Quote:
Originally Posted by Gogar
Ok so here's a cheffy question:
Does a person -want- a particularly thick skillet or saute pan?
I thought the idea of a great skillet or saute pan was that it only be just thick enough to provide even heating but also a lot more responsiveness and control, especially for those times when you're doing something sensitive and want to get off the heat quickly.
Seems like all the all-clad and lecruesets and all that are 3-ply and not particularly 'heavy.'
If I want something heavy that holds heat like a cast iron pan don't I just use a cast iron pan?
Thanks! Just trying to lern something.  |
There are two issues at play here. The first is the thermal conductivity of a metal. Metals very widely in how much heat they conduct per unit time. Cast iron is very low, as is stainless steel. Aluminum is higher. Copper is higher yet, by a bunch. The specific value of the thermal conductivity for each metal depends on the specific alloy in question.
The second issue has to do with the thermal mass, which is another way of saying how much metal we're talking about on the bottom. Obviously, a thicker pan will have more thermal mass than a thinner one, so at a given temperature it will cool down less when you put a given amount of food in it.
In general a thicker pan helps with more even distribution of heat across the pan, so there are less issues with scorching food. To me, that's far more important than the idea that I might be able to rapidly change the heat coming from the pan into the food. I can't think of an application where that's even relevant.
Obviously, copper pots are best for most fine cooking, but they're absurdly expensive. You can sometimes find them in garage sales and what not and, if you do, buy them. You can always get them re-tinned, if needed.
I almost never use a cast-iron skillet, I think they are vastly overrated. It would be the absolute last cooking utensil I would buy. The bulk of what I have is Allclad, with the occasional Le Creuset or de Buyer for certain special things.