Non-Stick Pans

[SonyBob]

Thanks to all for your advice on cookie presses. I have a new quest. My son-in-law has requested for his secret Santa gift "cheap non-stick frying pans that can be put in the dishwasher." I was thinking of visiting a resturant supply place. Anny other suggestions?
Thank you - Bob

[OCEllen]

Not to be used if one has pet birds in the house......

[Candy]

About the birds business, you have to heat the pan to over 675F. Very difficult to do on a traditional home range. No point in having birds in a professional kitchen. Board of heath would not like it and the birds probably wouldn't either.

[OCEllen]

Forgive me, I know this is a topic that resurfaces on various cooking boards but I just will not use a non-stick pan of any sort around my house/kitchen - regardless of the current info put out by the sellers and manufacturers of such - young children are another big concern. I'll stick with well seasoned pans of various sorts and keep my range hood on high whenever I cook.

[taos]

I agree. I don't need scientific studies about birds dying to tell me that I don't want to be cooking with an item with a polymer surface that peels or wears off into food. Like a lot of materials of this sort (plastic containers), they also tend to retain odors.

[werewolf]

Pet birds were always used as a warning , like canaries in mines.

So then if you forgetfully leave your nonstick pan on a your electric stove set on high, it emits poison fumes, no?

[OCEllen]

Not to be maudlin.... but just about 1964 or a bit later, when 'nonstick' pans came into existence my mother enthusiastically bought one. Just by the the kitchen table, not far from the back door and 20 or so feet from the stove our 12 year old canary, Christopher would sing in his large hanging cage joyfully ...until...

[AnneInMpls]

Just a few years ago, my co-worker killed his wife's bird by forgetting to reduce the heat on his non-stick pan. So it's not just a "forty years ago" thing.

Keep non-stick pans away from from birds, kids, and other beings with sensitive lungs!

Anne

[paulj]

Have you seen credible warnings about its danger to small mammals like mice and rats? While no one wants to test children for sensitivity to these fumes, it certainly would be easy to test mice. Maybe there is something distinctive about birds that makes them sensitive in a way that mammals are not.

[buster3535]

My favorite is the Anolon line of hard anodized skillets. Frequently on sale, I picked up the "Anolon Advanced 8 Inch Open French Skillet" for about $20 CDN. It's my favorite, most often used pan. Non-stick coating is safe and won't come off, thick walled and has a very nice heft to it.

http://www.anolon.com/cs/Satellite/mA...

[Cary]

I have one of these as well. They are available at bed bath beyond and you can use those ubiquitous coupons to bring it down from the already cheap $20 price. Not all their pans will be as thick as their 8" pan though. It looks like they use the same metal slug to make the 8", 10, and 12" pans so the 12" pans aren't nearly as thick as the 8".

[buster3535]

Makes sense I guess. A 12" pan with the same thickness as the 8" would be pretty heavy. They just opened a Bed Bath and Beyond here in Edmonton last month so I should check it out. Haven't seen any coupons floating around yet. Thanks for the tip.

[Candy]

I've been accused of getting a kick-back from Swiss Diamond for promoting their pans which is totally untrue. Yes i do sell them and no they are not cheap. But for non-stick you cannot beat them. Yes they can go into the dishwasher, they rarely need to because they clean up like a dream. You can use metal utensils in them. They are oven safe to 500 F. An 8" is $47.50 at Amazon, list is $55.00. Amazon has some pretty good deals on it right now and they are shipping quickly. Something I ordered for my DH last week arrived the same week. He ordered a book from Amazon UK for me last Wed. it arrived yesterday.

The SD has a lifetime guarantee and it will be worth the investment. I use it and everyone I work with uses it and no SD did not give us the pans. We buy them.

[laurachow]

Thanks for the recommendation. I just looked at Amazon and the customer reviews are consistently in the 5-star range. I'm tired of buying cheap nonstick pans that don't last longer than a few months. This looks like a reasonable alternative. Not super expensive, and hopefully longer lasting.

