Rimmed baking sheets

 I love my rimmed baking sheets.  Pictured above are half sheet and a quarter sheet.  They are the perfect size for just about anything.  

As you can see, I have a lot of them.  I use mine a lot so they are scuffed up and show signs of use, but they're still shiny and beautiful.

The quarter baking sheets are the perfect size for roasting vegetables, roasting a whole fish (mmm, branzino), and most things for two people, really.  I also use them for prep work.  They hold vegetables, raw meats, cooked meats, everything.  And because I have a lot of them, I just keep pulling them out which keeps things sanitary.

I use the half baking sheets for cooking, prepping, roasting, and broiling -- like Chinese ribs.  When I'm frying chicken, I lay out all the brined chicken pieces on a rack to drip off their buttermilk so I can easily sprinkle the spice mixture.  When we throw parties, they provide heavy duty support holding food in various stages of prep.  I keep the little plastic stands we get with fresh pasta so I can stack the trays in the fridge.

The only bummer about these baking sheets is that they don't go into the dishwasher.  I mean, they could go in the dishwasher.  I've put them in there before.  But then they lose their luster, and they get a little funky in color.  They still cook just fine.  They don't flake like aluminum baking sheets.  So it's handwashing for these babies.  But that's a small trade-off for their versatility.  And if they ever get grimy, you can shine 'em up again with baking soda and peroxide.

I bought mine at a restaurant supply store.  Costco seems to be carrying them now, too.  You want to be sure you are getting thick good quality ones.  Bad ones will buckle when they heat up, which is bad for just about anything that is on them.  Cooks Illustrated speaks highly of the Vollrath ones, if you need a brand to look for.