It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man (or woman) in possession of a hob (and an appetite) must be in want of a frying pan. Whatever your personal tastes and preferred cooking styles, the humble skillet will quite probably be the most practical, versatile and essential cooking receptacle in your kitchen. If it's wide and deep enough, non-stick and reasonably durable it can capably take on the job of a sauce pan, sautee pan, milk pan, paella pan, kadhai and wok - though not necessarily all at once. That you should be the owner of a frying pan is not, nor has it ever been, in doubt.
The real question is: should your pride and prejudice prevent you from buying a frying pan endorsed by Jamie Oliver? Loathe him or loathe him, Oliver has made a lucrative career out of encroaching on people's private cooking habits whether they like it or not - like some kind of chummy culinary phantom that creeps into people's kitchens, demonising them if they feed a child a turkey twizzler, and covering all their surfaces in a one-inch thick layer of smarminess"
Tefal, pioneers of the "Thermo-Spot" heat indicator, which informs people with no sense of time or temperature when a pan is sufficiently hot, are generally a safe bet for the everyday cook. Especially those who expect their stay in the UAE to be transitory. Many expatriates will baulk at paying the earth for a pan when they have expensive equipment packed away in their home countries. So for many, Tefal's Bienvenue, Practica and Privilege ranges will do the trick at a reasonable price.
But if you don't want to compromise on quality and you'd rather not bankrupt yourself, the Professional Series endorsed by you-know-who may be the answer. The ferritic stainless steel disc pressed into the base makes the pan robust, nicely heavy and ideal for induction hobs and all other types of heat source. It uses a multilayer non-stick coating called Prometal, which is reinforced with hardened minerals that makes the pan safe to use with most metal utensils. The stainless steel handle, inlaid with a rubbery grip for comfort, stays cool to the touch while cooking on the hob and is oven safe up to 260 degrees Celsius, although, unless you have asbestos hands, you'll need oven gloves for that. And lastly, the pan has a flared lip for easy, drip-free pouring. We have to hold our hands up. It's pretty good.
One quibble is the name. Although it's part of the Professional Series, the small print in the warranty does not cover it for "professional use". But would a professional chef really risk his reputation by using a frying pan with the words "Jamie" and "Oliver" stamped into the handle in large capitals? The answer is probably yes. And his name is Jamie Oliver.
The Tefal Jamie Oliver Professional Series Frying Pan is available at Spinneys, priced at Dh281.
@email:jbrennan@thenational.ae