Cookware is a basic tool that performs a life sustaining function. Among any tools there are always certain basic basics - implements that are so broadly and reliably helpful that they're first among equals in the toolkit - a must-have tool. For example, as hard as it is to think of a carpenter without thinking of a saw, the skillful use of the humble pencil is literally and figuratively the mark of fine carpentry. The pencil is that simple, basic, must-have tool.

Liquid cooking, such as saucing, is a task tin-lined copper is uniquely (some might say profoundly) well-suited to, and the copper saucepan is the mark of excellence in any batterie de cuisine. Copper's ultra fine heat distribution results in continuous, even currents inside the pan so starches and flavor elements do not settle out, adhere, over- or undercook, even in the lowest and longest of simmers.

When we started BCC, saucepans were our best-sellers by far for these and other good reasons. Our latest versions are in even US quart capacities, much more stoutly constructed and, well, paired up with their matching covers just utterly beautiful.

It's time you had one, two or three.