Silicone in the Kitchen

[sciphi]

For cooking tools, that is! Definitely pricey, yet totally worth it. I just used a set of new-to-me silicone baking sheets tonight, and was blown away at how easy they made baking cookies. (have to show the fiancee who really owns the kitchen!) The cookies baked very evenly, and transferring them to the cooling racks was effortless. Really nice to use, although I likely don't want to know how much they cost!

The baking sheets go with the Orka silicone oven mitt rated to a temperature nothing in the kitchen should ever reach, the round silicone baking pan given as a gift, and the insanely useful silicone spatula/scraper/mixing spoon things that get used almost every cooked meal.

How the kitchen got invaded by so many silicone objects is a mystery. However, they are all very handy!

 

[pickled]

Orka mitts are awesome. I found their value when I was boiling some homebrew and dropped my paddle into the 250F pot of sugar water. Reached right in and pulled it out! I definitely agree that the mixing spoon thing is the bomb too.

 

[StevieC]

Dunno about you but our Dollar Store offers true Silicone cookware, at first I didn't believe it but it's true... I Don't buy from the kitchen places anymore...

 

[oilboy123]

Silicone in the Kitchen is the shizzle...... Rubber pads, muffin pans.

Spatulas are good as well.

 

[LAGA]

My favorite silicone kitchen tool is the soup ladle. You can get the last bit of liquid out of a pot really easy.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Dunno about you but our Dollar Store offers true Silicone cookware, at first I didn't believe it but it's true... I Don't buy from the kitchen places anymore...


Not that I've seen down here. It's all cheap plastic. The grocery stores sometimes have branded spatulas, and many kitchen chains have clearance racks where stuff is priced reasonably.

Just ate another cookie, those sheets really did a fine job of evenly baking them!

 

[StevieC]

Ours have the muffin trays, a baking sheet with steel inside to keep it in the flat (not droopy) state and have spatula's and siliconed topped tongs for high heat things on the BBQ. All for $5 or less.

They are much better than non-stick metal bakeware...

 

[JohnBrowning]

I have a silicon bunt pan and a square cake pan and I love them both. I got them on clearance cheap at Walmart but I would like a complete set. I found that you have to treat them like glass with regard to temp setting and timing.!

 

[oilboy123]

Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
I found that you have to treat them like glass with regard to temp setting and timing.!


Could you elaborate?

 

[bonnie john]

i only use silicon spoons and spatulars etc in my teflon pans now

the pans seem to last a lot longer

 

[AcuraTech]

Silicon is a nice alternative to non-stick, considering that now they decided non-stick isn't so great for your health. I like to mix it up in my kitchen, kind of a "greatest hits" of kitchenware from the last 100 years. I own silicon baking sheets, but also still get a lot of use from wooden spoons and cast iron.

 

[sciphi]

All my cookware is non-stick. I have a few non-stick baking sheets, and that's it for traditional non-stick. Everything else is silicone.

Those silicone spoons work very well as scrapers. So instead of a million identically-shaped scrapers, I have two. It takes only a second to wash it off for use elsewhere.

They're probably going to come out in a few years and say silicone is bad for us, and we should be using cast-iron cookware with stainless utensils.

 

[benjamming]

Silpat has its place. I still prefer Vollrath cookie sheets.

 

[CivicFan]

I am still waiting for studies to decide whether the silicone cookware has any adverse effects on one's health and what the risks are.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
I am still waiting for studies to decide whether the silicone cookware has any adverse effects on one's health and what the risks are.


Me too. I'm surprised all the health nuts aren't decrying this stuff as the next worst thing to MSG

 

[sciphi]

Supposedly it doesn't leach anything. But they said the same things about Teflon non-stick coatings and Dow-Corning implants...

Whatever, it's handy and I'm lazy.