Pans that stick

[PrettySquareGal]

I'm done with non-stick "frying" pans that have coatings with warnings on the inside of the packaging that state to not use it above medium heat, to use in well ventilated areas in case of fumes releases, to discard it if it gets scratched, etc.

I'm going back to plain old steel.

I tried to make pancakes this morning.

Twice.

I used canola margarine and had the heat on a medium setting.

Anyone experienced with old fashioned cookware? Specifically, what's the best heat setting for pancakes, eggs, etc. How much and what kind of fat?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dont have any Teflon in the house -- just various sizes of iron skillets. It's a trial and error thing finding the right settings, but if you have an electric stove it's best not to go higher than medium heat for things like eggs and pancakes. I cook my eggs in about a tablespoon's worth of drippings and as long as I keep the heat at medium I don't have any problem with burn-on. I think too much fat is as bad as too little, so it's best to start out with a little and move up incrementally until you hit the amount that works for you.

I use the drippings because I cook my eggs right after frying the bacon and it's convenient, but I'd think that any other low-melting-point fat would work just as well.

 

[scotrace]

I am going to give you The Secret.

My non-stick skillet is used only as a pan when I need it - not for the coating or non-stickiness. I cook a lot, and have a lot of pans. They are cast iron, aluminum, or stainless. I cook eggs, meats, potatoes, everything in them and nothing sticks.

Memorize: Hot Pan, Cold Fat.

If you put the pan on the heat and add butter, oil, whatever, the food you put into will stick, every time.

Put the dry pan on the heat at whatever temperature is needed to cook the item at hand. Let the pan come fully up to temperature. Hold your hand over it and keep checking. Get the pan as HOT as is needed.

THEN add the butter, oil, or whatever, swirl it around to coat the bottom and sides, and put the food into it right away.

No sticking.

This way, the oil, when it hits the hot pan, forms a barrier lubricant that doesn't itself stick to the pan, which in turn allows the food, no matter how starchy or sticky, to move freely on the oil, rather than bonding to the pan.

If you just let the pan warm up a bit and add the fat - sticking. The pan must be fully hot.

Once you're cooking, use wooden or heat-safe plastic tools. Metal-to-metal will break the surface tension of the lubricant and allow the food to stick wherever the metal tool has scraped along. Better yet, learn to toss the stuff like the pros do and dispense with tools altogether.

Remember: Hot Pan, Cold Fat, Foods Won't Stick.

PS - pancakes: Get the pan hot. The oil in the batter should be all the lubricant needed. If you want to use oil on the pan/griddle, add a small amount to the HOT pan, and use a paper towel to distribute and wipe away most of it.

 

[Lady Day]

When I left home at 18 I stole, er borrowed, two of my Granny's iron skillets from her pantry, and have had them ever since. One shes had for over 20 years, the other much much longer. There were lots of them, so Im sure they are not missed

I use them from everything to baking cornbread to frying eggs they are great!

I also turned in my metal baking sheet for some old glass pyrex ones. Fantastic choice.

**btw should this thread be in Golden Era?

LD

 

[gluegungeisha]

I try to cook with cast iron as often as possible. Not only do cast iron skillets work great, but they add iron to your food! Very important to me, since I'm a vegetarian.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I am going to give you The Secret...

Remember: Hot Pan, Cold Fat, Foods Won't Stick.

PS - pancakes: Get the pan hot. The oil in the batter should be all the lubricant needed. If you want to use oil on the pan/griddle, add a small amount to the HOT pan, and use a paper towel to distribute and wipe away most of it.

Marvelous! Thanks!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I dont have any Teflon in the house -- just various sizes of iron skillets. It's a trial and error thing finding the right settings, but if you have an electric stove it's best not to go higher than medium heat for things like eggs and pancakes. I cook my eggs in about a tablespoon's worth of drippings and as long as I keep the heat at medium I don't have any problem with burn-on. I think too much fat is as bad as too little, so it's best to start out with a little and move up incrementally until you hit the amount that works for you.

I use the drippings because I cook my eggs right after frying the bacon and it's convenient, but I'd think that any other low-melting-point fat would work just as well.

I do have an electric stove. Thanks for the tips!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

When I left home at 18 I stole, er borrowed, two of my Granny's iron skillets from her pantry, and have had them ever since. One shes had for over 20 years, the other much much longer. There were lots of them, so Im sure they are not missed

I use them from everything to baking cornbread to frying eggs they are great!

I also turned in my metal baking sheet for some old glass pyrex ones. Fantastic choice.

**btw should this thread be in Golden Era?

LD

Is iron hard to clean? Or do you leave it "seasoned?"

I think Observation Bar is OK since it relates to current cookware options. I just figured people on here opted for the non newfangled stuff.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

.

When I wash my cast iron skillets, I use just a very tiny amount of soapy water and a scrubbing sponge (no steel wool under any circumstances) to wash it out. Give it a rinse, then throw on a medium burner and allow it to heat up. Once pan is hot, coat with a very slight amount of vegetable oil using a paper towel. Allow to sit on a cold burner till cool. Wipe out excess oil and store.


I have a teflon pan too, but I only use it for omelettes.

 

[Riposte3]

Is iron hard to clean? Or do you leave it "seasoned?"

