Skillet Material Comparison

For more than bacon and eggs

If you have only one pan in your kitchen it should be a nice big skillet. Why should a skillet be the most important pan in a kitchen? Because, the skillet can do it all, make sauces, sauté and even boil pasta.

The best

There are a lot of different skillets to choose from. You will need to select from cast iron skillets, electric skillets and even an oval non-stick le Creuset fired double enamel skillet. So how about some help picking out your most important pan?

For a good all around skillet, the seasoned cast iron skillet is unrivaled for a couple of good reasons. Other materials used for different types of pots and pans have rendered seasoned cast iron obsolete, the skillet is one area where the material still holds its own.

Seasoned cast iron has a natural non-stick quality that is a characteristic of the materials porous nature. It keeps a certain amount of oil cooked into its surface that keeps even eggs from sticking.

Cast iron is also great at conducting heat evenly and gently. These skillets are cast with very thick bottoms that disperse heat through out the cooking surface. This works in concert with the natural non-stick qualities to create a pan that cooks everything from omelets to T-Bones very well.

Cleanup is easy too. After use, you should simply wipe out the pan with a paper towel. Using dish soap or the dishwasher will harm the skillets surface, which is enhanced with each use.

The rest

Many people find the lack of deep cleansing involved in the care of a cast iron skillet alarming. While this is unfortunate I guess it is understandable. Keep in mind heating any pan beyond 180 degrees kills germs on its surface. Having said that, there are a number of very good skillets that can be cleansed on a regular basis.

A favorite of top chefs is the aforementioned le Creuset. It is constructed with cast iron but the exposed surfaces are covered in fired enamel or a non-stick coating.

Another great skillet is the All-Clad skillet. This skillet consists of a stainless steel interior, a pure aluminum core and an outer covering of copper. These are excellent heat conducting skillets.

There is also a number of different copper and aluminum bottomed skillets that are more affordable than the All Clad or the le Creuset but may lack some of those pans cache.

The skillet is a very versatile pan, a skillet savior if you will. You can use them to prepare everything from sausage gravy to pan fried chicken and fish. I also mentioned earlier that you can even use a skillet to boil pasta. Which leads me to my last and best tip. Skillets are good for boiling noodles for one very good reason. The large bottomed pan means that more of the water is being heated directly by the cooking surface, which finishes boiling those noodles in half the time.

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