Why Do Restaurants Use Cheap Looking Pans?

[-Cp]

Use such ghetto cookware? I mean most of it is just plain aluminum pans which always end-up looking like junk in just a short time..

Why don't they use something like All-Clad or Calphalon?

I don't get it... perhaps someone in that biz can enlighten me..

 

[Robo410]

the standard restaurant pan is an 8" saute (fry) 3mm thick aluminum pan. THe heat transfers well, that crud is seasoning and the pans are run through a steam washer in the back. They buy them by the case lot. Your average line cook has trained on them and is quite competant with them. They get tossed around a lot. Beacuse you want your food in a few minutes not in 3/4 of an hour.

SOme small bistros I've been in with open kitchens keep the sauces etc in fine pans, often copper, but still use the line cook pan for everything else. Few restaurants can afford to use fancy pans for all the cooking.

SOme of the older Hotels with long standing kitchens of reputation, had all copper pans. But those were days of cheaper labor and patrons with cash money.

I enjoy using really fine pans at home, but when I go off every year for my R&R at the next prochef course offering, I usually find good ole restaurant pans in the test kitchen.

 

[ArgosGrill]

What do you mean by ghetto? I looked it up in the dictionary and it says it is a part of the city where Jews were forced to live? Are you talking about Jewish or kosher cookware?

 

[Katie H]

What do you mean by ghetto? I looked it up in the dictionary and it says it is a part of the city where Jews were forced to live? Are you talking about Jewish or kosher cookware?

Argos, what -Cp was referring to was the condition the cookware was in. In slang terms, it means kind of cruddy-looking and appears rundown.

 

[ArgosGrill]

Oh its slang? LOL. Well I feel dumb now. Why does ghetto mean rundown? Did the Jews live in rundown places? I remember in history class about the Jews being forced to live on the outskirts of town and in concentration camps during the war but I do not remember it being called a ghetto. Forgive me but hostory was never my strong point. I am pretty good with cars and grilling though!

 

[Katie H]

Oh its slang? LOL. Well I feel dumb now. Why does ghetto mean rundown? Did the Jews live in rundown places? I remember in history class about the Jews being forced to live on the outskirts of town and in concentration camps during the war but I do not remember it being called a ghetto. Forgive me but hostory was never my strong point. I am pretty good with cars and grilling though!

That's okay. We all learn something new every day. Just keep your eyes and ears open. We live in a big world that's gotten even bigger with the advent of the Internet. Cheers!

 

[ArgosGrill]

Living just outside Hogansville Georgia with a whopping population of 2700, the internet has made things a lot bigger. Thanks!

 

[-Cp]

the standard restaurant pan is an 8" saute (fry) 3mm thick aluminum pan. THe heat transfers well, that crud is seasoning and the pans are run through a steam washer in the back. They buy them by the case lot. Your average line cook has trained on them and is quite competant with them. They get tossed around a lot. Beacuse you want your food in a few minutes not in 3/4 of an hour.

SOme small bistros I've been in with open kitchens keep the sauces etc in fine pans, often copper, but still use the line cook pan for everything else. Few restaurants can afford to use fancy pans for all the cooking.

SOme of the older Hotels with long standing kitchens of reputation, had all copper pans. But those were days of cheaper labor and patrons with cash money.

I enjoy using really fine pans at home, but when I go off every year for my R&R at the next prochef course offering, I usually find good ole restaurant pans in the test kitchen.

I'm aware of Aluminum's great heat transfer, but I'm not convinced yet that it's the safest thing to prepare foods on with the potential for health risks associated with aluminum intake, no?

 

[Andy M.]

The health risks attached to aluminum are baseless.

Shortly after the raw aluminum and alzheimer's disease claims were made, they were debunked as wrong. Unforutnately, the retraction never gets the same coverage as the incorrect statement. It just isn't dramatic enough for the evening news.

Raw aluminum will react with acidic foods, discoloring both the pan and the food in it as well as changing the taste for the worse.

 

[foodstorm]

Not trying to cast aspersions on restaurant cookstaff here, but were I a restaurant owner I would have serious concerns that more expensive cookware would go walking out the back door...to be sold on Ebay or Craigslist!

 

[college_cook]

The restaurant biz isn't really a glamorous one, and every kitchen holds a pretty standard attitude of "Make it work with what ya got". Truth be told, your average kitchen saute' pan would be destroyed by the heat of a restaurant stove, oven, or salamander, not to mention grease damage and constant scrubbing. Like robo said, those pans heat very fast, which is important when you need very hot pans very quickly, and they can also take a beating.

I honestly prefer pro kitchen equipment to home use stuff. I find it to be infinitely more durable, and to be quite blunt, I think alot of home cooks buy into the idea that buying expensive "high-quality" cookware can turn them into a higher quality home cook, which is a pretty ridiculous notion. In some circumstances I think the very expensive items might help a novice to be generally more idiot-proof in his own kitchen, but when it comes down to it, there's nothing you can make in a $100 All-Clad something or other that you can't make in the $10 restaurant equivalent, and at least you can treat the $10 pan like its worth $10, and it can take it. It seems like all that nice expensive stuff needs to be babied in order to stay in working order.

 

[Katie H]

The restaurant biz isn't really a glamorous one, and every kitchen holds a pretty standard attitude of "Make it work with what ya got". Truth be told, your average kitchen saute' pan would be destroyed by the heat of a restaurant stove, oven, or salamander, not to mention grease damage and constant scrubbing. Like robo said, those pans heat very fast, which is important when you need very hot pans very quickly, and they can also take a beating.

