$ :-)

If they call it a Frying pan, it costs more.

dcarch

Here in Canada, we use frying pans. I never met a skillet while growing up.

I'm pretty sure the names are for the same piece of equipment.

Umm....you wack a burgler with a skillet and cook in a frying pan??? Maybe it is a regional thing?

And is a saute pan the same as a skillet/frying pan?

I think they're the same. A sauté pan has straight sides.

Le Creuset lists them separate so, as normal, I got confused. :)

/t

Here is a link that might be useful: Fry Pans, Saute Pans, & Skillets from LC

I always thought a cast iron was the skillet and other metals were the frying pan. Skillet, as a word, denotes a hefty, weighty pan to me. Fry pans are lighter, more user friendly. NancyLouise

I agree with Nancy Louise - a skillet is cast iron and heavy, and a frying pan is lighter and can be steel or aluminum. I've never heard of a steel or aluminum skillet, and I've never heard of a cast iron frying pan, although perhaps others have, since they say the terms are interchangeable. It could be regional. And FOAS is right - a sauté pan has straight sides.

Lars

Hmmm, I shall have to correct my vocab.

I have always willy-nilly used both terms. :(

/t

Not me...it's a cast iron fry pan , a non stick fry pan, a stainless steel fry pan..

to me a skillet is a long flat frying surface designed to cook larger quantities than would fit in a fry pan.

In British English, a skillet is a long-handled saucepan, but I do not think that is relevant here.

The meaning definitely varies regionally, as I suspected. What Sharon described as I skillet I call a griddle.

There are similar confusions with spatula and pancake turner.

Lars

Yes, I would call that a griddle also, Lars. Or, if large enough I would call it a flat top.

/t

I grew up with cast iron frying pans, stainless steel frying pans, etc.

Skillet was Bubba, LeRoy, Grady, and Fred Sanford's buddy.

But then, I grew up knowing a particular sandwich to be called a "submarine" or "sub" for short, where I've been told it's called a hero, grinder, gyro, po-boy and more.

To say nothing of the "green onion" I grew up with, elsewhere called spring onion, scallion, shallot...

And I would get a drink at a drinking fountain, not a bubbler.

Now that I think of it I probably call it a griddle too......so I guess I don't call anything a skillet.....but I do have an amazing flat top with my new BBQ.....also known as a grill ;)

They're usually all frying pans to me, although I sometimes call my largest cast iron frying pan a skillet.

I never thought there was any difference other than marketing.

Frying pans are deeper. Skillets are shallow to saute. That is what I learned in the South.

"Skillets are shallow to saute."
Saute skillet? That's a new one on me! :)

Yep, I agree with pretty.gurl. Through the years that I've researched on cookwares, I've learned the same thing. Frying pan is deeper to hold a large amount of oil for deep frying. Skillet and Sautee pans are pretty much the same. They're mostly used for pan frying (using very little oil for frying) and sautee food.

I always thought the difference was a skillet has a lid and a frying pan does not.

~Ann

I always thought it just depended on how you felt that day, I've called them frying pans and skillets interchangeably.

And, like cynic, I get a drink at the water fountain, I buy a sub or submarine sandwich and I use green onions.

I might actually have a sauté pan but I don't really know, I just grab whatever is the right size and might be in the front of my cupboard. Or is that a cabinet?

Annie

The word skillet makes me think of Denny's ( a place I have been only once in the last 20 years) or other marginally fast food restaurants that advertise "skillet" dinners.

At my house, I usually categorize pans by their materiel rather than the shape, as that is the deciding factor in how and what I cook in it. I have sauteed in a stock pot and boiled in a frying pan....and chocolate is always melted in a frying pan.

But I never mentally use the word skillet. It's always frying pan.
However, most "real" frying occurs in the Fry Daddy - which could be any brand of deep fryer. It's still a Daddy.