Sauté pans are deeper than skillets and perfect for cooking dishes that require a little more liquid.

They heat up slowly: Working in a busy kitchen, chefs are on the constant lookout for fry pans and other cookware that can heat up quickly. Sadly, non-stick frying pans disappoint here by exhibiting slow heat transfer due to the Teflon coating. Whereas, the stainless steel pans from The Indus Valley’s latest Tri-ply Stainless Steel cookware range heat up evenly in no time.

Best for: Delicate proteins like fish and seafood, melting sugar, making candy, and sauces.

The details: Copper frying pans are expensive, but they offer superb heat conductivity. That means they heat up quickly and cool down just as fast, giving you more control when you’re making something you have to monitor closely, like a caramel sauce. “They’re at the opposite end of the spectrum from cast iron,” Nitahara says. “Because it heats up and cools down quickly, you can bring a sauce right to the brink, then remove it from the heat before it breaks from the high heat.”

Outdoor and Indoor Cooking: Dutch ovens are versatile enough to be used both indoors and outdoors. They are ideal for preparing campfire meals, as well as for use on stovetops, ovens, and grills, making them a versatile addition to any kitchen or outdoor cooking setup.

Using A Cast Iron Dutch Oven

White Enamel Cookware

Considerations:

Here are two recommended nonstick skillets from CR’s tests.

Harmful Teflon coating: Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which was considered cancerous, has not been a part of teflon production since 2013. Nevertheless, if heated at high temperatures for a long time, the uppermost layer of non-stick pans still releases toxic fumes. This is why chefs are reluctant to use non-stick pans.