As for the skillet, you’ll get the option of a larger cooking surface with more cooking volume due to its slightly deeper depth. This makes it easier to cook large cuts of meat and batches of food.

Characteristics Of Enamel Pot

The benefit of a French skillet is that it is ideal for frying large quantities of food or making stews and sauces that require simmering. Its higher straight sides make it easier to cook with more liquid, while its broader base allows for even heat distribution. French skillets are versatile and can be used for various cooking tasks.

Both pans are typically made of stainless steel, but fry pans often come with non-stick coatings, while French skillets do not.

Types of Dutch Ovens:

The details: While cast-iron frying pans are very familiar, home cooks typically know less about carbon steel pans. But they have all the advantages of cast iron and several more: They’re lighter, heat up faster and more evenly, and can cook a wider variety of foods. That’s why they’re the go-to pan in many restaurant kitchens. If you’ve ever eaten at a steakhouse, your meat was probably seared in a carbon steel frying pan.

How to clean: scrub with a plastic brush, which won't scratch. Before cooking, rub 1/2 teaspoon oil inside to safeguard the nonstick surface.

When a chef cooks, the quality of the dish is determined by more than just the recipe or the chef's expertise. The cookware used plays an important role in the quality of the taste too. 

Best for: Almost any food that needs searing, including steak and burgers. Cast-iron pans are ovenproof, so you can use them to roast meats like beef or pork and to bake cornbread, deep-dish pizza, shepherd’s pie, and more. And they retain heat so well that they’re a good choice for deep-frying chicken, doughnuts, or other foods because they keep the oil at a constant temperature.

The details: Cast-iron frying pans are practically indestructible, and they’re handed down for generations in many families. That makes their typically low price even more attractive. And if well cared for, cast iron develops a patina that releases food almost as well as nonstick. But the pans are heavy, and you have to be patient when heating them up because they don’t come up to temperature fast. Once they do, however, they retain heat.

Our tests of coated and uncoated cast-iron pans show how versatile this cookware can be. We sear steaks, brown scallops, and bake cornbread to see how well a cast-iron pan works for home cooks. The best pans ace all these tests. We also judge how easy they are to clean. Because of the enamel coating, the coated pans are a bit easier to clean than the uncoated ones.

Here are two recommended cast-iron pans from our tests.

Cast Iron Griddle For Grill

Sizzle Pan Material