To all you kitchen-friendly Dopers: Can you recommend a good set of non-stick cookware (pots and pans, etc.?)
I have spent some time trying to understand the current market and it’s just horribly confusing to me, because I don’t cook much. It’s no longer just Teflon; there are dozens of non-sticky substances, and I don’t know if there’s a good way to evaluate them. There’s just so much marketing out there.
If it matters, I will mainly be sauteeing/stir-frying veggies in it and maybe the occasional vegetarian fake meat product.
I currently use something called GreenPan with a Thermolon coating, and it was good for the first few weeks and then rapidly became very sticky – there’s still stuff coated on it from last year.
Isn’t the GreenPan mentioned in the OP ceramic cookware?
And what I’ve heard is most all non-stick surfaces fail eventually, so it’s best just to get a cheap Teflon pan and use it as long as the surface is good.
You can do the cheap teflon pan thing, and indeed that’s what I remember Anthony Bourdain recommending in Kitchen Confidential. I will say though that my All-Clad non-stick skillet is still going strong a year and a half in, and is still more slippery than I’ve experienced with new cheap non-stick pans. They can be pricey though, even on close-out. I cook enough egg dishes though that I find it a more than acceptable expense.
Another vote for cast iron, it really is a fantastic medium for cookware.This will probably make others grimace, but I find the best way to clean them is to immediately shove them under running water and use a plastic bristled brush. I find they come out perfectly clean in just a few seconds. I then tend to put them back on the stove for a few mins to ensure all the water gets evaporated.
That said, I do still have some cheap teflon pans that I got from the supermarket. I use one for bacon and the other for eggs. They are still going strong after two years’ service. I don’t know why, but I find that only cooking the same thing in the pan seems to help the teflon surface - in the past I have cooked bacon and eggs in the same pan and the surface eroded very quickly.
I cook stir fry and vegetarian dishes mainly in a stainless steel pan now. If you’re cooking with liquids and sauces it’s just as easy to clean as a non-stick.
I still use a teflon pan for eggs and veggie burgers, since they stick like nothing else to stainless steel. But acidic things like tomato sauces are very hard on a non-stick surface, so better to cook those in a stainless pan.
Part of the thing with non-stick pans is that you have to be careful with both the utensils you use in them and with the level of heat you use with them. You will wreck a non-stick, especially teflon, if you use it with high heat. Of course using metal utensils even once is also right out, you’ll inevitably scratch it and then it’s all downhill. I’ve found with teflon pans and not using more than med to med-high (no more than 6 out of 9 on my stove), stuff just steams and good browning doesn’t really happen.
That said, I got this pan for Christmas: Ozeri stone earth and so far it’s fantastic. It’s heavy, heats evenly, and even following the rules for a non-stick (heat at the high end of medium, no more) it browns a steak beautifully, or fake chicken burgers, or caramelizes brussels sprouts. It can be used in the oven up to 400F. I love it. I’ve only had it two and a half months, but so far it’s the best non-stick pan I’ve ever had.
Seconding the “just grab a cheap one at Target” answer. The coating always fails, so why spend more than you have to? Either that or well-seasoned cast iron. We use both.
After years of use/abuse my stainless steel pots and pans are still bright and shiny. If they weren’t a little scratched at the bottom (from metal utensils) they’d look practically new. All I really do is clean them with soap and water after I’m done using them. The only one I really have an issue with is a little one I use for sauteing. But some Bar Keepers Friend and some elbow grease and it cleans right up.
They’re expensive, about $100 a piece (when I bought a whole set), but in the long run that’s probably cheaper then buying $15 ‘cheap teflon pans’ and tossing them every few years after the teflon is gone. There’s no reason why these won’t last forever. It’s been 6 or 7 years and I see no reason why I won’t get 50 more years out of them. Short of losing them or physically damaging them, I don’t see how I’m going to hurt them.
Also (slightly off topic), these are very heavy pots so I still keep my thin cheap pots around for when I just need to boil water for pasta or something, it’s a lot quicker.
I have several of these type pans. I have a cast iron skillet, but it’s just too damn heavy, especially with that short handle everyone insists on putting on them. I have several Berndes pans that I bought a number of years ago. Thick, absolutely flat bottom for even heat, but a bit expensive. The everyday pans I use, and the best value for the money are the T-fal Techno-Resist Base pans. They have an anodized nonstick surface and are fairly tough. I’ve had these two for a couple of years now and they get a lot of use; best of all, replacement doesn’t cost you a week’s salary. Use proper tools and don’t crank the heat up past medium, and they’ll last for quite awhile.
The big thing about the non-Teflon non-stick cookware, ceramic and the like, is the absence of perfluorochemicals such as PTFE (a polymer which is basically Teflon without the brand name) and PFOA (an acid used to make PTFE). PTFE is usually generally safe unless you have a tendency to cook at high temps, something like 500 degrees F or so (most cooking oils will smoke before that temp is reached, but empty pans can reach those temps if you’re careless). At that point, it starts to break down and there have been some reports (I can look up cites later if you want) that it can produce flu-like symptoms in humans and can be lethal to pet birds. Supposedly the danger to pet birds has been observed even at temperatures lower than 400 degrees.
I learned most of this recently when I decided I wanted to start cooking at home more often; I have a pet Conure, and I had read that Teflon coated pans could produce those lethal gases, so I sought out some ceramic, non-PTFE, non-PFOA cookware. I also had a Hamilton Beach breakfast sandwich maker, which unfortunately DOES have a PTFE coating, so I’m going to have to wait to use that outdoors on my patio unless I want to risk a painful death for my bird.