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I bought a small carbon steel skillet, and I’m shocked at how much easier it is to make an over-easy egg with this puppy then with my stainless steel or anodized aluminum pans. Apparently, stainless steel is more porous than carbon steel or something.
Anyway, consider buying one and trying it. You care for it like a cast iron pan, only it’s much lighter and easier to handle.
My sister forgot a small Teflon pot of boiling water on the stove. It overheated after the water boiled away. Her lovebirds all died - she had well over a dozen at the time.
For what it’s worth: Calphalon has different non-stick pan technologies, with different marketing names over the years. The lower-cost ones are less durable. Our daily, heavy-use Calphalon pans are still going after some years.
It sounds like you were taking good care of yours, but for completeness: An often missed damage vector is drying the pans in the drying rack. The rack itself plus any other items casually loaded into the rack can lead to nicks in the pan’s surface.
I think it is worth noting that, no matter how “non-stick” your pan is you ALWAYS want to use some oil/butter for cooking. Doesn’t take a lot. Barely adds to fat or calorie content. Nevertheless, it is important in most cases when cooking in a pan.
I don’t understand the concern about the durability of non-stick pans. My favourite go-to frying pan is a non-stick T-Fal which I’ve had about 15 years, and it’s as good as new. Made in France, I think, with a copper-clad underside. When I fry eggs on it I do use a bit of butter (force of habit, I guess) but the non-stick is so good that they literally just slide off onto a plate, needing just a bit of guidance with a plastic spatula. I also have a deeper pan with a glass cover from Ikea that I don’t use very often, but no complaints about that one either.
But I take good care of them. They never go in the dishwasher, and almost never get washed with soap. Mostly I just wipe them down with a paper towel. I think of it as a form of seasoning.
I also have non-stick crepe pans from Ikea that I just use for toasting items that don’t fit in the toaster, like bagels and onion buns. For some reason the non-stick coating on those is pretty crappy, but I don’t really care as I just use them for toast.
Agreed. When making breakfast eggs I just use a little dab of butter on the edge of the spatula. When frying dim sum dumplings I use about a tablespoon of olive oil.
In my experience no oil or butter is needed. You can use it for taste or other reasons, naturally, and I wouldn’t do a stir-fry dry and I also like a dab of butter under eggs. But the grill pan I use cooks steaks and fish just fine with nothing added. Having used many brands over the years, my conclusion is that if your pan requires some lubricant think about getting a better pan.
IMHO, it’s not about requiring a “lubricant”, it’s that some form of fat helps things to brown better and adds flavour and moisture. There may be some items for which it’s not necessary but in general I agree with @Whack-a-Mole on this.
The oil is not there for non-stick purposes (although it does that too so bonus).
The issue is contact with the pan. The oil will fill the little gaps in the food being cooked and provide a better result.
If you have built a PC you know you need thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink. They both look smooth but they aren’t. The thermal paste fills in the gaps and aids in heat transfer for better performance.
Oil when cooking is the same idea. It will get better contact between the food and the pan. A dry pan will have gaps and you get worse results.
The important part, for people opposed to oil/fat, is it takes very little to make this all work. And most will stay in the pan. The calorie/fat intake is very, very little. So little I can’t imagine it registers on the scale ever.
Deep frying/shallow frying and all that are a different thing. Don’t confuse them.
And just like with the CPU, it specifically helps with heat transfer. You are more likely to get burnt bits before the body of the food finishes cooking if you don’t use oil (or water, some thermally-active liquid) between the pan and the food.
I should add, I also have a nice cast iron crepe pan that I’ve seasoned several times that I could use for toast. My problem with it is that it’s really heavy and, for the same reason, takes longer to heat up. Whereas the light Ikea non-sticks are much easier to manage and heat up in a jiffy, and just for making toast, who cares about anything besides speed and convenience?
I agree. Cast iron is great but not ideal for all things. It has its place.
That said, if I was told I could only use one pan for the rest of my life there is no doubt I would choose my cast iron pan. It’s a pain to use (maintenance and heavy) but it kinda can do it all and is indestructible.
Just as a small digression, in case some Wise Guy comes along to ask, if items like bagels and buns don’t fit in a regular pop-up toaster, why don’t you get a toaster oven?
Answer: Besides not wanting to waste counter space, the results from toasting sliced buns face-down on a hot pan are distinctly different from drying them out in a toaster oven. Also, the combination of microwave + hot crepe pan is a great way of reconstituting leftover pizza, heating the toppings and then crisping the crust. You’re welcome!
they really are fantastic if properly cared for
I’ve been using the same set of TFal with the heat indicator and the dishwasher safe-ish nonstick for 8 years now. The indicator is really helpful to tell you when it’s really the right temp while setting the pan to a medium to medium-high heat.
I buy Vollrath Ceramiguard II pans. No non-stick pans last forever, but these last longer than most, they stand up to heat pretty well, and they don’t scratch as easily as many do. And they’re cheap.
Vollrath is sold in restaurant supply stores, which means they’re good enough for commercial use.
Here’s an 8-inch version:
I think you missed where I said I use a grill pan. That’s a pan with raised ridges that acts like the bars on a grill, distributing heat. The vast majority of the surface area of the pan is not touching the food. I find that kind of fry-pan superior without requiring added oil (with rare exceptions, as above). Nor does it leave burnt areas, although there will be grill lines on the meat. I wouldn’t consider them burnt, although I suppose all pans will burn food eventually if you don’t pay attention while cooking. Just like on a grill.
We used to go through non-stick pans very quickly. They got scratched up to uselessness in 2-3 years.
Then in 2007 I got a set of Anolon Advanced Nonstick Hard-Anodized Aluminum cookware. These lasted until earlier this year (18 years!), and the reason they lasted this long was because I protected them when stacked up in the cabinet by separating them with cloth or paper towels. (And also didn’t use metal utensils.)
I only stopped using these because I recently got an induction stove and they wouldn’t work on this stove. So I replaced them with a combination of Our Place Ceramic Nonstick cookware and OXO Ceramic Professional Non-Stick cookware, mainly because I was trying to avoid teflon and PFAS. I chose these based on Consumer Reports reviews (and because I was gifted with an Our Place Always pan.)
I’ve been pretty happy with both of these.
this ^^^^^^^^^
I love cast iron, it has the thermal mass, seasons well, but it is heavy for a lot of people. Carbon steel has less thermal mass, seasons really well, and weight wise in the hand feels like any of the non-stick options out there.
They look great till you notice the silicon handles.
They say they are good to 400F in an oven. Can they do a broiler? Probably not.
I do not want to have to wonder if my oven is too hot for that pan. A straight metal handle and poof…problem solved. But not here, now I have to think about it. I don’t want to have to think about it.
Shame cuz they sound pretty good otherwise.