Cleaning non-stick ceramic pans

[sudsmaster]

I have a set of Green Pan cookware. Overall they are high quality and perform well. However I've been noticing that there's been some buildup of hard to remove crud on them which of course impairs their non-stick capability. It's probably not coincidental that I started using non-stick cooking spray on them, which is not recommended.

 

In any case, I did some googling and found people saying that baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) works well to clean off the crud. I have a little problem with that combination. Basically the bicarb and vinegar will counteract each other, creating a nice foam but nor really enhancing their cleaning ability. Instead of a basic baking soda and an acidic acetic acid, one would get a neutral combination of sodium acetate and carbon dioxide. Probably scrubbing with just table salt would be cheaper and just as effective.

 

 

So I tried something else. I took about a teaspoon of powdered dishwasher detergent, the old phosphated Cascade, moistened a Scotchbrite blue (non abrasive) faced sponge, and scrubbed a gunked up frying pan with that. Guess what? The crud got removed and afterward I was able to fry an egg with some olive oil and not have it stick (much). It was certainly less sticky than before the scrub. The ceramic surface didn't appear to be harmed by this, just freed of a layer of hardened oil/gum etc.

 

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

Glad your pans are ungunked

You could probably simmer the DW detergent in some water in the pan and achieve the same result without the hard scrubbing.

 

[toploader55]

Never used them.  Are they Dishwasher Safe ? Ceramic...seems as they would be.

 

[rp2813]

Rich, are yours the Green Pans that have the light blue finish inside?  I have one big one among my skillets.   I'm fairly certain they're not dishwasher safe, so it's interesting that detergent with phosphates didn't seem to harm yours.  I wonder if they only recommend hand washing because over time, machine washing may trigger some deterioration.

 

[brisnat81]

Only use High Temp oils

Hi Suds,

Olive Oil is as bad as the cooking spray as its a low temp Oil that burns and leaves sticky residue that doesn't clean off. Olive oil is for Salads and Dressing, not for Frying.

We use the Neoflam Ceramic non stick pans and after wrecking a few have found a solution that works even in the wok at high heat.

1) Heat the pan before you put the oil in (Don't overheat)
2) Only use High Temp Oils, we've settled on Rice Bran oil
3) Scrub the pan with the Blue Scotchbrite pad in hot soapy water every time you use it
4) Don't put it in the dishwasher
5) If you get something burnt on, make a dry paste of Bicarb and Water and scrub that on with the Blue Scotchbrite, it makes it just that little bit more abrasive and cleans the burnt bits off.

Our Wok is used regularly and is over 2.5 years old now without an issue. The Frypan is nearly 4 years old and is in the same condition.

Because very little ever sticks, it takes 2-3 minutes to wash it in the sink and you're done.

I hope this helps

Nathan

 

[lordkenmore]

>Are they Dishwasher Safe ? Ceramic...seems as they would be.

I can't remember this for sure, but I think I've seen Green Pan at Target, and some items were dishwasher safe, and others weren't. I suspect it's more than the coating that gets considered (e.g., is the outside dishwasher safe?, etc).

 

[cleanteamofny]

Green pans are not designed for dishwashers!
The outer coating will peel off and look terrible but will not effect the surface somewhat and avoid using metal cookware for it will chip the surface!!

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Are ceramic pans in general not dishwasher safe? Wow, that's one more reason for me to stick to stainless steel.

For years I had Belgique "Tools of the Trade" from Macy's. Giggle all you want but those pot & pans were more non-stick than all the other super-duper-never-ever-stick pans collected over the years.

Once I get rid of the horrid super-stick MagnaLite I've inherited, I plan to pick up some Belgique.

My ex's family (here and in Abruzzo) used olive oil for almost everything. However I noticed they only put it into a pan that was already hot; don't know if that makes a difference.

Jim

 

[lordkenmore]

>Are ceramic pans in general not dishwasher safe? Wow, that's one more reason for me to stick to stainless steel.

I THINK I've seen some pans that are dishwasher safe, or so the label claims. One issue with one line (I think Greenpan) was that some pans had anodized aluminum exteriors, which were probably the dishwasher-hostile part of the pan.

>For years I had Belgique "Tools of the Trade" from Macy's. Giggle all you want but those pot & pans were more non-stick than all the other super-duper-never-ever-stick pans collected over the years.

I had good experience with one Macy's Belgique.

I really liked Belgique for a while in the 80s. Back then, it was made in Belgium. However, it was more looks than anything--I was barely qualified to boil water for tea at the time. LOL

>Once I get rid of the horrid super-stick MagnaLite I've inherited, I plan to pick up some Belgique.

I'm assuming this uses anodized aluminum like Calphalon. I have one Calphalon pan, and cleaning it is a real nightmare sometimes. One day, I'd like to move on, although the pan works well as a pan for my current circumstances.

