Q: Isn’t a 4-quart saucepan often called a medium saucepan? Why do you call it a large saucepan? And, why did you choose a 4-quart size?
A: You are correct. In a large, well-stocked kitchen you might have a set of saucepans that include a 1- or 2-quart saucepan, a 3- or 4-quart saucepan, and a 5- or 6-quart saucepan/stockpot/Dutch oven. In that case, the 4-quart saucepan would indeed be considered “medium.” However, in our small Finite Foodie kitchen which usually feeds one or two people, we only had space for two saucepans, so we decided that the most versatile were the 1-quart and 4-quart sizes. To make it easy, we refer to the 1-quart as our small saucepan and the 4-quart as our large saucepan.
All of our recipes are designed to work with these 2 sizes, so there are no surprises when you go to prepare one of our soups, for example. They all fit into the 4-quart saucepan, although some will fill it more than others.
As you get used to preparing your favorite recipes, you might decide to use a different size saucepan if you have one, and that’s okay with us. In fact, we hope you’ll enjoy cooking at home so much that you eventually invest in an extra pan or two to expand your repertoire!
We have actually become so accustomed to using these two pans, we seldom think about using any of our other pans–unless we’re doubling a soup or chili recipe for a party. If you intend to double some recipes to feed a larger family or for a holiday gathering, then a 5-, 6- or even larger pot would be a great investment.
