Carla's Essential Pots and Pans 

As someone who has a full set of pots and pans but chooses to use his Dutch oven for literally every application besides pan frying, I think this is a sign that I should get some smaller pots that I actually like lol. My Dutch oven, his name is Thompson, will forever be my mvp but I think it’s time to recruit some new rookies. (I’m already in way over my head with this sports metaphor.)

I feel like Carla would be that awesome college professor who would tell the class on day one, "Don't buy the textbook. Here's the link for all of the useful readings for this class"

So glad to see a cooking channel talk about their kitchen equipment. As an avid homecook, I'm always wondering if there's anything I'm missing. Would also love to know about your staple go-to cookbooks that people should check out.

What I love about this video is that there are pros AND cons to everything! It's not just Carla bashing one type of pan and praising the other. There is a purpose for EVERYTHING! Now time to buy new pots and pans...haha!

As someone who's seen a lot of beautiful kitchen reno type content, your pan wall is truly functional meets dreamy.

I feel like I’m getting an avant-garde MA for free in this like rustic Italian American Culinary school and I’m like gobbling up every bite while eating popcorn. I love you Carla, I’m picking up what your putting down and yes I loved you at your Dairy Shack.

I love this!! Can you please do other videos like this? Like utensils

I started started my day at 6 by watching super green salad, and I’m already back for this one. Ugh, you’re the best, Carla!

I just got a 7 quart Staub for Christmas in the most beautiful green colour, and its easily the nicest piece of cookware I've ever owned and probably will ever own - it cooks like nothing else and I'm deeply in love 💚

Gotta say, my ride or die pan is a flat-bottom wok! I think it's definitely dependent on the kind of cuisine one typically makes, to an extent, but I love that a wok/stir-fry pan is basically a skillet with taller sides, meaning less spatter, and more capacity if needed (especially when mixing food).

Thank you Auntie and team for taking the time and energy to do this with so many details and visual examples!

Carla, you're the best. So happy with your channel, videos, tips, recipes. I always feel so cozy and warm watching your videos!

Awesome recs, Carla! I have so much tragic experiences with my non-stick skillets and woks as the people in the house have no care for them and scrub them all to the base metal with steel wool and naked metal utensils. My cast irons and carbon steels at least were salvageable from the rust with some heavy scrubbing and re-seasoning. I now keep those in their cubby hole and no few fierce glares at wannabe users. Only the stainless steel ones are out in the open for everyone as they really can take the punishment best.

Yay thank you so much for this video, I appreciate your honesty! I’d love to see a video on kitchen tool needs. Thanks Carla! ❤

Requesting a RU-vidr drama/beef video between Carla and the Our Place Always Pan

From personal experience I think you are underselling the value of a “mirror finish” common to those vintage cast iron pans! I have tried the pre-seasoned Lodge pans and there’s a very good reason why so many RU-vidrs have made vlogs about how to smooth them out like they used to be.

My mom had that same yellow LeCruset when I was a kid! I’ll have to look for it next time I’m home!thanks Carla for another great video! ✌🏻❤️🍲

Amazing to finally come across must have Kitchen essentials on RU-vid. I just got the realization that maybe it’s time for me to upgrade to stainless and there are so many different aspects when choosing you have made my life a lot easier and have given me confidence in some of the kitchen choices, I have already made in terms of my pots and pans.

Thank you Karla! love all your cookware.❤ I just purchased the some but from made in cookware I love their cookware as well 😊

I went for the Cooks Standard tri ply & got myself the Amazon Commercial 12 inch skillet. They work great. Great video. I would also like to add, doing a very large stainless steel stock pot & a carbon steel wok.

great video! love your kitchen tours with all the tricks, besides your great recipe videos :)

This was so so helpful and explanatory! Thank you!!

This was a great all inclusive guide. Thank you!

thanks for making these - I watch every one!

Thank you so much for this video! I am doing my best to become a better cook and sometimes I can get overwhelmed. This was really helpful.

