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Non Stick Pans

Started by checkoutgirl, September 25, 2021, 12:48:42 PM

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checkoutgirl

Quote from: Theremin on September 25, 2021, 06:46:23 PM
Are cast iron pans good?

Dunno. All I know is I did tomatoes on one and got a bollocking so they're not the most versatile of pans.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: shiftwork2 on September 25, 2021, 07:46:44 PM
What's the issue with Teflon please?

Watch Dark Water featuring Mark Rufallo. But be advised, some things you wish you never found out.

shiftwork2

Don't really want to do that - does the Teflon come off and cause a problem?

Thursday

Quote from: shiftwork2 on September 25, 2021, 09:10:40 PM
I haven't seen Teflon implicated in anything that 'generally frying food' isn't also implicated in. If there's anything compelling then chuck it our way please.

When my mum died I did have to cremate her, and deal with endless probate and agonising house clearance as well as the - I hope - obvious emotional implications of the last remaining parent who had turned into a fucking CORPSE which I had to identify for the Police.  Having said that lads, I did get a rather wonderful set of Le Creuset pans out of it, orange classic, and also some oven dishware.  My cooking improved.  So you know, yin and yang.

Would be pretty bad if it had been Cancer caused by teflon pans, and then all you could afford was a teflon coffin.

shiftwork2

In my town it's Don who does the coffins.

Ferris

You have to get very level pallbearers or your loved ones don't half slide about in there.

what are those pans which are non stick and you need no oil?  to good to be true?

Twit 2

Non-stick micro shit in your kids' veins, Covid from your uncle's pressure cooker.  Asda AIDS range chip fryer next to anthrax kettle. The whole kitchen's farting uranium, there's smallpox in the fucking bread bin. DING DONG Ocado again, septicemic grot box on the raccoon skin door mat, DING DONG mate have a load of trematodes in your face. Milkman's putting plague piss in your bottles and there's FUCK ALL Mark Ruffalo's gonna do about it. Mother-in-law's in the pantry, shagging the pubic louse. It's all gone to SHIT.

Quote from: Twit 2 on September 25, 2021, 11:36:44 PM
Non-stick micro shit in your kids' veins, Covid from your uncle's pressure cooker.  Asda AIDS range chip fryer next to anthrax kettle. The whole kitchen's farting uranium, there's small pox in the fucking bread bin. DING DONG Ocado again, septicemic grot box on the raccoon skin door mat, DING DONG mate have a load of trematodes in your face. Milkman's putting plague piss in your bottles and there's FUCK ALL Mark Ruffalo's gonna do about it. Mother-in-law's in the pantry, shagging the pubic louse. It's all gone to SHIT.

Magnet Kitchens sales pitch.

pancreas

My advice follows seriouseats's: get a cheap non-stick pan for things that genuinely need non-stick—like omelettes—and then a cast iron for the rest.

https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/

If you have induction, like I do, then make sure you get one the right size. Mine is too big, really. Good for cooking outside on the gas boiler tho.

Twit 2

Love a non-stick pan. Made rosti with my fry-up this morning and when I turned it over it was all one beautiful, golden lattice.

Blumf

Quote from: pancreas on September 25, 2021, 11:45:33 PM
My advice follows seriouseats's: get a cheap non-stick pan for things that genuinely need non-stick—like omelettes—and then a cast iron for the rest.

https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/

That's spun iron, not cast.

https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/Made-in-England/spun_iron

Kankurette

Quote from: Twit 2 on September 25, 2021, 11:36:44 PM
Non-stick micro shit in your kids' veins, Covid from your uncle's pressure cooker.  Asda AIDS range chip fryer next to anthrax kettle. The whole kitchen's farting uranium, there's smallpox in the fucking bread bin. DING DONG Ocado again, septicemic grot box on the raccoon skin door mat, DING DONG mate have a load of trematodes in your face. Milkman's putting plague piss in your bottles and there's FUCK ALL Mark Ruffalo's gonna do about it. Mother-in-law's in the pantry, shagging the pubic louse. It's all gone to SHIT.
Are you channelling Pliijstaart?

Twit 2

It's probably more Torso in tone. Some Pliijstaart comma splices, though.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: pancreas on September 25, 2021, 11:45:33 PM
My advice follows seriouseats's: get a cheap non-stick pan for things that genuinely need non-stick—like omelettes—and then a cast iron for the rest.

it's good advice having a non-stick is useful but omelettes are just as easy in a seasoned steel pan.

