I have Calphalon 8" and 12" non-stick omlette pans that work great BUT you
have to take proper care of them. Never ever get them too hot - medium on
the electric stove is as hot as you'll ever need. For fried eggs I put the
8" on medium low, 2 1/2 out of 10 on my stove, for about 5 minutes to
pre-heat. Add a dollop of butter - if the temp is right it melts readily
and foams up but won't burn. Add the eggs and immediately cover. Let cook
undisturbed 3 mninutes or so. Examine - if there's a faint white film over
the yolks they're ready, Slide right out onto the plate with just a little
moist butter residue remaining in the pan. Same thing for omlettes - slide
right out. Does a good job on Rostii potatos also.

The key with Calphalon seems to be to have the food at room temp before
cooking and to be very gentle with the burners - a little heat goes a long
way. I also have a regular Calphalon Commercial Dutch oven that is superb
in the oven for Chicken Vesuvio, etc. No complaints. That being said, for
regular pan frying, bacon chops steaks and such, I use stainless steel or
cast iron. Each tool has its best purpose.


> wrote in message
...
> I bought several pieces of calphalon to help my wife with kitchen
> clean-up and hoping that these would help.
>
> Not so! Eggs stick like the dickens in these pans, worse than a
> stainless steel or lesser pan. We've tried everything, but nothing
> helps. It is a real pain to clean these things, and of course, they
> can't be put in the dishwasher. Also, the black coating is beginning
> to flake off.
>
> We can put a man on the moon, but we can't make a REAL no-stick pan.

You must be REALLY overheating it for it to outgas anything. Doesn't need
to be glowing red inside to cook you know <grin>.


"The Man With The Four Way Hips" > wrote in message
. net...
>
> "Mike Pearce" > wrote in message
> news:jLNab.342$sp2.214@lakeread04...
> >
> > "Dave" > wrote:
> >
> > (we can't use coated
> > > cookware - it kills things in our home we want to keep alive).
> > >
> >
> > OK, I can't let this pass without asking. What is it that coated (I
assume
> > you mean non-stick coatings) kills?
> >
>
> When teflon-type coatings are overheated, they produce a gas that can kill
> small animals, notably birds, which (canary in a coal mine) are very
> susceptible to that sort of thing.
>
>