Originally asked your thoughts on some of the new girlies like Our Place but more or less got the answer by the end of the video lolll. Can't wait to break out my stainless steel pan again now that I've figured out I probably wasn't using it right

I have all of these, stainless, cast iron, carbon steel, enameled cast iron and a nonstick. My enameled cast iron are mostly vintage Le Creuset, one is an actual set I bought at an estate sale about 30 years ago, I think the Dutch oven was not used as the big Le Creuset sticker was still on the side. I think it dates to the 50's as it has the ribbed fully enameled bottoms and is the Elise yellow. The 5.5 Qt oval Dutch, the 1 Qt sauce pot, and 2 skillets, an 8" and the 10 inch. The skillets have the white enamel in them. I hardly use those skillets these days as I have other skillets that I use way more. I do have a 3Qt Cuisinart Dutch oven that I use for smaller batches of stuff. The larger round Dutch oven was my mother's that she bought new in the late 70's, or early 80's in the chocolate brown. I got that when she passed away in 2012 and it's got Great Northern beans in them that need to come off the heat as I cooked a bag of beans I got yesterday to add to dishes for the next several days. The stainless are an 11" saute pan that has the stainless/aluminum disc on the bottom (an older Wolfgang Puck variant), but have had that for oh, 15 years? Use it all the time for pasta dishes (mostly to saute the meat, make a sauce, and perfect for sauteing spinach), a 3.5Qt soup pot, which will be put to use tonight as I make leek and potato soup for dinner. I have a 10" stainless steel skillet from All Clad, bought that several years ago at TJ Maxx, but is not the D3 or D5, but their all clad basic skillet for $50. I use it often, and it's in the DW, along with the saute pan as I used both last night for dinner. At this same store about a year ago, found a basic aluminum nonstick All Clad for $16 (10"). Cast iron is my Mom's 10" skillet that I think dates to the 50's, and a cheapie 8" one I bought at Grocery Outlet a couple of years back to try out. Good for cooking a burger patty or some such. I do have a 1.5 stainless pot, a Kobenstyle butter warmer that I recently picked up in cobalt blue. It's a post 2012 reissue that I doubt ever was used. Got it at an estate sale back in the fall for $16. Use it when I need to melt butter. and they all get used often and the choice is decided on what I am about to cook. like a thigh is mostly done in the carbon steel (DeBuyer), which I got on Amazon on sale (11") 2-3 years ago.

Wow, Goldilocks are SO inexpensive. Definitely worth another look when I'm ready to replace my current set. The one thing I wish they had was something between the 3qt and 8qt pots.

so approachable and insightful. thank you.

I have all of these materials. Cast iron and stainless steel are my favs! Although non-stick does have its uses from time to time :)

This was very good informative

Super helpful video!

The other day I bought something quite unconventional: A stainless steel shallow casserole. I find that the "best" pan is the one you find yourself reaching for the most, and this is definitely a contender. I love my carbon steel pan, but we often do tomato-rich pastas, curries, paella, and I tell you, the stainless is a dream! It's better than your traditional cast iron shallow casserole because we cook most of our meals on the stovetop and it conducts heat like a dream, but also it's larger than your typical pan, so it fits and entire curry or risotto. Man, this pan has it all, and a well-fitting lid for simmering and oven cooking.

Great video!❤

ahhhhh! I’ve been waiting for this video ❤

Hahahah Carla, "not today, nonstick" Loved this video ✨

Oh my heart! Thought I lost you. Lovely as ever from your BonAp work. Info is as direct and useful as ever from your BonAp work. Agree with all your points, but not experienced with all those brands. I bet the exact same pans are sold under various brand names. By giving the features of your pans....you have allowed home cooks to find the same items even if under different names! That is pure gold. Have you done a similar vid for general kitchen equipment? Like "Everyone needs an immersion blender" (All-Clad KZ750D is super fine), "Everyone needs Pyrex mixing bowl set", "Everyone needs stainless steel mixing bowl set", "Everyone needs 7 Dutch ovens of various sizes with handles integrated into the iron cast, not plastic handles screwed onto a lid" , etc. And how about kitchen books for recipes, reference and? I keep LaRousse Gastronomique, Joy of Cooking, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking on hand at all times. How about a list of reliable, intelligible, and trustable RU-vid accounts? For me it is still BonApp, America's Test Kitchen, FoodWishes, Helen Rennie, any channel with Pepin and Child together, Sip and Feast, and Hyosun Korean Bapsang. All these folks provide CLEAR instruction on standard recipes AND some that will stretch your skills.

This was great advice, especially on the non-stick. I always tell people to not spend a bunch on a nonstick pan for those reasons. I actually really like the Teflon professional pans from Ikea. Heck, I've got a Korean pan from H-Mart that I think you could fry glue in and it would wipe right off. Both are under $30, I love them but I expect to replace them.

This veggie bristle brush she uses, my household has become obsessed. Highly recommend.

I feel so empowered by this. We have so many cast iron skillets that I never use because so many RU-vidrs say I need to season them every time I want to clean them and I am not about that. I always wondered why I see so many chefs on RU-vid using them for all kinds of dishes that definitely need a cleaning after. I guess it is a “do as I say not as I do” situation where they don’t actually clean them like their videos instruct. I feel like I can use all my pans now!

