“ THE OLD FRYING PANYou may talk of your broilers, both single and double,Your roasters and toasters, they're all lots of trouble;But when out in the hills, just find if you can,Any kind of a dish like the old frying pan. Over a campfire you don't need a stove,Out in the hills, the place we all love,Such hotcakes they never were tasted by man,With many the thanks to the old frying pan. ”
Pan
Definition and stakes
The concept of "Pan" encompasses both the mythological Greek deity of shepherds and the simple cooking vessel, reflecting its dual role as a symbol of rural life and practical use. Authors such as Mary Eales and Sylvester Graham emphasized the frying pan’s adaptability in wilderness survival, while stories like The Chronicle of the Pancake portrayed it as an essential household item.
From baking bread in The Young Housekeeper’s Friend to gold panning in Colorado—The Bright Romance of American History, the pan appears as a multifaceted object connecting nourishment, craftsmanship, and legend. These diverse portrayals highlight its lasting importance in human culture.
Quotes about “Pan”
Freeman Edwin Miller, Oklahoma Sunshine
“ With the frying pan for his companion, the civilized idiot is at home any where,—prairie or woods, creek bank or deer-lick or prairie-chicken trysting place. With a frying pan and some bacon fat, home is never far away, and a full meal is so near that heaven comes close to the hungry man. ”
Klara Stroebe, The Norwegian Fairy Book
“ THE CHRONICLE OF THE PANCAKE Once upon a time there was a woman who had seven hungry children, and she was baking pancakes for them. There was dough made with new milk, and it lay in the pan, and was rising so plumply and comfortably, that it was a pleasure to watch it. ”
William Henry Giles Kingston,
My First Cruise, and Other stories
“ The viands consisted of an immense round loaf of bread, nearly as large as a grindstone, and made of wheat and Indian meal, the half of a huge cheese, a piece of cold pork, a peach pie, an apple pie, and, as it had been baking day, there was the customary addition of a rice pudding, in an earthen pan of stupendous size. ”
Stories by English Authors: Africa…
“ From the farther edge of this pan the ground sloped up again to a great cleft, or nullah, which had been cut out by the action of the water, and was pretty thickly sprinkled with bush, among which grew some large trees, I forget of what sort. “It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. ”
Julia Ellen Rogers, Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know
“ The big range oven is not allowed to grow cold until rows of pies adorn the pantry shelves, and cakes, tarts, and generous loaves of bread are added to the store. Cookies, perhaps, and a big pan full of crisp, brown doughnuts often crown the day's work. ”
Maria Thompson Daviess,
The Golden Bird
“ I answered as we seated ourselves on the warm earth side by side and began to dip the hunks of black bread into our bowls and lift the delicious wilted leaves to our mouths with it, a mode of consumption it had taken Pan several attempts to teach me. Pan never talks when he eats, and he seems to browse food in a way that each time tempts me more and more to reach out my hand and lift one of the red crests to see about the points of his ears. ”
Mrs. Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper's Friend
“ In summer, when bread becomes mouldy from long keeping, lay the pieces which cannot be used immediately, upon a tin and dry them in the oven; they are as good pounded for puddings and crumb cakes as before drying, and as nice to dress a ham as cracker crumbs. Nice pieces of bread are good in pan pie, and also in stewed tomato. ”
William Tarrant, Ningpo to Shanghai in 1857 (1862)
“ An earthenware pan is filled with a stiff batter of flour, water, salt and eggs, and in this the manipulators, old women generally, dip the fore fingers and spread, or rather smear the batter lightly over the hot pan;—one spread one way, one the other, a second's delay and the food is cooked ”
F. C. Grable, Colorado—The Bright Romance of American History
“ The pan he fills two-thirds full of dirt, then with water, rocks it gently with his hands, letting the water run over the sides, carrying the dirt away and leaving the particles of gold, which are heavy, at the bottom of the pan. ”
Mrs. Amy Harlow Waterman, A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl
“ Let sugar, coffee and butter cook until a little dropped in cold water forms a soft ball, Betsey explained to a friend of mother's who happened in, remove saucepan from fire and stand in a [52] pan of cold water, then beat until it looks as thick as nice heavy cream, when you pour at once into a buttered pan and mark in squares. ”