[qwerty78]

while they may not technically be dishwasher sade- i like the circulon ones. they're pretty inexpensive and i reason they can be replaced if they wear out- though i haven't had to replace mine yet and it's at least 3-4 yrs old. i don't use it that much though (once or twice a week???)

[Jack_]

I have Calphalon Commercial that I like a lot. I saw a special at Bed Bath and Beyond for a 10" and a 12" from one of the other lines for $40

[BerkshireTsarina]

I got a Calphalon 10" at Bed Bath just a little while ago; it looks and handles nicely, and so far performs well; I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I had Emeril's (All Clad, sort of) and liked them, but the coating wore down badly.

[Candy]

I had an All Clad skillet returned last week. The non-stick coating could be peeled off like plastic wrap. I could grab it at the rim an just lift it off.

[BerkshireTsarina]

Eeeeeek, it isn't Calphalon at all, it's a Cuisinart! And I like it really a lot. It's odd, though, that Cuisinart as a brand name is just below my radar.

[paulj]

I give pans the knuckle test. I rap the bottom. The more solid the sound/feel the better.

I find that a well performing non-stick pan does not need the dishwasher - just wipe clean under running water, and put it back on the stove.

My latest purchase of non-stick was a pair of 8" from the restaurant supply aisle at Sams Club. One is being held in reserve, awaiting the day when the current 'egg pan' has to be demoted to sauce duty. That was several years ago.

[Jennifer_B]

TJ Maxx or Marshall's.

[ferret]

My favorite pan is a large and heavy, heavy, heavy aluminum T-Fal nonstick saute pan from T.J. Maxx. I'd buy a dozen more if I could find them.

[flourgirl]

Yes, I recommend TJ Maxx or Marshall's too. I got my latest non-stick pan from Marshall's for around $15 and it's a really nice pan. Very nice, welded handle, balanced perfectly and a beautiful non-stick surface. I think the brand is "Culinary Comforts".

[ML8000]

I bought a Culinary Comfort pan from Marshall's. It's non-stick and full aluminum. Say it is PTFE/PFOA-free and can take high heat. It's supposedly is similar to old ScanPan technology...a very hard ceramic coating. It's light gray in color. Paid $9 for a med-small pan. So far it takes high heat well and I think it will hold up...but I'm only using it for eggs and vegetables so far. It might become a camping pan.

I've owned Calphalon "professional" non-stick and like it but it can't take high heat...and are really expensive.

[flourgirl]

I didn't see this post until today. Yes, what you described is the same as the pans I have. They didn't come with any info on them (I have three in different sizes) but I thought that might be what the material was. I've had those pans for almost 4 yrs now, they get regular use and the surface still looks great with no scratches etc. I don't really use them for very high heat, I have other pans for that, like my cast iron and all clad pans, but I've been very happy with these and would absolutely buy them again, If I even needed to replace them.

[ML8000]

So far the pans have worked great...and at that price you really don't have to think about them much. I bought a couple of more. For the price, hard to beat and they work as well as the Caphalon non-stick I have.

[flourgirl]

I'm glad to hear you're still seeing them - I haven't looked for them in a long time but I think I'm going to buy a back-up set.

[justaddwater]

The non-stick coating manufacturers recommend hand washing in warm water. Here is a link to Dupont's site describing the different types of Teflon available, the "Autograph" allegedly being the best they make. This type of list always makes me think of the Duff, Duff Lite, and Duff Draft scene in the Simpsons.

http://www.teflon.com/NASApp/Teflon/T...

[mpalmer6c]

Rather than the supermarket, a restaurant supply place is ytour best bet. Surfas and Restaurant Source both have on-line catalogs. I have a Vo.llrath non-stick pan that works fine.

[rockandroller1]

cheap non-stick can be found anywhere but is almost not worth the money because it scratches pretty easily and then shouldn't be used. that being said, if that's what you want, just go to any mass merchandiser, even your grocery store probably sells them, along with target, macy's, BBB, etc.