bellas@ttidcb.UUCP (Pete Bellas) (01/13/86)
Help! I need some advise.
I recently decided to abandon my cheapo no-stick cookware and
get some "good" cookware, so I invested in a set of Calphalon.
How do you cook food without it sticking, I think I have gotten
lazy using silverstone. Do you need to season Calphalon before
using, or am I doing something wrong. As a particular case, I
was trying to make Potatoes O'brien yesterday, the potatoes kept
sticking to the pan (they still tasted good though :-). The new
cookware works great for most things but I don't seem to have
any luck frying with it. Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks
-Pete-
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\<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>/dkatz@zaphod.UUCP (Dave Katz) (01/18/86)
In article <617@ttidcb.UUCP> bellas@ttidcb.UUCP (Pete Bellas) writes: > >I recently decided to abandon my cheapo no-stick cookware and >get some "good" cookware, so I invested in a set of Calphalon. >How do you cook food without it sticking ... New frying pans need to be seasoned and then cleaned properly. Seasoning is actually the process of bonding a layer of oil (or butter) to the metal surface. The process I use is as follows: 1. Place pan over low heat and add about 2 tbsp cooking oil or butter. 2. Swirl (don't spread) the oil to cover bottom and well up the sides. 3. Pour off any excess oil that might puddle on the bottom. 4. Raise heat to Med - Med/High and continue to warm pan until the oil or butter just begins to smoke. 5. Pour off any more oil that will come. 6. Return to very low heat for a few minutes to dry out. 7. Let cool. 8. Wipe with a damp cloth. 9. Repeat steps 1 thru 8 two more times. At the end of this, you have a pan in which you can fry almost anything with a little oil or butter and no fear of sticking. There are other procedures around where the oil is baked on but I have had good results with the above. If the something really sticks, clean down to the bare metal with steel wool and re-season. Properly cared-for pans shouldn't need to be re-seasoned ever. Which brings us to care and maintenance. This is best given as a set of NEVER's. 1. NEVER put the pan in a dishwasher. 2. NEVER leave the pan to soak. 3. NEVER cook at too high a temperature. 4. NEVER scrape pan to clean it or use abrasive pads (SOS, Kurly Kate, ...) 5. NEVER stack other pans on top of a seasoned pan. This applies to non-stick as well. The best way to wash the pan is with a damp dishcloth in warm water and rinse and dry immediately. You can dry it by putting it on a very low burner until the moisture is off, or use a towel. A special case is a pan used solely for eggs. Season it with butter and clean by wiping with a dry cloth. Don't wash at all unless something really sticks to it. I sometimes clean my omelette pan by putting some salt (about 1 oz) in the dry pan and rubbing it in with a clean cloth. And one more rule which I have found important - If you share kitchen or cleaning with someone else, either - make sure they know how to handle the pans - tell them never to touch YOUR pans - or take all the responsibility for maintaining them. I think that a well handled cast iron pan beats the Hell out of non-stick anytime, but you have to learn how to work with one. Good Luck. D. Katz
reid@glacier.ARPA (Brian Reid) (01/19/86)
Uh, the last time I looked Calphalon didn't need seasoning, and if you tried the seasoning just bounced. It works as well as cast iron but it doesn't require the requisite fanaticism. Just use a little bit of Pam. -- Brian Reid decwrl!glacier!reid Stanford reid@SU-Glacier.ARPA