A non-stick pan has an easy-release coating that prevents foods from sticking to the pan. They are ideal for delicate foods that cook over low to medium heat, such as eggs, pancakes, crepes, seafood like scallops and tender fish, cheesy dishes like quesadillas or grilled cheese, and nuts.

    When grilling with a cast iron griddle plate it's important to preheat the griddle onto the grill before adding food.  This keeps the pan hot enough to create nice grill marks and caramelization.  Make sure to brush the baking sheet with a light layer of oil to prevent sticking and aid in the baking process.  Once the cast iron griddle plate is hot, place the food on a baking sheet and let it cook to perfection.

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.