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When I watch cooking shows and observe equipment in restaurant kitchens, I see a lot of different size hotel pans.

I see that various sizes can be used to hold sauces, hold mise en place, hold cooked product, etc.

What would be a good set to invest in? What sizes and how many of each?

milesmeow
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  • Hotel pans are used in institutional cooking because they are already ubiquitous, because they fit in steam tables. Otherwise, they are are far from optimal for most purposes, or at least no better than common equipment you already should have. Why would you want to use them at home? – SAJ14SAJ Dec 31 '13 at 05:52
  • Part of it is that they lend themselves to organization. They are standardized around sizes and can fit into grids. I can see myself organizing food during prep, etc. Do you think it's overkill? I don't have to invest in the full size ones...those are way too big for home. – milesmeow Dec 31 '13 at 06:01
  • Then only you can answer what sizes you want for the use you are going to put them too, but I would suggest to you there are better alternatives for almost any home use case. – SAJ14SAJ Dec 31 '13 at 06:03

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Hotel pans are primarily used in institutional settings because everything is already made to fit them. Steam tables, prep coolers, etc, are all made to fit hotel pans and their fractional sizes. While I agree with the comments that they aren't generally the best pan suited to many tasks, they are great because they are fairly inexpensive and can be stacked and nested so easily.

There are not, however, any specific sizes that you must have. Even restaurants only buy sizes that they need for specific tasks. For instance, I have worked very few places that had more than one or two full sized hotel pans, as those are usually only used as the water-holding layer of a steam table (or occasionally to do roasts and the like). Basically, get the sizes that you think you will use. For instance, if nothing bigger than a 1/2 pan will fit in your oven, don't get any full pans. If you primarily want them for refrigerated storage, only get the plastic cold table pans and lids in sizes that will fit in your refrigerator.

If you are primarily using them for storage, I'd highly recommend getting Cambro or Carlisle storage containers instead. They come in standardized sizes, have color coded lids, and nest neatly. They also have snug fitting lids, which hotel pans lack. The plastic cold table pans generally have loose lids that work in institutional settings for things that won't be stored longer than a few hours, but wouldn't be practical at home.

SourDoh
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