Frying pan dilemma

You exceeded the max temperature. You will say you didn't and you may even not have gone over their alleged written max temperature, but I can assure you did exceed the physical max temp.
Buy a better pan. I have a Green life pan that is 6 years old and used almost every day for breakfast. It has some chips here and there but the "non-stick" still works great.

Yeah.....green pan, not impressed.

To their credit the small one was replaced free charge, large one is stained.

Pablo, I probably did exceed the max - cooking scrambled eggs and hash browns in it.

My Calphalons and All Clads last a decade + under the same use.

IMG_1206.jpeg
 
Last edited:
First one of those I bought lasted about 5 months even with silicon tools.
Eek. Wife has a turquoise set of I think Rachel Ray's line maybe and it's 2-3 years old. Also bought a nice straight walled one from Walmart about 8-9 months ago that is still doing fantastic.
 
That looks right. We got it as a gift, not sure if it’s exactly the same as that, but don’t think there’s that many variation...

Yep! They have different shapes and the name of it may actually be Red Copper lol. On infomercials right around the "I SAWED THIS BOAT IN HALF!" ones.

My Dad says it worked pretty well but no report on the longevity.

Actually, I'll ask him...
 
Two keys with Green Pan: Get the Valencia line, the rest have such a low temp max, not worth it. And just you cannot pre-blast heat the pan at all, and of course this is HUGE weakness of ANY such factory synthetic coated pan. I know I am being harsh bordering on a-hole, but to me it is part of the package. These pans are their own low temp cooking niche. Fine for eggs and such, hash browns go in cast iron.
 
All non-stick pans become stickier if you ACTUALLY USE THEM.

I too have 10 year old non-stick, they work fine with a lot of grease but new I could cook eggs in them dry, that trick for me lasts 3 months to a year. Other non sticks are 3 years old and flaking, my mom ruined a green pan in a single use searing a pork chop.

Oddly I’ve had good luck with overpriced titanium pans. Haudguss titanium even though not really non-stick is inert, ready for red hot 1000+ F cooking and works fine for a variety of cooking I do.
My mother has another exotic but non-stick titanium pot that is getting up in years, when overheated or cleaned you need to re-season it but I’ve been impressed enough I might buy one, it doesn’t have a coating so you don’t have have to worry much about the surface wearing out, the gimmick with both of these $100-$200 things is that they last, have a lifetime warranty and supposedly leach nothing, unlike iron or even lower grades of stainless which do add “minerals “ to your food

Aren't there places that will refinish a nonstick coating on cookware?

Yeah, silicone free Teflon penetrant spray that is also used for loosening rusty bolts sounds like a delicious compound to spray on your pan, maybe mystery oil .

Those re-finishing places are generally on warrantied pans or in Europe
off warranty they charge more than a mid range non-stick pan
 
Last edited:
We have some cast iron skillets and pans but we rarely cook at home and my mom won’t store them the correct way so they probably aren’t any good now. One of them had surface rust on it because it just sits in the oven drawer dry no type of oil or anything on it like you are supposed too. Then non stick I have no idea when we do buy new pots and pans which is rare it’s usually just fine the cheapest set from Walmart lol.
 
My girlfriend refuses to use cast iron. She says she can taste the iron and doesn't like that. So we go through a new Teflon pan every year.
 
I think it was a BITOG recommendation that I bought The Rock skillet off Amazon. It's a great pan. Bought one of those copper pans and it's junk.
 
1) All-Clad is having their "seconds" sale NOW. Just go there and buy real vessels.
2) The several "wonder non-stick" or "as sen on TV" pans I've seen ALL have been cheap, flimsy garbage.
3) AND THIS IS IMPORTANT....the absence of knowledge John Q. Average brings to, say, a discussion regarding car oil, is matched by their knowledge of physics and materials regarding everything else.

I swear, my BIL thought a residual, 3/8" coating of old grease left on a pan AFTER DINNER CLEANUP was what seasoning required.
We were in a country setting and one night I found "his pan" undulating with feasting mice.
Fortunately, their sharp little toenails had no effect on the cast iron.
 
I use mostly non sticks for things that need a light searing, and have been going through about 1 every 7-8 years.

What I learned is that the anodized one are the only one that will not warp. If you want something that will last the anodization will help because the harder the base is the longer they last.

No PAM, just cooking oil and clean with soap and water after each gentle use. They usually "wear out" because of cleaning with abrasive pads (so get the beige and grey one instead of the green and yellow scotch pads) and oil turning into epoxy under high heat. In a way when the coating becomes too sticky it is time to throw it out and get a new one, so don't get too attached to it and buy something too expensive.

I don't like the "copper" or "ceramic" one as they seems to not last, I stay with the black PTFE one and keep it low heat. It supposed to be safe but harmful to birds if you do high heat cooking. It is never meant for super hot stuff, I usually just do low to med heat on it and if I need high heat I get my stainless pan out.

I usually buy the hard anodized one with good coating from a reputable brand, something between $15-30 for a 11in. Why 11in? It is big enough for a meal and light enough that my wife can handle. 11in lid is hard to find though.
 
I have just one Teflon pan left, and while the Teflon hasn't failed yet, I'm thinking about ditching it anyway. I probably won't die from Teflon ingestion, but why eat the stuff when it can be avoided?

I bought a set of Calphalon a few years ago due to a recommendation from a family member, and having read something about it being hard-anodized rather than coated in Teflon. Naturally, I didn't take a course on what 'hard anodized' means, but I didn't expect what I'm currently seeing....the black insides are slowly being scratched away and revealing shiny silver underneath. Whatever coats the inside of the Calphalon pots is coming off. Under the impression that 'hard anodized' meant that there is no coating to worry about, I used a metal wisk in the pot. Mistake.

So, I'll soon be on the hunt for something that truly isn't coated with anything. I have a stainless frying pan, but most everything sticks to it, so it's a pain. I also bought a Copper Chef, which worked great for eggs the first time, but after that, they stuck.....BADLY. Back into the cabinet with that. My most recent purchase is a GraniteStone. It's not as non-stick as they claim, but I'm able to fry eggs in it without ruining them, and it's a breeze to clean. I'll avoid carbon steel, now that I know they are coated in something. Thanks, OP. :)

Hard anodized means, your aluminum base has been treated to make it stronger and looks dark. From my experience it is the only way to prevent an aluminum pan from warping, and I heard harder base makes the coating last longer as well.

Granite/Diamond/Sapphire/Quartz/etc coating, from what I see on one of my pan, is the benign hard stuff they mixed into the coating to keep the scraping of the coating from happening in most part of the pan. The coating between the stones that stand out will keep the coating in between them from being scraped or scrubbed.
 
Back
Top