Don't ignore your pots and pans - they can make or break a kitchen

Nation's Restaurant News, August 14, 1989 by Patts Patterson

Don't ignore your pots and pans -- they can make or break a kitchen

Kitchen utensils, primarily pots and pans, play an important role in the kitchen. Yet they're frequently the most abused and ignored tools of the kitchen staff. That is particularly true in kitchens where personnel turnover is high.

Take a good look at your kitchen utensils. Are they in good condition, or do they show the ravages of heavy use and neglect?

It's surprising to see so many warped skillets, bent pans, and out-of-shape stockpots whose lids no longer fit tightly. But most operators react by saying: "They work okay. Nobody complains. Why change them?"

The reason to change is that pots and pans in good condition work better than those that are warped, dented, out of shape, or missing parts. I was recently in a kitchen where a worker was struggling with a large, loaded stockpot that was missing one handle. At one point I became convinced that the contents were about to end up on the floor, but the worker narrowly averted disaster at the expense of a burned hand and a lot of cussing.

Warped skillets, omelet pans, and braising pans are most commonly found in kitchens using natural gas as the heating source. In electric kitchens those pans wouldn't make contact with the burner. As a result, they'd quickly be discarded and replaced. With gas, however, warping doesn't make that much difference in heating. But frequently it does make a big difference in the results produced by the pan.

Today's kitchens have shown a tendency to move to lighter pans that are easier for the kitchen staff to handle. At the same time they are usually more susceptible to warping and damage than their older, heavyweight predecessors.

It is virtually impossible to warp a cast-iron skillet. And heavy aluminum stockpots sometimes seem almost indestructible. Heavy-duty utensils are still available. And they do an admirable job. But many kitchens are opting for lighter-weight equipment for two reasons. It's easier for workers to handle, especially with the increasing number of women working in commercial kitchens. And it's less expensive.

The only problem is that many lightweight utensils are more easily damaged by hard usage and warp from high heats.

Stainless steel is a favorite, because it does not tarnish or rust. But it is a poor heat conductor. A plain stainless-steel pot or pan tends to have "hot spots," which makes food cook unevenly and stick and scorch.

Aluminum is a good conductor of heat. Copper is another. As a result, many manufacturers clad the bottoms of their stainless-steel pans with either aluminum or copper.

That layer of heat-conducting metal bonded to the bottom of the pot or pan conducts the heat evenly over the entire area and provides even cooking without hot spots.

Another method of improving the heat conductivity of stainless steel is to make a sandwich of two thin sheets of stainless with a middle layer of aluminum. Although that is somewhat heavier than a plain bottom-clad pot, its manufacturers claim better heat distribution and stronger utensils, less liable to be dented or deformed in use.

Of course you can still buy sturdy pots and pans, which conduct heat evenly without the addition of cladding or extra metals. Thick aluminum pots do the job admirably. So do cast-iron utensils, particularly skillets, often called "spiders" by old-timers.

The reason for the name spider is that in earlier times before gas and electric heating, much cooking was done on an open hearth. It was discovered that by casting a skillet with three legs, like a tripod, it would set above the fire and not tip over. The legs reminded cooks of the day of a spider, so a cast-iron skilled still carries the name, even though none has been produced with legs since the last century.

Copper pans are made, but they require a lining of a more inert metal, such as tin, to keep certain foods, especially acid ones, from changing color or developing an off- taste from the copper. The problem is that the soft tin lining is fragile and will soon wear away from the use of spatulas and scouring pads. Relining is expensive and not much more effective than the original lining.

Some manufacturers are providing copper pans with stainless-steel lining, often called "bimetal" utensils. In reality they are thin stainless-steel utensils with an overall layer of copper bonded to the outside. The stainless lining will not wear away, even under heavy use and frequent scouring, but many operators dislike the pans because the copper exteriors require frequent polishing to keep them from oxidizing to a dark, and usually mottled, appearance.

There is also at least one manufacturer that produces a line of copper pots and pans with an aluminum lining. That is said to have more even heat conductivity than either copper or aluminum alone.

There are still some pots and pans, particularly sauce pans and frying pans or skillets, made from plain mild steel. They require care to keep from rusting, but the advantage is that when heat is reduced, the pan does not retain it. Thus, such pans may be used as substitutes for works to do stir-frying.