about, however, is buying a huge range of different pans. You might want that copper saucier pan or shiny teal cast iron cocotte, but as long as you have a frying pan and a few saucepans, you can cook the vast majority of dishes. After that, you can tweak your arsenal to suit your style: if you cook a lot of stir-fries, get a wok; if you like slow-braises and stews, a casserole is a good investment.
Naturally, after saying all that, I own more pots and pans than I can fit in my kitchen, but that’s falling into the want rather than the need category. In the same way that owning a few great knives is far better than spending the same on a lower quality full set, investingmore in those core pans that get used daily is the way to go. And it’s what those pans are made from – and how that material suits whatever you’re cooking – that’s the most important thing to consider.
This is my ‘Top Trumps’ run-down of the three most popular materials used to make pans: their pros, cons and how to get the most out of them. Which of them work best for you is a matter of personal preference.
PHOTOGRAPH: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON
NON-STICK
THE SLICK OPERATOR
These tend to get a bad rep due to health concerns around a chemical called PFOA, which was used to make non-stick coatings. It was banned in the UK in 2005 and globally in 2019, however, so you don’t need to worry about it for any new pans you’re buying.
Non-stick pans are just metal (usually aluminium) with some sort of coating that has non-stick properties, such as Teflon or a ceramic glaze. They often promise the world, claiming you’ll never get a burnt bit stuck on your pan ever again.