I have a not that old small frying pan, bought as a none stick omelette pan. The none-stick surface is a light grey colour and is undamaged, perfect.
When first bought, eggs and omelettes didn't even slightly stick, now they always do, wrecking any attempt to make a decent omelette. I use butter to fry them.
I hate throwing such things away, is there a fix I am missing?
No, my experience is the same. I now prefer stainless steel pans, and use a thin layer of oil to stop sticking. They also clean up well with a stainless steel scourer and last eons.
I once saw a sales pitch at some show where they were selling some high cost German non stick pans (Woll?). The salesman was saying that you should never fry in a non stick pan with a low smoke point oil (including butter and olive oil). His stance was that this will form a varnish like substance that will stick to the pan and will ruin its non stick properties and the pan cannot be recovered.
He said that you should always use high smoke point oils (such as grape seed) for frying in any non stick pad.
Salesman BS or fact I have no idea.
Well I have never found a non stick pan that lasted as non stick beyond really the first usage
I now run pure stainless or cast iron, because when they stick I can clean them without destroying the surface.
I avoid cast iron. The idea of cleaning, and then proving the surface after every clean is such a faff.
But you don't have to go down to bare cast iron when cleaning. I've found with a heavy cast iron frying pan a soak for an hour in warm water and a gentle scrub with a stainless steel scourer will remove stuck on food provided that the surface was previously proved. This leaves the previously proofed surface intact.
Well that's what I call going down to bare metal. Whether or not the pores in the casting are oil filled or not after that, is moot because the first application of oil will fill them!
My cast iron does stick quite a bit with certain foods. But the pleasure of being able to take metal tools, and over temperature, compensates for all that,. and who doesn't fry mushrooms in butter and bacon fat?
I have found that the proving layer is also removed and after cleaning, and then it's been replaced with a layer of rust.
I also had a steel wok, that very quickly got consigned away 'somewhere' from having the same problem.
Start cooking off at a lower temp until the eggs have started to set?
I don't have a great problem with non-stick pans, even frying pans, which usually last well over a year, even with frequent use. The most important thing is never to let anything metal anywhere near them. Wood, nylon, or silicone tools are ok. I don't, however, think that modern non-stick pans last as long as the old ones did.
Makes no difference IME.
Chuck it out and buy a nice cast iron one
Then if it does stick a steel fish slice will still lift it off
I buy non-stick cookware only when it's on a really good sale, as it's really a 'consumable/replaceable' item, and not an investment, like my tri-ply and cast iron cookware.
I have an ancient, very well-seasoned cast-iron omelette pan which never sticks, but it's only used for eggs and crepes.
I don't think my mum ever cleaned her cast iron frying pan. Just added more lard.
We had a cast-iron one for decades, and it seemed indestructible. They did sometimes stick a little to that sometimes - it was disposed of, because of its weight and the fact that it had been replaced with the current none-stick, which when first bought worked great.
It has never been near any metal, ever - it has only been used with plastic, wood, or recently a silicon edged plastic implement.
Too much farting around. Needs to work fine in a dishwasher.
I have had the same thin steel wok for around thirty-five years, without issue.
I seasoned it initially (sesame oil) and then after use. It is perfectly possible to soak it and clean off any 'crud'. I use the chinese 'strips of bamboo bound together' type 'scourer', but a green scrubber or similar also works fine. Then it's a tiny wipe of oil, heat until it smokes, and you are done. It takes next to no time.
Similar with my cast iron. I hardly go near non-stick cookware.
carbon steel pans are what the restaurant industry use, as do I and they are over 40years old and still non-stick
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TBH my old wok was probably not an expensive carbon steel variety.
The 'thin steel' wok I mention above was as cheap as chips, from an 'oriental food supply house'. Nothing expensive about it, and still going strong after 35 years.
Its probably been scratched by something during cleaning. I think the black teflon last a lot longer. Anecdotally at any rate. Brian
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