I came to the video expecting it to be "kitchen tour: pans edition" type of thing. I was very pleasantly surprised by the actual content - it is so informative! To more accurately reflect the actual content of the video, I'd suggest editing the title (and thumbnail), e. g. Carla's Guide to Essential Pots and Pans. I think the video would have a bigger outreach this way.

You had me at *Lodge* cast iron and carbon steel, the hands down best bang for the buck of all cookware bar none.

Can we please also have a list of kitchen essential tools/equipment? This pot series has been very useful!

very helpful!

All hail the Dutch oven! I have three Staub pieces: 7.4 and 3.75 quart ovens plus a 3.5 quart double handled braiser with a heat safe glass lid they call a universal pan. Worth every penny.

Great video Carla! Sent to all my friends who want to start cooking "nicer". I do have to say, I am a little sad you didn't bring out the the Rolls Royce we saw in a couple of the hanging wall shots (aka the Mauviel 1830's) I saved all my lunch money and got one.. Seriously the most sacred thing in my kitchen--My partner thinks I have a more beautiful relationship with the pan than them lol Also, we miss you and Molly Baz! Need to do a collab again together :))

IDK why, but "deathless" kinda sent me. Very true re: cast iron pans lol. The only pan I would let my old roommate use because I wasn't worried about it getting ruined.

Love these recommendations, my only add would be a carbon steel wok

Hi Carla! I would love to see a video like this, but about utensils!! ◡̈

fwiw, you can find a cast iron pan used very easily. They never die, so might as well buy used.

I've bought a ton of pots and pans. Tons of dutch ovens - le creuset, staub, you name it. I high recommend Babish's new product line. I didn't realize that it was such great quality until I watched a youtuber who used it exclusively, and I ordered some. I was, to put it mildly, blown away for the quality provided for the affordable price. It's a little like Goldilocks. I saw their prices are quite affordable, as well. Probably will buy a set of their stuff as well just to see what they're like. Thanks, Carla!

Le Creuset told me to toss the pan if there's a chip inside the pan since enamel is glass based and you don't want glass particles in your food as the chip grows.

I have the all clad 3 ply and found a copper core 8qt pot on clearance and believe me that there is a difference.

The no soap on cast iron/carbon steel is just a remnant from 'real' soap that used to contain lye. Nearly all soaps these days are just surfactants, so the risk of destroying the polymerized carbon in seconds just isn't there anymore 👍

That's what I do to clean my cast iron if it can't easily be wiped out. Water and a steel scrubby does the trick. I have my mother's 8 in cast iron skillet and it's still going strong at 90 years old.

Stay away from nonstick pans. They have forever chemicals that you will consume. If you have an induction stovetop, get stainless steel specifically for induction. Induction pans have really heavy bottoms to prevent warping. Induction will make regular stainless warp. Also, cast iron works well on induction.

Thanks Carla, I loved this video! I would really love a video like this for your utensils in the back please

Carbon steel is amazing. If you're not shallow frying or baking often then I would prefer them to cast iron skillets.

i use my 10" lodge cast iron for almost everything that isn't eggs, and my 12" all clad D3 stainless for browning butter LOL

Carla: I love you ❤ greetings from the Netherlands

Wait I saw a doggo 🤔What the fur? So sweet. Plus pan tutorial was super thoughtful and helpful.

the All Clad copper core are really good pans but have terrible feeling handles. The best SS pans i have ever used / purchased hands down are from Demeyere Atlantis expensive but omg the best i have ever had all around and fantastic on our induction cooktop.

I know I probably shouldn'tt admit this, but I use my non-stick pans for almost all my cooking. Yeah I have to replace them every few years, but they are not that expensive, and they don't require the care and attention that stainless and cast iron do. Am I a weirdo? I do use a dutch oven and some stainless sauce pans, but for a fry pan, I'm not sure why a lazy person like me who hates hand washing would ever use anything else.

Loved this video! Goldilocks isn’t available in Canada. Any suggestions for a comparable line?

My favorite is carbon steel because it's nice middle ground between cast iron and stainless steel

Nice 😎

Hot take: A well seasoned carbon steel pan at the right burner setting will do a perfectly non stick egg with no need for Teflon ♥🍳

Hi! Curious if someone has a saucepan recommendation that is best for tomato sauce? I've heard stainless and cast iron are not great for tomato/acid foods. Trying to stay away from non-stick. Is enameled cast iron the only choice?

