Sizzle Platters Belong in Home Kitchens, Too
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I own five quarter-sheet trays, and over the years they have almost completely replaced my half-sheets (the latter is the more common sizein home kitchens, the one that takes up most of your oven in case you’re unfamiliar). Quarter-sheets are 9.5 by 13 inches, perfect for everyday cooking for my household of two. They’re also much easier to handle and clean than their larger counterparts (which are 13 by 18 inches) — so much so that when I’m feeding more people, I’d rather pull out two quarter-sheets, fill each with the same food, and roast or bake like that.
In the vein of “smaller is better,” I’ve recently added a couple of aluminum sizzle platters to my collection, too. And while I won’t say they’ve eclipsed the quarter-sheets, they have proved to be extremely useful oven-safe alternatives: even lighter weight, easier to clean, and more compact to store.
Sizzle platters, oval- or square-shaped aluminum plates about seven by 10.5 inches, are traditionally used in professional kitchens to reheat food in the oven, such as a slice of bubbling lasagna, or to get a fast and heavy char on meat and vegetables under a broiler or salamander. At first, despite knowing some chefs use them at home, I didn’t quite understand what they could offer me, a home cook, that a quarter-sheet couldn’t. They’re cheap, but still, they seemedextra.
Then, last fall, I watchedthis videoby newsletter writer and recipe developerZoe Soderstromthat details all the tools she learned about while working on the line that she now can’t live without in her own kitchen. For some reason, her short-and-sweet explanation of why she uses sizzle platters for “everything” reignited my interest. So I bought two.
While Soderstrom got me to take the plunge, quite a few chefs I follow —Hailee Catalano,Chuck Cruz,Elena Besser, andMolly Baz, to name a few — use them regularly. “A handful of toasted nuts? Sizzle platter. A roasted chicken breast? Sizzle platter. Reheating leftovers? Sizzle platter,” Baz says.
There’s no easier surface to grab when throwing something small into the oven. I also use them as dredging stations for chicken cutlets or zucchini coins. (Dinner plates with high edges work fine enough, but they’re more fragile.) Sizzle platters are excellent for resting cuts of meat, especially those that tend to pool a decent amount of liquid, like steak. And as Baz pointed out, they’re excellent for reheating leftovers.
I use them for random tasks, too: as a surface for defrosting in the fridge, so the shelf doesn’t get moist as the meat thaws, or as a surface for laying down kitchen utensils when my smaller spoon rest isn’t cutting it (it’s also very helpful outdoors when I’m grilling and need a durable rest). While a quarter-sheet is easy to clean, these are even easier. Since they’re aluminum, I prefer to hand-wash them (putting them in the dishwasher will cause them to discolor a bit — though I have done so on a couple of lazy occasions and do think they look fine).
Baz also pointed out what is perhaps the most compelling pro: “What I love most is how they toe the line between kitchen utility and tabletop. There is almost no dish that doesn’t look great plated on a sizzle.” Funny, as earlier this year my colleagueErin Schwartzwrote a story that declaredmetal is chic— and how the best place to buy it is at a restaurant-supply store.
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