OldSaw
The wife's investment
I have a Le Creuset 3.5 and find that I use it way more than I thought I would. If someone already has a large and small saucepan and is wanting to add another, I’d recommend a saucier because it is so versatile.
Saucepan versus Saucier - Your Preferences
- Thread starter Phog Allen
- Start date
Out of curiosity, what sorts of dishes would you choose to use this for over a conventional saucepan?
OldSaw
The wife's investment
I’ve made gravy, marinara, roux, alfredo, even popcorn. It can be easily used as a regular saucepan, small wok, or skillet. If I could only have one pan, it would be a saucier, because it could do everything if it had to. Obviously, it can’t take the place of a 12 quart stockpot, but you could make a small batch of soup in it.
Since most of my cooking is for just two of us it’s a pretty good size which probably adds to the versatility for our home. I like making pasta sauce and adding the pasta to the sauce to infuse the flavors into the pasta and the starch from the pasta thickens the sauce.
Ya, I can see the versatility there for sure. Right now those tasks you mentioned all get split between saucepans and a saute pan in our kitchen. I kind of prefer having the steeper sides of a saute pan for example when finishing pasta in a sauce -- I have one of these and absolutely love it -- it's just a personal preference though.
Last edited:
I have a decent batterie of old, heavy, tinned copper and carbon steel, but about ten years ago I bought a clad saucier when my two workhorse saucepans were out for re-tinning and taking FFE. For things that are pretty simple, not demanding great heat dispersion and control, I still sometimes grab the saucier, but I greatly prefer the copper saucepans. I do, from time to time, think of getting a tinned copper evasee/Windsor. It is possible to finding 3mm tinned copper pieces at prices competitive with All Clad. The temperature control offered by heavy copper comes very close to making the Bain Marie obsolete, even for very delicate egg sauces.
Would this mostly be on the vintage market? The good copper cookware is normally really pricey from what I've seen.
Absolutely the vintage market. The widely available stuff, chiefly Mauviel but also Falk and Bourgeat, is generally lighter gauge these and steel lined and expensive. Two makers, Brooklyn and Duparquet, still offer 3mm copper with tim linings, but they are way out of my comfort zone price-wise.
If you peruse eBay and Etsy you can find the older stuff at decent prices. An example is linked below. Since this stuff will outlive you, the fact it is old is not a problem. I do not think the big makers have made 3mm with cast iron handles for a good while.
If it needs re-tinning I highly recommend Rocky Mountain. If you use wooden utensils tin can last a long time. I have a sauté pan that has been in regular use for fifty years without re-tinning. The need to baby tin is overstated in my view. It stands to reason as it has been in use in restaurant kitchens for a century or more. I know stainless linings are more durable, but they are much stickier and are slightly thicker meaning that to a very small degree they diminish the benefits of copper.
Cast iron handles rather than brass generally, not always, means thicker copper. It is far more cook friendly than brass. Brass gets very hot very fast.
HEAVY 3lb 2oz Copper Pan and Lid as Found. Tin is Dark but in - Etsy
Fantastic deal. This pan may not be shiny on the inside but its ready to cook (after a good cleaning). I like to offer pans for every budget. This is a honest to goodness great pan without a shiny inside. its heavy at 3lb 2oz and is 6-3/8 in diameter with a matching lid! DIMENSIONS:
Tin quickly gets dark like the pan linked above. No big deal.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
Nice. I have a Made In sauté pan. Probably not as deep as yours. For 2-4 people I use a stockpot & saucier for the pasta. Sauté pan and fry pan for the other dishes.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
Once upon a time I had a wonderful set of copper cookware that cost me a pretty penny. I loved every piece and used them almost exclusively. I’m not sure how they ended up going away, perhaps one of our downsizing efforts. Now I have an induction cooktop, which won’t work with regular copper. Copper, steel clad pans are available for induction, but our small kitchen space is getting pretty crowded so I doubt that I will spring for one.Absolutely the vintage market. The widely available stuff, chiefly Mauviel but also Falk and Bourgeat, is generally lighter gauge these and steel lined and expensive. Two makers, Brooklyn and Duparquet, still offer 3mm copper with tim linings, but they are way out of my comfort zone price-wise.