Sebastian Cobb

Just do a spanish omlette in a cast iron job and whap it under the grill to sort the top.

If you do it right you've basically got quiche lorraine without the pastry.

rack and peanut

Quote from: paruses on September 25, 2021, 10:07:09 PM
I thought aluminium had links to Parkinson's and /or Alzheimer's. That might be true but then given out that therefore cooking something in an aluminium pan will definitely cause you problems. I must have heard that in the early 90s and filed it away as true. Ditto that using cooking oil twice for deep frying will cause immediate cancers to form.

There's a bit in Gridlock'd where Tupac & Tim Roth's characters muse over which metal would make a good spoon to cook heroin with, saying aluminium would be bad for these reasons.

Cooking heroin with a Teflon coated spoon is probably a bad idea, which why I use a JUDGE STEEL spoon.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Heroin addicts are known for their fastidious aversion to forever chemicals.

The Ombudsman

I got a set of pans from ASDA a while back, think they are Scoville Neverstick. Think they are Teflon free. Do the job and half decent for the price.

gilbertharding

I swore by the Lagostina Irradial stainless steel pans we got from Habitat in the 90s, when Mrs Harding worked there and we got a discount.

However, over the years, they've developed metal fatigue where the handles were welded on, and aluminium which is sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel on the base has started to wear away from the dishwasher chemicals. You could say 20 years was a good innings for a saucepan which was used every day, but I feel cheated. And they've stopped making them (at least, they've stopped selling them in Britain).

Retinend

When people talk about "seasoning" their cast iron pans, I think I know what they mean, but I'm not sure.  TL;DR: is is realistic to talk about "non-stick" cast iron surfaces, or is that just the ideal?

For me, a cast iron pan is for your meat sauces, or meat stews: meat goes in first, and you let the fat render into oil, and let that oil fry the meat until it's how you like it. Then you can add pre-cooked veg/wet ingredients and you let it simmer, and let the pre-fried meat tenderize. If, on the other hand, you wanted maximum stick, i.e. maximum meat crust on your meat fillet (and then, as a bonus, a quick sauce by deglazing the stuck-on bits) then you would go straight to your stainless steel pan.

So anyway, after you've served food out of the cast iron, there's always still a little grease left in the pan. I tend to, whenever possible, forgo washing-up with soap, and instead, I simply use a little fresh oil to dilute the leftover fat in the cast iron pan and I use a little elbow grease and a kitchen towel to clean the inside of the pan until it just looks right. I always did it as a time-saver, and not because I was deliberately trying to create a "seasoned" "patina". But I guess that's what I was doing?

But this is where I don't really understand what people mean about "seasoning" pans: the surface that I have on my cast iron is smooth - smooth enough to let me cook the next lot of meat without a lot of sticking going on, but it's not nearly non-stick enough to, for example, fry an egg in. If my cast iron is smooth, but not fried-egg smooth, do I need to step up my "seasoning" game, or is it normal to use teflon for "real" non-stick needs, stainless steel for yes-stick needs, and the "seasoned" cast iron for everything the middle? That's my current M.O.

Jerzy Bondov

I got all pumped up by this thread and bought a cast iron pan. It seems alright. I dunno. I was kind of hoping it would change my life but it's just, a nice thing for frying stuff in. Still got a gnawing emptiness. Not sure. Going to make a cottage pie in there, see if that helps.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Retinend on September 29, 2021, 09:59:25 AM
But this is where I don't really understand what people mean about "seasoning" pans

Seasoning mainly applies to the initial conditioning of the pan.  Easy way to do this is set the oven to high, get one of those cooking oil sprays, spray the whole thing and bake the pan for 20 minutes, carefully taking it out (with kitchen gloves!) and applying it again as many times as you can be bothered 3-4.  Further seasoning occurs during it's use from now on.  Cast Iron is more raw and roughed than other materials so it can be the hardest season well.  They are also usually high-sided so they can be used as pie dishes in ovens etc..

