— Barbara Kagey

This is, uh, a great, uh, cook cookware question. And, um, so, uh, in terms of a grill pan, so a grill pan, right? Is one that has raised ribs, um, that, um, historically it was to mimic the, uh, appearance of grilled food for your diner, okay? That's where that comes from. But, uh, it also raises the food up a bit so that if, if there's fat that's rendering from usually meat, that it has a, a place to fall beneath the food item, okay? For maybe a little less fatty item that's being served. But, but anyway, um, in order to, uh, figure out what's, what's best for you, Barbara, and the rest of us out there today, um, we need to do a little bit of digging, okay? Because each one of us, uh, is gonna have some different requirements and limitations, um, when it comes to, to cookware. And one of the, um, big limitations is the weight of cookware. And the reason why a lot of folks wanna steer clear of cast iron or other very, uh, you know, thick, uh, uh, thick walled, um, cookware or large size cookware is because when it's empty, it's heavy, and then when it's full of food, it's even heavier, and it just becomes cumbersome, if not dangerous to use. Okay? So, um, what I am gonna suggest you do, uh, Barbara, uh, a couple things here. One, uh, check out, um, uh, at least a couple of websites, you know, that are like williams sonoma.com, just to see what's on the market, and to start to read some of the descriptions of the pans that you think might fit your criteria. Also, go to Amazon and do the same thing. Just enter grill pan, and you'll see a lot of options. Uh, read the profiles, um, of those that, uh, are not cast iron, and you're gonna see, uh, many of 'em that are made of aluminum, or it'd be an aluminum alloy of some sort. Um, and, uh, most of them, uh, are gonna be coated with something. Um, you know, all clad is one brand. Calphalon is another, uh, brand. Green Pan is another brand. There are others to choose from. Um, some of them have straight sides, some have sloped sides, some are deep, some are quite shallow. Um, some are round, you specify square. Um, so there are some options, um, you know, to consider. And, um, then the next thing to do is ideally find a retailer that you can go to to get that into your hand, um, so that, uh, you can make the best purchase decision one time. Um, now short of that, then you gotta just take a chance and, uh, buy something that, uh, fits the internet description, uh, that's, uh, you know, aligns with your criteria. Okay? Um, so hopefully that's, that's, uh, that's helpful. You know, I'm, I don't have any brand allegiance whatsoever, um, so long as the pan is of decent construction. And, um, one thing that, um, I do, uh, when I go to buy a pan or inspect a pan is I'll, you know, you got the pan and the handle, I'll grab the pan or, or put it down and then try to kinda lean on that handle. And it should be very secure. Um, some of them have just gone and they have bent, and I'm, you know, I'm looking around to make sure no one saw what I just did, and I put that back on the shelf and I walk away. Um, but otherwise, look for one that's, uh, very sturdy. I, I don't care whether it's, um, the handles are fixed with rivets or if it's spot welded or something else. Um, it just needs to be secure. Uh, so that, um, I know it's gonna last a long time. Okay. Um, grill pans, um, these days, um, very often are coated with some sort of a non-stick, sort of a coating. Um, they, um, grill pans are probably less of an issue for me, uh, because the, there's much less contact, um, uh, surfaces, you know, if, if these are the, the grill lines here, you know, um, such that if, if that coating wears off, you can still use the pan in most cases. But for those of you that are considering, uh, more mainstream cookware, I recommend, uh, if you're thinking about a non-stick pan to just buy one, maybe two non-stick pans, but do not buy a, a set, um, because over time they will accumulate scratches and they'll, they will stick, um, at which point you gotta throw out the whole set, um, and then replace it. But, uh, otherwise, uh, I consider non-stick pans to be disposable items in my kitchen. And every so often I will replace the pan, um, with a new one. Okay. Otherwise, I'm using something else that's uncoated.