Conical or Straight Saucepan? Clad, disk?
I already have a Demeyere Atlantis conical sauce/saute pan like this:
in a small 2.1 qt size. I would like to add a larger matching Atlantis saucepan to my collection.... but is it more practical to get another conical clad one, or a disk-bottom saucepan with straight sides? Which would be more practical for a large saucepan? I like my small conical one for making sauces, it's easy to stir around, etc because there are no 90 degree angles... but I wonder if it makes sense to get another conical one for the large size?
I guess I see the smaller one as being good for stirring and reducing small amounts of sauce, gravy, etc.... and this large one would probably be used for soup, boiling vegetables, simmering, etc. So I'm leaning towards the straight sided one.... What do you all think?
So basically do I want this...
clad ply construction, conical
heavy 7 ply disk bottom, straight sides
Arguments for a larger conical saucepan:
No corners, so easier mixing and cleaning
Matches appearance of smaller saucepan that you already have
Arguments for conventional, straight-sided saucepan:
Marginally better stability
More flat area for sauteing
If money not an issue, get the conical saucepan. Just my 2 cents.
I'd go for the regular sauce pan if it is mainly going to be used for boiling, the base is thicker and almost an inch wider and the sides are more suited to boiling and holding the heat in.
I don't know but I think the sauteuse might need slightly more flame to keep it at boil and it might reduce liquids quicker once it is there due to the sides being clad and the shape of the pan...
I'd trust the demeyere categorisations. Boiling -> regular pan, making sauces -> sauteuse.
*edit, apparently the base on the saucepan is copper and alu on the sauteuse, I'd definitely go for copper :)
The idea for this, as I understand it, is that some of Demeyere's Atlantis pieces are "clad" which is like the sauteuse... the alum layer goes up the sides of the whole pot... and other pieces are copper disk bottom, like the saucepan (my saute pan is also this disk bottom style) and the sides are just steel. It's supposedly based on the function of each pot.
"Dishwasher-resistant". What, the poor thing screams "NO! Don't put me in THERE!" when loading your dishwasher?