What is a Bratt Pan?

A bratt pan is a heavy duty commercial cooking appliance which is able to perform up to eight cooking functions: braising, boiling, steaming, poaching, stewing, roasting, deep-fat frying and shallow frying. Bratt pans are typically used in mass catering establishments such as schools, hospitals or large staff canteens for producing large volumes of food. Due to their size, they are rarely if ever used for domestic purposes.

The bratt pan took its name from the German word 'brat' meaning to fry, though they are not called bratt pans in German, but kippentopf, meaning tilting pan. They also do far more than fry: bratt pans have deep, rectangular cooking pots with a counter-balanced pull down lid. The heat source to the base of the pan is either gas or electric. They all have a tilting feature, operated electrically or by a hand-driven mechanism.

Why Use a Bratt Pan?

Simply put, Bratt pans are so versatile they can be used for a huge variety of foods and easily replace numerous other pieces of heavy kitchen equipment. Although bratt pans are generally large catering appliances, they can save vast amounts of space in comparison to individual appliances which can do limited kitchen tasks.

Whether you're browning-off meat with the lid open, or simmering a large Bolognese for a busy service, bratt pans are an excellent commercial choice. Soups and sauces can be similarly prepared using multi-cooking temperature modes.

Bratt pans are often used either alongside or instead of Cooking Kettles.

How to Clean a Bratt Pan

Bratt pans are designed to save time. As such, cleaning is easy in comparison to similar sized machines. As all the cooking is done in the large pan, you can simply tilt the pan using either a hand crank or electric motor depending on the model you choose. As bratt pans usually have a central spout, any remaining food is easily removed ready for cleaning. Any cleaning residue can quickly be removed for the next service.