Catherine Owen, Culture and Cooking; Or, Art in the Kitchen
“ Nothing can make a dish of breaded cutlets on which are bald white spots look inviting, or livid-looking fish, just flaked here and there with the bread that has been persuaded to stay on. And, provided you have enough fat in the pan—there should always be enough to immerse the article; therefore use a deep iron or enameled pan—there can be but two reasons why you fail. Your fat has not been hot enough, or your crumbs have not been fine and even. ”
B. M. Bower,
The Happy Family (B M Bower) — Lords of the Pots and Pans
(1910)
“ I reelize that no cook likes to have a fellow standin' on his head in a big pan uh bread-sponge, on general principles if not on account uh the bread. Uh course, we've all knowed old Patsy to take just about as great liberties himself with his sponge—but we've got to recollect that it was his dough, by cripes, and that pipe ashes ain't the same as a fellow takin' a shampoo in the pan. ”
Eliza Acton,
Modern cookery for private families
(1882)
“ As the jam is apt to rise over the top of the pan, it is better not to fill it more than two-thirds, and if this precaution should not be sufficient to prevent it, it must be lifted from the fire and held away for an instant. ”
Lafcadio Hearn,
La cuisine creole
(1885)
“ When done take it from the pan, when cold take the paper off, turn it upside down on the bottom of the pan and ice the side which was down; when the icing is nearly hard, mark it in slices the width of a finger, and two inches and a half long. ”
Isabella Beeton,
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management
(1907)
“ A few sizes, 8 inches, 9 inches and 10 inches in diameter, and made extra deep and furnished with covers like the fricandeau-pan, are sold at 21s., 25s. and 30s. respectively. Bain-Marie Pan and Stewpans, etc.—The bain-marie is not used so much in England as it deserves to be, and is only to be found in large establishments. In serving a large dinner it is a most useful and indeed necessary article. The pan is filled with boiling water and stands on the hot-plate of the range or kitchener. ”
Pierre Blot, Hand-Book of Practical Cookery…
“ A bake-pan for baking meat, fish, or any other object that requires liquor of any kind, must have borders in order to hold that liquor; but a bake-pan for cakes or any other object that does not require any liquor, or that does not turn liquid in baking, is better without borders—that is, a simple piece of sheet iron of a size to go easily in the oven. ”
Janet Ross,
Leaves from our Tuscan kitchen…
(1899)
“ A Bain-Marie is a large copper pan placed on the fire, and containing boiling water in which are put smaller pans with anything to be kept hot, or cooked without boiling. Milk is better cooked in Bain-Marie, than in a sauce-pan on the fire. ”
F. L. Gillette, The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)
“ Never leave the bread in the pan or on a pin table to absorb the odor of the wood. If you like crusts that are crisp do not cover the loaves; but to give the soft, tender, wafer-like consistency which many prefer, wrap them while still hot in several thicknesses of bread-cloth. ”
Oliver Goldsmith, The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith
“ As in some Irish houses, where things are so so, One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show: 10 But for eating a rasher of what they take pride in, They’d as soon think of eating the pan it is fried in. ”
“ The people would let the pan stand in the open air until the twigs were burnt to coal, and then they would carry the pan, with the embers still glowing, into the room which they wished [Pg 168] to warm, and place it wherever it was required. ”
Anne Cobbett, The English Housekeeper (1851)
“ Pare, core, and either stew or bake some apples, in an earthen pan, with as little water as possible, and sugar to sweeten. When they are fallen, put them into a pie dish, and let them stand to get cold; pour over an unboiled custard, and set the dish into the oven, or before the fire, until the custard is fixed. ”
active 1823-1849 Mary Eaton, The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary…
“ Pour it into an earthen pan, and it will keep good a fortnight in summer, and longer in winter. Particular attention must be paid in making it; if it gets any burnt smell or taste, it will spoil every thing it is put into. When cold, it should be thick enough to cut out with a knife, like a solid paste. This is a very essential article in the kitchen, and the basis of consistency in most made dishes, soups, sauces, and ragouts. In making this thickening, the less butter and the more flour is used the better. They must be thoroughly worked together, and the broth or soup added by degrees. ”
