Non-stick surfaces on cookware

[peterh770]

Once the non-stick coating on cookware starts to get iffy from old age and some scratching, is there any hope for the pan? I'm sure there is no way to recoat it, so can the coating be removed and the pot/pan be used as a "stick" pot/pan? I have an old griddle and a skillet that are usable, but just getting ugly.

 

[bajaespuma]

I always buy my non-stick cookware as disposable items. I replace the sets about every two years. It seems the more information consumer groups are collating about non-stick surfaces is that the chemistry is toxic in some ways. Once the surface is scratched and damaged, the pan gets tossed.

What most people don't know is that at the high temperatures that restaurant stoves produce, most pans, even untreated aluminum, won't allow food to stick. It's at the relatively low temperatures of home stoves that metal is prone to stick, especially to proteins. Teflon is still so popular that, even though there are other surfaces out there, the industry doesn't want to go to the expense of retooling yet.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Get yourself some decent stainless steel pots and pans with a BRUSHED exterior finish (not shiny/polishesd), WITHOUT aluminum rivets. and WITH METAL handles. Should also have a thick disk bottom with no exposed aluminum or copper.

Scrub them with Brillo S.O.S / cleanser every time. Over the years they will become nonstick as the interior bottom is made silky-smooth.

They are dishwasher or hand-washable, they can be scrubbed with ANYTHING including lye-based oven cleaner (Easy-Off for example) and Dawn Dissolver (watered-down lye basically).
Can't kill good stainless-steel. You will have them until you die.

Non-stick pots and pans have a limited lifetime, require specal cooking utelnsils (wood or nylon or plastic) and are toxic chemicals over toxic aluminum. Perhaps not one's best choice.

I cook eggs, oatmeal, cheeses and white (bechamel) sauces in REGULAR pots and pans without a problem. Also, the plastic coating (that IS the non-stick finish) INSULATES the food from the heat. I really can't see the reason to have any non-stick cookware at all. Should there ever be a mess in a SS pot, simply boil it with automatic dishwasher detergent. Rinse, and let it soak again with fresh hot water and DW detergetnt. Should that fail the oven-cleaner works great. Always use less heat than you think you need and you will never have a problem.

If you go to the gym to work-out out there shodld be no issue expending a little energy to scub a pot that is overall much healthier than non-stick.

 

[norgeway]

I agree Togs!

I do have one nonstick pan, but never use it...more trouble than its worth,For the most part I use Townecraft or Royal Queen,but I do use some Club aluminum also,I know some of you have trouble with aluminum...I do NOT cook acid foods in it.

 

[hunter]

cast iron

What about cast iron? I have a few cast iron pots and like their relative non stick coating.

But I also agree reagarding the stainless steel.

 

[circlew]

I would imagine that having the coating removed by grit blasting or chemical, and then having the metal polished back to a suitable surface, would be very costly - much more than new high quality cookware.

Have never liked non-stick cookware much, and only have 2 or 3 pieces. Have a Vollrath fry pan with Steelcoat 3 finish which is OK, a Wear-Ever saucepan with Ceramaguard coating, and an old Mirro muffin tin with green Teflon. I got that for my Mom for Mothers's Day when I was about 9 or 10. I remember buying her a Teflon saucepan about that time, and she rarely used it; preferring her Revere Ware stainless.

Agree with Toggleswitch that stainless steel is the way to go. I'm planning to get some pieces of Vollrath Tribute cookware when I get back to Wasserstrom again. It's stainless on the exterior with an aluminum core for even heating. Has stainless rivets, and choice of plain metal or insulated handles. It's made in Wisconsin too. Should last a lifetime.

Commercial Foodservice & Kitchen Equipment | Vollrath Foodservice

Vollrath offers the highest quality and largest selection of commercial kitchen equipment and food service supplies. Learn how we set the standard for our industry.

www.vollrathco.com

 

[toggleswitch2]

Induction-ready and decent. These are what I have.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/14888/

 

[mrboilwash]

The intake of Telfon particles from old, scratched cookware is considered save, because stomach acid cannot attack it and it leaves the body without releasing any harmful chemicals.
At least we are told so in Germany.
Overheating of Teflon releases quite toxic vapours. But I have no idea if it is save again after cooling down.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Where quarts are approximately equal to litres.

Includes:
Pot with lid 5 Qt,
Pot with lid 3 Qt,
Saucepan with lid 1 Qt and
Frying pan diameter 11".

Add another two 2 qt. pots and one frying pan that is NON non-stick and that should be plenty for 90% of the population's cooking needs. oh and maybe antoher 4, 5 or 6 qt size.

Those who entertain may want the 11 quart/litre stock-pot as well.

The beauty of stainless-steel is that food MAY be stored in it right off the stove. Less fuss and muss and shifting around.


The 5 quart size is a great pasta pot or soup pot
The 3 quart size is a great rice pot (2 cups rice/4 cups water).

The 1 qt size is good for reheating soup stove-top.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30101168

 

[dj-gabriele]

IKEA 365+ set

In the USA they cost 39,99 $ (29,90 €)
In Germany they cost 49,00 €
In Italy they cost 49,95 €
In Sweden they cost 499 SEK (51,70 €)
In France they cost 59,00 €
In Spain they cost 59,90 €
In the UK they cost 54,99 £ (61,30 €)

Isn't that a little unfair pricing ?!?

 

[xraytech]

also prefer Stainless Steel, I have some All-Clad LTD saucepans, most of my larger pots are vintage Farberware ot Interpur Stainless.
I do however have a set of turquoise Club Aluminum that I love I usually use then for boiling and for jelly making, but I usually do make spaghetti sauce in the 5 qt pot.

 

[toggleswitch2]

oooh dont say "unfair", it means "I dont like it".

