In terms of cookware, do you use both words - 'a pan' and 'a pot' (to cook soup or boil water for pasta, for example)?

Posted by ksusha_lav@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 25 comments

Hello wonderful people, I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm not from the UK, but I'm learning English. Cookware is bit confusing to me, especially because there are varieties of English. Would you call these - [https://www.shopify.com/stock-photos/photos/scooping-soup-on-stove?q=pot](https://www.shopify.com/stock-photos/photos/scooping-soup-on-stove?q=pot) and [https://stocksnap.io/photo/chili-bowl-TOPPXSZHAV](https://stocksnap.io/photo/chili-bowl-TOPPXSZHAV) 'pans' or 'pots'? Or maybe something else. What I'm trying to understand is what you call something that's deeper and with or without a handle, and you would usually use it to make soup. Thank you very much!

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25 Comments

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BeardedBaldMan@reddit

I think this is pretty common [Pot](https://imgur.com/a/KYGZ8QV) - Short handles [Saucepan](https://imgur.com/a/dHOXpsH) - Long handle, but also called a pan in context e.g. pass me that pan [Frying pan](https://imgur.com/a/IypqKSt) - Also referred to as a pan

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ksusha_lav@reddit (OP)

Thank you so much! This is so helpful! And so interesting that you'd call the first one a pot and the casserole dish (which looks like a pot to me) a pan.

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BeardedBaldMan@reddit

I've had long discussions with my Polish teacher that how things are named in real English are needlessly confusing. He still can't get to grips with the idea that meal names and times change based on location and social class

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ksusha_lav@reddit (OP)

So true.

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seadoubleyou73@reddit

Agreed, pan = one handle, pot = two short handles, dish = no handles

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spynie55@reddit

That's most of it, but I'd say there is some overlap (some things are definitely pans, pots or dishes, but some could be either a pan a pot or a dish). As well as the handles, I'd say that the height is a factor (pots are taller than pans), what it's made of (dishes are not usually made of metal in my head, pans always are, pots usually are) and what it's used for - you fry in a pan, boil in a pot or a pan, roast in a pot or a dish, serve in a dish.

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Time-Mode-9@reddit

I'm the same (southern UK) but I would usually call a pot a pan.

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BeardedBaldMan@reddit

I think it depends so much on context. If I wanted a pot I'd ask for a pot. If I saw a pot on the hob I might ask "what's in the pan?", but I'd also say "I've made a pot of soup". Thinking about it, if I made soup in a saucepan I'd still say I'd made a pot of soup

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Time-Mode-9@reddit

Oh yeah, I'd say a pot of soup. But there thing is cooked in is a pan. If I was asking for it, I'd ask for a saucepan.

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BeardedBaldMan@reddit

You can see why foreigners feel we may be deliberately awkward. It's called this, unless it contains this.

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

Agreed except I would never call a casserole dish a pan - it’s always a casserole dish, or maybe casserole for short

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BeardedBaldMan@reddit

I was thinking about this and I realised I'd change the name depending on what I was doing with it. While it's on the hob I'd probably refer to it as a pan, but once in the oven I'd call it a dish

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Worried_Suit4820@reddit

I have a casserole dish similar to your second link, and I call it either a dish or a pot. I also have saucepans with short handles, but I call them pans; there's no logic to that. I wouldn't worry too much about what do call either long or short-handled pots and pans; both are acceptable.

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ksusha_lav@reddit (OP)

Thank you very much!

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Aubergine97@reddit

I think pan is more generic. Sauce pans, frying pans, or anything else that is put on direct heat on a stove and used to cook things are all pans. A pot has high sides and 2 handles. Link 1 I would call a pan or saucepan, and link 2 I think dutch oven or pot. But I also think it's pretty flexible, if you called either of them a pan or a pot it wouldn't register as weird. If you called a low sided pan a pot, that would feel wrong, but otherwise use what you want.

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ksusha_lav@reddit (OP)

Thank you so much! This helps a lot. Your last sentence is my main takeaway, I really appreciate it.

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LIRFC@reddit

I tend to use pan unless I'm being specific. The exception to that is the casserole dish.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

I think of a pot as having higher sides and two small handles, like the classic Le Creuset ones. For cooking something a long, slow time and can also maybe go in an oven. A pan is probably smaller, has a longer handle and unless it is all metal, stays on the hob.

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non-hyphenated_@reddit

This would be my description too. There's such a phrase as "pan handle" but not "pot handle"

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terahurts@reddit

Pans have long handles and go on the hob, pots have short handles and go in the oven but (some) can also go on the hob.

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Rinlow05@reddit

I see pans as cooking equipment that can only be used on the hob top of the oven. A pot is cooking equipment that can go inside the oven to cook things like stews.

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ResplendentBear@reddit

I'd say the first one is a saucepan and the second one is a casserole dish or oven dish, or the words I would most likely use, "a big thingy". I wouldn't call anything a pot because I'm from the South East, innit.

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roze-eland@reddit

I think a lot of people use them interchangeably or using different 'rules'. Personally, I can't imagine calling a flatter pan a pot, pots are deep. But I would understand and accept a saucepan/soup pan/pot/casserole or slow cooker thingy being referred to as a pot even if I might predominantly call it a pan or something else. Eg. "Just bung all that onion in the pot" - a saucepan: fair enough, a frying pan: I would ask to clarify they meant me to put it in the frying pan.

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natpoa@reddit

The former: a pot. The latter: a pot if its intended use is on a hob (i.e., it has an appropriate bottom for putting onto the hob and applying heat to, and (crucially) we somewhat-regularly use it in that way). Otherwise, a big bowl/that big purple bowl with handles.

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