Various, The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No…
“ Bread-pans and cheese-pans should be carefully wiped out every other day, and any pieces of broken bread not left in the pan, but put on a dish or plate till it is decided what shall be done with them. ”
Various, The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28
“ You can make very good bread in a frying-pan. You must mix the dough up stiff so that when the pan is nearly upright it won't tumble out. You fix the pan up with a prop behind it so that the dough faces the fire, quite close, and you draw some more fire behind it so that the back is warmed as well. ”
Sylvester Graham,
A Treatise on Bread, and Bread-making
(1837)
“ When therefore the bread is thoroughly baked, let it be taken from the oven and placed on a perfectly clean and sweet shelf, in a perfectly clean and well ventilated pantry. Do not, as you value the character of your bread, put it into a pantry where you set away dishes of cold meat, cold potatoes, and other vegetables, and keep your butter, cheese and various other table provisions—in a pantry which perhaps is seldom thoroughly cleansed with hot water and soap, and where the pure air of heaven seldom if ever has a free circulation. ”
Fannie Farmer,
Boston Cooking-School Cook Book
(1918)
“ If baked in long shallow pan, when well kneaded, roll with both hands to lengthen, care being taken that it is smooth and of uniform thickness. Where long loaves are baked on sheets, shape and roll loosely in a towel sprinkled with corn meal for last rising. ”
Mary Randolph, The Virginia Housewife; Or, Methodical Cook (1836)
“ It is injudicious to put more in the pan at once, than can lie on the bottom without crowding. The pan must be made bright, and nothing permitted to cool in it, lest it should canker. Delicate preserves should be kept in small glasses or pots, that will not hold more than one or two pounds, for the admission of air injures them ”
Apicius, Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome
“ IN A SMALL SAUCE PAN PUT A LITTLE OIL [with the other ingredients] HEAT, AND BIND WITH ROUX WHEN HOT. NOW [unmould] UPSET THE DISH ON A PLATTER, REMOVE THE MALLOW LEAVES, POUR OVER THE WINE SAUCE, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER AND SERVE [9] . ”
William Harrison, Elizabethan England
“ Of bread made of wheat we have sundry sorts daily brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the manchet, which we commonly call white bread, in Latin primarius panis, whereof Budeus also speaketh, in his first book De asse; and our good workmen deliver commonly such proportion that of the flour of one bushel with another they make forty cast of manchet, of which every loaf weigheth eight ounces into the oven, and six ounces out, as I have been informed. ”
Albert Spear Hitchcock,
Popular Science Monthly
(1909)
“ The small fire can be controlled to suit the requirements. As one sits near the stove while cooking, the fire must not be too large. The supper is with me the important meal of the day. There is time to cook such articles as need prolonged boiling. At this meal I have pancakes, bacon, potatoes, onions, fruit or whatever my supplies will furnish. As the cooking utensils are limited to a frying pan, coffee pot, pail and tin can, the amount of cooking that can be carried on at one time is limited. ”
Catharine Esther Beecher,
American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science…
“ Some persons prepare bread for the oven by simply mixing it in the mass, without kneading, pouring it into pans, and suffering it to rise there. The air-cells in bread thus prepared are coarse and uneven; the bread is as inferior in delicacy and nicety to that which is well kneaded as a raw servant to a perfectly educated and refined lady. The process of kneading seems to impart an evenness to the minute air-cells, a fineness of texture, and a tenderness and pliability to the whole substance, that can be gained in no other way. ”
Mary Eales, Mrs. Mary Eales's receipts. (1733…
“ Let them stand all Night in the Pan they are boil’d in, with a Paper laid close to them; the next Day scald them very well, and let them stand a Day or two; then lay them on Plates, sift them with Sugar very well, and put them in the Stove, turning them every Day ’till they 6 are dry; the third Time of turning, you may lay them on a Sieve, if you please; when they are pretty dry, place them in a Box, with Paper betwixt every Row. ”
