As we know, Saucepans are the cookware that has high walls meant for sauces and cooking recipes with high liquid content. The Heavy Bottom Saucepan is a specific type of saucepan that can actually improve your cooking.
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What Is A Heavy Bottom Saucepan?
Most saucepans have bottoms and sides that are the exact same thickness. However, some saucepans are built with extra thickness at the base. These are commonly referred to as heavy bottom saucepans.
There are no particular measurements or weight ratios that define a heavy bottom saucepan, but you will be able to feel the extra weight if you were to pick one up.
Why use a Heavy Bottom Saucepan?
Professional chefs use heavy bottom saucepans almost exclusively. The benefits that food cooks more evenly, with less chance of burning, in a heavy bottom saucepan. This is for one main reason: heat is distributed more evenly with a heavy bottom saucepan.
Even Distribution of Heat
Heavy bottom saucepans are the pans that take heat from the flame and distribute it evenly. How hot are gas stoves? Over 3,000 Degrees Fahrenheit! Distributing this heat evenly across the bottom of the pan, preventing hot spots, means that the food in the pan will be exposed to heat evenly, and thus cook evenly.
This actually allows the chef to pay less attention to the dish being prepared in a heavy bottom saucepan. There won’t be a spot or two of food that is burning, or any spots that aren’t cooking enough, because all of the food is exposed to the same amount of heat. Regular saucepans are much hotter right where the flame is touching the pan, and much cooler where it isn’t. Therefore cooks will need to stir less often, and any moment of inattention will likely not result in a burned spot with a heavy bottom saucepan.
Since the thick bottom gives space between the flame and the cooking surface, the thickness of the base protects food from burning as well.
Apart from uniformity, the heavy bottom also ensures constant heating of food. The extra mass holds the heat longer and keeps the heat going well despite some changes in the flame/heat from time to time.
Once removed from heat, your food will stay warmer, longer, in a heavy bottom saucepan than in a regular saucepan. Of course, you need to keep this in mind if you need your food to stop cooking; you may need to get it out of the saucepan more quickly than you would with a rapidly cooling regular saucepan.
The improved distribution of heat with a heavy bottom saucepan means that cooking easily burned foods, such as dairy, sugar, custards, and many sauces, will be much easier than with a regular saucepan.
Heavy Bottom Saucepan – Expensive but Worth It!
A good heavy bottom saucepan will cost more than a regular saucepan.
This is because every aspect of manufacturing and selling a heavy bottom saucepan costs more than with a regular saucepan.
There is more material used to make a heavy bottom saucepan.
The manufacturing process is more complicated and thus more expensive than with regular saucepans.
The extra weight means that more heavy duty packaging must be used; this applies to both retail packaging as well as the packaging used for shipment.
The extra weight also means that shipping costs are significantly higher for heavy bottom saucepans. This extra cost is felt when raw materials are sent to the factory, when the pan is shipped to a warehouse or wholesaler, and also when the pan is shipped to a store or to you.
If you are a chef or simply love to cook, the added expense will provide years of easier cooking with better results.
Also, thanks to modern manufacturing techniques, the price difference is much less than in the past.
Two Value Priced Heavy Bottom Saucepans
These are two of my favorite, readily available, reasonably priced saucepans; both are available from Amazon:
- HIGH QUALITY MATERIAL: This 2.5 quart saucepan is manufactured with food grade 304 stainless steel featuring an impact-bonded base allowing for fast and even heating.
- FEATURES: The stainless steel pot features a classic straight-sided and drip-free pouring design. Riveted to the pan is a stay-cool stainless-steel perfect-grip handle, allowing for comfortable handling during cooking. The handle design for this kitchen pot is comfortable for easy carrying and pouring. The rivets secure the handle firmly to the pan—safe and durable.
- GLASS LID: The glass lid with loop handle helps retain heat and moisture for more flavorful results—every time you cook. Easily monitor your cooking task with the clear tempered glass lid. Glass lids are used by most professional chefs in commercial kitchens.
- IDEAL CHOICE: This Duxtop cooking pot is suitable for induction, gas, electric and halogen cooktops—perfect for even the most seasoned cooks. Use it as a milk pot, boiling pot, noodle pot, soup pot, sauce pot, and more!
- GUARANTEE: This stainless steel cookware is oven-safe to 550°F (glass lid is oven safe to 400℉). Dishwasher-safe. Freezer-safe for food storage. Limited lifetime warranty as well as customer service.
- LATEST TECHNOLOGY: Precision engineered 304 quality 18/10 mirror finished 0.7mm Stainless Steel with Tri-Ply thermo capsulated base.
- EVEN HEATING: Eco-Plus system is extra 3 ply-base which saves energy and gives you right amount of heat for your cooking needs. Heats up faster and delivers reliable, even heating every single time.
- OVEN SAFE: Cook like a pro with Saflon Sauce Pan that is oven safe up to 500°F (400°F with Tempered Glass Lid)
- DISHWASHER SAFE: The Saflon sauce pan has easy grip cool touch handles with easy pour edge and dishwasher-safe.
- ALL STOVE TOPS: Suitable for all stove tops, electric, gas, ceramic, halogen and induction. Easily store your Saflon Stainless Steel Sauce Pan in a bonus storage bag included.
New, Modern, Design: Heavy Bottom and Sides
A few manufacturers, including All-Clad, have taken the idea of a heavy bottom saucepan and literally continued the heavy, thick base all the way up the sides. You get all of the benefits of a heavy bottom saucepan with these designs, plus more evenly heated sides.
I really like this All-Clad design, which I call a Heavy Saucepan:
- Features high, straight sides to assist with stirring a smaller surface area to hold heat and limit evaporation - perfect for making sauces or heating liquids
- 5-ply bonded construction with stainless steel, aluminum, and a thick copper core for fast and even heating, warp-free strength, and ultimate responsiveness
- Highly polished stainless-steel cooking surface offers superior stick resistance for easy maintenance with flared edges for drip-free pouring
- Longer, riveted stainless-steel handles contoured for a comfortable grip and vented to stay cool with stainless-steel lid to match
- Compatible with all cooktops including induction, and oven and broiler-safe up to 600°F. To avoid small white dots or pits from forming in your pan, bring liquids to a boil or wait until food starts to cook before adding salt
Conclusion
Thank you for reading about Heavy Bottom Saucepans! If you are a chef or if you cook regularly, you will be surprised at how much better cooking can be if you own one.
Because Heavy Bottom Saucepans are so useful, you may end up with burnt on food on yours ever now and again. There are simple techniques for cleaning burnt saucepans.
Last update on 2023-06-04 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
