How To Choose Saucepan Sets

Saucepan sets are an essential part of any chef’s cookware. Whether you cooking soup, boiling vegetables, or making sauces, a chef needs a custom saucepan set for their style of cooking. So how do you choose what types are required? You always need quality saucepans, but the materials used vary depending on your style of cooking. Different types of saucepans have different end results.

If you buy the cheapest saucepan sets, you’re going to end up with aluminum. These are fine for some cooking, but foods such as tomato based sauces, will pick up the metallic taste of the saucepan. Granted, it’s usually slight, but to some tastes it ruins the entire dish. The same can happen with copper in some foods. Nearly every type of saucepan has a drawback.

Stainless steel saucepan sets are the most versatile. They are durable and do not have as many drawbacks as the other types. Their main drawback is that they have the worst heat dispersion. To compensate for this, quality stainless steel saucepan sets are made from multiple layers or “clads.” These layers for copper, aluminum, and other alloys compensate for this, leaving only the outer and inner layers of stainless steel to be exposed. The highest quality sets nearly eliminate the need for saucepans made from other materials.

There are certain types of cooking where heat dispersion is critical. For these, copper sets of saucepans are the best. Nothing handles heat dispersion like copper. Copper also provides a beautiful addition to your kitchen when it is polished. They are expensive, so there is good reason not to buy an entire set. Only buy the sizes that you know you’ll need.

Glass and ceramic lack the durability for any commercial uses, but can double as decent serving dishes in the home. Recently, defects in some of the better known glass brands have revealed that rapid temperature changes can produce a catastrophic failure  of the saucepan. I don’t recommend these when there are so many other shatterproof materials available.

Non-stick Tefal saucepan sets are nice until the non-stick surface is damaged. If it’s overheated or scratched the saucepan is useless and continued use could cause health problems if the material gets into food.

In conclusion, saucepan sets for the beginner are best if they are versatile like stainless steel. Additions can be made for the chef’s preference and cooking style. Avoid buying cheap sets and special materials like glass and nonstick.