I wonder if it were made to sit inside the hole of a cast iron/wood-burning stove.

^^^^ but plastic handle.

I’m going to bet that it’s a non-stick pan and the perimeter area is intended to keep something warm, or cooked/toasted separately from the main pan part.

Maybe burger buns warm, while the burgers fry in the pan. It looks like the higher, offset part does not go over a burner, so it likely serves as just a warming area, (unless someone prefers their burgers super rare hahaha).

I’m a bit intrigued by the photo and what’s in the background. At first I thought perhaps it was a yard sale or flea market or thrift store because of the other pots and pans on the table. But outside on the deck there are numerous picnic tables suggesting that someone had one hell of a family or served many patrons or guests.

Or perhaps it was some pre-COVID-19 schemer — each person could have their own 10 ft. table.

There are other tables and chairs indoors. Modest environment, practical. Humble.

Maybe not a restaurant per se, but a dining facility for a lodge or campground organization? Church? Scouts camp? Daughters of Juanita?

Did you take the photo? I’m guessing no. Curious minds want to know more.

Did you just buy a resort or event center and you’re taking inventory of the cookware? I’d like on of those tables for plants.

Wow! Is the interior flat across? If so, I agree with Jasdip, but the enamel and handle make it look post-WWII. Most of the woodstove ones are cast iron, I believe. I've read that there were some electric ranges with holes like for wood stoves, so maybe this was for one of them? I've seen ranges with built-in wells for cooking beans or stock, I think with removable inserts. It's possible that this was for using that as another burner, maybe. It sure is weird!

popcorn?

I've never seen anything like it in Europe.

I think it's a stir fry pan for someone afraid of a wok....the part that goes over the burner is for active cooking and the other part for those items already cooked that you will add to the mix later....sort of the way you push items up the sides of the wok where the heat is less.

I spent a bunch of time googling my guesses and then just descriptions, but found nothing. My first thought was what Linda said. Then I was wondering if perhaps there was a rack insert, perhaps missing, that could make this a steamer. For this, the small offset base could be trying to make use of a small electric burner, leaving the larger ones available for other tasks. Thinking narrow apartment cooktop.

My thinking:

1. The straight edge and the rim design(D) indicates it has a special cover. to me it means it is a saute pan, not a frying pan/skillet.

2. Not sure why the handle(C) is so short for the size of the pan.

3. The depressed bottom of the pan is machined eccentrically on some kind of lath, and the center of the circle (A) will need to be aligned perfectly with the special handle attachment. Not an easy thing to do for a typical cookware manufacturer.

4. Why would anyone make and sell such a special cookware with such a manufacturing defect(B)?

5. With the cover on and food in the pan, the center of gravity can make the pan unstable on many stove's grates.

6. The plastic helper handle will get burned in no time.

But what do I know. Interesting for sure.

dcarch

If you place it on the stove, does it sit firmly on the little frying pan area or does it keel over sideways?

DC - The handle can be shorter because there’s a helper handle. Your observation about the manufacturing defect has me now thinking this was part of a cheap countertop appliance. Probably an unsuccessful one as not even LindaC has seen one!

Weird! I like the idea that it might be fitted to a specific type of burner. Would like to see the inside.

Was it an invention that never caught on?

And the lid is back there. I made it lighter, and it's the same color.

dcarch

Induction cookware...possibly a manufacturer provided pan for use with its single induction burner.

Maybe for an electric range with a deep well.

From the 50’s?

Possibly @ an estate sale - or a thrifting haul?

I agree with FOAS, I think it's part of some electric countertop device, not all that popular since none of us know what it is, LOL.

Annie

If that's true, maybe the "helper handle" is where you plug in the cord.

Maybe it was a TV infomercial special?

I had an old Westwood (I think) that had a woodburning unit that that may have fit. Also a woodburner in my livingroom that had openings about that size.

Darch, I don't see indication that the bottom was milled on a lathe. It looks more like something that was stamped into a shape to me and then perhaps the bottom was sanded or machined to give it a final finish - not an expensive process. I'm also not sure that what you pointed out at B is a manufacturing defect. It could be a reflection of something in the room or it could be damage from use. There are plenty of other scratches or marks on the enamel.

I've got no idea what the pan was used for, but I'm pretty sure the bumped out area would have gone into a hole or depression. It is unlikely that it would be stable sitting on that bump out on a flat surface.

If it was part of an electric counter top device, I expect that the cord would go into the base that it sits on and not into the pan so the helper handle is a helper handle. Something made to sit into a hole on top of a wood burning stove seems plausible too but it still isn't clear what's accomplished by the off center placement of the hole. Possibly a warming area and a direct heat area as Linda suggested.

If it is meant to go in a hole in a stove, it could be off center because it looks like a big pan, and a lot of those old stoves have small tops. Same for an old range. Those wells didn't have a lot of margin behind.

I so hope someone who saw one in its day will come by and tell us!

When I was a child we had an electric stove with a well, removable insert and lid. It was far too deep for the pan.

Until then, we probably should just refer to it as a UFO ...

Happydog, may I post your picture on a FB cooking group that I belong to? There are a number of people in the group from other countries. Maybe someone there will know what the pan was used for.

happydog appears to be MIA...

Sure, go ahead and share it. I'm amazed no one in this group knew.

@happydog, do you have possession of the actual pan or just this photograph? If you have possession of the pan, are there any markings on it?

I wonder if it's meant to be used with a tableside cooker/warmer. Like the vintage glass-top ones that have a general warmer area and a hotter burner spot.

You could cook an omelette, then pull it aside onto the raised part to stay warm. Or cook sausage, pull to the side, then cook your eggs.

Could it be some version of this electric chafing dish? It sits on a base. More pics here: Retro electric chafing dish

teeda, that seems to come pretty close. :-)

Yeah, that looks like it! Goes with the answers above that thought it was part of an electric appliance. There actually are pots that look just like Teeda's but more like cast iron that go in the woodstoves, but the styling and inferrable era match Teeda's well. I feel satisfied. :)

Here is the best answer I got on the other cooking group:

It is a frypan they used on the old Rayburn wood stoves. You lifted up the round metal cover and placed that frypan over the hole so it sat neatly on the stove with the heat underneath. they had a hook type of thing that you lifted off the round plate so you could put wood etc in and the pan sat in the hole. Most of those old stoves had a boiler at the back for heating the water for the house. I checked with my elderley neighbour and she said they all had them in England

I commented back asking if the enamel coating and the harvest gold from the 60s-70s didn’t argue against that. Here’s a response to that comment from a different respondent:

We had one of those stoves in Ireland when I was young. Yes 60's when my granny was cooking on it...before that it was over the open fire....

Oh! Ireland! That makes sense, too. :)

It's got to be a special-purpose pan because the deeper portion is offset. Like beesneeds, my guess is that it's a 'breakfast pan'... I'd cook bacon in lower portion, lift it to the upper portion to keep it warm, then fry my eggs in the bacon grease below. Or cook whatever below and warm my buns on that upper shelf. lol!

I vote the 70's chafing dish combo. Like posted above. Just another variety since it is not 'exactly' the same. The quality is inferior to stand up to a wood fired cook stove. The coating would bake off in 10 minutes.

I was thinking the same thing - if used on a wood burning stove, wouldn't the bottom be more scorched? That just seems like the wrong finish for that use.

I don't know anyone here that has a wood cook stove in their kitchen. I've had one for 20 years. No way would a 70's thin enamel like that and those weak handles could ever stand up to any wood cook stoves.

I also do not believe that pan could stand up to the heat of a woodstove and the handles would be especially suspect. I still am leaning toward the electrical appliance theory...

Annie