Non Stick Pan

[JohnP]

I have a decent (Tefal) frying pan with a burned on deposit. Would one of the aerosol oven cleaners get it off without damage?

[Nick Odell]

Just to take it further, cooking oils will often change their state at a temperature well below the point of degradation of PTFE and then be deposited on the surface of pan like a sort-of lacquer. I would say that if the pan is truly burned then you are stuffed: if it's lacquered it might not be knackered.

What I do is leave the pan in soak overnight then gently scrape away the deposit with a fingernail. Moving the fingernail horizontally over the surface there's nothing to dig in and scratch (I suspect my nails are softer than Teflon anyway)and the raised portions of water-softened resin will scape away little by little leaving an undamaged surface behind. This is what I do with my nice non-stick pans when I have to. My favourite is over six years old and still looks good.

Nick

[newshound]

Who knows. Caustic soda, the active ingredient of industrial strength oven cleaners is not going to attack PTFE. But, if the "burning" is enough to have damaged the integrity of the PTFE coating including its adhesion to the pan (steel or aluminium?), then you might have a problem.

[The Natural Philosopher]

My non stick skillets are now cast iron Le Creuset's. If something sticks I use stainless steel scourers

Now 6 years old they have saved me a fortue in non stick pans ...

[JohnP]

Nick Odell [e-mail]> wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Had a session with my thumb nail - I was surprised how easy it was.