Tips For Choosing The Perfect Pasta Pan

For most people, getting homemade pasta dishes to taste restaurant-quality is a tribulation. We've got some tips to help you get there, and it starts with choosing the perfect pasta pan. There are a number of common pasta mistakes you should never make, and the outcome of your dish can be influenced by the finishing technique and the cookware used for it. Professional chefs par-cook pasta, meaning that they partially cook it before finishing it in the sauce. The pasta will boil before being transferred to a pan simmering with sauce or vegetables, where the chef will toss the ingredients together with finesse. Some pans do better than others for this job.

Stainless steel and aluminum pans tend to be the default in Italian kitchens for their heat conduction and durability (not to mention you can just throw them in the dishwasher). It's helpful to have something with more curve than many standard skillets, such as a wok or sauté pan with a handle. The Winco Aluminum Stir-Fry Pan is a solid option with a reasonable price. For a comparable non-stick alternative, go with the Ballarini Salta Pasta. These types of pans are built for simmering and tossing pasta in sauce.

An advanced chef might want more advanced tools, and fancy cookware can be a flex of its own. If you're cooking complex dishes daily, then splurging on a pan might be worth the investment for you. Hestan has received rave reviews for its cookware like the ProBond Stainless Steel pan, while Made In's Blue Carbon Steel Wok is perfect for high-heat stir-fried noodles and pasta alike. Hexclad is Gordon Ramsay's go-to cookware brand, and he's confident enough to have it stocked in Hell's Kitchen.

If you want to make sure your cookware is worth the price tag, think about the complexity of the dishes you're cooking. Are you throwing pre-cooked pasta in a pan with some store-bought sauce, or are you the type of cook who makes pasta and sauce from scratch, going the full mile with every technique? Get whatever makes you happy, but don't feel pressured to spend big on a pan for pasta if it's not something you make all that often. Or conversely, one really good pan might be all you need in the kitchen!