If you’ve never owned a Scanpan fry pan before, the first thing you’ll notice when opening the box of your brand new frying pan is that it looks and feels like a quality product.
It arrives well packaged in a box with plastic wrapping around the frying pan and it even comes with a user guide.
The user guide is not specific to the product but is filled with useful information on how best to care for your new pan so that it remains in good condition for as long as possible.
While only small in size – this pan is only 16cm or 6 ¼ inches – there is a definite solid, weightiness to it that lets you know that this pan is built to last.
As you can see from the picture, it’s a small pan – that’s a regular sized toothpick lying in the pan to give you an idea of its size.
You can really only expect to fry one egg in the bottom of this pan. You can easily fit 2 scrambled eggs. It’s also a good size if cooking for one – 1 or 2 small lamb chops or else a fairly small steak (like eye fillet) would fit fine in this frying pan.
Just don’t expect to be cooking a full meal for a family in it – you’ll need to get a bigger pan if that’s what you’re looking for.
Like any new cookware or kitchen appliance, you should give your new pan a quick wash in warm, soapy water before first use. Don’t forget to dry it thoroughly too.
While the pan is dishwasher safe, Scanpan recommends hand washing to extend the life of your pan.
The frying pan is constructed from 18/10 stainless steel and, being from the Impact range, has a 6.4mm thick bonded sandwich base to help with heat conductivity and distribution.
The stainless steel handle is well attached with heavy duty stainless steel capped rivets – there’s no way it’s going to get loose and wobbly anytime soon. A fully stainless steel handle can be a positive and a negative.
On the plus side, having no plastic or silicone used on the frypan means there aren’t any different materials to consider when washing the product. Also, this full stainless steel construction means that the frying pan could also be placed into the oven or under a grill or broiler, which cannot be done with plastic handles as they will melt.
The downside of stainless steel handles is that they will get hot, so it’s best to always use an oven mitt or glove when moving your pan off the stove.
The pan has a broad, flat rim around it which has been cleverly designed to allow for drip free pouring. This is a great addition to any cookware as, once you get drips down the sides of your pans, it’s common to have trouble cleaning them off, especially if you’ve returned the pan to heat and effectively cooked the drippings on.
This well constructed frying pan is suitable for all types of cooktops including induction, it’s also oven safe. I happen to have a gas stovetop which means, for this pan, it’s important to only use the smallest heating element on my stovetop to ensure that the flame doesn’t extend up the sides of the pan – it’s only meant to heat the bottom.
Another thing to be aware of when using this pan on a gas cooktop is that it can be hard to balance it right. Make sure you have the pan sitting well balanced, sometimes you might need to twist it around a bit to make sure it is sitting well over the heating element and isn’t going to fall over.
The most common criticism of stainless steel cookware is that it sticks. And it’s true, if you don’t use your new stainless steel frying pan correctly, you will likely have trouble with food sticking to it. The most common cause of sticking is excessive heat.
So, try to remember to only use low to moderate heat levels when cooking with stainless steel. Here are some tips to help to avoid cooking with excessively high heat:
- Choose the right sized burner or stove element to suit the size of your pan.
- Set your burner or cooktop to moderate.
- Place your pan on the heat and preheat at this moderate level for 1-2 minutes.
- Add butter, oil or liquid to the pan.
- Immediately reduce the heat to low.
- Finish cooking food at this low heat.
- Do not put cold water into the pan after removing your food – allow the pan to cool down completely before doing this.
Overall, this is a very nice frying pan that any home cook would be proud to have in their cookware collection. It is small, but very handy for those little kitchen jobs that need doing.
If you’d like to add one to your collection you’ll find it here.
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