Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed more and more than when I cook anything on my gas stovetop, a portion of it will be sticking to the bottom of the pot or pan. This goes for eggs on a skillet, pasta in a pot, and the worst offender is rice in a sauce pan, where not only does half of the box wind up stuck to the bottom, but it’s nearly impossible to get the charchol remains off the bottom.
This has been happening with multiple cookware, so I don’t think they are at fault, and I have been using Pam spray prior to cooking, which doesn’t seem to help. My guess as to the new variable is maybe my stove is outputting greater heat than it used to, or maybe it’s the weather?
I miss the days when a fried egg would slide off the skillet in one piece, with an almost clean finish left behind!
I finally learned the trick to keep rice from sticking to the bottom of any type of pot that I use to cook it in…I boil the rice until almost all of the water is gone, then place the lid on tightly and turn off the heat. The residual heat cooks the rice through the rest of the way and the pot stays clean…works on all surfaces in my experience. As to eggs, usually I have to put in a bit of butter in the bottom, then I use Pam on the sides to keep the sides clean…but same trick…cook until almost all moisture is gone and let the residual heat finish cooking the food to prevent sticking. Hope that helps!
Until you mentioned pots, I was going to suggest that spray oil might be at fault. My sweetie swears by Pam, and as a result we have to get new pans at least once a year, as spray oil has something in it that is literally destroying the pans, darkening them, making them stick to everything.
This might not be the case with you though, as I don’t imagine you’re using Pam on pots, but still, ugh. I need to cowboy up and buy him a set of Teflon pans that he will NOT be allowed to use Pam on!
Thats what I thought too. Butter works better… I don’t get it. I kept ruining my grilled cheese by spraying Pam before I put the buttery bread of the grilled cheese in place. The pam scorches my grilled cheese… It works much better without it.
Canola oil, which is what is used in Pam, tends to make a tacky coating on surfaces if it’s heated then dries on. (Check this reference as one cite, referring to it as a “semi-drying oil” that polymerizes.) I try to avoid canola if I can since I found my cookware getting all tacky with time.
The next time you have a pan that has food stuck on it, put it back on a hot element and add enough water to cover the stuck on mess. Use a spatula to scrape off as much as possible and replace the water. When it’s hot, pour in about a cup of baking soda and wait a few minutes. You should be able to scrape off the worst of the rest of the mess and the pan will be easier to scrub the last bits off.