Pots and pans matter in a professional kitchen just as they do at home. But a pan that works well for one dish may be less useful for another. If you’re choosing cookware for your own kitchen, it helps to understand what the pan is designed to do before following a chef’s recommendation.
Professional cooking calls for different pan shapes, including frying pans, saucepans, sauté pans, braisers, and griddles. Stainless steel, aluminum, carbon steel, cast iron, and non-stick-coated cookware each have different uses and care needs. The right choice depends on the dish, the stove, and the care the cookware needs.
There are two things to compare: the material that the pan is made from and the shape of its cooking surface.
How Do Professional Cookware Requirements Differ From Domestic Cooking?
A restaurant may need to prepare many portions during a service, while a home cook may only be making one meal. That changes how much cookware is needed, but it doesn’t make every restaurant pan suitable for every home kitchen.
Restaurants cater to many customers every day. So, chefs must function quickly and efficiently.
The menu, batch size, and heat source all matter when choosing a pan. A gently simmered sauce needs different treatment from a steak that is being seared.
Durability matters when cookware is used repeatedly, but a durable pan still needs to be handled properly.
For example, cookware manufacturer Vollrath warns against overheating empty pans and putting hot cookware into water. Those precautions still apply in a busy kitchen.
Here is what the main materials and cooking surfaces offer, along with the care each one needs.
1. Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is durable and corrosion-resistant, but it can still become discolored or develop pits. All-Clad’s care guide warns that overheating and direct contact with salt can mark the surface.
An uncoated stainless-steel cooking surface is useful for sauces with ingredients such as tomatoes or wine. Unlike a seasoned carbon-steel surface, it doesn’t depend on a layer of baked-on oil to protect the cooking surface.
Check the care instructions before putting it in the dishwasher. Some stainless-steel cookware requires hand washing, including the collections listed in All-Clad’s stainless-steel comparison.
Stainless steel can be used for browning food, sautéing, and making a sauce from the browned bits left in the pan.
When comparing pans, look at the whole construction, including the cooking surface, handle, and base. A thicker base by itself isn’t a guarantee of safety.
Allow the pan to cool before washing it. A sudden change from a hot pan to cold water can cause warping.
You may also find stainless-steel pans with layers of copper or aluminum in the base or throughout the body.
Those layers help conduct and spread heat. They don’t remove the need to follow the pan’s heat limits.
2. Carbon Steel
Carbon steel is useful for searing and sautéing, and it can develop a seasoned surface that helps food release. If you choose it, allow for regular drying and care of the seasoning.
It can still warp if it heats or cools too quickly, so de Buyer recommends gradual temperature changes. Handle it carefully, and avoid sliding cookware over a glass cooktop, which Whirlpool warns can cause scratches.
After washing a carbon-steel pan, dry it thoroughly and apply a light coat of oil. Its seasoning needs care, and simmering acidic ingredients can wear that seasoning away.
3. Cast Iron
Cast iron holds heat well, which makes it useful for searing and browning. To help it heat evenly, Lodge recommends gradually preheating it on a similar-sized burner.
Bare, seasoned cast iron can rust if it is left wet. Lodge’s care advice is to wash it, dry it completely, and rub on a very thin layer of oil after cooking.
Before choosing it for your own kitchen, consider whether you want to keep up with that washing, drying, and oiling routine.
Enameled cast iron has a different cooking surface. It doesn’t need seasoning, but you still need to follow its heat, utensil, and cleaning instructions to protect the enamel.
4. Ceramic-Coated Pans
Ceramic non-stick is a type of coating. For example, GreenPan explains that its cookware uses a ceramic coating over bodies made from materials such as aluminum or stainless steel.
A coating’s stated heat tolerance is not a reason to cook at maximum heat. GreenPan recommends low to medium heat and softer utensils such as wood or silicone for its ceramic-coated pans.
These pans also need to cool before washing. Gentle cleaning and careful storage help protect the coating, but you shouldn’t assume that its non-stick performance will last forever.
5. Aluminum
Aluminum conducts heat well and can be relatively light. It is used in commercial cookware, including Vollrath’s aluminum ranges, which offer different sizes, finishes, and duty levels.
Check how the pan should be cleaned. For example, Vollrath’s Classic Select instructions call for hand washing and warn that prolonged exposure to salty or acidic foods can damage the cookware.
An aluminum pan may have an uncoated cooking surface or a non-stick coating. Check both the metal and the finish, because the same cleaning method may not suit both.
The material explains only part of how a pan works. Its shape determines how much room you have for food and liquid, and how easily you can stir or turn them.
You may already know that different recipes call for different types of pans.
A saucepan’s high sides are useful for liquids, while a frying pan’s lower sides make it easier to reach and turn food. A sauté pan offers a broad base with straight sides.
