Tuesday Tips #9: Pots and Pans

As far as I'm concerned a boat needs two pans. A 4 Quart covered casserole pot and a flat griddle.

I had a nice Calphalon pot that finally died after a number of years on land and three on a marine stove so I replaced it with the closest thing I could find in Australia for a reasonable price. This Anolon 5-1/4-Quart Casserole has all the features I like about the one I got except that it is bigger (I don't know why I can't find the 4 quart in the US). It's wide enough that you can use it to brown meat or saute veggies but deep enough to also make soups and pasta. It's both a frying pan and cooking pot. Additionally with this pot there are two other things that I didn't have or utilize with my old pot. First it can go in the oven. That is a definite bonus. One less oven pan I need. The other is that it has silicone handles. I didn't realize how nice this would be but it is great. Sometimes the handles get to hot to hold (especially out of the oven) but most of the time I can just grab it without potholders. Helps me to have a more solid grip and less chance of dropping the pan underway.

As far as a flat griddle is concerned. I'd like to have one that is square and doesn't have a long handle on it but I wasn't able to find one in Australia so I settled for a pancake pan. It does cook the two things that my pot can't... pancakes and quesadillas which are staples on this boat.