I think Observation Bar is OK since it relates to current cookware options. I just figured people on here opted for the non newfangled stuff.

Here's a good page about cast iron cookware. You don't wash cast iron with soap, that destroys the seasoning.

I only use cast iron skillets. While it's still hot, I'll wipe it down with a wet paper towel. That usually gets it clean. Then I'll put just a little oil in the pan and wipe it around with another paper towel or cloth to maintain and build the seasoning.

If I need to scrub, I'll put a little bit of oil in the pan, and use salt as an abrasive, then rinse it out. It works pretty well. (You use oil because the salt won't dissolve in it.)

-Jake

 

[ITG]

If you end up getting stainless steel with a nonstick coating, like we did, you'll find when you go to clean you have to put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning (if your food sticks to it). We use a product called Barkeeper's Friend to help get the caked on stuff off. It's in a can much like Comet cleaner and found on the same aisle (it's in a goldish container). It's been a lifesaver for our arms.

 

[Zig2k143]

I am going to give you The Secret.

My non-stick skillet is used only as a pan when I need it - not for the coating or non-stickiness. I cook a lot, and have a lot of pans. They are cast iron, aluminum, or stainless. I cook eggs, meats, potatoes, everything in them and nothing sticks.

Memorize: Hot Pan, Cold Fat.

If you put the pan on the heat and add butter, oil, whatever, the food you put into will stick, every time.

Put the dry pan on the heat at whatever temperature is needed to cook the item at hand. Let the pan come fully up to temperature. Hold your hand over it and keep checking. Get the pan as HOT as is needed.

THEN add the butter, oil, or whatever, swirl it around to coat the bottom and sides, and put the food into it right away.

No sticking.

This way, the oil, when it hits the hot pan, forms a barrier lubricant that doesn't itself stick to the pan, which in turn allows the food, no matter how starchy or sticky, to move freely on the oil, rather than bonding to the pan.

If you just let the pan warm up a bit and add the fat - sticking. The pan must be fully hot.

Once you're cooking, use wooden or heat-safe plastic tools. Metal-to-metal will break the surface tension of the lubricant and allow the food to stick wherever the metal tool has scraped along. Better yet, learn to toss the stuff like the pros do and dispense with tools altogether.

Remember: Hot Pan, Cold Fat, Foods Won't Stick.

PS - pancakes: Get the pan hot. The oil in the batter should be all the lubricant needed. If you want to use oil on the pan/griddle, add a small amount to the HOT pan, and use a paper towel to distribute and wipe away most of it.

Sounds like someone used to watch the Frugal Gourmet.

 

[scotrace]

Sounds like someone used to watch the Frugal Gourmet.

Never missed.

"Hot pan, cold fat, foods won't stick."
"Don't scrape the board with the sharp side"
"If your aluminum isn't bright, you're a lazy polisher."

He was a good teacher, and knew more about the cultural associations of food than anyone.

 

[cookie]

Non-sticks

I'm done with non-stick "frying" pans that have coatings with warnings on the inside of the packaging that state to not use it above medium heat, to use in well ventilated areas in case of fumes releases, to discard it if it gets scratched, etc.

I'm going back to plain old steel.

I tried to make pancakes this morning.

Twice.

I used canola margarine and had the heat on a medium setting.

Anyone experienced with old fashioned cookware? Specifically, what's the best heat setting for pancakes, eggs, etc. How much and what kind of fat?

Recently Scanpan replaced an old Scanpan for my wife that (theoretically) was indestructible would never didn't pit etc - but did - big time. Scottie's tutorial is very interesting. I will try that technique.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

When I cook.., it has been two years!

Anyway, I have cast iron skillets and they never stick. Neither does my cast iron grill-pan. Why? Because I seasoned them.

I backed them in the oven at low heat for about a half hour with a generous coating of oil. Then, I drained off the excess oil and heated it until dry.

Before storing, I take a paper towel with a coating of oil and I coat it, thinly.

When I cleaned them, I just wipe off the food, but never scrape off the seasoning. This is a natural no-stick process.

Now that is has been two years, before I cook again, I'll have to strip them down and re-season them.

 

[Nashoba]

I also use almost exclusively cast iron. We live about an hour from So. Pittsburg, TN which is where the Lodge Cast Iron Factory is which means the factory outlet. Since we re-located to TN I have slowly replaced all of my pans and many of my pots with half-priced 'seconds' from the factory store. With my crappy electric burners I found that they hold heat and distribute it way better than the circulon pans that I had. Now the only teflon I have are a stock pot and two smaller pots that i usually only use for boiling things. I have corn stick pans for cornbread and two dutch ovens one with a flat bottom for the oven and stove and one with feet for the campfire along with an assortment of various pans, skillets, and such. I love my cast iron so much I don't think I'll ever go back to using teflon coated pans.

I second that hot pan cold fat thing too. took me forever to get that right. I guess I should have listened to my mother all these years trying to tell me that....

 

[jgilbert]

Scotrace, I right with you on Jeff Smith. Loveed his show. Too bad that he got in trouble.

The only not stick pan have is an omelet pan.

As to cast iron, have picked up all mind at garage sales and have been luckly enough to have never paid more than $5.00. Granted did have to do alot of prep work just to get it to a point where I could season it.