Even if you don't
spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you become intimate with
the frying pan. What else can you use for mixing a roux, scrambling
eggs, flipping flapjacks, "grilling" cheese sandwiches and
smacking your sig-ot over the head? Here are a few worth getting
to know better.
1. Calphalon Commercial 12-inch Omelette Pan
($80 at Meier & Frank, various locations)
If All-Clad is the Rolls Royce of cookery, think of Calphalon
as a Volvo. Made of heavy-gauge aluminum with a charcoal
satin finish, the Calphalon's surface is 30 percent harder
than stainless steel but smooth as a skating rink. Heat
distributes evenly and the handle stays cool, so you can
leave your ugly pot-holders in the cupboard. Calphalon's
omelette pan is noticeably heavier than its All-Clad counterpart,
making it harder to maneuver and more prone to dish-rack
smashups (it can't go in the dishwasher). But on the stove
it will faithfully sizzle and simmer your food--just what
you'd expect from the second-greatest fry pan around.
2. Farberware Classic Series 12-inch Skillet ($24.99
at Fred Meyer, various locations)
Don't trust non-stick pans? Try Farberware--stainless-steel
forged with sweat in the gothic mills of Pennsylvania. This
pan is made with 18/10 stainless (translation: it includes
nickel, making the metal stronger and shinier) and maintains
its velvet finish long after other non-stick varieties have
hit the scrap heap. Its taller sides mean that you can treat
it like a wok without worrying about spillage and cram it
in the dishwasher when you're done. You'll have to be free
with the oil and maintain a careful watch to prevent food
from sticking (I got burnt hash browns from too many glances
at the TV). But for those of us who can't break the bank
on one pan, this is the skillet to break eggs into.
3. All-Clad Nonstick 12-inch Fry Pan ($120 at Kitchen
Kaboodle, various locations)
When I dream about being a world-class chef, I've got a
French accent, a puffy white hat and an All-Clad
pan at my fingertips. Originally designed to meet the needs
of professional kitchens, All-Clad cookware will bring a
would-be gourmand to tears before she's peeled a single
onion. Layered with anodized aluminum, the All-Clad distributes
heat from the middle to the sides with flawless precision
while leaving its stainless steel handle cold to the touch.
For the price of one All-Clad skillet you could buy an entire
set of pans by a lesser brand, but if you've got the dough,
there's no doubt that this is the best money can buy. Bonus
points: a non-stick finish that's true to its name and is
dishwasher safe.
4. Benjamin & Medwin SuperCast Cast Iron 11 1/2-inch
Skillet
($14.99 at Lechter's Housewares, Lloyd Center, Northeast
Multnomah Street and 9th Avenue, 288-8891)
Fred Flintstone once wrote a love poem to Wilma in which
he described her eyes as "black like frying pans." He was
probably thinking of a cast-iron skillet--after all, it's
been around since the Stone Age. Cooks like cast iron's
even heat distribution. Parents like its built-in RDA of
iron. Simmering homemakers like its function as a weapon.
Cast iron is given to rust (you can't put it in the dishwasher)
and guaranteed to hang on to part of your meal. But at $15,
this is an affordable and durable pan that will not only
outlast your other cookware, it'll outlast you.
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Willamette Week | originally
published January 12,
1999
|
