… But not just in any frying pan.
Have you ever been baffled over a recipe such as a paella or couscous that requires a huge cooking receptacle — and you had to use several pots and pans to make do? It’s enough to want to give up before you even start.
For all you space-frustrated cooks out there, I would like to introduce you to a revelatory frying pan/skillet that will change your culinary life. It is the one kitchen item that I cannot function without. This skillet is large, 33-cm (13 inches) wide and 7-cm (3 inches) deep. It has a straight bottom instead of the usual curved skillet bottom. It is so spacious and friendly, it can take anything you throw in it.
Remember Julia Child’s tenet “Don’t crowd the food”? That’s exactly what we’re not doing here – crowding the food. When working with reasonable quantities at a time, the meat and fish will brown nicely, the vegetable will fry easily without getting squished out of form, shape, and texture.
This skillet is also oven proof and can double as a Dutch oven. I’ve made boeuf bourguignon in it, disposing meat cubes and carrots and onions in one layer. It has a matching lid that can also go in the oven. (Just make sure you don’t forget the lid is hot when you take it out.)
Its ability to go in the oven is very handy with fragile items like chicken breasts or fish fillets. In this case, you brown it on the stove, and let it “finish” cooking in the oven while you work on the sauce. This preserves their shape and prevents overcooking.
Using a big skillet can also save on washing up. I use the same skillet to brown the meat or fish, then remove it to sautée vegetables in it. It’s so roomy that I often serve both meat/fish and garnishes together. And the bonus is that it’s attractively designed enough to go directly on the dinner table.
The inside is Teflon coated so take care to use the appropriate utensils. It is completely dishwasher-friendly.
Seafood curry with coriander
This kitchen hero, which I use daily practically to the exclusion of every other pot and pan, comes from IKEA for a modest price of 35 euros (approximately $50). The lid is about 14 euros ($20). Its baptized name is “STIL” in the IKEA catalog.
Be STIL, my heart.
