Pots and Pans

No one than Italians, more than often craves seasonal, fresh, or simple cuisine. From fluffy fresh pasta to crispy golden Milanese or silky risottos, Italian cuisine is all about preparing simple dishes with the best ingredients. Also, this technique extends to their cookware. Italian kitchens are not only about high-tech equipment and single-use gadgets but with versatile pots, pans, utensils, etc.

To help the inner Italian you can use professional Italian cookware to make Italian cuisine. It helps to get a perfect taste of the cuisine. Instead of using normal kitchen equipment, you can try essential Italian cooking tools such as sauté pan, colander, food mill, lasagna pans, etc. Also, you need wooden spoons, tongs, ravioli cutters, and much more.

Essential Italian Cooking Tools

A quick guide to which pots are best for some popular dishes

Risotto

Risotto

For best results (for the risotto and for your pan) use an enamelled cast iron pot. The bottom and sides must be thick, for long cooking.

Boiling pasta

Boiling pasta

Use a stockpot that can hold 4 quarts of water, not too heavy? should be easy to lift for draining

Skillet and Sauté pan

Skillet and Sauté pan

A skillet has sloped sides and a long handle while a sauté pan has straight sides and a shorter handle. Both can be used to sauté meat and vegetables.

Skillets

Skillets

Skillets are better for omelettes and food that you need to brown. The long handle and sloping sides allow you to flip the ingredients. Many skillets are also oven safe, so good for recipes that include both stove top and oven time. Sauté pans are perfect when you have a bit more liquid or a larger number of vegetables? they also come with a lid so ideal if you need to cover. Sauté pans come in all sizes so you can find the one that fits your needs.

Large Dutch Oven

Large Dutch Oven

An enameled cast-iron pan or Dutch oven has thick and insulated walls that create even heat perfect for making soups, braising, and simmering. Use it to make a delicious Italian seafood stew or different types of pasta. The thick cast iron walls retain the heat for a long time.

It makes it perfect for serving vessels for bringing the food straight to the serving table. The soup or pasta can stay warm while people serve themselves from the large pot.

Food Mill

Food Mill

A vegetable grinder is a simple and useful tool for preparing jams, sauces, and soups. The interchangeable discs let you control the texture of the food. Use a medium rice and potato disc for fluffy gnocchi or a finer disc to remove the seeds and skin from tomatoes for a creamy marinara. Use it for making pasta and bean soup.

Sauté Pan

Sauté Pan

A sauté pan and a skillet have a subtle but significant difference. A sauté pan has a wide and flat base with straight and high sides, whereas a skillet has flared sides. The straight sides of the sauté pan retain the moisture better. It is ideal for braising different types of Italian sausages or chicken thighs until they are tender and juicy. Also, it can be used for shallow frying such as spicy chicken Milanese.

Sauté pan gives the best results when making risotto with a wide base that allows the heat to spread evenly over the rice. Also, the thick bottom of the sauté prevents burning and high walls or sides retain the evaporation.

Colander

Colander

When it comes to getting pasta out of the pan, you should use a decent-sized colander. It helps to drain the pasta properly without spilling. Italian cooks call it scolapasta which means drippy pasta. A scolapasta or colander has an inverted bowl-shaped foot attached to the bottom. It prevents the precious pasta from tipping.

Lasagna Pans

Lasagna Pans

Lasagna pans come in different materials such as ceramic glass, and metal. Ceramic is the most common material in lasagna pans. Lasagna pans are designed in a way that fits the width of three standard lasagna noodles without overlapping. Also, they are deep enough to fit the noodles, meat, cheese, and other ingredients. The preferred size of the lasagna pan is 9 x 13 inches and it should be 2 to 3 inches deep.

Other Essential Cooking Tools

Spider

Spider

Spider is commonly used in Asian cuisine but it can be used for cooking pasta. It is a small strainer basket with a handle that makes it easier to remove gnocchi and pasta from the pasta pot. You can pour it directly into the pot with the simmering sauce. Just the right amount of pasta water can be transferred without dragging a large pot of boiling water for draining.

Tongs

Tongs

Tongs can be used for various purposes but they are useful if you are making a lot of pasta. It can be used to remove the hot pasta shells from the pot of boiling water. Also, you can use it to toss sauce and spaghetti.

Wooden Spoon

Wooden Spoon

In almost every Italian kitchen, you will find a set of weathered wooden spoons. They are strong and don’t damage the pan surface. Also, a wooden spoon does not melt if it is placed on the side of the pan like plastic spoons.

Ravioli Cutter

Ravioli Cutter

Several utensils can be used to make square and round potato ravioli with perfect shapes. A ravioli cutter is also known as a stamper. It is a simple tool that presses down the pasta dough. It automatically creates a filled pasta shape with wavy edges.

A ravioli press is shaped like an egg carton. Roll out a sheet of dough and fill each indentation with desired ingredients. Now place another sheet of dough on top, then press down the second piece to create a perfect little stuffed pillow.

Pasta Drying Rack

Pasta Drying Rack

You don’t want to spend all the time and effort rolling and cutting nice pasta and then clumping together. If you plan to cook the pasta soon after rolling, you need a pasta stand to dry it and harden it.

Instead of hanging pasta strands on the cabinet doors and turning them at intervals to dry them, you can use a pasta drying rack.

Gnocchi Board

Gnocchi Board

Little potato gnocchi needs a special Italian cooking tool that is a gnocchi board. Gnocchi might seem soft but it has small ridges to absorb better and the sauce you choose makes them smoother.

A gnocchi board is a flat or curved wooden board with small grooves. When gnocchi dough is rolled down the board, it creates perfect ridges.

Pots and Pans – Essential Italian Cooking Tools

When it comes to your favorite Italian dishes, you need to work on them. An ethnic cuisine relies on a few cooking tips and tricks. Every Italian cuisine needs a special cooking tool to meet perfection. Italian cuisine revolves around pasta that can be homemade and fresh pasta or store-bought. But if you want to try the best flavors out of it, you need special Italian cooking tools.

Pots and pans of different types, shapes, materials, and purposes can be used to make different Italian cuisines. Dutch oven comes with a thick and insulated wall that keeps the heat trapped inside. It is perfect for making soups, braising, and stewing. Food mill, on the other hand, is perfect for getting the texture of the food with interchangeable discs. Apart from essential Italian cooking tools, you need a wooden spoon, gnocchi board, pasta drying stand, ravioli cutter, spider, and tongs.