A piece of cookware, usually round and made of metal, with a high rim and a long handle. The high sides of a saucepan serve two purposes. The first and obvious purpose is that these high walls allow more food and drink to fit inside the pan. The second, less obvious purpose is that they give the pan a larger surface area, which when paired with their smaller base means that the saucepan can heat their contents more evenly by surrounding them on all sides. Saucepans are taller than stock pots relative to their width for this very reason.