If you peruse eBay and Etsy you can find the older stuff at decent prices. An example is linked below. Since this stuff will outlive you, the fact it is old is not a problem. I do not think the big makers have made 3mm with cast iron handles for a good while.
If it needs re-tinning I highly recommend Rocky Mountain. If you use wooden utensils tin can last a long time. I have a sauté pan that has been in regular use for fifty years without re-tinning. The need to baby tin is overstated in my view. It stands to reason as it has been in use in restaurant kitchens for a century or more. I know stainless linings are more durable, but they are much stickier and are slightly thicker meaning that to a very small degree they diminish the benefits of copper.
Cast iron handles rather than brass generally, not always, means thicker copper. It is far more cook friendly than brass. Brass gets very hot very fast.
HEAVY 3lb 2oz Copper Pan and Lid as Found. Tin is Dark but in - Etsy
Fantastic deal. This pan may not be shiny on the inside but its ready to cook (after a good cleaning). I like to offer pans for every budget. This is a honest to goodness great pan without a shiny inside. its heavy at 3lb 2oz and is 6-3/8 in diameter with a matching lid! DIMENSIONS:www.etsy.com
Tin quickly gets dark like the pan linked above. No big deal.
Induction sounds pretty cool. I only used the sad emoji because I like copper, not because I dislike any of the others. I learned in restaurant kitchens that paying attention is way more important than the kind of pan you are using. There is a guy who posts regularly on a cookware site who sings the praises of Le Creuset on induction. LC is gorgeous but a notoriously poor conductor of even heat. If induction can make it work well it must be incredible.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
I wouldn't want to be without a saucier in my kitchen. I use a Mauviel 2qt saucier that I've had for over 20 years, I want to add a 3.5qt saucier.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
My kitchen is sporting Staub, Le Creuset, All Clad, Made In, and Viking. I also have a TYOR Skriddle, but the jury is still out on whether it will stay. Sets are nice for getting started for a first time kitchen owner. This time I piece mealed it starting with what I already had that was induction compatible and filling in the holes piece by piece.
That Made In stuff looks amazing. How do you like it in real life? I am thinking of getting their 11" rondeau.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
So far it works about the same as all my other clad cookware. When I was shopping for new stuff I was getting annoyed at the cheap tricks that were being played by many of the big names, like Viking, All Clad, Cuisinart, etc. which made it very difficult to discern where their product/pieces were made. Made In is mostly U.S., Italy, and France, with cookware being mostly made in Italy.
Edit: All Clad really cheesed me off with all their “made in America” advertising but the lids are mostly made in China. Yet they still command a very healthy premium price. Their $400 twelve quart stockpot sans lid can be had for $200! So that means $200 for a cheap Chinese lid, no thank you. I use one of my Made In lids instead.
Last edited:
One of the reasons I really like Demeyere, which is made exclusively in Belgium. Fissler Profi is a cookware line made in Germany also worth knowing about.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
I love my Demeyere Atlantis cookware. And yes, made in Belgium.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
Demeyere is a brand that was on my radar. Not sure why it didn’t make the cut. I’ll have to give it a closer look. I could use one or two more of these little 3/4 quart butter warmers, maybe Demeyere will get the nod.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
Ok, I just watched a video about Demeyere and now I want their fry pan. Maybe even a 1.1 quart saucepan instead of another butter warmer.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
Haha, I have one of their Proline skillets (along with a few other Demeyere pieces). The one potential drawback for some is the weight of it -- my girlfriend for instance finds it a bit cumbersome. Its unadulterated mass and even distribution of heat means it can sear meat as well as anything out there; but it's also far more responsive at the same time than other skillets you'd want to use for that purpose (for, say, when you want to make a pan sauce). I made carmelized apples this morning to go with crepes and it was brilliant.
I thought the review I linked above had an interesting way of describing the company and its philosophy:
"Imagine an uncle who loves cooking. Imagine he wins the lottery and decides to build the ultimate set of cookware for himself, regardless of cost, such that he will never even think of buying any more cookware afterwards. Imagine that he loves the results so much that he shares them with the world. That’s pretty much Demeyere in a nutshell: superb–likely the last pan you will ever want to buy."
Similar threads
