If you're tired of having nonstick pans with seemingly adhesive surfaces or warped stainless
steel skillets that turn making dinner into a dangerous hot oil juggling act, these are
the tips you need to make sure your frying pans stay as nice as they were the day you
got them.
There's something strangely satisfying about the way a hot pan will sizzle when you put
it in the sink after cooking, but it turns out that that very sound could be indicating
something bad is happening to your pan.
When you heat a pan slowly on a stove top burner, the layers of metal making up the
pan gradually expand together. When you cool it down slowly, those layers contract gradually
too. The problem comes when you introduce a screaming hot pan to cool water. The water
can cause the outer layers of metal to cool down and shrink rapidly, while the interior
layers stay hot and expanded, a phenomenon known as thermal shock.
When one part of your pan cools down faster than the rest, it can cause the pan to warp,
chip, crack, or even shatter, something you need to be careful of if you're using a glass,
ceramic, or a thin nonstick pan.
Instead of filling your pans with water to soak or placing them in a wet sink right after
cooking, let them cool for a little bit on another burner or on a trivet. Once they've
cooled down, you can use warm water to soak your pans — as long as they're not cast
iron.
If you're cooking meat or veggies for your meal and want to get a good sear on them to
help develop more flavor, it makes sense that you'd want to crank up the heat until your
pan is screaming hot before you add your food.
Knowing how foods can stick when you're trying to sear them, you might also decide to use
a nonstick pan for this type of culinary endeavor. But using high heat with nonstick frying pans
is actually one of the quickest ways to destroy them.
Nonstick pans are usually made up of layered metals that are then covered in a nonstick
coating. When you use high heat — when the pan gets above 500 degrees — the chemical
PTFE, or Teflon, in the nonstick coating becomes unstable and the surface of your pan starts
to deteriorate. At such high temperatures, your nonstick cookware can even release toxic
fumes into the air in some cases.
"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
That means that searing steaks and veggies can take a big toll on your favorite frying
pan. Once the coating starts to deteriorate, the pan loses its nonstick magic.
Instead of using your nonstick pan for every cooking venture, consider saving it for things
like pancakes, eggs, and other foods that you cook gently over low or medium heat. This
will help maintain the integrity of the nonstick surface, so your pan lasts longer.
There are a lot of myths and untruths about caring for cast iron skillets. Some people
say you can't clean them with soap. But you can! Or that you shouldn't scrub them clean
in case it chips the seasoning. It won't! It makes sense, though, that terrified of
the alternatives, the next best thing would seem to be soaking cast iron.
But it turns out soaking is one of the things you really can't do to your cast iron at all.
Soaking your cast iron pan can cause it to rust. Once your pan rusts, it's not ruined,
but you do need to sand off the rust with steel wool and re-season the pan entirely,
which is more work than most of us want to deal with after cooking.
Instead of soaking your cast iron pan, fill it with hot water when you're done cooking
and use a scrub brush or rough side of a sponge to remove any stuck-on debris. If there are
stubborn bits remaining, use coarse salt as an abrasive to scrub the pan, or try simmering
water in the cast iron pan until the stuck-on bits soften and can be scraped out.
Nonstick frying pans are fragile. While they do cook things like crepes, eggs, and fish
flawlessly without sticking, keeping that nonstick surface intact is harder than you
might think.
One false move, and the next thing you know your favorite nonstick frying pan is covered
in scratches and no longer lets eggs or pancakes effortlessly slide off its surface. So, how
can you make nonstick cookware last longer?
One of the things you can do to ensure the surface of your nonstick pan stays smooth
is to use wooden, plastic, bamboo, or silicone utensils when you cook.
Metal utensils can scratch and scrape the surface of your nonstick pan, eroding the
coating. Likewise, you shouldn't use steel wool or other metal scrubbers when you're
washing your nonstick pans, either. Instead, opt for a soft sponge or a scrubber that states
that it's nonstick-safe on the packaging.
You should also keep in mind that, unlike heirloom cast iron pieces, nonstick pans only
last for about five years. If you've been avoiding metal utensils and scrubbers and
still notice scratches starting to appear, it might be time for you to replace your nonstick
pan.
At the end of a long night, when you've made a dinner that somehow used almost every dish
you own, it's tempting to put your pans right into the dishwasher instead of getting up
to your elbows in grease and soap bubbles. But if you succumb to the temptation of doing
things the easy way, you could wind up ruining your pans altogether.
Stainless steel pans might be okay in the dishwasher, but copper pans can change color,
nonstick frying pans can lose their nonstick abilities, cast iron can get damaged, and
carbon steel, enameled cast iron, and aluminum frying pans can also all be damaged in the
dishwasher.
There are a few reasons for this. The high heat of the wash water and steaming hot air
dry can damage pans; the humid, damp environment can make your pans rust; and when the washer
jostles everything around, it can cause stuff to scrape against or slam into your pans,
denting or scratching them.
For best results, stick to washing your frying pans by hand, and drying them thoroughly when
done. At least now you have an excuse to buy a fancy new set of dishwashing gloves!
