In article >, "cowboy"
<cacheoverflow@yahooDOTcom> wrote:

> I have recently acquired a lot of Calphalon anodized & All-Clad
> stainless cookware. Both companies say not to use cooking sprays
> such as PAM etc.

> they are discouraging the use of these sprays, because of the
> vanish-like coating that they impart over time to cookware, which
> seems impossible to remove
>
> (I found this out, fortunately, on some cheap cookware, my high end
> stuff is still a "cooking-spray virgin" for the moment)
>
> so, has anyone figured out the magic bullet? which ingredient of
> PAM-style cooking sprays is the culprit, the alcohol or the lecithin?

I'm just guessing that it would be the lecithin. Seems like the alcohol
would evaporate and it seems like the lecithin would be something that
could bake on. Just a guess.
>
> Is there some alternative spray that doesn't form the varnish and
> won't ruin my new cookware? Or some type of "aerosol oil mister" that
> folks here use?

I have a Pampered Chef oil mister that I'm very happy with. I've had it
for several years. Every once in a while (once, twice a year) I take it
apart and wash it up with soapy water. I keep olive oil in it.
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> The Nylons added 4-3-05.

"I read recipes the way I read science fiction: I get to the end and
say,'Well, that's not going to happen.'" - Comedian Rita Rudner,
performance at New York, New York, January 10, 2005.