AMT Tossing Pan, Ø28cm, 4cm high

A: Cooking for a table rather than a plate: two to four portions of vegetables, pasta finished in sauce, or a batch of anything that needs to move while it cooks.

A: It is a two-handed pan once loaded. Tossing at this size relies on fewer, larger movements rather than rapid flicks, and it is worth loading it below capacity if you intend to keep moving it.

A: Roughly two thirds full. Above that the food has nowhere to travel, so it stirs rather than turns, and the pan becomes awkward to control.

A: Speed and evenness. A toss turns everything at once and keeps the pan on the heat, where stirring moves food unevenly and scrapes the surface repeatedly.

A: Gas, ceramic and conventional electric, with an element large enough to heat a 28cm base. This is the non-induction version; the A428I is built for induction.

A: Yes. A wide base has to carry heat well past the element to the rim, and in a shallow pan food sits close to that rim. The base thickness is what keeps the outer area working.

A: Yes, and it is one of the better uses for it. There is enough surface for the sauce to reduce and cling, and the sloped wall lets you toss the pasta through it without a utensil.

A: Yes, for anything shallow. With the handle removed it takes a single layer of vegetables or small items well, though the 4cm wall means it holds very little liquid or fat.

A: For most, yes. If the same kitchen also plates single portions to order, a 20cm pan alongside it covers the work a large pan does clumsily.

A: The base. The A428I works on induction hobs and the A428 does not. Diameter, depth, coating and handle are identical.