- What makes for a really good nonstick pan?
So we have three different price points
of nonstick pans.
We have the T-fal, for $25.
The Calphalon for $40.
And then the All-Clad for $100.
So each of these pans that we are testing today
are made without PFOA.
Which is a harmful chemical sometimes used
in manufacturing these types of pans.
So never buy a pan that isn't PFOA-free.
Of course, in my experience, at the restaurants,
we try not to invest too much money
into really expensive nonsticks,
because typically what happens is everyone's using it,
and they get messed up.
And then we're gonna have to buy them all over again.
So we don't like to invest too much money in them,
so I always go for a cheap to mid-tier option
and just replace them every time they get scratched.
I would say that if you're a home cook
and you're taking care of your pans,
then you could maybe invest in something
a little bit more expensive and nice.
So the tests that we're gonna do today
are gonna show how the pans do in low heat,
medium heat, and high heat.
So for the low heat, we'll do an egg test.
For medium heat we'll do pancake,
and for high heat we'll do a fish sear.
And of course for these tests
we're not using any butter, oil or fat
to test the quality of the nonstick.
Okay so starting easy, (claps)
we are gonna do the egg test on low heat.
We're gonna cook two eggs per pan,
and the point is that we're coating the entire surface
to see how it comes out.
Okay so we got our eggs, and we're gonna start off
with our low end, the T-fal.
Looks good, typical nonstick.
You can see the edges, they're coming away from the pan,
so it's working, it's all good.
Well that came right out, looking good.
Passed the egg test.
So this is our second option, the Calphalon for $40,
and I'm noticing that this actually got really, really hot,
much quicker than the other one.
So when you're doing an omelet,
you get this real thin layer on the sides,
which I'm not sure if it's gonna come out or not.
No.
Ugh, I can't believe it!
(man laughs off camera)
So this is not gonna work.
Oh, what?
This is BS, straight up.
It's the same heat as the other one.
This is why we do The Kitchen Gadget Test Show.
I'm shocked, actually. - Okay.
- Now moving on to the All-Clad,
which is our most high-end pan.
And you can see the skin coming away from the pan,
which we didn't see with the Calphalon,
which is what should be happening with a nonstick.
That's how it should be, it's perfect.
Maybe there is a difference!
So I am totally shocked, because I really thought
the egg test was a no-brainer, and that they would all work.
But obviously we had a lot of differences.
Starting with the T-fal.
No residue, it looked really good,
and it performed quite nicely.
Calphalon, not so much.
I had a hard time obviously.
And you can still see, there's still some left in there.
And of course the All-Clad, no residue,
beautiful omelet, passed with flying colors.
So it's surprising that the low-end and the high-end
is kind of equal, and the mid-tier just
didn't work at all.
So moving on (claps)
to our second test, pancakes.
We are testing medium heat,
and we're gonna use pancake batter
to see the evenness of the heat,
and of course the nonstick element.
Starting with the T-fal.
Okay.
The ideal pancake should be a beautiful, even sear
on both sides, slightly crispy but still fluffy inside.
Okay guys, I'm ready to flip.
Now when you see all these bubbles form,
that's when you know you're ready to flip.
Beautiful, that was easy.
Look at that.
That is a nice pancake.
And it's really beautifully even, too.
Okay, that was easy, moving on.
Now with the Calphalon.
The material of the Calphalon is much thinner.
No I got it.
So what we're noticing with the Calphalon
is that the material is really thin,
so it's getting hotter a lot quicker.
So we're gonna redo the test, at a lower heat.
Okay.
Even at a lower heat, I'm still hearing the sizzle.
Time to flip.
I mean it is nonstick,
but it's not as smooth as our first pan.
I mean yeah, you see rings.
It's not like an even, beautiful color.
Okay.
There we go.
There's some residue.
Okay so now moving on to the All-Clad.
Yep, feels smooth.
Look at that.
I see some residue on the pan.
I mean it's really subtle, but there's still some in there.
Okay, moment of truth, guys. (Claps)
The results.
Starting with the T-fal.
Our pancake looks beautiful, very, very, even.
Okay so our Calphalon, which we had trouble with
so we had to make the pancake twice
because it was heating up too quickly.
Our pancake is also very blotchy,
and you can see these rings of unevenness.
And now for our All-Clad.
You can see the pancake looks pretty nice,
but there's a little bit of unevenness.
But overall not bad.
But I can see a little bit of residue left on the pan.
See?
This is why I said, you shouldn't spend so much money
on nonstick, the T-fal is winning by far.
Now moving on to high heat.
It's going to smell like fish,
we're all gonna smell fishy.
For our next test we're searing fish on high heat.
So this is the T-fal.
Gonna cook some salmon on skin-side down.
(pan sizzles)
All right.
(pan sizzles)
I don't know, does that look burnt?
Slightly.
Moving on to our Calphalon pan.
(pan sizzles)
Nice and crispy,
and it didn't stick.
But this is good, this is done.
I'm very confused by that.
Moving on to our most expensive pan, the All-Clad.
(pan sizzles)
It's too blotchy everywhere.
I mean it's crispy, it's not burnt, it's just like.
A little bit surprising.
Obviously we're not using any oil or fat in the pan,
and we were just searing the salmon as is.
So the T-fal and the All-Clad kind of had similar results
in terms of the evenness of the skin.
So you see little pockets,
similar patterns on both of these.
Whereas the Calphalon was surprisingly pretty nice and even.
You can see that the sear is nice and even,
it's crispy all throughout.
They all did pretty well with the nonstick element.
Except for the T-fal, surprisingly you see
a little bit of the residue left,
there was a tiny bit of sticking happening.
The clear winner I would say is the Calphalon.
Which is really interesting
because it failed the other two tests.
But in terms of the fish searing beautifully and evenly,
I think it did the best job.
We are going to test the durability of these.
So we will take a steel wool, and rotate 25 times.
And then we will use a metal spatula,
and go back and forth 25 times.
Non-stick pans have a reputation of being not so durable,
so that's why we're doing this test.
Do not do this at home,
you should never use metal on your nonstick.
But for testing purposes, we must do it.
And of course for the last test, our durability test,
I would say the T-fal was the clear winner.
Not much residue on the pan, so pleasantly surprised.
All right guys, final thoughts.
We went through all the tests.
You really don't wanna spend that much money on nonsticks,
because honestly, for $25, this does the best job.
So why go and spend $40 to $100
on something that doesn't work as well?
The T-fal is amazing, it did a great job.
Clear winner.