Let us explore these different types of pans in closer detail.
Related Further Reading:
- Does the Exterior of Copper Pans Have Teflon?
- Can You Use Pans On A Grill? (Which Pans Can You Use?)
- Do Ceramic Pans Scratch?
What Saucepans Do Professional Chefs Use?
Saucepans have a circular base, high sides, and a long handle. They can hold a good quantity of liquid.
Despite their name, saucepans can be used for more than just sauce preparations. You can use them to make pasta, stews, soups, and curries.
You can also use them for boiling and simmering liquids.
Saucepans come in different sizes and materials. Stainless steel is a useful option for acidic sauces; carbon steel needs more caution because acidic ingredients can damage its seasoning.
Copper conducts heat well, but check the lining of a copper saucepan too. Mauviel distinguishes its stainless-steel-lined and tin-lined cookware, which have different heat and care requirements.
What Frying Pans Do Professional Chefs Use?
Frying pans have a wide, flat base and low, often sloping sides. This shape is useful for searing meat, frying eggs, and sautéing vegetables.
For example, Vollrath’s commercial aluminum fry pan is listed for omelets, crêpes, sautéing, and searing. Check the intended uses of the model you are considering too.
Frying pans are available in aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, and coated versions. Compare the weight and care instructions of the actual pan, since the material name alone doesn’t tell you how easy it will be to handle.
If you choose cast iron, allow time for gradual preheating. Its ability to retain heat can help with browning, but the burner and heating method still matter.
A seasoned cast-iron pan has a layer of baked-on oil that helps food release. That layer can build with use, but you still need suitable heat and a little cooking fat to help prevent sticking.
The names skillet and frying pan are often used interchangeably. A skillet isn’t automatically heavier, larger, or made from cast iron.
If you need to cook a larger quantity, compare the usable cooking area and capacity instead of relying on the name.
Related Further Reading:
- Is It Difficult To Cook With A Pan On A Griddle?
- Preventing Smoke in Pans
- Do Stainless Steel Pans Discolor? (Is It Normal + How To Clean)
- Uncovering Whether or Not Your Baking Pan has Teflon
How Do Griddle Pans Differ From Grill Pans?
In the terminology used by U.S. manufacturers such as Lodge, a griddle has a flat cooking surface with low edges. A grill pan has raised ridges.
The flat surface of a griddle gives pancakes, eggs, and sandwiches room to cook, while the low edges make it easier to get a spatula underneath them.
A ridged grill pan can leave grill marks on meat or vegetables and lets fat collect between the ridges.
Choose the surface that suits what you’re making. A flat griddle and a ridged grill pan serve different purposes, even when a reversible pan combines both.
Cast iron is one option because it holds heat well. Check the size against your burners and follow the maker’s preheating advice rather than assuming that a heavy base will heat evenly on any stove.
What Non-Stick Pans Do Professional Chefs Use?
Non-stick pans do appear in chef recipes. A 2020 black-bass recipe attributed to Anthony Gray of Le Bernardin calls for a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. The recipe was published by cookware maker Made In, and its pan recommendations link to the company’s products.
The coating still needs appropriate care. Follow the instructions for that model, including its heat limit and suitable utensils; All-Clad recommends low to medium heat and softer utensils for its non-stick cookware.
When discussing non-stick pans in professional kitchens, separate what a coating is designed for, how it needs to be cared for, and whether a particular chef has actually recommended it.
Related Further Reading:
- Is it Advisable to Place All Kinds of Pans in a Dishwasher for Cleaning Purposes?
- Can Pans be Used on Induction Hobs?
- Exploring the Disadvantages of Pressure Cookers for Chefs
What Can You Learn From a Chef’s Pan Choice?
A chef’s choice is more useful when you know the dish, the setting, and whether the recommendation was part of a commercial partnership.
The choice for each dish will depend on the quality of construction and material used in the pan.
In HexClad’s July 2021 partnership announcement, Gordon Ramsay described using its stainless-steel and non-stick hybrid pans at home. The same announcement named him as the company’s lead brand ambassador.
That is evidence of what Ramsay said at that time. It doesn’t establish the cookware used in every restaurant associated with him or make the product the best choice for your kitchen.
For Le Bernardin’s 50th-anniversary collaboration in 2022, de Buyer described La Poissonnière as modeled on a carbon-steel pan that Eric Ripert’s team used for fish. Ripert’s own page explains that sales supported City Harvest. The example concerns a particular fish-pan design and a charitable product collaboration.
So if you are reading about Gordon Ramsay’s pans or another chef’s equipment, look for the original recommendation and its context. Then choose a pan that fits the food you cook, your stove, and the care you are willing to give it.
