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    Cast iron cookware has been a staple in the kitchen for centuries, and for good reason.  Its durability, heat retention, and versatility make it a must-have for any cooking enthusiast.  Among all types of cast iron cookware, cast iron skillets stand out as a versatile and practical tool that can meet a variety of cooking needs.

Best for: Almost any food that needs frying, browning, or searing. Because it’s ovenproof, stainless is also a good choice for foods that you start on the stovetop and then move to the oven to finish, like thick pork chops.

The details: Nitahara says that 95 percent of the pans used in the CIA’s teaching kitchens are stainless steel because they can take a lot of punishment. “The only time we don’t use them is on egg day, when we use nonstick,” he says. He adds that the shiny surface of a stainless pan makes it easy to see whether your food is browning.

In CR’s tests of stainless steel pans, we measure heating evenness by cooking pancakes, and we gauge how evenly a pan sautés by cooking potatoes until they’re tender. We also conduct a cleaning test to see how easy it is to remove cooked-on food. You’d think that all stainless pans would be about the same to clean, but our tests show that some require a lot more scrubbing than others.

Here are two recommended stainless steel pans from CR’s tests.

Because of its wide base, a sauté pan is significantly heavier than the equivalent skillet, often necessitating the addition of a helper handle on the opposite side of the main handle to facilitate lifting and moving. While this weight is no problem when the pan is sitting still on the stovetop or in the oven, the lighter weight of a skillet makes it superior for shaking and stirring to promote even cooking of vegetables or pieces of chopped meat.