Dissolving olive oil

Fredxx expressed precisely :

Check!

But she still insists its my problem to find an effective way to clean it.

Tim+ formulated the question :

I will to investigate that.

My general tool for stubborn greasy things (although not actually carbonised) is laundry detergent, preferably biological. Put it on neat, ideally keep it warm warm place (mimicking the 40C of the washing machine). Leave for half an hour, rinse thoroughly.

Theo

Now you understand why I never buy 'non stick' items They don't work and cannot be cleaned

All my skillets are either cast iron, which is almost non stick but is not coated, or stainless steel which is sticky, but can be cleaned with wire scourers

Its a bit like having oil based stove enamel. Hard to remove. Anything caustic and a bit of elbow grease normally gets it out of ovens, but not tried it elsewhere. Brian

Could you cobble some sort of attachement to a rechargeable drill like a piece of dowel with steel wool type scourer fixed to the dowel or brush head. It may at least take the effort out of it.

I've seen this comment a few times. IME, they do work, and can be cleaned very easily with a wipe of a damp cloth.

Cheap non-stick, the surface flakes off quite easily. Not sure why.

My better pans (Tefal) are 10 years + and still 'work' and the coating looks intact, although I only occasionally put them in the dishwasher, and don't use metal utensils with them (just silicone or wood).

Of the non-sticks, the stainless steel frying pan is very difficult to fry with and avoid sticking/burning. A small Le Crueset frying pan can be persuaded to cook non-stick, but it's hit and miss for me - I don't always remember the required incantations.

I don't think that the price makes as much a difference as might be thought. The expensive pans often seem to rely on their names, and it depends where they are made. I bought a fairly expensive "Swiss" branded frying pan which was rubbish. When I checked the sleeve, I found it was "Made in China".

I have a couple of non-stick 3-saucepan sets bought from Argos about 40 years ago. They were towards the cheaper end of their ranges (Miller?), but I still use five of them. In a couple the surface is pretty much as intact as when it was new.

Why do old PTFE-coated pans seem to last so much longer than newer ones? Is the coating no longer PTFE, but perhaps something else which isn't as nasty when it gets too hot, decomposes, and releases toxic gases? Or perhaps it is different materials used in the manufacture of the coating.

But it's good for developing arm muscles! Le Creuset stuff is very heavy.

I have absolutely no problem in cooking non stick with stainless and with cast iron

the secret is hot oil before anything goes in...

Freda Payne and Band of Gold was no 1 the day I was born.