Left/right-handed pans

[annedonnelly]

As my dad is ill I'm doing lots of cooking at his house. The kitchen utensils, pans, etc. are all ones that my mum bought and used over the years.

The pan I'm using to heat soup has a lip for pouring the contents out of the pan. The lip is on the left hand side so you have to hold the pan in your right hand to pour. I'm right-handed but I always pick pans up in my left hand as I use the spoon or spatula in my right hand.

Am I odd picking up the pan in my left (non-dominant) hand? Or has my mum bought a left-handed pan for some reason?

 

[Piemaster]

Am I odd picking up the pan in my left (non-dominant) hand?

Yes.

 

[Drago]

A southpaw?

 

[raleighnut]

It depends, if I'm spooning something out of the pan (sauce for instance) I have to pick the pan up with my left hand cos using a spoon with my left hand is just wrong.

 

[keithmac]

I'd stir the pan on the hob (spoon in right hand), put spoon down and pick pan handle up with right hand and pour the soup out.. From a right hander.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Makes sense to me @annedonnelly

 

[raleighnut]

I'd stir the pan on the hob (spoon in right hand), put spoon down and pick pan handle up with right hand and pour the soup out.. From a right hander.

How do you get the rest of the soup out of the pan, spoon in left hand ?

Or do you waste that bit

 

[keithmac]

Possibly the last scrapings would be done with pan on left hand and wooden sppoin in right hand but I normally don't scrape the pan out..

 

[raleighnut]

Possibly the last scrapings would be done with pan on left hand and wooden sppoin in right hand but I normally don't scrape the pan out..

Don't have the heat on too high and it won't need 'scraping'

 

[keithmac]

To be fair most of my soup consumption is at work, poured from the can into a mug and into the microwave.

I can see soup still stuck to the walls of the tin can but I just discard it with wanton abandon..

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Am I odd picking up the pan in my left (non-dominant) hand? Or has my mum bought a left-handed pan for some reason?

With handedness, as far as my somewhat gauche understanding of it goes, it's the non-dominant hand that does the bracing, hold it steady, work while the dominant one does the lighter, agile work. So if you're right handed, it would be pretty standard to hold the pan steady with the left while you stir with the right. I actually don't have any pans with pouring lips but I'll always pour across my body, i.e. I'd pour from the left towards the right. So, yes, it does seem like the your dad's pan lips would suit left-handers more than right-handers.

EDIT: I, of course, meant to say ''So, no, if right-handers are like me, they'll hold it steady with the left and stir, etc, with the right but pick it up with the right and pour across the body towards the left.

 

[classic33]

Where's the handle in all this. Ii it over the cooker or not?

 

[Spinney]

I stir with my right hand, but if the pan is heavy (e.g. full of boiled potatoes) I hold it in my right hand and hold the lid in my left hand while draining it over the sink, as my right hand/arm are a bit stronger than my left. But if I'm pouring soup into bowls, baked beans onto a plate etc, I think I hold the pan in my left hand. Stuff usually dribbles a bit down the outside whether or not there is a lip, so I just ignore the lip.
I've had small pans with lips on both sides, but the ones I have with just one lip have it on the left as you are holding the pan - i.e. assuming you hold the pan in your right hand to pour. Prob. designed by someone who doesn't cook, who assumes that pouring will only need one hand, most people are right handed so we'll put the lip on the left.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I'm the same ..left handed but would lift with my right..
Left is the control hand...right is the stronger side..

Now I have a job that requires more pen work I hate being left handed more than ever..

 

[annedonnelly]

I think @Spinney has hit the nail on the head - pan designed by someone who hasn't a clue about cooking.

It's a real pain cooking in someone else's kitchen - I can never find a pan I like or the right knife...