tools for. This is, of course, just a more complicated way of
saying, “Don’t be stupid.” And that’s good advice for all
walks of life, whether or not they involve homogenized
emulsions of butterfat, water, phospholipids, and milk
proteins
All of this is just a roundabout way of saying that the
physical hardware you stock your kitchen with is just as
important as the ingredients you choose or the techniques
you use when you cook. Good equipment is the third side of
the Triforce of cooking: good ingredients + good equipment
- good technique = good food.
POTS AND PANS
Now that we know all about heat transfer, let’s talk about
the tools we use to transfer heat from a heat source (your
burner or your oven) to your food. I’m talking pots and
pans. There’s a stunning array of sizes and types available
intended for a variety of uses, some of them highly
specialized (think long, narrow fish poachers or tall, skinny
asparagus pots), and others much more versatile. Unless
you’re the type who poaches fish and boils asparagus for
every single meal, the latter are the type you should go for.
Materials
When it comes to the performance of the given material in a
pan, there are really two things that matter: its ability to
distribute heat evenly across its entire surface (its
conductivity) and its ability to retain heat and transfer it
efficiently to food (its specific heat capacity and density).