These Are the Frying Pans I Have in My Kitchen

One thing that should be talked about is essential hardware that you should have in your kitchen. I think a good place to start is the frying pans I have. Yes, you should have more than one frying pan. Yes, each frying pan has a specific purpose.

The Nonstick Pan

Admittedly, when I started out adulting, I used a nonstick pan for everything. It’s true that nonsticks will take most beginner cooks most of the way there.

What’s also true is that I’m now using my nonstick for very, very specific applications, namely when I’m cooking an omelette. Eggs are likely the stickiest things you can be trying to cook in a frying pan, so having all the help you can get from a nonstick surface can be useful when you’re trying to cook eggs delicately such as when you make a French omelette.

The reason I’m using nonstick less and less is simply due to longevity. You can do everything right, including using nonmetal utensils, keeping the cook temperature under control (DO NOT attempt to sear meat in your nonstick), and washing by hand, but your nonstick pan will eventually lose its nonstickiness and it will have to be replaced. The longest I’ve had a nonstick pan was two years. While replacing a pan every two years isn’t the worst, it’s unimpressive relative to the longevity of alternatives.

I use the Tramontina nonstick pan that you can get on Amazon here.

The Stainless Steel

While a stainless steel pan will take some getting used to, it’s likely the most versatile pan you can use. This is also the pan where an investment will pay off in the long run. Not all stainless steel pans are created equally, with varying levels of thermal conductivity. I use and love the Made In stainless steel pan I got from Amazon here.

The stainless steel pan is particularly useful if you are searing meat and intend to use the fond to make a pan sauce. The stainless steel pan, if used correctly, gets your meat the right level of sear, releases the meat, and holds onto the fond that can be deglazed. Notably, I used my stainless steel to sear a ribeye and build an au poivre sauce using rye whiskey.

As a nonreactive pan, the stainless steel can also be used to prepare acidic sauces like tomato sauce.

The main tips with cooking in your stainless steel is to pat your meat dry, ensure your pan is hot enough, and don’t crowd it. Moisture will steam and cool your pan down, preventing a Maillard reaction which will result in your food sticking to your pan.

The box my Made In pan came in promises it’s dishwasher safe, but I prefer washing it by hand using warm water and soap.

The Cast Iron Pan

Nowadays, I most frequently use a cast iron pan.

The beauty of the cast iron is that the more you use it, the less maintenance it requires.

When you first get your cast iron pan, you have to season it by applying a thin layer of cooking oil and heating it in your oven at a low temperature. What I found is that I cook enough to the point where I never had to separately re-season my cast iron as the seasoning gets reapplied every time I cook with it.

A properly seasoned cast iron pan is as nonstick as a teflon-coated nonstick pan.

The cast iron is best for applications that demand a high temperature. An example is making duck breast. The duck breast has its initial sear on the stovetop and then gets transferred into the oven, still in the cast iron pan, to cook the rest of the way.

Lately, I’ve also had great success cooking other things including the bacon and sunny side up eggs as made famous by Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle.

To care for your cast iron pan, wash it under warm water (without soap) after you’re done using it and reapply the seasoning if you’re noticing your food getting stuck or rust beginning to form. This minimal level of maintenance is all your cast iron will need to last you a very long time.

I use this Lodge cast iron pan that you can find on Amazon here. This pan will set you back about $50 upfront, but can very likely last you a lifetime.

The Wok

If you’re like me and you regularly cook Asian stir fries at home, then a wok is a necessity.

Woks come in all kinds of materials. I bought this Yosukata carbon steel wok here and it has served me very well.

Carbon steel offers many of the same advantages as cast iron in that it needs an initial season, but will also require less maintenance the more you use it. Like in the case of a cast iron pan, the seasoning gets reapplied every time you cook with it. Like the cast iron, the wok should also be washed with warm water, ideally just after you’re done cooking with it, without soap; if the wok is still hot, then food scraps will release more easily.

At the same time, I wouldn’t recommend a cast iron wok as it would be too heavy to allow you to toss and stir fry.

I often use my cast iron to make fried rice like I do here:

@nasen757 I made a tiktok for the first time #friedrice #chinesefood #asianfood #chinesefriedrice ♬ original sound - nasen75

The stovetop I’ve had in my prior apartment was gas-fired, but the stovetop I have now is glass-top electric. I was concerned the lack of a flame would mean my wok wouldn’t get the even heating it needed to be effective, but I am happy to report woks work great on electric ranges too. You just have to minorly adjust your technique.

In Conclusion

These are the pans I have that satisfy what I need for the situations that call for frying pans. If this was at all helpful to anyone, I can go through the other hardware I have in my kitchen!