Ryan Whitaker

Cooking pasta for a family of 5 or more usually means breaking out two pots, fighting over a tiny colander, and watching half your spaghetti water splash across the stovetop. After cooking through 30 pounds of rigatoni, penne, and shells for our team of four home cooks (plus their families), I can tell you that … Read more

I burned my fingers twice in one month trying to drain spaghetti through a flimsy colander. After that, I started testing stainless steel pasta pots with strainer inserts the way a kitchen gear reviewer would. Over the past 90 days, our team boiled, steamed, and drained more than 80 pounds of pasta across 10 different … Read more

Draining a pot full of boiling spaghetti into a colander in the sink is one of those kitchen tasks that always feels more dangerous than it should be. Between the steam hitting your face and the noodles slipping through the holes, I have ruined more than one batch over the years. That is exactly why … Read more

I burned my forearm the first time I drained spaghetti without a stock pot with strainer basket. The colander slipped, boiling water cascaded across my wrist, and I swore off the old-school method that night. That moment sent me down a six-month rabbit hole testing the best stock pots with strainer baskets for pasta across … Read more

There is nothing quite like dumping a steaming pile of crawfish, shrimp, corn, and sausage onto a newspaper-covered table for friends and family. I have been hosting backyard seafood boils for over six years, and the single biggest factor between a smooth cook and a frustrating mess is the pot you choose. A 20-quart stock … Read more

There’s a specific sound a great stockpot makes when a beef stew has been simmering for three hours. The lid lifts, steam rises, and the aroma of slow-cooked tomatoes, garlic, and tender meat fills the kitchen. After testing 7 stainless steel stock pots over 6 weeks of stew-making, I can tell you that the pot … Read more

I spent the last three months testing large stock pots in my own kitchen, running everything from 8-quart bone broth batches to full water-bath canning sessions with 7 quart jars. What I learned surprised me. The cheapest pot on this list (under $40) handled a 20-quart canning run without warping, while one premium Viking model … Read more

Every Thanksgiving, my family gathers around a 22-pound turkey that needs a real roasting pan, not a flimsy disposable foil tray. After years of bending aluminum pans and watching drippings overflow, I learned one truth: the best roasting pans with lids transform holiday cooking. A quality covered roaster lets you brown a turkey uncovered, then … Read more

I pulled 8 pans off my shelf for a proper test after one too many scrubbing sessions. Roasting a 14-pound turkey for Thanksgiving should leave you tired from cooking, not from scrubbing. The best nonstick roasting pans for easy cleanup solve exactly that problem. After 30 days of roasting everything from chickens to sheet-pan vegetables, … Read more

Last Thanksgiving I squeezed a 22-pound turkey into a rimmed baking sheet and spent the next hour mopping buttery juices off the oven floor. I learned the hard way that a proper stainless steel roasting pan for large roasts is not optional cookware. If you cook for a crowd even once a year, the right … Read more