Types of pots and pans
Choosing the right pot or sauce pan for cooking.
Choosing what type of pot or pan to cook you are going to buy really depends on what type of meals you normally prepare. For certain dishes you may need a specialty pan. The difference between a good meal and a fantastic meal can all lie in the right frying or roasting pan. Choosing the right kitchen accessory for cooking really does make a difference. Think of it as a carpenter would - you need the right tool - to do the right job.
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OR at Cookware Essentials
Brasier Pots
They are available with or without a lid. Braiser pans look very similar to stockpots, but have lower sides to cook meat. They allow meat to cook slowly like a pot roast.
Casserole dishes
A casserole is a large, deep, covered pot or dish used both in the oven and as a serving dish. The foods usually prepared in this pan consist of vegetables and sometimes meats, pastas, or rice that is cooked slowly in sauce or another liquid.
Chef's Pan
This pan is equipped with a wide mouth and rounded, flared sides that can easily accommodate stirring. The flat bottom and wide mouth helps accelerates the evaporation of liquids. This makes this pan a great choice for sauces, risotto, pastry cream, or anything else that requires constant attention and frequent stirring.
Sauce Pan
Considered a kitchen essential and will usually be the most frequently used pot. Though the name precludes it to be designed for preparing sauces, it is used for cooking fruits, vegetables, soups, and stews.
Double Boiler
This pot is useful for steaming vegetables, meats, and fish. Sometimes it's also used for melting chocolate.
Dutch Oven
Dutch ovens are heavy, relatively deep, pots with a heavy lid, designed to re-create oven conditions on the stovetop. The Dutch oven is wider and shorter than a stockpot.
Pressure Cooker
Pressure cookers look like other kitchen pots, except their lids are a bit more elaborate. This pot helps to reduce cooking time by as much as 50% without destroying the nutritional value of the food. You can cook anything in the pressure cooker, although it is better suited for foods that require long cooking times.
Stock Pot
Stockpots are really just bigger sauce pans and canbe used to cook the same items, just more of it.
Paella Pan
This traditional Spanish cooking pan is typically used to prepare paella (pronounced pah-AY-ah), a rice dish usually including vegetables and meat and/or seafood.
