My old non-stick pans were trashed, so I threw them out....

My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.

Any suggestions??

I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?

thanks

>From: Pete

>My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
>But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
>
>Any suggestions??

You have the non-sticks already so what exactly do you need this pan to do for
you?

IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch SS
pan that is oven safe. A good oven safe slant sided sauteuse is nice if you do
that sort of cooking.

>I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
>things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?

You're not using enough oil.

Ellen

"SportKite1" > wrote in message
...

> IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch
SS
> pan that is oven safe.

From my experience, most home kitchen stoves don't have burners
big enough to evenly heat even a 12 inch pan, much less a 14 inch one.

Hal Laurent
Baltimore

The non-stick set did not come wth a big pan.

Now I need a bid pan.

I don't have any cast iron pans, what should I be looking for?


On 28 Jan 2004 02:51:20 GMT, (SportKite1) wrote:

>>From: Pete
>
>>My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
>>But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
>>
>>Any suggestions??
>
>You have the non-sticks already so what exactly do you need this pan to do for
>you?
>
>IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch SS
>pan that is oven safe. A good oven safe slant sided sauteuse is nice if you do
>that sort of cooking.
>
>>I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
>>things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?
>
>You're not using enough oil.
>
>Ellen
>

"SportKite1" > wrote in message
...

> IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch
> cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch SS pan that is oven
> safe. A good oven safe slant sided sauteuse is nice
> if you do that sort of cooking.

As another poster mentioned, 14" is a very large pan indeed for most
home stoves. Measure before you purchase. And if you purchase cast
iron, be aware that you'll need to season the pan, otherwise things
will stick.

> >I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan.
> >Tried to cook a few things and they stuck bad...
> >any suggestions on this?

> You're not using enough oil.

Not necessarily. I use SS pans very often and rarely use much
oil/butter/whatever. The secret is heating the pan correctly, then
adding whatever oil I'm using, allowing the oil to come up to
temperature and then adding the food. Many foods -- frikadeller, for
example -- have a natural release point, meaning that they'll come
free of the cooking surface on their own once they've developed enough
of a crust.

-j

In article >,
(SportKite1) wrote:

> >From: Pete
>
> >My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
> >But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
> >
> >Any suggestions??
>
> You have the non-sticks already so what exactly do you need this pan to do for
> you?
>
> IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch SS
> pan that is oven safe. A good oven safe slant sided sauteuse is nice if you do
> that sort of cooking.
>
> >I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
> >things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?
>
> You're not using enough oil.
>
> Ellen
>
>

Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick.
Learnt that from "The Frugal Gourmet"
It works most of the time.

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby >,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

In article >,
"jacqui{JB}" > wrote:

> "SportKite1" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > IMHO every kitchen should have a 12-14 inch
> > cast iron pan and/or a 14 inch SS pan that is oven
> > safe. A good oven safe slant sided sauteuse is nice
> > if you do that sort of cooking.
>
> As another poster mentioned, 14" is a very large pan indeed for most
> home stoves. Measure before you purchase. And if you purchase cast
> iron, be aware that you'll need to season the pan, otherwise things
> will stick.
>
> > >I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan.
> > >Tried to cook a few things and they stuck bad...
> > >any suggestions on this?
>
> > You're not using enough oil.
>
> Not necessarily. I use SS pans very often and rarely use much
> oil/butter/whatever. The secret is heating the pan correctly, then
> adding whatever oil I'm using, allowing the oil to come up to
> temperature and then adding the food. Many foods -- frikadeller, for
> example -- have a natural release point, meaning that they'll come
> free of the cooking surface on their own once they've developed enough
> of a crust.
>
> -j
>
>

A #14 is great for roasting, and will fit a small turkey. ;-)

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby >,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

"Wear-ever" cookware. Not too expensive and very nice. The 8", 10",
and 12" non-stick frying pans are wonderful. Heavy with a good feel.
Available at Walmart.
Dave



On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 20:12:13 -0600, Pete > wrote:

>My old non-stick pans were trashed, so I threw them out....
>
>My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
>But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
>
>Any suggestions??
>
>I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
>things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?
>
>thanks

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 20:12:13 -0600, Pete wrote:

> My old non-stick pans were trashed, so I threw them out....
>
> My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
> But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
>
> Any suggestions??

18" cast iron skillet from Lodge. Cost you no more than $15 and you can
use the rest of the money for buying some ingredients to cook on it!

> I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
> things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?

I have both non-stick and cast iron, as well as a stainless steel pan that
I use as a saucier since its edges are curved like one. But, for
just about everything, I get out one of my cast iron skillets (I have them
in sizes from 8" up to 18") and use them. The only time the others get
used is when my wife doesn't want to go through the routine of cleaning
and oiling the cast iron...

--
Darryl L. Pierce >
Visit the Infobahn Offramp - <http://mypage.org/mcpierce>
"What do you care what other people think, Mr. Feynman?"
"Die for oil suckers....suckers....suckers...." - Jello Biafra

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 21:36:35 -0600, Pete wrote:

> The non-stick set did not come wth a big pan.
>
> Now I need a bid pan.
>
> I don't have any cast iron pans, what should I be looking for?

Absolutely.

