Pots & Pans

The pieces that carry most of the recipes on this site. Buy few and buy heavy — thin pans scorch where thick ones brown.

Food Steamers

Stacked tiers cook fish on one level and vegetables on another without either tasting of the other.

Count the pieces that are actually pans — a "12-piece set" is often seven pans and five lids.

A heavy base is what stops a sauce catching. Thin saucepans scorch before they simmer.

A 26 cm pan cooks two portions; a 20 cm pan crowds them and steams what should sear.

For eggs, fish and pancakes only. Non-stick cannot take the heat a proper sear needs.

Holds heat like nothing else, which is the whole point: a cold steak barely drops the pan temperature.

The fond left behind is the pan sauce. Non-stick gives you no fond and therefore no sauce.

Carbon steel over non-stick: a wok needs to go hotter than any coating survives.

Browns on the stove and braises in the oven in the same pot, which is why it is worth its weight.

Oven to table without a second dish, and the lid is what keeps a long braise from drying out.

Eight litres is the size that takes a chicken carcass and enough water to cover it.

For canning, boils and anything cooked for a crowd outdoors.

Wide and shallow: more surface for browning, less liquid needed to cover.

A collapsible basket fits pots you already own, which is cheaper than a machine that does one thing.

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