Getting a carbon-steel pan is much better way to go for non-stick frying; they tend be lower-sided and curved; they are the ones you see in the chefs programs with them tossing them about.  Seasoning is the same but carbonised-steel is much smoother.  You should be able to still get good non-stickyness from cast iron pans though but remember they take a long time to conduct (with the beauty being they also take a long time to dissipate) heat so be mindful you are slowly heating the pan and not getting it too hot as yes you'll burn stuff to the surface.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Retinend on September 29, 2021, 09:59:25 AM
But this is where I don't really understand what people mean about "seasoning" pans: the surface that I have on my cast iron is smooth - smooth enough to let me cook the next lot of meat without a lot of sticking going on, but it's not nearly non-stick enough to, for example, fry an egg in. If my cast iron is smooth, but not fried-egg smooth, do I need to step up my "seasoning" game, or is it normal to use teflon for "real" non-stick needs, stainless steel for yes-stick needs, and the "seasoned" cast iron for everything the middle? That's my current M.O.

Seasoning is when you sort of burn the oil on - you used to have to do this when you first bought cast iron, but now it pretty much always comes pre-seasoned, so you only have to do it if the seasoning gets damaged for some reason.

On reddit you there are a lot of videos of people cooking omelettes in cast iron, boasting that they've seasoned it so well it's become so non-stick they can cook eggs without oil. This is bollocks, you can always see that the pan is shiny, and their magic seasoning is just leaving the oil from what they last cooked in the pan, so yeah, they don't need to add anymore. Cast iron is not as non-stick as non-stick coatings. But it is pretty much invincible so you can use metal implements or take a scouring pad to it - although you might need to re-season afterwards.

And it should be pointed out that cast iron cooks pretty differently to an aluminium non-stick, so neither is a substitute for the other. There's probably an article on serious eats about it.

Blumf

Quote from: Retinend on September 29, 2021, 09:59:25 AM
So anyway, after you've served food out of the cast iron, there's always still a little grease left in the pan. I tend to, whenever possible, forgo washing-up with soap, and instead, I simply use a little fresh oil to dilute the leftover fat in the cast iron pan and I use a little elbow grease and a kitchen towel to clean the inside of the pan until it just looks right. I always did it as a time-saver, and not because I was deliberately trying to create a "seasoned" "patina". But I guess that's what I was doing?

Try scrubbing with salt.

Seasoning, as I understand it, is getting some (fresh and clean) oil to polymerise on the surface. It's like natures Teflon, but requires a bit of work to maintain.

Endicott

Quote from: Retinend on September 29, 2021, 09:59:25 AM
So anyway, after you've served food out of the cast iron, there's always still a little grease left in the pan. I tend to, whenever possible, forgo washing-up with soap, and instead, I simply use a little fresh oil to dilute the leftover fat in the cast iron pan and I use a little elbow grease and a kitchen towel to clean the inside of the pan until it just looks right. I always did it as a time-saver, and not because I was deliberately trying to create a "seasoned" "patina". But I guess that's what I was doing?

No, seasoning requires heat. As trenter says, with cast iron you do it in the oven. The oil bonds with the iron surface, to create the non-stick surface. There's so much out there on google about how to do it that I'm not going to go into it here. Different technique for stainless or a wok, but again, it's all on google.

Frying an egg in a seasoned pan (of any kind) is such a piece of piss that I don't know why anyone would choose to have a non-stick coated pan. Unless it's because you don't want the overhead of looking after and maintaining uncoated ones. If that's the reason, fair enough.

Dex Sawash

Has anyone patiently explained why teflon is evil yet? I see plenty of implied evil, other pans boldly touting their teflon free status as if I should already know how bad teflon is. This sets off my load of bullshit woo alarm.
I get that you probablydon't want to eat flakes of it once it lets go of the pan.


Saw somewhere that frying up some onion in your stainless pan frst makes it magically non-sick. I just end up with tastier stuff stuck to pan.

Endicott

Quote from: Dex Sawash on September 29, 2021, 10:57:20 AM
Saw somewhere that frying up some onion in your stainless pan frst makes it magically non-sick. I just end up with tastier stuff stuck to pan.

The oil has to be the right type, and it has to smoke, so just frying up some onions won't do it.

Ferris

Quote from: Dex Sawash on September 29, 2021, 10:57:20 AM
Has anyone patiently explained why teflon is evil yet?

Engineered by the Mysterons and extensively endorsed by Savile.

Retinend

I feel like a cast-iron failure.

And non-stick cast iron sounds like some sort of crazy IRL power-up, like something Link might find in a treasure chest. The everything-pan. The pan-pan-pan, if you will (as in the prefix "pan-" fuckitpost