--
Darryl L. Pierce >
Visit the Infobahn Offramp - <http://mypage.org/mcpierce>
"What do you care what other people think, Mr. Feynman?"
"Die for oil suckers....suckers....suckers...." - Jello Biafra

>"Herr Darryl Achtung Pierce" oinks:
:
>for just about everything, I get out one of my cast iron skillets (I have them
>in sizes from 8" up to 18") and use them. The only time the others get
>used is when my wife doesn't want to go through the routine of cleaning
>and oiling the cast iron...

Um, your Frau's name wouldn't happen to be Edith...


---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
Sheldon
````````````
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."

in article , Pete at
wrote on 1/27/04 9:12 PM:

> My old non-stick pans were trashed, so I threw them out....
>
> My wife bought me a set of nice Calphon non-stick pans.
> But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
>
> Any suggestions??
>
> I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
> things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?
>
> thanks

I'm thinking you might need to read up on cooking techniques.
I don't mean recipes, I mean "how to cook", the right way.

Sign up for a basic cooking class at your local adult education program.

in article , Katra at
wrote on 1/28/04 2:37 AM:

>
> Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick.
> Learnt that from "The Frugal Gourmet"
> It works most of the time.

Oh no, not this again!
It's not "really" cold oil. It's oil that's not been heated yet. You know,
room temp oil.

Pete > wrote in
:

> The non-stick set did not come wth a big pan.
>
> Now I need a bid pan.
>
> I don't have any cast iron pans, what should I be looking for?

You should actually be looking for a carbon steel pan. Forget cast
iron. It's for babies (just watch the flaming that comment starts
:-) ).

Get a carbon steel pan the size you want. Treat it like a cast iron
one, except keep water off of it. I find having a metal pot scraper
that is used only to clean this pan will help. Season with oil and
coarse salt first and keep surface oiled between uses. Within a few
weeks, it will acquire the patina that will make it as good if not
better than a commercial non-stick pan and more durable as well.

In my experience, you might want to avoid cooking egg beaters in it
anyway (see that thread) :-)

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003

Pete wrote:
>
> But she gave me the cash to get a "perfect" frying pan.
> Any suggestions?

In general there's no such thing as perfect because each specific
application has a different perfect. Get a cast iron skillet.
Once it's been properly seasoned it's as close to nonstick as you
can get without fancy chemicals. Get one with fancy chemicals
for stuff you want to slide around in it.

> I do have a nice big SS expensive frying pan. Tried to cook a few
> things and they stuck bad... any suggestions on this?

You have confused stick resistant with non-stick. If you drop a
steak into a stick resistant pan and turn it over, the steak is
*supposed* to stay in the pan. But then allow the steak to cook
naturally at its own pace, and buy the time your supposed to flip
it, it will have naturally released from the pan. That's what
stick resistant means. Don't flip too often, don't overuse the
spatula.

OR you're cooking with far too much heat. Having used cheap pans
folks get used to using far too much heat. Then they switch to
better more conductive pans and they don't remember to turn down
the fire.

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:20:22 +0000, PENMART01 wrote:

>>"Herr Darryl Achtung Pierce" oinks:
> :
>>for just about everything, I get out one of my cast iron skillets (I have them
>>in sizes from 8" up to 18") and use them. The only time the others get
>>used is when my wife doesn't want to go through the routine of cleaning
>>and oiling the cast iron...
>
> Um, your Frau's name wouldn't happen to be Edith...

Why, Sheldon, do you like me or something? You're spending alot of time
not replying to anything in followups to my posts. And, where is this
german stuff coming from?

--
Darryl L. Pierce >
Visit the Infobahn Offramp - <http://mypage.org/mcpierce>
"What do you care what other people think, Mr. Feynman?"

I had a 6" Calphon omelette pan. It was fine but not perfect and you
had to be very careful how you cleaned it and used it. It was very
expensive.

I have few cast iron frying pans of various sizes. I think the sizes
are 3", 2 - 6" and a 14" or 16" frying pan. They cost mere dollars
each. One problem with them is that they are perfect. They hold their
temperature perfectly. They brown food perfectly if that is your
objective at any temperature. One need only wipe them with tissue to
clean them regardless of what you have cooked in them. I have a box of
frying pans of various descriptions but I have no need to use or access
them. The cast iron ones remain number one without competition.

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 05:32:30 +0000, occupant wrote:

> I had a 6" Calphon omelette pan. It was fine but not perfect and you
> had to be very careful how you cleaned it and used it. It was very
> expensive.
>
> I have few cast iron frying pans of various sizes. I think the sizes
> are 3", 2 - 6" and a 14" or 16" frying pan. They cost mere dollars
> each. One problem with them is that they are perfect. They hold their
> temperature perfectly. They brown food perfectly if that is your
> objective at any temperature. One need only wipe them with tissue to
> clean them regardless of what you have cooked in them. I have a box of
> frying pans of various descriptions but I have no need to use or access
> them. The cast iron ones remain number one without competition.

Same here. About the only things I don't cook in cast iron these days is
eggs, pancakes, (I have the electric griddle for them) and bases for
souffles (I have a stainless steel saucier for those). Everything else
(including the occasion tarte tatin) are done in the appropriate sized
cast iron skillet (I have them from 4" up to 18") or the dutch oven.

--
Darryl L. Pierce >
Visit the Infobahn Offramp - <http://mypage.org/mcpierce>
"What do you care what other people think, Mr. Feynman?"