I honestly prefer pro kitchen equipment to home use stuff. I find it to be infinitely more durable, and to be quite blunt, I think alot of home cooks buy into the idea that buying expensive "high-quality" cookware can turn them into a higher quality home cook, which is a pretty ridiculous notion. In some circumstances I think the very expensive items might help a novice to be generally more idiot-proof in his own kitchen, but when it comes down to it, there's nothing you can make in a $100 All-Clad something or other that you can't make in the $10 restaurant equivalent, and at least you can treat the $10 pan like its worth $10, and it can take it. It seems like all that nice expensive stuff needs to be babied in order to stay in working order.

You mean clothes don't make the man? Interesting comment. I have to agree. If one can't boil water in an expensive pan, then you can't do it in a less costly one.

A well-seasoned pan is a cooks best friend. That's one of the reasons I love my cast-iron cookware. Over 100 or so years it's gotten the best cruddy coat on it. Love it.

 

[auntdot]

Am not a professional cook, heck no. But have been lucky enough to see a few restaurants at work. Just regular restaurants.

Those places had someone who was doing the dishes, which includes cleaning the pots and pans.

And they treated them all gently and would certainly never take steel wool to a pan.

Faugh. Those guys had to get the pans clean and fast. The magic of Calphalon would not last very long. But the good old aluminum pans survive, if not looking all the best for the wear. And they are cheap.

And so they are used.

Which brings me to a point I have stated before. It ain't the cookware that puts out the food, it is the cook. And some of the best restaurant meals I have had were cooked in pots and pans that one could not sell at a garage sale.

Just my two cents.

 

[Dave Hutchins]

I spent three thousand dollars on Swiss Copper pans and had to keep them under lock and key ( big lock ) now I enjoy them at home. I scrounged the good will and the salvation army and bought good qual pans for pennys for the troops to use. I used mine primarily for table side cooking and would not let any body else touch them. Thats why you see so many banged up pots and pans. I worked in one kitchen where every roaster looked like it had been in a battle with Gengis Kahn but they still roasted.

 

[Caine]

And, of course, you can put cheap aluminium pans on your head to keep aliens from reading your thoughts and stealing your recipes. That won't work with stainless.

 

[-Cp]

The restaurant biz isn't really a glamorous one, and every kitchen holds a pretty standard attitude of "Make it work with what ya got". Truth be told, your average kitchen saute' pan would be destroyed by the heat of a restaurant stove, oven, or salamander, not to mention grease damage and constant scrubbing. Like robo said, those pans heat very fast, which is important when you need very hot pans very quickly, and they can also take a beating.

I honestly prefer pro kitchen equipment to home use stuff. I find it to be infinitely more durable, and to be quite blunt, I think alot of home cooks buy into the idea that buying expensive "high-quality" cookware can turn them into a higher quality home cook, which is a pretty ridiculous notion. In some circumstances I think the very expensive items might help a novice to be generally more idiot-proof in his own kitchen, but when it comes down to it, there's nothing you can make in a $100 All-Clad something or other that you can't make in the $10 restaurant equivalent, and at least you can treat the $10 pan like its worth $10, and it can take it. It seems like all that nice expensive stuff needs to be babied in order to stay in working order.

I agree completely - my brother is really into photography and one of the biggest insults he could have is "hey, nice picture you took - you must have a really good camera"...

But that's a bit off-base from my question perhaps..

I guess I was wondering why someone would prefer those "cheap pans" to something a bit nicer like the Calphalon Tri-ply (I use these).. they heat up super fast, deglaze beautifullly and last forever...

 

[ArgosGrill]

I don’t know CP but maybe it is like everyone else has said and that is because in a restaurant they cook 40 or 50 dishes a night while at home you only cook 1. And when you cook that one you have all the time in the world while the restaurant has a few minutes and aluminum is fast to heat up. My grandpa was a cook on a ship and he swore by aluminum for searing and sautes but I hate trying to clean it. I guess he never taught me that secret?

 

[college_cook]

I agree completely - my brother is really into photography and one of the biggest insults he could have is "hey, nice picture you took - you must have a really good camera"...

But that's a bit off-base from my question perhaps..

I guess I was wondering why someone would prefer those "cheap pans" to something a bit nicer like the Calphalon Tri-ply (I use these).. they heat up super fast, deglaze beautifullly and last forever...

I feel like the cheap pans are a better reflection of a good cook. If you can cook in those pans you can cook in anything. I like to know that when I make good food, I don't have to share my success with each layer of my tri-ply pan. Similarly, when I mess up, I don't want to share the blame with my pan. I want me food to be a reflection of my abaility and personality in the kitchen. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[black chef]

i've got de Buyer "white" steel fry pans.

i've got "cheap" aluminum pans.

i've got calphalon nonstick pans... the good ones.

and of course, i've got LOTS of cast iron pans.

the one i use the most = calphalon. they just seem to get hot quick, stay hot, and they are SUPER easy to clean!!!!

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Do you think it may have something to do with the fact that commercial stoves generally put out much higher BTUs than residential stoves so the heat retaining properties of Calphalon and the like are kind of overkill? Probably the cheap aluminum pans heat up just as quickly on commercial stoves as pricey pans. So why pay for expensive cookware you just have to worry about disappearing, etc. if they don't perform any better in the restaurant? And as far as how they look, ours would probably look like that too if we cooked as many meals in them everyday as a restaurant does.