Searing and Browning: The large cooking surface of big black cast iron skillets provides ample space for searing and browning meats, creating a desirable crust and locking in juices for flavorful results.
- Moreover, a red cast iron grill pan is not limited to stove-top use. It's oven-safe, enabling you to transition seamlessly from stove to oven, opening up a world of recipe possibilities. From stir-fries and pancakes to roasts and casseroles, this pan can handle it all.
Frying pans are a bit more expensive than French skillets.
The details: These pans solve the frustration of food sticking, and they require little oil for cooking. Plus they’re lightweight, easy to clean, and affordable. But they can’t take the high heat of a cast-iron or stainless steel frying pan. “You’re not going to get much of a sear in a nonstick pan,” says Cindy Fisher, who conducted Consumer Reports’ cookware tests.
And they don’t last as long as cast-iron, stainless, or copper frying pans. “Nonstick is going to wear out the fastest,” Nitahara says. “The nonstick coating is fragile, and once you scratch it, it’s hard to flip an egg.”
In our tests of nonstick pans, we cook four eggs in quick succession. An excellent rating means all four eggs easily slid out of the pan. A poor rating indicates that some egg residue was left behind. To test nonstick durability, we rub the pan with steel wool for 2,000 strokes or until the coating has worn through.


Everyone can appreciate a good frying pan—especially when they turn out your favorite pork chops or soft scrambled eggs. A well-equipped kitchen typically contains several different varieties of frying pans or skillets, including cast iron, stainless steel, and nonstick. (We're not counting the other essential pots and pans you should have, too, like a saucepan, heavy-bottomed pot, or even a wok). Here is how to use, clean, and care for each.
Features Of The Frying Pan

In the labs, we put the carbon steel pans through the same tests as our cast-iron pans: heating evenness, baking, and browning. You have to keep carbon steel pans seasoned, like cast iron, but if you do, they soon develop a smooth patina that makes a pan as slick as nonstick, giving you even more cooking possibilities.
When grilling with a cast iron griddle plate it's important to preheat the griddle onto the grill before adding food. This keeps the pan hot enough to create nice grill marks and caramelization. Make sure to brush the baking sheet with a light layer of oil to prevent sticking and aid in the baking process. Once the cast iron griddle plate is hot, place the food on a baking sheet and let it cook to perfection.


Non-stick frying pans are also easy to clean and maintain, as food and grease can be wiped away with ease. They are also safe for use on all stovetops, including induction.
