Any cook looking for the cast iron skillet can possibly agree with this statement and any cook that ever used this skillet knows how to season this skillet and is also familiar with the washing restriction of this skillet as Freyer describes. Unfortunately, even though it is hard to argue with these subjective opinions about Teflon company or the use or longevity of the skillet, the buyer or reader doesn’t really know what size of the skillet he or she is purchasing. The buyer also doesn’t know the brand name of the skillet, nor what kind of condition this skillet really is. Someone searching for this type o0f auction on E-bay would probably prefer to know the year, the brand, the condition, and the size of the skillet described in more objective posts I found on today’s E-bay posts. In contrast, the Freyer description to this objective description included the brand named vintage “Wagner”, specified the 6 ½ “ in size across, the 10 ¼” from handle to the rim, and the fact that is not showing any sign of rust or warping. When looking for good cast iron skillet that last a lifetime, the buyer still wants to know what he is purchasing as it comes to size, brand and the condition of the skillet, therefore the current E-bay auction in my opinion would be more

imesh supply professional and honest service.

Call it a first world problem, buying the right fry pan can be a very difficult task especially with so many different brands, prices, shapes, sizes, materials and features available in the cookware market.  We receive hundreds of calls a year from customers all experiencing the same difficulty in deciding the right fry pans or fry pan set for their home, so we have put together this post to help you decide on the right fry pan for your kitchen.

1. “What size should I choose?”

When we receive calls from our customers needing advice to help them choose the right fry pan, we always ask ‘What foods do you cook and how many people do you cook for frequently?’

To give an idea of fry pan sizes and their uses we have created the following chart:

10-12cm Diameter Frypan AKA Mini or Miniature Frypan

Serves: 1

Use: For oven to table serving. Can be used for making a single fried egg or egg benedict and when multiple are used at once, serving a number of sauces, a single portion of fried mushrooms, tapas portions or as a substitute for ramekins for oven baked puddings and desserts.

 Advantages: Popular with caterers, restaurants, cafes or for entertaining at home these individual fry pans make great presentation pieces which is why they are so popular in the hospitality industry. Their small size make it convenient to handle.

Disadvantages: The small diameter means it is very limited in the ingredients that it can cook and is only suitable for one person. If cooking for a number of people, a number of these are required and limit to recipes where they are placed in the oven together. We don’t recommend this as an everyday frypan choice.

20cm Diameter Frypan

Serves: 1-2

Use: 1-2 fried eggs or individual omelettes that can be transferred straight to plate. Works well on small gas hobs allowing for more control of heat when cooking. Also great for frying up family portions of chopped mushrooms or onions, truss tomatoes and other small ingredients. A great day-to-day frypan for couples.

Advantages: Can be used on small hobs, easy to handle and clean in a small sink. Doesn’t take up much storage which is great for those who have limited space in their kitchen. For families that have older kids, this is a great breakfast frypan for making breakfast with the spouse or for the teens to use if they like making their own individual breakfasts. Dishwasher safe frypans of this size are generally easy to fit in your dishwasher for easier cleaning.

Disadvantages: Limited in the amount of portions and size of ingredients that can be cooked. Proteins like steak, fish and poultry may not fit the pan unless sliced or diced. The depth of these size pans might be an issue where juices aren’t dispersed widely that can effect the texture of some foods.

 24-26cm Frypan

Serves: 2-3

Use: As with the 20cm frypan, these are great for making eggs and generally have slighter greater depths making them ideal for scrambled eggs, frying asparagus or corn cobs and slightly larger portion sizes. Can also be used for frying proteins like steaks, fish, chicken fillets, lamb chops or bacon strips.

Advantages: Their wider diameter allows them to be used effectively on medium size hobs for greater heat dispersion and accommodate larger portion sizes. They are also relatively easy to handle.

Disadvantages: For families or making servings of 4 or more, this size fry pan will not be ideal. There is also some limitation in the size of steaks or kinds of fish that you can cook effectively with this sized pan.

26-28cm Frypan

Serves: 2-4

Use: This is the most versatile sized frypan where it is small enough for cooking for 1-2 people while being large enough to create serves of some foods for up to 4 people. Can be used for frying vegetables and proteins both whole or sliced and chopped.

Advantages: Versatile size makes it great for families of 4 where both individual or family-sized portions can be made. Works well on both medium and large hobs.

Disadvantages: The great size really means that there are limited disadvantages for this size frypan. Not ideal for use with small hobs as even heat distribution is difficult to attain across the entire pan. For family portions, it may be too small for cooking that number of large steaks, pork chops or salmon fillets. Some people may find them slightly difficult to handle, particularly with cast iron frypans of this size.

30-32cm Frypan

Serves: 4-6

Use: These large frypans are most commonly bought by those cooking family sized portions or those that love to fry whole fish and other large foods.

Advantages: Ability to cook large portions for families or when entertaining. Perfect for cooking whole fish like snapper, large t-bone steaks and pork chops.

Disadvantages: Suitable for large hobs only, can be very heavy and hard to handle for those with smaller hands. For those that may experience difficulty with such sizes, we recommend you consider the frypans that have a second handle especially if you want to use it in your oven too.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website how to measure frying pan.

2. "Which frypan material is best?"

Deciding the frypan based on the material composition can also be a tough one, many people also swear by a certain kind of frypan with surfaces made of cast iron, non-stick Teflon or titanium, stainless steel or carbon steel. There are also combination of stainless steel with aluminium, such as those by Scanpan which use stainless steel to envelope aluminium cores in the bases of their pans to ensure efficient and even heat conductivity. It really is a decision based on personal taste and to make it easier below is the list of materials and their advantages and disadvantages.

Non-Stick

Nonstick frypans offer convenience in that they are usually very easy to clean as their surfaces allow for food to easily release and aren’t absorbed deeply into the pan. They are commonly chosen by those that prefer to use as little oil as possible when cooking which is ideal for those that are health conscious or dieting. Lately non-stick has seen negative attention by the media as it has been found that some non-stick coatings can release unhealthy fumes when used on high heat. We recommend should you purchase non-stick cookware that you make sure to cook it on a low to medium heat only to ensure healthy cooking and to maximise the life of the non-stick cookware.

Advantages:

• Easy to clean
• Light weight and easy to handle
• Healthy cooking - requires little oil when cooking

Disadvantages: