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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I just received an e-mail message from the cook at the place where I will be staying in Texas the coming week. She knows me because I have insinuated myself into her kitchen in order to learn some of the Southern secrets to making food that tastes so good and is so bad for you. She told me to bring my "skillet."
What is the difference between a skillet and a frying pan? Is it only a regional one or can the two pans be distinguished?
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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yes, of course there is!
a fry pan is deeper.
both are sized from 8 to 14 inches round, but skillet is only 1.5 to 3 inches deep. a fry pan is 3 to 5 inches deep (the larger 14 inch ones are close to 5 inches--smaller ones are deeper than skillets, but not ss deep as sause pans (or pots!)
you can fry bacon in a skillet, but not chicken.. well not safely!
the low sides of skillet mean you can use it for eggs, and get a flat spatula or pancake turner easily into the pan and flip the eggs (over easily)
the high sides of fry pan would make that very awkward to do.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I only think of skillets as being cast iron, but that's probably just an instance of regional upbringing.
Here's a note from AHD:
"ETYMOLOGY: Middle English skelet, from Old French escuelete, diminutive of escuele, plate, from Latin scutella, diminutive of scutra, platter. "
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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of troy notwithstanding, I'm voting for regional. The lovely AnnaS refers to our four cooking vessels as skillets or frying pans depending on whether they are or are not respectively made of iron. I would refer to all four as frying pans. None of them is deeper than two inches.
Bring what you'll be cooking in.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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To further confuse things, there is something called a saute pan which looks a lot like a frying pan / skillet to me. http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/saute_pan.htm
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ah! A little physics lesson, Father Steve! In the link you provided, there is mention of the necessity of saute pans having very straight sides so the oil and ingredients immediately fall back onto the bottom rather than landing on the sides.
While reading the requirements there for a good saute pan, I thought, "Hmmm. Why not invent a saute pan with sides that slight slant inward toward the center--ever so slightly--that would further guarantee that food bits and pieces would have no chance of fighting gravity?" Understand? Slight angle inward--maybe one degree.
But then I wondered, "Well, if the angle outward isn't wanted in such a pan, perhaps even a one degree angle inward would produce the same, undesired effect."
Oh, well. It was a thought.
Is anyone else here somewhat disappointed that the etymology of 'skillet' isn't more interesting?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Couple things: first, I would never say "cast iron frying pan"; it just...ew. Helen--loved your eggs over easily!  I think your def.'s were better, too. Now, from Gurunet, if I can keep it coming up--it wants me to adopt its new version:
skil·let (skĭl'ĭt)
n.
1. See frying pan. See Regional Note at andiron, frying pan.
2. Chiefly British. A long-handled stewing pan or saucepan sometimes having legs.
[Middle English skelet, from Old French escuelete, diminutive of escuele, plate, from Latin scutella, diminutive of scutra, platter.]
fry·ing pan (frī'ĭng)
n.
A shallow, long-handled pan used for frying food. Also called skillet; also called regionally fry pan, spider.
REGIONAL NOTE The terms frying pan and skillet are now virtually interchangeable, but there was a time when they were so regional as to be distinct dialect markers. Frying pan and the shortened version fry pan were once New England terms; frying pan is now in general use, as is the less common fry pan, now heard in the Atlantic states, the South, and the West, as well as New England. Skillet seems to have been confined to the Midland section of the country, including the Upper South. Its use is still concentrated there, but it is no longer used in that area alone, probably because of the national marketing of skillet dinner mixes. The term spider, originally denoting a type of frying pan that had long legs to hold it up over the coals, spread from New England westward to the Upper Northern states and down the coast to the South Atlantic states. It is still well known in both these regions, although it is now considered old-fashioned. See Note at andiron.
and·i·ron (ănd'ī'ərn)
n.
One of a pair of metal supports used for holding up logs in a fireplace. Also called dog; also called regionally dog iron, firedog.
[Middle English aundiren, alteration (influenced by Middle English iren, iron) of Old French andier, of Celtic origin.]
REGIONAL NOTE A number of words that formerly were limited to one region of the U.S. are now used throughout the country. Andiron was once Northern, contrasting with Southern dog iron and fire dog. The Southern terms remain limited to that region, but andiron is now everywhere. Other formerly Northern words that have become national include faucet, contrasting with Southern spigot; frying pan, contrasting with Midland and Upper Southern skillet; and freestone peach, contrasting with clearseed and open peach in parts of the South. Southern words that are now used nationwide include feisty and gutters. See Note at frying pan. I remember that we had a discussion on faucet/spigot, etc. I have never heard the terms "clearseed and open peach".
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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clearseed and open peach. subsequently transport peach to previously opened mouth.
sounds like technobabble for how to eat a peach.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Southern words that are now used nationwide include feisty and gutters.
Gutters is a Southern word?? Surely this has always been the word used for those kind of channel thingies along the outer edges of pavements (sidewalks to the left bankers)? Or is there some special meaning intended here - not just the places from which one is drug up?
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Carpal Tunnel
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yeahbut what do you have on the edge of your roofff, dixbieland?
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