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C'est la poêle dont j'ai besoin pour remuer les poireaux.

C'est la poêle dont j'ai besoin pour remuer les poireaux.
This is the frying pan that I need to stir the leeks.
From Lesson 301:Past participles with quantities (en)·French

Questions & Answers about C'est la poêle dont j'ai besoin pour remuer les poireaux.

Since this lesson involves the pronoun en, could I use en instead of dont here?
No. Both en and dont replace de + a noun, but they have completely different jobs. You use dont as a relative pronoun to connect two clauses (the frying pan that I need). You use en as an object pronoun to replace the noun entirely in a standalone clause, like: J'en ai besoin (I need it).
Why do we use dont instead of que for "that" in this sentence?
The verb phrase is avoir besoin de (to need). Because the underlying structure requires de (J'ai besoin de la poêle), you must use the relative pronoun dont (which absorbs the de) to link the clauses, rather than the standard que.
I thought poêle was masculine. Why is it la poêle here?
The gender changes the meaning of this word! As a feminine noun (la poêle), it means "the frying pan." As a masculine noun (le poêle), it means "the stove" or "the heater." As a bonus pronunciation tip, both are pronounced exactly like the word poil.
Why use remuer instead of mélanger to say "stir"?
Remuer means to stir in the sense of keeping things moving in a pan so they don't stick or burn. Mélanger specifically means to mix two or more different ingredients together to combine them.

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