Need a new pan for my sauce

[jcv]

I have mostly cheap cookware and I make do. I have a non-stick skillet I use for making this great "pink sauce" for chicken and pasta that my family loves. It's about time to toss the thing and I want to get a better pan for the job. I want to eventually get some cast iron stuff but I assume stainless would be better for this job because of the ingredients (tomato sauce). It will also be the pan I use for browning ground beef.

So is stainless the way to go? Can I get something fairly inexpensive that will do the job?

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

 

[Siegal]

I have mostly cheap cookware and I make do. I have a non-stick skillet I use for making this great "pink sauce" for chicken and pasta that my family loves. It's about time to toss the thing and I want to get a better pan for the job. I want to eventually get some cast iron stuff but I assume stainless would be better for this job because of the ingredients (tomato sauce). It will also be the pan I use for browning ground beef.

So is stainless the way to go? Can I get something fairly inexpensive that will do the job?

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

I would not go with cast iron. It may be me and my lack of cast iron skills but I always get pieces of black seasoning coming off in my sauce and you will need a lot of oil to fry onions or whatever u put in the sauce....
But if you want to sear a steak it's the best pan to have

 

[sparrowgrass]

Is the non-stick-ness important to you? If so, I would go for another inexpensive non-stick pan. If not, buy the heaviest stainless you can afford--thin ones warp. No recommendation on brands, but when I was buying new pans, I got them from Amazon warehouse. I got some great deals on Calphalon, which are aluminum but quite sturdy.

Now, let's have that recipe for pink sauce!!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

If you heat your stainless steel dry, with no oil in it, then add oil when the pan is heated, it's very close to non-stick in performance, and ease of cleanup. Plus, it sears meats beautifully, if you have the pans with the encapsulated aluminum or copper bottoms under the stainless.

I just stay away from non-stick as it isn't durable enough, and then there's that degraded teflon chip thing.


If cast iron is seasoned properly, there is no problem with cooking acidic foods, such as tomato, in pans and pots made from it. And it'll last forever. But then again, I would think good SS should last a lifetime or two as well. Stick free, even the best has a limited life.

Seeeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Andy M.]

I think SS is a great choice as it's durable and non-reactive. I strongly recommend tri-ply SS. That gives you the uniform heat distribution of aluminum protected by the outer shell of SS. Lots of brands.

 

[Bigjim68]

IMO making a sauce and browning meat are two different cooking techniques and require two different pans. I would get a cast iron skillet, preferably vintage, both for cost and quality, and a sauce pan of your choice, generally stainless steel.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I was surprised to watch my SIL make a long slow cooked tomato sauce in her CI dutch oven. She says that's what she always uses. She scrubs it out with hot soapy water. The pan looks fine.

I recommend if you buy a stainless steel pan that you make sure it has a heavy duty bottom. I kind of like the looks of this pan. A wee bit pricey though.

Calphalon AccuCore 5-qt Dutch Oven Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Copper at Calphalon Store

 

[GotGarlic]

I was surprised to watch my SIL make a long slow cooked tomato sauce in her CI dutch oven. She says that's what she always uses. She scrubs it out with hot soapy water. The pan looks fine. [/url]

I only use my non-stick pan for eggs and crepes. Before I got my Le Creuset Dutch ovens, I used a cast-iron Dutch oven or skillet to make lasagna and spaghetti sauces, no problem. If any iron leached into the food, I considered it a dietary supplement

DH gave me a set of Calphalon saucepans and skillets for Christmas a few years ago, and I love them. I haven't used this brand, but other people here have said Tramontina works well for them and it's less expensive.

 

[CharlieD]

I never had good luck with SS, but in all the truth I never really cook those days either, just here and there, sometimes. So maybe I simply did not know what I was doing at the time.
As far a very good non-stick, I'd recommend to get one from Sam's club, they have them in commercial style, in all kind of sizes, dirt cheap, but very good quality.

 

[Andy M.]

IMO making a sauce and browning meat are two different cooking techniques and require two different pans. I would get a cast iron skillet, preferably vintage, both for cost and quality, and a sauce pan of your choice, generally stainless steel.

True but...

If you're browning ground beef for a tomato-based meat sauce, you probably don't want to dirty two pans.

 

[salt and pepper]

Here is my thought:

 

[Andy M.]

That's what I use to make a quick sauce.

 

[justplainbill]

IMO making a sauce and browning meat are two different cooking techniques and require two different pans. I would get a cast iron skillet, preferably vintage, both for cost and quality, and a sauce pan of your choice, generally stainless steel.

+1
Cleanup of cast iron used for searing is a breeze and the acid from tomato based sauces facilitates cleanup of stainless pots. A squat (low ratio of height to diameter) tri-ply, like the All-Clad Stainless Steel 6 Qt Deep Saute Pan, is my favorite for making sauce. I cook a 14-serving batch of sauce which is frozen in 2-serving (2.5 cup) containers, turning a morning's work into a weeks worth of meals for 2 people.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

If you heat your stainless steel dry, with no oil in it, then add oil when the pan is heated, it's very close to non-stick in performance, and ease of cleanup. Plus, it sears meats beautifully, if you have the pans with the encapsulated aluminum or copper bottoms under the stainless.
...

Good advice! Thanks Chief, I'm going to put this to a good test, since I have no very very ample no-stick pans, only a couple of stainless steel ones.

Ciao
Luca

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I came across this site - American Made Kitchen Products while we surfing. Check out the different, high quality kitchen stuff. The site showcases different brands of all sorts of things.

Warning, you might find yourself spending a couple hours perusing all that's offered. I was amazed at just how much really good looking stuff is made by artisans here in the good old USA. I might have to check this site out for unique Christmas and birthday presents.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[powerplantop]

If you heat your stainless steel dry, with no oil in it, then add oil when the pan is heated, it's very close to non-stick in performance, and ease of cleanup. Plus, it sears meats beautifully, if you have the pans with the encapsulated aluminum or copper bottoms under the stainless.

I love to cook with Stainless. The trick to foods not sticking is to have the pan hot before putting food in. The oil can go into a cold pan or a hot pan. But if you put it into a cold pan you have to watch it and make sure that it does not burn.