Cookaholics Bulletin Board

So the one pan I don't have is a braiser -- I have 2 LC dutch ovens and then various french skillets, fry pans, saute pans, etc. But I'm tired of my stir-fries usually spilling over the edges of my skillets, plus sometimes it would just be nice to have a more rounded shaped pan with higher sides. I'm leaning toward getting an LC either on eBay or at the LC outlet. Would appreciate any thoughts!

Emilie

My favorite pan and most-used is my AllClad 3 qt. sauté pan.
Maybe for you you might need a 4-qt.
I like it way more than any skillets because of the higher sides.
I wouldn't use LC for this purpose because of its weight, too heavy, although I love all my LC ovens.

Well, for stir fry I normally use a Du Buyer Country Fry Pan, which has very nice high sloped sides and is getting seasoned enough to be fairly non-sticky (I don't use it enough to get it super seasoned).

Doesn't have a lid, so use as a braiser may be limited. But is a great stir-fry pan.

I think if you want to use it on the stove-top, you might be happier with stainless. Cast iron is great for the oven, but good stainless is more responsive on the stove-top. Google "everyday pan" and see if that would better suit your purposes.

Love the DeBuyer but why not a wok?

fitzie

I have a Calpholon everyday pan in anodized aluminum, and it works well for stir fries and braises in the oven.

I agree that an LC would not be ideal. I use this one most of the time for stir fries. If I am making more than that pan holds (which is a lot, really nice big bottom surface) I then use my 5 qt hard anodized (url=http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-Non-Stick-Hard-Anodized-Saute/dp/B00NZF9LNE/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1432840489&sr=1-2&keywords=cuisinart+hard+anodized] like this one [/url]. The cover from the saute pans fits the 12" skillets. I have a couple of woks, but not worth the trouble imho. I have the above pans both in hard anodized and multi clad SS.

Thanks so much for the opinions/suggestions! That's the beauty of this board. I'll definitely look into the options mentioned!

Emilie

No particularly good reason. I had the country pan and a wok, used the country pan for certain things, the wok for stir fry. The wok got seriously damaged (accident in a small kitchen flood, it got water in it and I didn't discover till quite some time later), so I just started using the DeBuyer all the time; it works well. I think for very small quantities the wok would be better (too much space on the bottom of the DeBuyer), but otherwise I'm happy with it. I'm not a stir fry master by any means, so likely would not use the distinct advantages of a wok anyway (nor have the massive BTU's, though 17,000 is not bad for wokery)

My wok got donated because it didn't get used; not enough bottom surface to really cook much. We used a 12" sauté pan instead and liked the results better.