Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
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Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
This event was on
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.
Question:
![Lisa C](https://d1c8xu194km6ge.cloudfront.net/avatars/1208033/FE60973C-4FF6-4F37-A58E-AE5B67EAF9EE_thumbnail.jpeg)
This may be obvious, but could you clarify what is meant by a heavy-bottom pan? I thought cast iron, but ended up using what I would call a big pasta pot because of size (the bottom is not heavy?).
— Lisa Cronin
Answer:
And, um, I always love a good pot and pan question because I think most of us are always on the quest for the perfect pan. And right now, you know that I am totally in love with my caraway pan, which is a breeze to clean. It cooks beautifully, it retains heat. Well, it browns like magic without any oil, and I'm totally in love with it. But for those of you who are looking for, um, a heavy bottom pan, uh, many of my friends like the all clad triple bottom pans. And the benefit to a heavy bottom pan is that they ret retain heat a little bit better. They will cook your food, um, in a, in a faster time. I'm a big fan of, uh, using Le Crusa as well. So I think that it's really a personal thing. What I do recommend is do a thrift shop and look and see if there isn't a, um, an old clad or a piece of Le Crus say or whatever, and try out using that pan before you buy an entire set or catch a sale and buy one piece and kind of monitor it and see how you like it. See if you have shelf space for it, because that's another thing to also take into consideration. So, uh, I think pans are personal. That's just my, just my own opinion.
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