Calphalon was my other dream cookware back when I hardly could cook. The marketing of "last cookware" was appealing. It's interesting see how much totally destroyed Calphalon goes through Goodwill.

>My ex's family (here and in Abruzzo) used olive oil for almost everything. However I noticed they only put it into a pan that was already hot; don't know if that makes a difference.

It might make a difference. The Frugal Gourmet preached "hot wok, cold oil", and that seems to apply to regular cookware.

I also use olive oil in cooking, but I don't use very high heat. These days, I aim to gently saute.

 

[toploader55]

Jim...

I bought a set of Belgique from Jordan Marsh back in 1989.

 

Best Cookware I've ever owned.  I like Stainless because you can just huck it in the Dishwasher. I don't mind scrubbing a pan here or there, but there is nothing like topping off the machine every night just trying to get the BobLoad status without trying !!!

 

I have loaned a few of the pieces out over the years never to be returned. I tried a set of Wolfgang's Puck shit and it was horrible.

 

Cuisinart isn't bad though.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Thanks all

Glad to know I'm not the only one who prefers stainless steel and has had good experiences with Belgique.

Yeah, MagnaLite is like Calphalon, except that it heats more unevenly and sticks more than I remember Calphalon doing.

Ah yes, Jordan Marsh. Everyone's first credit card. If you had a job, you got a JM card. The credit line might only have been $35.00, but you got one.

IIRC, stainless steel was also the preferred material for cookware among the Abruzzesi, too. Almost every dish started with 1/2" of olive oil in a big, high sided skillet.

Jim

 

[rp2813]

Jim, is that Magnalite Professional you have?

 

We have a lot of pieces and I've never had any major trouble.  I use a Magnalite Professional skillet as I would a cast iron one.  If there's anything stuck to the pan after cooking, a short soak has always made clean up easy.

 

I did recently buy a set of Calphalon (I think) non-stick at BB&B that can be machine washed.  The only advisory the product literature gave was to hand wash if you wanted to keep it looking its best.  I've run this stuff through the dishwasher almost exclusively and it looks no worse for wear.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Most of them have "Magnalite GHC" imprinted on the bottom. Unfortunately, some of the set disappeared in the two moves.

Jim

 

[rp2813]

Jim

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the Professional line, although GHC also markets the classic heavy duty cast aluminum Wagner Ware Magnalite as well.    I don't think GHC puts their logo on Wagner Ware, though.

 

[toploader55]

Calphalon

I don't know what it is about Calphalon, but I just don't like the finish and the alloy itself.  It seems to me like it would impart alloy if scraped too hard.  And to me it never looks clean.

 

Stainless is shiny. And Shiny means clean. (I'm weird). So if I scrub Stainless and put it in the Dishwasher... It's clean.

 

Although Nutty Crunchy, Tree hugging Ceramic is touted the way to go for "Safe" cooking, I still prefer my Stainless opposed to Caphalon or (Yuk) Non Stick Anything cookware. Non Stick finishes just creep me out.

 

[sudsmaster]

AFAIK, olive oil has a fairly high smoke point, certainly higher than the various seed oils like canola, soy, safflower, etc. The highly unsaturated seed oils tend to form a gum at high temps, and olive oil is relatively resistant to that.

 

Green Pan recommends against machine dishwasher, and I also think that's to protect the outer anodized surface. Also, using DW detergent in the sink by hand will no subject the inner surface to the high temps that a DW would.

 

[mrboilwash]

Baking soda and vinegar

I wonder if baking soda and vinegar while canceling each other out pH wise, the sodium acetate could still be an acceptable builder like sodium citrate ?

So if this works so well for some people on the internet a thorough scrub with some plain STTP might even work miracles on ceramic pans.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I have a set of Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless

and I love it.  If you cook with stainless as you should with any pan, heat first then add oil it will be practically non-stick.

 

As for cleaning, sometimes I have to pull out the Bar Keepers Friend to remove starch or protein stains from the bottom.  The outside is highly polished and looks beauitful.  I have never put them in the dishwaher.  Biggest complaint is, I don't like the glass lids, though they fit nice and no sputtering. 

 

I have a few non stick.  Wearever ceramic and Teflon, I get more issues with Silverstone Teflon than the ceramic.

 

 

[foraloysius]

A few months ago I looked at ceramic non-stick ceramic pans. I read a lot of reviews of a lot of available brands on this side of the pond. I read reviews about cheap ceramic pans, but also about the most expensive ones. Every ceramic pan had both positive and negative reviews. The negative reviews all said that after a while the non-stick pans started to have issues with food sticking to the pan. Not only the cheap ones, but also the +$100.- ones.

I had a ceramic pan that had the same problem. After a while food stuck to the non-stick surface, although the pan looked totally clean. In the end I got rid of it, no more ceramic pans for me.