While sticking to a certain recipe and using high-quality ingredients is important for crafting tasty meals, so is choosing the correct cookware material for your dishes. And while you can fry an egg in a cooking pot or heat a soup in a frying pan, it won’t be easy, trust me. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or an experimental home cook, having the right cookware is essential for fulfilling your culinary tasks successfully. 

What Should I Look For in Cookware?

When searching for durable and easy-to-use cookware in Australia, you’ll find a wide range of pots and pans for different cooking chores. Understanding the materials they’re made of is essential for picking correctly. Cooktop compatibility, choosing pieces you’ll regularly use and what you cook are other crucial factors to consider.

Examine the Material

Select a cookware type that is appropriate for the cooking methods you use. Sautéed food, for example, works best in pans with rapid heat transfer. Pots for braising food must retain heat for prolonged periods. Additionally, since white sauce and tomato sauce react with metal, you should not cook them in aluminium or copper cookware that isn’t lined. 

Stainless Steel

Durable, traditional, uncoated stainless steel works well for braising and browning. Stainless cookware, which is frequently offered in sets, is a kitchen workhorse that can handle anything from pasta sauce to pickling.

Pros:

• Sturdy
• Low maintenance and inert to food
• Offers even and quick heating
• Induction cooktop compatible and frequently magnetic
• Oven, broiler, and dishwasher safe (based on handle material)

Cons:

• Difficult to clean at times; you may still want one or more nonstick pans if you go with uncoated, and vice versa

Nonstick

Nonstick cookware is coated with a ceramic or synthetic chemical to keep food from sticking and to ease cleanup. Quality nonstick coatings hold up well and release even the most delicate foods, like pancakes and eggs, with ease. They’re a good option for low-fat or nonfat dishes because they require little to no oil.

Pros: 

• Easy to clean
• Cooking with less oil means consuming less fat overall
• Most pieces are perfect for use on any kind of cooktop, including induction, depending on the primary material, which is usually aluminium
• Oven-safe up to 260° C for the most part, but consider the material of the handle

Cons:

• There are claims that non-stick cookware is harmful. PFOA, the “danger chemical” that everyone is trying to stay away from, was first discovered in Teflon pans back in the early 2000s and has since been connected to immunological deficiencies and cancer. However, the truth is that it has been outlawed for a long time, and any pan made after 2013 will not have this nonstick coating. It’s okay to use non-stick cookware as long as you know how to take care of it. And you can find nonstick cookware in Australia free of PFOA from trustworthy stores.
• While some manufacturers now assert that their pans are safe to use with metal utensils, some pans still scratch easily. Generally speaking, food doesn’t brown well in them. Furthermore, even though these pans are advertised as dishwasher-safe, their lifespan may be shortened by the dishwasher’s high heat and abrasive detergent.

Uncoated Cast Iron

An excellent nonstick cookware alternative. You can heat the incredibly durable cast iron to temperatures that will brown meat. Moreover, it can tolerate oven temperatures much higher than those thought to be safe for nonstick cookware.

Pros: 

• Classic and durable
• Easily transfers from stovetop to oven, allowing you to finish cooking a roast in the oven after it has been seared
• Some uncoated cast iron pans come already seasoned

Cons: 

• It needs to be seasoned, or rubbed with several layers of oil to prevent rusting
• Some iron skillets cook food unevenly
• Cleaning can be difficult at first, but the process becomes simpler with seasoning
• Reseasoning with oil is necessary occasionally
• Dishwasher not recommended
• They can rust in a moist environment if not seasoned

Enameled Cast Iron

These traditional, vibrant pieces are perfect for searing, sautéing, browning, and frying. They move easily from your stovetop or oven to your dining table. Covered appliances such as Dutch ovens are ideal for roasting, braising, stewing, and slow-cooking meat.

Pros: 

• Heats up gradually, uniformly, and efficiently
• Acidic substances do not react with a durable coating. 
• Oven-safe to 260°C
• Dishwasher-safe
• Corrosion resistant

Cons:  

• Heavy, and when filled with food, it becomes even heavier 
• Dutch ovens with small handles can be difficult to move from stovetop to oven
• Enamel can chip

Choose Your Pieces

If you’re creating a set of cookware from scratch, you will need a stockpot, various skillets and pots, and lids that fit your cooking style and serving size. Manufacturers count lids that fit multiple pieces of cookware in a set as one piece when they are packaged in sets. If you use only a few pieces and the rest are just taking up space in your cabinet, then a set with more pieces may not be the best option. 

Match Your Cookware to Your Cooktop

Finally, think about how your cooktop and new cookware work together. A smooth top range requires non-warping pans with a flat bottom. Even though gas ranges are a little more forgiving, the pan’s bottom and the burners should still make good contact. Using an induction cooktop requires using magnetic cookware. When you shop in-store, carry a magnet with you; a piece is compatible with an induction cooktop or range if it adheres to the bottom. When shopping online, ensure to read the specs carefully.

Consider What You Cook

Your selection of pots and pans will depend on what you cook regularly. For example, you’ll want a cast-iron skillet that promotes even browning if you frequently sear meat. Nonstick frying pans work best for delicate dishes like fish, pancakes, and scrambled eggs. And almost any food that needs to be seared or browned can be cooked in stainless steel.

While a stock pot works well for soups and pasta boiling, a Dutch oven is a better option if you prefer to cook stews or sauces slowly. You can even bake bread, boil, brown and braise in a Dutch oven, which can be effortlessly moved from the stovetop or oven to the table. You can use a multipurpose Dutch oven to cook nearly anything.