A frying pan is a kitchen appliance (also known as fry pan), which is used for browning, searing, and frying food items. Typically, its size varies from 20 to 30 centimeters, and it comes with a long handle. Larger pans have a smaller handle, along with a longer main handle. In ancient Mesopotamia, copper frying pans were used by the people.
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Originally, frying pans were developed without a lid. Instead of being straight, the sides were little flared outwards. But, over time, the design changed, and the modern frying pans have greater capability (such as non-stick pans), and they’re capable of handling various cooking requirements.
Any frying pan cannot fry thick meat, but it can fry sliced meat and vegetables. Frying pans are especially designed for usage in Chinese foods, which comprise of sauce, sliced vegetables and meat.
Most of the western styled foods are prepared by using frying pan, and it is ideal for browning food items too. Before frying any item with the help of frying pan, the pan should be spread with one table spoon of oil. A bit of oil should be applied on the surface of pan.
Types of Frying Pans
Today, different types of frying pans are available in the market; some of them are mentioned in this post.
Copper Frying Pans
While manufacturing copper frying pans, copper material is used due to its superior heat conducting capability. So, copper frying pans are great conductors of thermal energy, but they are little expensive in comparison to the other frying pans and are highly durable too; their maintenance is very essential for efficient use.
Stainless Steel Frying Pans
These pans are manufactured with high durable stainless steel, which doesn’t require any maintenance. Similar to copper, stainless steel is also superior conductor of heat. However, if it is not sufficiently greased, fried food tend to stick to the surface of pan.
Aluminum Tin Frying Pan
These pans are made of thin aluminum, which is of light in weight as well. Frying on this pan is very easy and its bottom absorbs heat very well. Similar to stainless steel frying pan, food will stick to its surface, when it is not properly greased. Usually, it is used in camping, hiking, and outdoor cooking due to its lightweight nature, and portability.
Teflon Frying Pan
This pan has a specially coated surface to prevent food from sticking on to the surface. One can use this frying pan to fry eggs and meat by applying oil to pan’s surface. If the pan is overheated, coating on its surface gets chipped off, and hence it requires good deal of maintenance. After using the pan, you should not wash it immediately; After it cools down, only then should you try to clean it.
Cast Iron Frying Pan
This frying pan is a traditional one. Despite the fact that these frying pans are highly susceptible to corrosion, the cast iron frying pans are most popular ones, because of these features:
• Uniform heat distribution,
• Affordable Pricing
• Slow-cooking capability, and
• Good conductivity.
How to Maintain a Frying Pan?
If the using frying pan is a cast iron frying pan, then it better not to clean it immediately after cooking. Just wiping the pan with the cloth will avoid the frying pan from getting rusted. If it is washed with water or soap, all its goodness will be ruined.
If the pan is made up of copper, then it should be polished after using whenever you notice tarnish on the surface of pan. The stainless steel frying pans are almost maintenance free.
The Teflon frying pans should not be exposed to high temperatures to avoid chipping of coating from its surface.