I live in Canada, where a pan is shallow and has 1 long handle and a pot is deep and typically has 2 small handles. A pot isn’t a pan, although you can get crossovers like a saucepan which is typically deep like a pot but has a single long handle like a pan. If it’s not shallow it isn’t a pan. Pans can include frying pans, skillets, saute pans, even a wok would be considered a pan. Pans are for cooking at high heat. Pots are for boiling things or for preparing something that’s mostly liquid: soups, stews, sauces, etc. You can also have roasting pans or cake pans for use in the oven, but once again, the key thing is they have shallow sides compared to the bottom.
To me, a pot being a subtype of pan is like saying a knife is just a subtype of spoon. They’re completely different things.
Yeah I am English. I would never call a cake tin a cake pan. Same with a roasting tray is never called a roasting pot. For it to be a pan it has to go on a hob. Even the way you describe things like a sauce pan seems contradictory, by your definition it should be a pot rather than a pan. It’s interesting to note what local differences exist in the use of language.
You definitely can do high heat cooking in a pot. Most of them are stainless steel or cast iron after all, the material doesn’t care.
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
I’ve fried already-cooked rice in a pan, but when I cook rice it’s in a pot. Have you cooked rice in a pan?
areyouevenreal@lemm.ee 2 years ago
Are you an American or something? A pot is just a subtype of pan to me. Does pan only mean frying pan where you live?
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
I live in Canada, where a pan is shallow and has 1 long handle and a pot is deep and typically has 2 small handles. A pot isn’t a pan, although you can get crossovers like a saucepan which is typically deep like a pot but has a single long handle like a pan. If it’s not shallow it isn’t a pan. Pans can include frying pans, skillets, saute pans, even a wok would be considered a pan. Pans are for cooking at high heat. Pots are for boiling things or for preparing something that’s mostly liquid: soups, stews, sauces, etc. You can also have roasting pans or cake pans for use in the oven, but once again, the key thing is they have shallow sides compared to the bottom.
To me, a pot being a subtype of pan is like saying a knife is just a subtype of spoon. They’re completely different things.
areyouevenreal@lemm.ee 2 years ago
Yeah I am English. I would never call a cake tin a cake pan. Same with a roasting tray is never called a roasting pot. For it to be a pan it has to go on a hob. Even the way you describe things like a sauce pan seems contradictory, by your definition it should be a pot rather than a pan. It’s interesting to note what local differences exist in the use of language.
You definitely can do high heat cooking in a pot. Most of them are stainless steel or cast iron after all, the material doesn’t care.