I have and still use a few, but for new pans I’ll only get bare metal (stainless or Carbon steel) for new pans. One is a Tefal sauté pan. It’s not too thick aluminium and the coating has developed hair cracks over time and the antistick properties aren’t consistent. The other is a small frying pan by a well regarded (local) company and only got good once I started abusing it because I thought it was a write off. That’s the one I mostly use to fry eggs, but you still need oil and a hot pan to have the egg not stick.
Meanwhile I have a seasoned carbon steel frying pan that is more non-stick than either of them, and a cheap carbon steel wok (under €20) that’s also doing great in the non-stick department. And you can clean either of them with a coarse steel wool without destroying the non-stick properties as long as you’re not too rough. And any damage to the seasoning is easily touched up.
Stainless initially stick for meat, but once the crust develops it will detach itself. And sometimes you want some stickage to develop flavour, for gravies etc., which you then deglaze.
I’ve got a carbon steel pan, too! It works great. The only issue is that it’s heavy (not as bad as cast iron, but certainly heavier than my teflon coated pans).
That’s one unfortunate downside of carbon steel. Stainless can be a bit lighter, but needs a different technique to get it to not stick (of which several demonstrations can be found on Youtube.)
Ceramics also can’t get super hot and the coating will break down with repeated high heat. Your Teflon pans will outgas and poison you and high temperatures, so it’s not only bad for the pan but just a bad idea overall to use them high heat. If that’s your typical cooking scenario, then switch to ceramic.
If you’re doing lots of high heat and transfer between oven and range, you can’t really beat solid metal or a cast iron.
Almost all the ceramic coated dishes you buy in the lower price range are the same. Blasting ceramic powder via plasma onto metal. As long as the application was done properly, which it probably is unless you’re buying factory rejects, it’ll last the same and act the same. They also get very heavy which may be a concern as you try to strain gallons of pasta water out.
Your Teflon pans will outgas and poison you and high temperatures, so it’s not only bad for the pan but just a bad idea overall to use them high heat. If that’s your typical cooking scenario, then switch to ceramic.
Yeah, this is what I meant by “not so great” for high heat applications. I use my carbon steel pan for that sort of stuff, but thought it would be nice to try ceramic if that worked well for it, too (which it sounds like it’s not the case). Thanks for the in depth reply!
I.have them, but they are not really more durable than Teflon. I somehow destroyed the seasoning on one and I have no idea how to fix it. It looks perfect, but eggs stick. I.use cast iron or stainless steel for most cooking, reserving these for eggs only. I just plan on replacing my egg pans every 3-5 years, they are cheap.
Objectively, yes. They do stain easily if you’re not careful. I’d say they’re between a properly seasoned cast iron and Teflon in non-stick, so better than iron, but not sliding around like Teflon.
I have a Greenpan 10?-inch skillet that I really like and use a lot. I’ve had it for several years - pretty sure I bought it before the start of the pandemic, so it’s definitely seen plenty of action. On the stove I primarily use cast iron, but for fish and eggs I break out the ceramic non-stick. It works great for those applications and I really like it. That said, it has started to develop one spot along the side where the coating is wearing off. I actually suspect that was my fault for letting something burn onto it and not cleaning it right away. It any case, I still use it and it still works great on the bottom of the pan, just need to avoid that one spot. I give it a thumbs-up.
I like this idea. Although I think there are times throughout the week when someone might want to post a question on a Thursday but can’t because it’s not the correct day of the week. And make them megathreads so they can be referenced throughout the week.
I think themed days for techniques, methods and practices of cooking would be fun. How about something like Ferment Friday or meal prep Sunday (I know it’s stealing from Reddit but eff Reddit, Spez or whatever the case may be)
Although I think there are times throughout the week when someone might want to post a question on a Thursday but can’t because it’s not the correct day of the week.
Agreed, I don’t think there’s any benefit to forcing questions in the weekly one. If you have a question, please make a post. The weekly posts would be more of a prompt to stir up an idea.
I think themed days for techniques, methods and practices of cooking would be fun.
Yes, meal prep would be a great one. I know a lot of the meals I cook end up basically being meal prep since I have leftovers for days.
Chowhound used to have a Dish of the Month which was fun. Lemmy has 52 weeks of baking but I think a week is too short, it doesn’t have much traction. For me most of their topics are not interesting either, I think the current one is ‘Piping’.
Thank you, this is a great idea. If we can get a good amount of recipes posted, I’d like to highlight a “recipe of the month” type thing as well. Thanks for the feedback!
This is not necessarily a long term thing, but as the holiday season creeps up, things like ‘favorite utensils’ posts might gain some traction for people looking for gift ideas.
ooo I got one for ya - got this for my mother, it’s both a utensil (sort of) and a gift idea. so difficult to shop for my folks, they dont “need” things anymore. anyway --> apple peeler/coring machine
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of serious eats is probably my current fav. I like how he takes the scientific method approach to testing different ways of cooking something with only one thing adjusted, for a true test. And the write ups for the recipes are usually pretty insightful unlike a lot of the other ones I’ve come across. As far as a bigger celebrity chef Ramsay is always entertaining to watch.
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