What do you cook with the keep the food from sticking to the Teflon?

[FunkyMonkee]

In a skillet, I usually cook with butter or bacon grease (depending on what I'm cooking). Most things get butter, hashed browns and breaded chicken get bacon grease.
I've gone through about a dozen Teflon skillets in the past 30-some years because the food sticks to them, anyway and they eventually get so burned up the Teflon is useless. Even when I bought those new orange skillets that are guaranteed not to stick, after 3 uses, the food sticks to them, anyway! The only thing I've been able to cook in them without it sticking is crepes!!

Updates

+1 y

*TO keep

[zeitgeist057]

(former chef) I have a 12" Tramontina pan I got as a part of a 2-set from Costco (see pic below), and it's a lot like the ones we used in the restaurant (those did not have a coating, it was just metal). I have the 2nd one in storage for when the first one starts to stick. It's been over a year and I still have no issues, it's as good as new. For you, 12 skillets in 30 years is over 2 years for each skillet which I would say is good, maybe even better than most people get. But your "3 uses then sticks" experience with the orange pans sounds bad.

I have an avocado oil spray which I also got from Costco, which I will use if I am out of fat drippings, or I am cooking something I don't want to use fat drippings with.

But typically I use fat drippings. I had a 5 lb chub of 73% lean (27% fat) ground beef, and I kept all the drippings from that. I used the last of that last week, so I bought 4 lbs of bacon and cooked off two pounds of it yesterday. Now I have a nice little stock of bacon fat, about a cup or so. Plus some delicious bacon to add to my salads or whatever. Olive oil and coconut oil are also good options (I don't like the coconut flavor on everything, though).

My recommendations to you:

1. Make sure you have a quality pan to start with. The Tramontina I have seems to be popular. It made every one of these "best non stick pans" lists.

2. Do NOT scrub it with a yellow/green rough scouring brush. The next level down, blue, is better, but BEST is to only use a sponge. Scraping/scouring rubs the protective coating off.

3. Do NOT use metal. I don't trust nylon (plastic). Even wood is possibly less than ideal. Best is silicone. Again, scraping removes the non-stick coating.

4. Don't stack them, where other pans are nested inside, scraping the inside. You probably get this "don't scrape them" idea by now.

5. Handwash (no dishwasher), and some people say to use low heat, but I cook on high here and there and have no issues. Though I will say I do ~75% of my cooking on medium or low heat so maybe there is something to that?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/cEDGfXo2TRo

Non-stick pans really are primadonnas in the kitchen and have to be handled with care. Which is why in the restaurant we mostly only had one for frying eggs (so nice to flip over easy with one), the rest we just had bare metal and used olive oil for lube.

One last tip is to make sure your oil is crackling hot before you add the food.

[FunkyMonkee]

(Former dishwasher) I've seen and washed a few of those at Walnut Grove.
Sadly, at the moment, I have no stove, so to speak. I CAN cook on the basement stove (grandma used to cater down there) but, it's too much trouble to lug all that shit to the basement, cook and then bring it all back up to eat it. Hopefully, I can get the kitchen stove fixed, soon, and can actually cook and use the oven again!
The orange (copper) pans are great for cooking sunny side up eggs and crepes, they just slide right out when ready. I have my own method for cooking sunny side up and they come out dead perfect 99% of the time!! I developed it back in the early `80's or late `70's and it works like a charm almost every time. At most, worst case is that the yolks almost get hard so you can't dip the toast or bacon into them.
Same for soft-boiled eggs (my own method) but they work even better.
Bacon, I've not had the best success with. I hate it when it's rubbery so, I try to leave it in to see to it all those rubbery bits get cooked but, most often, the bacon burns a little before it's done. I don't mind burnt food, as long as it's not REALLY burnt. In most cases, it gives it more flavour. Dad thought so, too. After cooking bacon, I pour off the grease into a tin can and put it in the fridge. A plastic lid, like, from a tub of Parkay butter, can be put on top to keep anything else in the fridge from causing the grease to smell. I guess a Pringles lid would work, too.
2. I only wash with one of those sponges that has a slightly abrasive side on the back. I only use the abrasive if the sponge doesn't get everything off. My only other option is to scrape with my fingernail.
3. The only scraping I do with a spatula is after the skillet's sat with water in it or a few hours to soften the food stuck to it.
4. It's an electric skillet. I can't stack it and only have the one.

[FunkyMonkee]

5. I never put cookwear (except MAYBE spatulas) in the dishwasher and, besides, the one here hasn't worked in several years. My ex-cousin, Patrick, said he knows what's wrong and can fix it but never did. Now, he and 2 of his sisters are trying to screw me out of this house, too!!
I usually cook on medium and only have it up full blast to melt the butter. Once the butter's melted, it goes back down to medium, unless I'm cooking eggs, then, it goes down to super low until I get all the eggs cracked and dumped into the skillet, then it goes back to medium until they're done cooking.

[zeitgeist057]

For bacon, I always bake it in the oven, it's gotten me the results I like the most (slightly on the more crisp side). I love to put fresh ground pepper on it as well. I haven't done it in a while as on my boat I only have a gas range, no oven. But I used to make bacon at my old job, I think it was 425F for around 15 minutes. I'd put foil down to make clean up easy, and save the grease for cooking.

[zeitgeist057]

I just learned this recently: those abrasive sponges come in grades. the yellow/green is most abrasive and the abrasive side will damage non-stick. the blue ones are a step down in abrasive and safer. (but again, sponge only is safest for making the non-stick last)

[FunkyMonkee]

Does it splatter in the oven?

[FunkyMonkee]

I figured that from what you said before. I know the ones I've been using are yellow on one side (sponge) and have a thin layer of some kind of black material on the other. They're made by some kind of dish soap company. I've already gone through at least 6 of those in the past 3 years because I have to do so much scraping with the rough side to get that sauce off the skillet that I've worn a pair of holes clean through them all after just a few months. Last time I washed that off the skillet, I just used my fingernails and had to scratch so much I wore them down to almost nothing inside of a couple minutes! That shit just will NOT come off!! I thought Teflon was supposed to prevent that!
The one I just started using a week ago is a yellow sponge on one sides and a semi-soft thick what material on the flip. It's not Velcro but it's kinda built the way the cloth portion of Velcro is. I've only used it on the skillet once or twice and it still doesn't get rid of the fried-on eggs. I STILL have to scratch off the rest with my bare nails.

[zeitgeist057]

@FunkyMonkee no it doesn't splatter, at least not like in a frying pan, I've never noticed a mess and it's not bubbling/splattering when I take it out. It's really nice. I forgot to mention I flip the bacon when about 3/4 done, around the 10-13 minute mark, to make sure it's nice and crispy on both sides.

[FunkyMonkee]

I wonder why they don't do that at other places? Most places I eat and order bacon, it's got all those rubbery bits on it. Vincent's Pizza and walnut Grove (here I used to work) are the only places I know of that use fully cooked bacon!

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I mainly use about a teaspoon of canola oil although I only use Teflon pans for things that are cooked on low-medium heat for relatively short periods of time, like scrambled or fried eggs. I also only use silicone utensils on those religiously like silicone spatulas.

I mainly use my cast iron for the rest. For fish, I put aluminum foil with a light coil of oil or better to keep fish from sticking.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

* or [butter], sorry.

[FunkyMonkee]

I stopped using aluminum on food when I found out the chemicals (?) in it leech into the food your cooking on it.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

Ouch. I might need to find a suitable replacement in that case. I swear by it for cooking fish on the stove.

[FunkyMonkee]

I can't think of anything else you can use. But then, I never cook or eat fish, either.
I used to work in a restaurant and they'd cover the meat they were cooking with aluminum foil that was coated with plastic. I have no idea what kind it was, though. Maybe that plastic coating keeps the foil from leeching into the food.
Aluminum is where they get fluoride. It comes from the industrial waste in aluminum factories and fluoride is the main ingredient in rat poison! The nazi's used to put fluoride into the water they gave the Jews to make them more docile and easier to control.

[Paris13]

Butter Spray/Regular Spray. Butter in The Pan, man. lolxxoo

[Paris13]

Thanks, Gag. xxoo

[FunkyMonkee]

I nearly always cook with butter.

[Paris13]

Thanks To Gag. xxoo

[PBandJ_Nerd]

Spray on oil, spray on avocado oil, or butter.

[FunkyMonkee]

I nearly always cook with butter.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Your temp is too high or you're moving the food too early. I have one teflon pan that's gotta be 20 years old and I've never sprayed anything in it. Just short of medium high is about the highest you ever want to take teflon and then only if it's full and has a full copper bottom for easy distribution of heat. If you're searing your steaks in it, that's not the right tool for the job, and that's why they're all f'ed up.

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't eat steak. Hamburger but not steak.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Same same. Hamburger wants high heat. Teflon does not.

[FunkyMonkee]

Well, like I just said somewhere else here, it's an electric skillet and I only cook it at about half way. Looks to me like cooking the meat in it isn't that bad, it's when I pour on a little Worcestershire sauce and THAT hits the skillet that causes all the trouble when t comes time to clean up! It just does NOT wanna come off!!

[BoopBoopBeep]

All the sugar in the Worcestershire is caramelizing

[FunkyMonkee]

I see! I didn't it had any sugar.

[FunkyMonkee]

If I don't turn the eggs as soon as I do, they'll either burn and/or completely stick to the skillet.
Burgers, I leave in at least 15:00 to 20:00 per side.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Is there anything left after 15 minutes per side? That should be well well well well well done

[FunkyMonkee]

Apparently it's not because more often than not, they're still fairly rare inside. The outsides are nearly coal black and the insides are surprisingly red!
When I'm done cooking, they're at least the size of a bun. They start out being maybe the size of a CD.

[BoopBoopBeep]

I mean... i cook a third pounder in 5 minutes on each side. Maybe your burner isn't heating evenly? Of the core of the pan is shite. I mean thermal transference laws are predictable and repeatable... is it actual teflon or some knockoff? My decades old crepe pan has never been sprayed with anything and nothing ever sticks to it. Admittedly there has been butter in there a handful of times because of what I was cooking which had butter in it... but I dunno man... something is off.

Check out:
www.self.com/.../nonstick-pan-care

wow super obnoxious link. It covers a lot of teflon care, maybe you'll see something you're doing that's against recommendations...

[FunkyMonkee]

My aunt used to cook burgers like that, too! I'd take one bite and it'd go, MOOOOO!!
It's not a burner, it's a heating element on an electric skillet.
The skillet was made by (sp?) Oester. I have no way of knowing if it's a knock-off or not. The glass lid sure holds up well!! A few months ago, I dropped it to the floor from about 6' and it never even chipped or cracked.

[BoopBoopBeep]

5 minutes on each side gets it to medium, 6 would be well done...20 minutes... bro i could cook it in cold cast iron in less time than that including the warm up, from frozen and it wouldn't take 20 minutes per side

[FunkyMonkee]

Must be cooking it in a blast furnace! Even when we cooked `em on the grill outside with the flames actually touching the meat, it still took at least 10 to 15 oer side.

[sage2021]

Yep, your temptmight be a little too high. It doesn't take long at all for food to stick to a pan if it's not on medium or better yet, medium-low.
It just takes longer to cook that's all

[FunkyMonkee]

The knob on the skillet has at least 1/3 of the knob set up to be a heating up section; if you've cooked something already and just want it to stay warm `til you're done eating all of it, you use that section. The next section is only about 1/4" and it's for low heat cooking, the next quarter of the knob is 4 or 5 temp settings for cooking at a higher heat. I only turn it up high when I'm boiling water or melting butter. Where I normally cook is between that low cooking setting and the 2nd temp setting.

[Laciejordan]

Most things I’ll use butter, otherwise a little vegetable oil. I’ve never had a problem with food sticking. The orange pans are absolute garbage!

[FunkyMonkee]

Yeah, it kinda looks that way! when they first came out about 8 years ago, there were two sizes and mom said she wanted a pair so, I bought `em for her. As I said, except for the crepes and possibly fried eggs (sunny side up) everything sticks! I remember taking the bigger one back for some kind of flaw it had and it was already sticking to the food so, I got a new one and, again, after about the third use, food started sticking, again!

[Laciejordan]

When I lived with my parents, I would do a lot of cooking. I would actually buy nice pans for myself and hide them, because my dad would use metal utensils on them when he cooked and would ruin the finish! 😂 It’s very important to use rubber or wood with certain pans. That’s what I found out anyway.

[FunkyMonkee]

I've always used plastic spatulas that were supposedly made of and/or for Teflon.
The cool thing about those orange skillets is that, when you're done cooking, if it doesn't stick to the skillet at all, your food slides right out onto the plate so, you don't NEED a spatula.

[exitseven]

I used to use Pam but now I have a squirt bottle filled with olive oil. I use it when I cook eggs and also it works good on the waffle iron.

[FunkyMonkee]

My aunt used to use Pam, too but, the food still stuck a little.

[exitseven]

It is expensive and does not work as good as olive oil. besides, aerosol cans are bad for the environment

[LiamJHayden]

I do not even own teflon. For high heat I use stainless or cast iron. I do have a couple of ceramic non-stick ones that I use for lower heat cooking. In general I use peanut oil in all because it has a pretty high smoke point.

[FunkyMonkee]

At the moment, I'm stuck with an electric skillet unless I want to cook in the basement on the copper skillet
How do you smoke peanut oil? Do you get a buzz from it?

[Bricealan]

Spray on "pam" - olive oil... works like magic

[Bricealan]

also have used regular olive oil like "exitseven" but the olive is messy to clean up after.

[FunkyMonkee]

Thanks! I'll see what I can do.

[LiamS95]

I just use a well seasoned cast iron skillet and nothing sticks to it. It sounds like you have the temp too high.

[FunkyMonkee]

Could've fooled me! We used to have an iron skillet from probably back in the `40's, if not older and mostly used it to c9ok bacon and it always stuck somewhat.
The one I use all the time here is an electric skillet and I only have it up about half way to cook with, something not even half.

[douride2]

I use a squirt bottle with olive oil.

[Iron_Man]

Butter

[FunkyMonkee]

That's all I use..

[Iron_Man]

Good 👍