We pay with NET dollars, having paid out 35% or more of our GROSS income as as taxes.

So $39.99 + 8.25% LOCAL/STATE sales tax = $43.29
Grossing the price up up means we have to earn $67.15 to have enough money left over (after income taxes) to be able to spend $43.29.

Don't the quoted prices in Europe include the VAT? (value-added tax). Here taxes MUST be separately shown and charged and and may NOT be built-in.

Illegal (cash-economy) workers/consumers here basically pay only the sales taxes; not federal, state and local income taxes. With VAT taxes no matter who you are, you are contributing to the society's taxes.

Please educate me as to the European Community's taxation.

Also what a store charges will depend on waht the market will bear, cometition, rent, utility (heat/ electricity / gas) costs, wage costs, taxes on eages the employer pays corporate/business taxation, import/export taxes etc.

These can all vary widely by location.

 

[toggleswitch2]

My Greek relatives came to the United States and while here bought a Miele German washing machine.

It is my understanding that they have GROSS dollars and found the prices here very low (relatively) in that their customary V.A.T. (hidden/built-in taxes) are not included here.

I'm not sure whether the machine physically shipped here then back to Greece. But if it did, it is hard to believe that it was still MUCH cheaper for them to do it that way than to pay for it in their own country due to the tax structure.

so gross dollars/euro and no major taxes

When we go to Europe we are taking NET (taxed) dollars to buy goods that inlcude all the local (V.A.T.) taxes there.
(double taxation) One must fill out forms there to get the VAT refunded. So, many of us do not bother.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[sudsmaster]

In general I prefer high quality stainless (the best has aluminum sandwiched between two layers of SS, with the aluminum core running all the way up to the lid).

But I also appreciate the ease of use of teflon for certain purposes. One, in an omelet pan, that never gets scraped or scrubbed so the coating stays unbroken. Two, for a pancake griddle - used with blunt edge plastic spatulae only. Three, for small woks that also don't get scraped with sharp implements.

I don't like using teflon coated deep pots - the coating inevitably gets broken by spoons, stirring, etc. Stainless is much better and quite easy to keep clean.

I do use an old Magnalite fry pan that has (or once had) a teflon coating. Most of it has worn away, and under that is a layer of stainless (very thin, probably arc sprayed on). It works pretty well for stuff like steaks etc.

Teflon has its place, but I have more than enough of it. My next cookware set will be the type of aluminum core SS I mentioned earlier, except with a magnetic exterior (18-0) so it will be induction-ready.

 

[bugsyjones]

Non-Stick only

I detest stainless or aluminum cookware. My cookware must be non-stick. The only exception being a pasta pot.

From my experience, the teflon surface doesn't get scratched unless you use metal utensils like tongs or a fork.

You don't have to scrub or sandblast either. A wipe with a paper towel does the job, then you wash it.

I bought some new TFal skillets about two years ago and I love them! They are super heavy duty and the teflon finish is in excellent shape. No scratches or scuffs. The only problem is finding a lid big enough to fit them!

~Tim

 

[peterh770]

I do have a fairly extensive collection of anodized aluminum Calphalon, collected slowly one piece at a time from Marshall's/TJMaxx. I also have some Revereware (made in the day in my home town of Rome, NY), and then a few misc nonstick aluminum stuff (the little one is TFal). I cook on a gas range. Just seems like a waste to throw out the pots with the bad coating, even as cheap as they probably are. I guess it is my miserly Great Depression frame of mind.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Taxation in Italy

You can have a quick reading at this article here about taxation in Italy, that's quite funny to read and that's correct in (almost) every point!

CITING: "The two things in life we can’t avoid, death and taxes. If you thought the taxman was on your case back in the UK or US, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Italians ‘enjoy’ countless different types of taxation, levied on a local, regional and national level — everything from income tax to a levy for taking away the trash." (Trash tax this year was raised 40% and we pay 600€! At least we have compulsive recycling and trash separation!)

This is also another article where it says that the taxation on jobs in italy is the highest in the EU (how nice uh?)

Ue: Italia prima per le tasse sul lavoro - Corriere della Sera

23/06/2009 - Per l'Eurostat il nostro è il paese dell'Unione europea dove è più alto il carico fiscale sul lavoro

www.corriere.it

Anyway, back to the non stick pans! (and sorry for having gone out of topic!)
I bought a couple of coated stainless steel non-stick non-teflon made pans that are enameled and dishwasher safe and I love them! They're very heavy and heat up uniformly but I can't recall the name anymore, it was something like "Suprema Jet" but I'm not sure!

http://www.keyitaly.com/article/taxes-in-italy/

 

[dj-gabriele]

Taxation in Italy #2

I read the complete article about Taxes, Utilities, Insurance, Fess, etc and I pissed myself laughing that was too funny! Many things are so true but others hopefully aren't, but I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!

 

[toggleswitch2]

~I do have a fairly extensive collection of anodized aluminum Calphalon, collected slowly one piece at a time...

Funny I wont touch that stuff with a 10-foot pole.
ANYTHING that is coated will eventually lose it's top-most layer.

Buy once, buy good quality and buy what endures "forever".
Most of the kitchenwares sold are crap and intended to have you keep coming back to replace them. No thanks.

Learn to let go. It's OK to throw stuff out, especially when it has become defaced, non-operative or fully or partially defective. You WON'T need it someday. You can get good quality stuff rather inexepensively, RIGHT NOW! Changing one's mindest is only ONE thought away. You just have to WANT to.

Remember, saying "I can't afford it", 90% of the time menas "it's not important to me" Having hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank and living in tatters is NOT living well.

Having 10 POS articles is NOT the equavalent of having ONE good done.



EVERYONE deserves GOOD QUALITY AND PERMANENT THINGS.