When did you buy your pans in the 20th century?

Non stick pan lover over here who would love to convert to stainless steel but have the worst time with sticking. How do you do crispy breakfast potatoes in a stainless steal? I can never keep them from sticking.

Thank you, Carla! I feel affirmed as a serious cook. I’ve collected this mix, including some primary blue hand-me-down Le Creuset sauce pans. Looking forward to upgrading my Dutch oven at some point. I have the Lodge, which cooks great but chips extremely easily. I love all your kitchen recs!

I’m looking at buying a le creuset braiser to go with my Dutch oven. Would that be worth it? I love the Dutch oven but sometimes I want the same quality and ease of cooking without the high sides which are unwieldy and unnecessary for some things.

What are you using to hang your pans? Two largish cast iron pans are no joke in the weight department.

I think I see copper rivets on your copper sautes on the wall :) you like tin-lined too?

Brb gonna return the nonstick 12 piece set my mon got me for my wedding lol 😂

Hooray! I've been waiting for this thank you! Is your carbon steel Matfer-Bourgeat?

Love ya, Carla! I ask this on a lot of your videos, but what do you have labeled on your vitamix?

You never mentioned the beautiful copper one you have on the wall. I’m curious about those

Oh, Carla, you're puntastic!

Let's make a reunion of OG Test kitchen chefs like you, Molly, Claire, Brad, Sohla, Andy, etc....pleaaaase!!!

You need to it those stained stainless steel pans with some Barkeepers Friend.

I have to ask how safe chipped enamel is to cook with. I hear mixed feedback from chefs and fancy ECI companies. Do shards of enamel come off into food?

Ups the Irons 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Loved this video!!! And I have a Q: My main use for non-stick is frying tofu - I just can't get it to work in my cast iron (unless I'm deepfrying)! Does anybody have any experience with frying tofu in stainless steel pans? Does it work well? Any tips on what might be the issue when I try cast iron?

I wish I had seen this video years ago. During the pandemic I tried to learn how to cook and was watching RU-vid videos and noticed the chefs were using pans like AllClad, ale Creuset, etc. needless to say I thought I had to buy their same equipment for my food to come out the same. So I ended up buying the AllClad D5 copper core set along with their HA1 nonstick set, the beginner set Le Creuset sold along with the Staub cocottes and stoneware baking sets. My food still burned and tasted awful 😢

That vintage orange Le Cruset - my mom had a set when I read a kid - she burned something in one of the pieces and got rid of the rest 🤦😞

If you wash a cast iron pan iwth soap, do you have to wipe it with oil? Will oil in a cast iron pan get rancid? Do you just use cooking oil or do you have to use some specialist oil?

Hm that made me look over my pan-game and i got some good ones and maybee slightly less so but they work fine since boiling a potato dosnt require much or whatever else i probably will fuck up any way.

I enjoy the recipe videos but I like these slightly more. Carla clearly has so much experience. Tell me what I need to know! :D

I've been afraid of cast iron my entire life because of the seasoning - until I learned they're preseasoned. So I bought one, used it once, and then apparently cleaned it incorrectly and it was RUINED and I could never use it afterwards. I've been too afraid to ever try again. 😥😥

Dear Mrs. Music, I have a question for you. What's the brand of your dutch oven ? Would you please share it with me ? Thanks in advance

🙋🏻‍♀️Has anyone reviewed the pans with the hexagon surface, HexClad for example?

but what about copper? i inherited a bunch of really old copper pans - some with tin showing through - and i wanted to hear about that...

Just got a stainless steel pan and immediately burnt something.. Whats the trick here? An enormous amount of fat/oil? thanks for advice

Where does copper come in?

Hi Carla--love the video. Re. Staub lid--I'd describe the inside texture as "pimples," since "dimple" suggests a dip rather than a bump. Although, think how much teenage angst could be solved by calling acne "dimples"!

Maybe you've simply said what I wanted to hear but your list is perfect for me. The only one I don't really see a need for and just can't make a bond with (LMAO) is the cast iron skillet. It's heavy and it still needs to be babied, right? You can't put acidic things in it or else you have to re-season it...too much work (for me). You can do in the enameled dutch oven everything PLUS what you'd do in the cast iron...no? But everything else I'm with you on. Thanks!! I'm now gonna go into your channel to see what else you're talking about because I like this vid.

Was doing research earlier in the day. Carbon Steel and Black Steel are not the same thing.

Essential? More like aspirational!

Finally, someone has said it, nonstick pots and pans should be thrown out of the kitchen.