A large cast iron Dutch oven is perfect for cooking a large meal or feeding a crowd.  These heavy-duty pots are great for slow-cooking, braising meats, and making soups.  The thick walls and tight-fitting lid of a large cast-iron Dutch oven help distribute heat evenly, making it ideal for simmering and baking.  Their size also makes them perfect for baking bread or making large batches of chili.

While a lid isn’t customary on a French skillet, it shares several characteristics with a sauté pan, so it’s possible to get one with one if you like to preserve the ingredients while cooking.

    When it comes to using a cast iron Dutch oven, the possibilities are endless.  From soups and stews to roasts and breads, this kitchen workhorse can do it all.  Dutch oven ability to evenly distribute heat makes it ideal for slow cooking and stewing, resulting in tender, flavorful dishes.  Plus, the Dutch oven's tight-fitting lid helps lock in moisture and flavor, making it ideal for making delicious one-pot meals.

Pans are one of the most important pieces of equipment in a chef’s arsenal and are used for everything from making sauces to cooking pasta. But what pans do the pros at cooking use in their back-of-the-house action?

Here are two recommended nonstick skillets from CR’s tests.

Because of its wide base, a sauté pan is significantly heavier than the equivalent skillet, often necessitating the addition of a helper handle on the opposite side of the main handle to facilitate lifting and moving. While this weight is no problem when the pan is sitting still on the stovetop or in the oven, the lighter weight of a skillet makes it superior for shaking and stirring to promote even cooking of vegetables or pieces of chopped meat.

A sauté pan’s straight edges and larger surface area make it ideal for tasks like searing meat or reducing pan sauces. A skillet’s sides are slanted. This pan’s slanted edges make it excellent for stir-frying and other quick-cooking methods that require a lot of movement in the pan.

Cast Iron Vegetable Grill Pan

Cast Iron