DEAR DAME EVELYN , I was in a cookware-supply shop the other day and overheard one of the clerks telling a customer that pans with nonstick surfaces don't hold up all that well – you can't use full heat and some other stuff. I had never heard this! I was going to buy my boyfriend a nice pan for Valentine's Day, since he loves to cook, but he's kind of intense behind the stove and I don't want him melting or wrecking the nice pan I've just given him. Do you have any advice?

Panicking

Sweet pea, You do not say what sort of pan you are considering – sauce, sauté, perhaps a skillet of some kind? In Dame Evelyn's experience, pans used for sautéing and frying take a more serious beating than do sauce pans, which tend to see just a bit of gentle stirring now and then. Standard nonstick surfaces are indeed far from indestructible, though if you follow a few simple rules (keep them out of the dishwasher and don't use metal utensils in them), they can last a good while. But of course they aren't much good for making pan sauces, since you don't get that nicely browned residue at the bottom, waiting to be deglazed. Dame Evelyn, accordingly, prefers pans with stainless-steel linings; All-Clad is a good example. The stainless-steel cooking surface is virtually immortal, and while it isn't nonstick, it can be made stick-resistant by first heating the pan, then adding oil and letting that get good and hot, then adding whatever food you plan to cook. All-Clad pans have aluminum cores for heat conductivity, and this helps keep the price down. If price is little or no object, you might consider one of those copper pans from French manufacturers Mauviel or Bourgeat; they use the same stainless-steel lining on a copper core, copper being considerably more heat-conductive than aluminum. They are also gorgeous when clean, but they are hell to keep clean, and also hellishly heavy – especially if we are talking about a big sauté pan (and I do mean big: say, 12 or 14 inches in diameter).

Stainlessly,

E. G.-S.