Mary Ronald,
Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book
“ NO. 123. BREAD AND JAM TARTLETS. BREAD AND JAM TARTLETS Cut very light bread into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Stamp these pieces into rounds with a biscuit-cutter. Put them in a sauté-pan with a little butter, and brown them on both sides. When they are cool, spread them with any kind of jam or preserved fruit, and just before serving ornament them with whipped cream pressed through a pastry-bag and star tube.NO. 124. PINE CONES. 144 PINE CONES Cut quarter-inch slices of bread into rounds and moisten them with sherry or maraschino. ”
Henryk Sienkiewicz,
The Deluge: An Historical Novel of Poland…
“ How many voices of pity rose in the soul of Olenka in defence of Pan Andrei, who can tell! Love flies swiftly, like the seed of a tree borne on by the wind; but when it grows up in the heart like a tree in the ground, you can pluck it out only with the heart. Panna Billevich was of those who love strongly with an honest heart, therefore she covered that letter of Kmita’s with tears. ”
Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society. Auxiliary Society, The Auxiliary cook book (1909)
“ Place in well-greased pans and set to rise for from three-quarters of an hour to an hour. When well risen bake for one hour in a slower oven than is required for white bread. After bread is baked, remove from pans, and cool by contact with the air on all sides. ”
E. F. Knight,
The Cruise of the 'Alerte'
“ As soon as the cook began to lift the boiler of tea from the stove Jacko would give a whistle of delight, clamber up the pantry wall, unhook a pannikin, and walk up with it to be filled, 'all de same as a little ole man,' as the cook used to say. ”
Emma Paddock Telford, Standard Paper-Bag Cookery
“ Pecan Pie With One Crust.—One cup of sugar, three eggs, one cup of sweet cream, one cup of pecans well mashed. Beat very light, pour into two pie pans that are lined with good rich paste, put in bag and bake. ”
E. E. Kellogg, Science in the Kitchen
“ The lightness of aërated bread depends not only upon the amount of air incorporated in its preparation, but also upon the expansion of the air during the baking. The colder the air, the greater will be its expansion upon the application of heat. The colder the materials employed, then, for the bread-making, the colder will be the air confined within it, and the lighter will be the bread. ”
F. L. Gillette, The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)
“ When the bread is baked, remove the loaves immediately from the pans and place them where the air will circulate freely around them, and thus carry off the gas which has been formed, but is no longer needed. ”
George Müller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller…
“ This afternoon the same brother brought from a sister, a counterpane, a flat iron stand, eight cups, and saucers, a sugar basin, a milk jug, a tea cup, 16 thimbles, five knives and forks, six dessert spoons, 12 tea spoons, four combs, and two little graters ”
E. E. Kellogg, Science in the Kitchen
“ Good whole-wheat or Graham bread of some kind, rolls, crisps, beaten biscuit, sticks, fruit rolls, and wafers, with a cup of canned fruit or a bottle of rich milk as an accompaniment, with plenty of nice, fresh fruits or almonds or a few stalks of celery, is as tempting a lunch as any child need desire. ”
John Ruskin,
Fors Clavigera (Volume 5 of 8)
(1871)
“ For our strictly Protestant habits of mind rendering us independent of absolution, on Shrove Tuesday we were chiefly occupied in the preparation of pancakes,—my nurse being dominant on that day over the cook in all things, her especially nutritive art of browning, and fine legerdemain in turning, pancakes, being recognised as inimitable. ”
Joseph Conrad,
Falk: A Reminiscence
“ the chipped plates might have been disinterred from some kitchen midden near an inhabited lake; and the chops recalled times more ancient still. They brought forcibly to one’s mind the night of ages when the primeval man, evolving the first rudiments of cookery from his dim consciousness, scorched lumps of flesh at a fire of sticks in the company of other good fellows; ”
Sabine Baring-Gould,
Arminell, a social romance
(1896)
“ We know very well, my dear Marianne, that the bread we buy of the bakers is composed of some flour, and some alum, and some plaster-of-paris, and some china-clay, but we don't stop to analyse it at our breakfast; we cut ourselves a slice, butter it, and pop it into our mouths, and like it a thousand times better than home-made bread made of pure, unadulterated flour. ”
