There are some lessons which I think take a long time to learn. For me it was ditching or almost nearly ditching non-stick frying pans. I guess I secretly wanted them to actually work like they claimed they would work, but they don’t. So the too long, didn’t read version is – just use cast iron. The more nuanced answer is you can use a non-stick frying pan and others but these frying pans are just used much more rarely.

So straight onto the list.

1. Large Cast Iron Pan

   
   This should be your most used frying pan. Like 80-90% of all frying can be done in a cast iron pan. The other pans while useful are nothing compared to these pans. If I had to do a dessert island cooking list this would come second right after a good knife. This is the real work horse of kitchen. There is no frying job it can’t do. Learn how to look after cast iron equipment and your cooking will be the better for it.

2. Medium Cast Iron Pan

   
   As mentioned above you’ll never not need a cast iron skillet so having one in a different size is very useful. Once you have learned how to care for cast iron you might find your collection expands rapidly as they’re cheap compared to other cookware and will last a life time. Even if cast iron gets badly rusted its still possible to restore it to nearly new condition without any complex equipment.

3. Non-stick Pan

   
   The dreaded non-stick pan does indeed need to be included in this list. While they are ubiquitous and the default pan in most households I find they’re usually terrible pans, mainly because the coating fails. These pans should not be used at anything more than a low to medium
   heat. They should be used for things like frying eggs, but even that task is better in a well seasoned cast iron pan. If you know your pans well the non-stick pan will be your most seldomly used pan.

4. Stainless Steel Pan

   
   Stainless steel frying pans are great for reducing liquids, cooking very acidic sauces that could damage cast iron seasoning and searing meats. Stainless steel obviously has no coating on it so food can quickly stick and burn. It’s important to know when to use this pan and how to use it because repairing a burnt stainless steel pan is very labour intensive. Always ensure you’re meant to be using a stainless steel pan and the correct amount of cooking fats with a stainless steel pan.

5. Other useful pans

   
   There are all sorts of pans but the next two most important pans would be a deep cast iron pan or deep frying or slow cooking, and a griddle pan for those all important searing marks.