Barb's Favorite Tuna Casserole Recipe

Farberware Classic 4-Quart Dual-Function Saucepot with Chrome-Plated Fry Basket

Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 02/16/2012)

The pot I have is a Farberware, although when I got mine it had no fry basket, and so the lid has no hole near the handle to accommodate it. Some people see that hole as a fault, but I would actually find it useful when cooking rice, since I have to keep the lid slightly ajar anyway to keep the water from boiling over. When cook pasta I don't use the lid.

Though most pasta recipes tell you to cook in four quarts of water, I rarely cook more than 8 ounces of pasta at a time and this has worked fine for me. I like it because the long handle makes it easy to drain into the small, hand-held colander you see me using. I only use my large soup pot when I cook lasagna noodles. I find it much harder to handle draining the large pot into a large colander in the sink.

My Farberware pan is as sturdy today as when I got it 4 years ago. It will last a lifetime. A lid without a hole is easily purchased separately if you need such a lid. The fry basket is something I could have used over the years instead of the large electric deep fat fryer I had and used about three times. This pan would use less fat, and thus would be more economical. I have a steam basket that also fits nicely in this pan if I want to steam a lot of broccoli. One of the people who reviewed this item on Amazon found an easy fix for the hole in the lid. She uses a foil patch and says it works just fine, so one could still use this for steaming. I think every real cook should have such a pan.