Non-stick pan

sac said:
When my mother washed her cast iron pans, she always put them on the stove and turned on the heat for a few minutes and dried them that way. No idea if that is "advised" or not, but it seemed to work for her.

This is similar to how my grandfather would get stuck food off his cast iron pans - he never scrubbed them. He would put a little water on the bottom and get it simmering on the stove, then easily scrape the food off with a spatula. Worked like a charm.

kriss said:

sac said:
When my mother washed her cast iron pans, she always put them on the stove and turned on the heat for a few minutes and dried them that way. No idea if that is "advised" or not, but it seemed to work for her.

This is similar to how my grandfather would get stuck food off his cast iron pans - he never scrubbed them. He would put a little water on the bottom and get it simmering on the stove, then easily scrape the food off with a spatula. Worked like a charm.

My mother only did that after she had gotten them clean. (And I think she DID use detergent on them.) It was strictly an anti-rust drying approach for her.

I agree with most of the advice here. If you think you need a non-stick pan, you're doing something wrong in the cooking or the cleaning or both.

And I do like our cast iron skillets better than our others. Care is weird but still not complicated. I scrub with water. Then I dry with paper towel or by putting it on the burner for a bit. Then maybe spread some oil back on.

Crotchety old man alert.

Tom_Reingold said:
I agree with most of the advice here. If you think you need a non-stick pan, you're doing something wrong in the cooking or the cleaning or both.

uh huh. if you cook everything in enough oil/butter/lard, nothing will stick. Therefore non-stick is for losers.

ok.

Don't sear, don't use sprays, don't overheat. And use more butter and don't let it burn.
We have an all-clad that's held up extremely well and doesn't easily overheat.

Don't sear? But what if you need to sear? How do you cook a burger or a steak?

I shouldn't sear on non-stick or cast-iron? (I do both with great success)

And if your non-stick pan is only lasting 3-months stop using a pick-axe to clean it.

And geez, cooking sprays are just oil and a bit of lecithin, in a propellant that dissipates upon spraying. They're not harmful to your pans. At most, if you don't clean them well, the lecithin might leave a residue on the sides of the pans, almost never on the cooking surface.

As to searing and sprays on non-stick cookware, I doubt there exists a manufacturer that says these are a good idea. YMMV. I use butter or oil in lieu of a spray, always, and sear in a stainless or copper pan.

Heating a nonstick pan to the high temperature needed for good searing is not good for the coating that makes the pan nonstick, in most cases. And you don't really want to ingest that stuff if it starts flaking off into the food because of the high heat. I do my searing in stainless pans, or the ones with the "sandwich" bottoms that heat more evenly.

BTW, if you need a nonstick pan or tons of butter/oil to do your searing, you are trying to turn things too soon.

I use a stainless steel pan for searing. Then I clean it. It might take a little work, but that's OK.