Equipment for Two

A 12-inch skillet is usually our favorite kitchen workhorse. But once we started scaling down recipes, we found that many required a scaled-down skillet as well—try to make just enough pan sauce for two steaks in a large skillet and it will over-reduce and burn. So we recommend buying 10-inch and 8-inch skillets in addition to a standard 12-inch skillet. We use a 10-inch skillet for our All-American Mini Meatloaves, and an 8-inch skillet is essential for baking a small strata or soufflé.

When cooking for two, we frequently reach for a saucepan instead of a larger pot. For braises, we use large (4-quart) saucepans in lieu of a large Dutch oven (most hold as much as 7 or 8 quarts). We use medium (2- to 3-quart) saucepans for soups and stews, such as Beef and Barley Soup, Pasta e Fagioli, and Corn Chowder, and small (1- to 2-quart) saucepans for melting just a little butter or chocolate or for making sauces. We recommend you have at least one saucepan in each size.

Small baking dishes come in handy for scaled-down gratins and baked desserts. We recommend using a 4-cup, 8½ by 5½‑inch baking dish for gratins, and a smaller 3-cup rectangular baking dish measuring approximately 7¼ by 5¼ inches if you’re scaling down a tiramisu for two. Look for gratin dishes with straight sides no higher than 2 inches; taller sides inhibit browning.

We use both traditional loaf pans and mini loaf pans (which measure approximately 5½ by 3 inches) in the for-two kitchen. We’ve found that standard loaf pans are the perfect size for baking Classic Lasagna and Baked Manicotti. Mini loaf pans are ideal for scaled-down baked goods such as Banana Bread.

Ramekins in various sizes are handy for making individual servings of scaled-down savory dishes and sweet desserts alike. Smaller, 5- to 12-ounce ramekins work best for baked desserts, and 12-ounce ramekins are ideal for savory pot pies.

With 6‑inch round cake pans, you can make a perfectly sized mini Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake just right for two.

We rely on 6‑inch pie plates to make perfectly portioned pies for two, such as our Sweet Cherry Pie. We also use it for some brunch recipes, including our Classic Cheese Quiche.

When you want to make individual tarts (sweet or savory, such as our Zucchini, Tomato, and Ricotta Tarts), two 4-inch tart pans with removable bottoms hold just the right amount of crust and filling.

Small 4½-inch springform pans are essential for making New York Cheesecakes that don’t feed a crowd.

Bundt pans make beautiful cakes, but a standard pan holds 12 cups and makes a cake large enough for a party. We’ve found that mini 1-cup Bundt pans are ideal for making elegant single-serving cakes.

For our slow-cooker suppers for two, we found a 4-quart oval slow cooker easier to maneuver and clean and less space-hogging than the standard 6- to 7‑quart slow cookers (but our recipes for Slow-Cooker Sweet-and-Sour Sticky Ribs and Slow-Cooker Easy Pulled Pork in this class will work equally well with either size).