When choosing you restaurant cookware you need to have a durable product that is solidly built. It needs to be thick enough to hold up to the ware and tear of a busy kitchen yet not too thick as to make it too heavy. A well built pot or pan also is made of a good grade metal that transfers heat evenly across the cooking surface. Good restaurant cookware is also relatively easy to clean.
With this in mind there is a multitude of choices
Stainless steel.
Stainless is not a good heat conductor so, by itself can create hot spots in the pan and cook food unevenly, but to cure that stainless pans are often made with bottoms of copper or aluminum which evens out the surface heat. The beauty of the stainless pans is that they do not react to food when cooking so it will not alter the taste or color of your product. They are also easy to clean and durable.
Aluminum.
Aluminum is a popular restaurant cookware because of it’s great conductor properties and it’s light weight. The only problem with the aluminum pans is that after prolonged use the surface may start to react with acidic foods causing the flavor to change.
Cast iron.
A wonderful cooking surface as it conducts and holds heat extremely well, but they are often heavy, cumbersome, harder to clean and will rust if not handled properly. Many Chefs do enjoy the end product enough, however, to have a few in the kitchen for special dishes.
Teflon and non stick.
Because these surfaces are sprayed on or coated to the metal they tend to scratch easily. You can only use plastic or wood utensils in then so they are usually only used for specialty items.
To decide which type is best for you take a look at your operation and your menu. Costs vary greatly among the different types and you will find different quality manufactures with in the types, but our favorites restaurant cookware comes from:
