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46 votes
Accepted

Why do metal utensils scrape teflon pans more than wooden?

Metal is a lot harder than wood, which means when it hits another surface, it won't deform on a microscopic level the way wood does. This means that, while a wood utensil rubbing against a nonstick ...
Esther's user avatar
  • 2,463
37 votes
Accepted

Cooking with sugar makes pan very difficult to clean

Melted and re-hardened sugar (including caramel) is very difficult to remove through mechanical action, but trivial to remove by soaking. Just pour in enough hot water to cover the sugar and wait an ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 30.2k
35 votes
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What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces?

I'd pre-cut them myself - I tend to cut mine in the tin using a plastic spatula; after all they're soft and easy to cut. Then There are stiff plastic knives (for some reason sold for use on lettuce). ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 45.2k
27 votes
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Can I bake cookies without baking paper?

First of all, if your baking sheet is nonstick you may not need baking paper at all. If it is not, then either directly greasing the baking sheet, or putting tinfoil on it and greasing that works ...
user141592's user avatar
  • 10.6k
26 votes
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Seasoned Cast Iron NOT being Non-stick

Don't use flaxseed oil, it's one of the worst. Something I only discovered recently is it's not just the smoke point you should be concerned about, it's the iodine number. This is important when it ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.9k
22 votes

Can I bake cookies without baking paper?

In Spain it's very common to "grease and flour coating" to any baking mold or tray! It is quite easy! Get some butter, apply it to the tray evenly, add some flour (regular flour works) and ...
M.K's user avatar
  • 1,461
16 votes

What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces?

You can use soft cutters for some baked goods, but not for all. Wherever you need a sharp cutting implement, the solution is to change not the knife, but the cutting surface. I have three typical ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 140k
12 votes

How does a marzipan knife work?

Judging from the picture, the knife gets thinner towards the spine after reaching a point of maximum thickness somewhere in the middle of the blade. This means a straight piece of sticky food cannot ...
rackandboneman's user avatar
9 votes

Do pan "pores" exist, what are they, and what are their effects?

Mechanical engineer by trade here with a smattering of materials science background, I think I can weigh in a bit on this topic. There are a few questions that I think are getting conflated with this ...
Felix Xu's user avatar
9 votes

Seasoned Cast Iron NOT being Non-stick

I don't have a specific remedy for the seasoning, as there are lots of things that could have gone wrong. I suspect if this was a new Lodge pan, there may have been some issues with the added ...
Athanasius's user avatar
  • 33.2k
8 votes

Is nonstick cookware safe to use after overheating

Based on a search of sources covering health risks around Teflon (PTFE) cookware, nobody has found any evidence that cooking with previously overheated cookware is dangerous to your health. Breathing ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 65.5k
8 votes
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Why does oil puddle in some non-stick frying pans but not in others?

All Teflon pans are non-stick, but not all non-stick pans are Teflon ;-) Teflon, when new, is one of the slippiest substances known to man. Nothing will adhere to it, not even oil. When new, you can ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.9k
8 votes

Can I bake cookies without baking paper?

At my house, we simply grease our pans with some olive oil, spreading it around with a piece of tissue. Sometimes, we dust our pans with all purpose flour instead. The flour dusting takes away a ...
Anastasia Zendaya's user avatar
7 votes

After full reseasoning of my cast iron, eggs are still sticking

I have a similar (but not the same) frying pan. Your problem is, most likely, a lack of heat, not a lack of seasoning. I always set my frying pan, empty, on a low/medium fire. When it starts to come ...
BaffledCook's user avatar
  • 13.2k
7 votes
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How do I know what kind of coating is on this pan?

Whitford is, in fact, a chemical company that makes nonstick coatings, so the label makes sense. Since 2016 they've been offering PTFE (Teflon) without PFOA, so that's most likely what the coating on ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 65.5k
6 votes

non-rusting sauce pot for boiling water

Quality austenitic stainless steel* should certainly not rust from boiling plain water (excepting MAYBE some rust in places like handle weld spots - the metallurgy is upset in these spots, and usually ...
rackandboneman's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

non-rusting sauce pot for boiling water

Just use a glass pot, Corningware make some decent ones that can be used on a stove. But any glass pot designed to work on a stove with direct heat/flame exposure should work in this case. If you are ...
Netduke's user avatar
  • 1,074
6 votes

After baking, bread coated with shiny residue

It looks indeed like the Sourdough and the anti-stick disagree with each other... though the extent of it is something I have neither seen nor heard about yet! May be the non-stick version you do have....
Layna's user avatar
  • 1,377
6 votes

Nonstick Pan Ruined in High Heat?

Yes high heat can burn off the nonstick coating. My roommate's girlfriend did one of my pans that way, heating it very hot while dry. It was pretty spectacular. Everyone in the house had this weird ...
Willk's user avatar
  • 6,626
6 votes

Is a degraded Teflon pan toxic to all of its users?

There is no current evidence that already-degraded PTFE (Teflon) poses any toxicity risks in its solid form. To quote the University of California School of Public Health: There’s no evidence, ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 65.5k
6 votes

Does washing rice in a non-stick pot erode the non-stick coating over time?

No, there is not. Nonstick coatings, while softer than steel, are considerably harder than rice grains.
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 65.5k
5 votes

Seasoning old non-stick aluminum pan?

I tried seasoning an aluminium kawali and was pretty successful doing this. I cleaned it very well and then layered it with a bit of oil (use peanut or canola) and then baked it outside on the bbq (or ...
Patrick D's user avatar
5 votes

Why do my nonstick fry pans 'bow up' and not make good contact with my flat top stove

This most frequently happens with thinner pans used on too small of a burner. Effectively what you're doing is heating up the center of the pan so that it expands, but the outside edge hasn't heated ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 81.6k
5 votes
Accepted

Recovering old wok with unknown lining

The way it is flaking off (flakes sticking out instead of breaking off) suggests it is an old-school (non reinforced) teflon coating, not an enamel. If the underlying metal is actually stainless (not ...
rackandboneman's user avatar
5 votes

Seasoned Cast Iron NOT being Non-stick

I've found that seasoning is only one part of the equation. Another part is the texture of the pan. See myth #6 from Kenji at Serious Eats: The Truth About Cast Iron Pans: 7 Myths That Need To Go ...
aswine's user avatar
  • 423
5 votes

What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces?

Although you say that disposable plastic knives don't work well, they're frequently recommended for cutting brownies because of their naturally non-stick properties. I've used one frequently for this ...
Bloodgain's user avatar
  • 783
5 votes

How to prevent olive oil from forming a single puddle near the edge of my frying pan?

Generally this shouldn't be too much of a problem; by moving food around once it is in the pan you will naturally spread the oil across both the food and the pan. You can also use a spatula to spread ...
dbmag9's user avatar
  • 12.1k
4 votes

What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces?

Wooden knives work well, even the block-shaped ones for children. Avoid using any other materiel than wood and silicone. However, repeated cutting or excessive pressure will wear out the surface. it'...
Splambo's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes

What to use to cut things on non stick surfaces?

Adding to Chris H's answer, precut the brownies for the potluck, but... ...line the pan with foil or parchment paper, and lift the brownies out of the pan before cutting them. Cut the piece of foil ...
aswine's user avatar
  • 423
4 votes

What is my Paella Pan made of?

This kind of pan is traditionally made of blue steel. The coating on it would be a homemade seasoning from oil. I cannot tell it 100% from just the small picture, especially since there are ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 140k

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