Tefal's range of thermo-spot frying pans are very good. Served me well through 3-4 years of University. Nice and lightweight and haven't warped.
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Tefal's range of thermo-spot frying pans are very good. Served me well through 3-4 years of University. Nice and lightweight and haven't warped.
I've never owned or will ever own a non-stick pan that stays non-stick for more than a few years of use.
They are replaceable items.
I have not been impressed with my ceramic saucepan as it sticks like crazy even when making soup. Admitedly I'm pretty harsh with my cookware, and wouldn't know what proper care instructions are, but I'd far rather use my Tefal wok as no matter how long I leave it on the heat, things just don't get stuck to it.
My Scanpan is panning out quite well.
No pan has ever been this easy to clean and I've already cooked more times than when previous ceramics have started to show fatigue.
I really do hope that this is a non-toxic pan - I don't want to be told later by scientists, oops!, that certain chemicals are leaching into me, like in the PTFE stuff.
It's not just "care", IMHO, but "usage". The one thing most forms of non-stick REALLY don't like is excess heat. It kills them faster than almost anything - except perhaps brutal use of metal utensils.
One important step, IMHO, is to work out the performance of YOUR hob, or better yet, each ring on it. Cos yours will likely be different to mine. Put a little oil and, say, a small bit of onion in the pan, and turn on LOW. Gradually, over time, increase to setting, bit at a time, until the onion starts to fry. Once you know that point, and especially with electric / ceramic / induction it may vary, zone to zone, you rarely need to set it much, if any, higher than that. Not only does it preserve pan life, it cuts power bills and hrlps avoid burning food.
I.e. .... know your cooker. ;)
As for the frying pan, thanks to everyone that commented. In the end, I ducked ceramic entirely and went for what I know and trust, a 28cm LeCeuset ... partly for the "lifetime" warranty.
I may have found my perfect ceramic pan too late.
Have discovered that the charcoal lighting heater grill on my newish combi oven does about the best bacon I've ever eaten - prefer poached eggs to fried as well - sorry Scanpan - the oven cooking tray is made of some sort of plastic - clean up is really easy, but I'd better check what the chemical composition is.
Uh oh. I detect another controversial subject in the offing, right up there with nVidia versus Radeon, Windows versus Mac or Android versus iPhone ..... best way to cook bacon.
Batten down the hatches, folks, it's gonna get rough. :D
I feel really old school now as I use a cast iron frying pan for most frying tasks. It does have the advantage that it was £4 and has impressive non-stick properties though. Also you can basically get it as hot as you like without destroying it (though I don't as it nukes the seasoning).
Someone bought me a Ceracraft pan a while ago (at the low-end I believe) and it wasn't very impressive and I went back to my old non-stick in no time. My old-school non-stick has been in use for ~10 years. It has a few marks but I only wash it under running hot water immediately after use and dry it with kitchen roll, its been a trooper. Although these days I really only tend to slow cook meats in it (sausages left on the lowest heat for ~1 hour with 1 turn are the best!)
I do feel the bacon discussion needs fleshing out though! Any tips to get fried bacon crispy would be great!
Well, that's half the argument. Also, how crispy? Personal taste, I guess. Just crispy, or so that it shatters into fragments?
One method - grill it, quite hot, in it's own day. And don't turn it. Another method, use streaky, fry long and low. Low enough to let the fat render out before it crisps up.
Oh, and controversy number 2 .... smoked. For sarnies etc, always, ALWAYS smoked. But proper smoked, not the chemical stuff.
In fact, smoked or not, not chemical 'pumped' but dry-cure, for me. Not the supermarket stuff that leaks all that milky white fluid. Yuck. Shudder.
And, ironically, it's not as expensive as most people think. Sure, it tends to cost more, but because it doesn't shrink almost to nothing, you use a lot less of it.
There is, IMHO, no substitute for quality meat, bacon or otherwise. Though, quality doesn't always mean expensive, especially if you've the time to cook tougher cuts long, and slow.
At the moment my favourite bacon is the dry cured Denhay from Waitrose. Great flavour. No water/salt crud and no size reduction in the pan.
I'll give that a try. Going to Waitrose later today, anyway.
Usually, I get my bacon from a local farm shop. They're a beef farm, but they have a series of bilateral deals with other farms, one of which specialises in smoked and dry-cure bacon. They each sell to each other. Quality is excellent, and prices .... not really much different to supermarkets, at least, for 'decent' supermarket product. Mince, for instance, varies hugely in price but in quality and fat content, too.
I'm not willing to throw silly money at fancy-priced product, but I am willing to buy/use less of better quality product. And, often, compensate in volume with other ingredients. So, a casserole/stew, for instance, I use good quality meat but if need be, more fresh veg. Similarly in, say, a ragu for a Bolognese sauce, a little less mince but of good quality, and a littke more carrot, onion, celery etc. Oh, and GOOD tomato puree, not cheap stuff. And, of course, several hours to reduce down. I prefer Spag Bol, or rather Tagliatelle Bol, to be a sauce on pasta, not a ruddy great pile of tomato-flavoured mince on pasta in the 60s British implementation. Time, and quality ingredients, make all the difference, though at a pinch, a fine-chopped decent smoked bacon works okay instead of pancetta.
My bacon comes in bulk from Costco, not the best, but far from the worse that I've had. If that's run out it's the local butchers (which happens to be in the local farm shop)
My preferred way of cooking it is on the BBQ!
Hmmmmm Bacon!