Definition

Noun: 1. A small, shallow pan used for baking individual portions of food: Specifically, a patty-pan is a baking pan with shallow, cup-shaped indentations, designed for cooking small, round items like patties, pasties, or individual cakes (such as cupcakes or muffins in historical usage).

Usage

The word "patty-pan" is a compound noun that functions as a single unit. It is used to refer to the specific kitchen utensil itself. * It is typically used in a culinary or baking context. * It can be used with verbs like use, grease, fill, or place in the oven.

Examples

• Noun:
  • She greased the patty-pan before spooning in the muffin batter.
  • The recipe calls for baking the small meat patties in a patty-pan.
  • A vintage patty-pan often has six or twelve cups.

Advanced Usage

• The term can sometimes refer historically to the food item baked in such a pan, particularly a small pie or pasty, though this usage is now rare.
  • In the 19th century, a "patty-pan" could also mean a small pie baked in a patty-pan.

Variants and Related Words

• Muffin pan / Muffin tin: A modern, more common synonym for a pan with multiple cup-shaped indentations.
• Cupcake pan: Another direct synonym.
• Gem pan: An older term for a similar pan used for baking small cakes.
• Patty: The small, flat cake of food (often of meat) traditionally cooked in this type of pan.

Synonyms

• Muffin tin
• Cupcake pan
• Gem pan (archaic)

Notes

• "Patty-pan" is a less common term in modern English, largely replaced by "muffin tin" or "cupcake pan," even when used for savory items.
• It is also the name for a specific, shallow, scalloped-edged variety of summer squash, but that is a separate, distinct meaning not covered by the provided definition.

Noun

1. a pan for cooking patties or pasties