A quick spurt of PAM or another cooking spray is the first thing a lot of us put in our
frying pans before we start on our recipe du jour. But using cooking sprays can make
your nonstick pans stickier. What gives?
It's not the oil itself that's the problem. Cooking sprays are usually made with oil,
but it's the other ingredients, like lecithin, which is an emulsifier, dimethyl silicone,
an anti-foaming agent, and propane or butane, which are propellants that are what make the
oil spray from the can, that can start to ruin your nonstick frying pans.
These ingredients build up over time, and when the lecithin is heated it can actually
end up getting cooked into your pan, leaving a sticky residue that can make the surface
of your pan tacky and, well, not nonstick.
"Is it cool if maybe I just spray a little PAM down in that area right before the baby
comes out?"
"You have to admit, it's a valid suggestion."
Instead of using an aerosol cooking spray, try looking for a manual squirt bottle instead.
That way you can use a thin layer of oil on your nonstick pans without having to worry
about those sticky byproducts building up.
Most cast iron pans you buy these days are pre-seasoned and ready to cook with, and nonstick
frying pans can be used without any special treatment. But with both cast iron and nonstick
frying pans, it's important to reseason the cooking surface to keep it just like it was
when you bought it.
On cast iron, the seasoning is really a layer of fat that has polymerized, or fused with
the surface of the pan, to create a plastic-like surface that's nonstick. When the surface
begins to erode, it can be harder and harder to get things off your pan.
To reseason cast iron, scrub it with a mild soap solution to remove food particles and
residue, and use steel wool to remove any rust spots. Dry the pan thoroughly, then coat
it with a thin layer of oil, both inside and out. Bake in a 450 degree oven for about an
hour, then let it cool in the oven, or repeat a few times to build up the polymerized coating.
You need to season your nonstick pans too, and luckily it's easy. Coat the inside of
your nonstick frying pan with a thin layer of oil, then bake at 300 degrees for an hour.
Wipe off the excess oil once your pan is cool, and repeat the process once every six months
or so, or when you notice your pan is starting to stick.
If you have limited space in your home or have an apartment where you're not allowed
to install pot and pan racks, chances are you usually stack your frying pans when they're
being stored. It makes sense from a space saver perspective, but doing so can decrease
the life of your cookware.
This is especially true with cast iron and nonstick frying pans. Stacking cast iron can
scrape or chip the surface of your pans, especially because the material is so heavy. Nonstick
pans can get scratched up when they're stacked, too, which can start to deteriorate the nonstick
coating on the surface of the pan, leaving you with a skillet that your scrambled eggs
stick to like glue, something no one wants.
Ideally, you'd hang your frying pans to store them, or set them in a cupboard in a single
layer, but if you don't have the space, there's a way to make stacking your pans a little
safer.
Before you stack a pan inside of another, put a double layer of paper towels, a piece
of cardboard, potholder or even crocheted protectors in the base pan. The second pan
will nestle on top of the protector, and the protective layer will keep the surface from
getting scratched. It will also help absorb any lingering moisture or oils that could
degrade your pans or cause them to rust over time.
Pan roasting your food, which means searing it on the stove top and then moving your frying
pan to the oven to finish cooking, adds flavor to your dish and helps ensure that cuts of
meat are cooked to the proper internal temperature while still getting caramelized on the outside,
but you need to make sure it's safe to put your frying pan in the oven.
If you're using cast iron, enameled cast iron, stainless steel, or carbon steel with handles
made of the same material as the pan itself, you should be able to use those in the oven.
But if you're using nonstick pans, or if your pans have plastic handles, there are a few
things you need to know.
For pans with plastic handles, the best way to preserve them in the oven is to wrap any
plastic parts in a double layer of wet paper towels, which should then be wrapped in aluminum
foil. The water prevents the plastic from getting above the boiling point of water at
212 degrees, so a handle can be oven safe at a 425-degree oven for about an hour and
at a 450-degree oven for about half an hour.
For nonstick pans, you also need to make sure that they don't get above 500 to 600 degrees
in the oven. At 500 degrees, the chemical PTFE — as we mentioned earlier — in the
nonstick coating becomes unstable, degrading the nonstick surface. For best results, check
to see if your frying pans are oven-safe when you buy them, before attempting to put them
in the oven.
The seasoning on a cast iron pan is a layer of polymerized oil which helps keep your food
from sticking to the pan when you're cooking. It also helps protect the metal that the pan
is made of.
So when this layer of seasoning begins to deteriorate, the food that you're cooking
can come into contact with the pan's interior metal, discoloring your pan and making your
food taste weird and metallic.
That's why, although you can cook acidic foods like tomato sauce or lemon chicken in your
cast iron pan, you need to be strategic. Making these high-acid foods in a brand new cast
iron pan that doesn't have a heavy layer of seasoning built up can leave you with a skillet
that everything sticks to — and a dinner that tastes like spare change.
Even if you buy a brand new pan that claims to be pre-seasoned, it's a good idea to wait
until you've additionally seasoned your cast iron a few times and cooked up a few batches
of bacon in it to build up that polymerized layer before you move on to more acidic dishes
like meatballs in marinara.
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