The “workhorse of the professional kitchen” is the carbon steel pan, which is a bit heavier and great for cooking steaks, for example.
“But unlike a stainless steel pan, you can’t really cook anything too acidic in this,” said Yeoh. “If you’re cooking a tomato sauce, this will give it … a metallic taste.”
Cast iron pans, meanwhile, are the ones “everybody kind of loves because they look pretty” and are “very traditional”. But “these are the ones that probably, out of all four, require the most maintenance”, he said.
These pans must be seasoned — rubbed with salt, oiled and put in a preheated oven — to develop a non-stick coating. “Then make sure you don’t damage the non-stick coating,” he added.
Then there is ceramic-coated non-stick cookware, which is made of silica, or essentially sand, and other inorganic materials.
They are perceived to be a safer non-stick cookware choice but do not last long — a year on average or “maybe three years or so” for the good ones, Yeoh reckoned — compared to common non-stick pans.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm.