Discussion Board

I finally got fed up with ruining and returning the Green Pan from Calphalon (prob have been through 5 of them) Bed Bath & Beyond has an amazing return policy.

I picked up the new Unison non-stick pan. That is supposedly dishwasher safe. It had a list of no nos, like bleaching additives, putting a hot pan in cold water, putting a hot pan in the fridge, etc.

I think I'm getting better at following the instructions, but I read a post over in Food about someone getting 11+ years out of these things, when I'm lucky to get that many weeks

I use the 12" Cuisinart green gourmet skillet and absolutely love it.

It doesn't use a Teflon coating, so it's safer to use and it's well made. It's not cheap, but it works for me

http://www.cuisinart.com/products/cookware/GreenGourmet/skillets_green/gg22-30h.html

How are you ruining the pans? Does the coating start peeling off?


My wife and I have some anolon nonstick pans since we got married in 2004. I try not to overheat them, use only wooden or nylon utensils to stir in them and hand wash them. They are still in pretty good condition though there are a few small scratches in the bottoms.

Was thinking of upgrading in a year or so.

How about Zepter? I know it's expensive stuff,but maybe it's the one?

How are the non stick properties? Some of the reviews on Amazon say that it "sticks like crazy". The majority of people really like it.

Let's put it this way... I've lost a few meals as they flew off the pan while plating the food!!

I think if you fry foods in oil, don't wash it properly or overheat it, you'll damage the coating, but I expect that from any pan. I treat this thing like a baby

Thanks. I think I'll buy one. I bought a really expensive Calphalon non stick skillet a couple of years ago. The not stick works great but it's already got chips in it and I don't like the thought of teflon leaching into my food.

I've treated the skillet like a baby also, hand washing, wood or plastic utensils only, rocking it to sleep at night...but the coating didn't stay intact very long.

I found this one on Amazon. It's looks exactly the same as the Cuisinart.

http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Textured-Ce ... HEXNRMA6FS

This one is $32, the Cuisinart is $49. I'm going to buy one of them.

In my many years on the McDougall program, I have never bothered with nonstick pans. For my own cooking, heavy stainless steel and cast iron cookware have worked just fine. I have never had any problems with food sticking.

+1 for cast iron. Properly cared for and used cast iron is the original non-stick pan, and instead of trace particles of teflon (or worse) in your food, you get trace particles of iron.

I was worried that it'd be hard to maintain the seasoning on the pan without all the saturated fats, but it hasn't been a problem. The small amount of olive oil I use in some meals is enough. If I'm only stir frying some veggies and using water, no oil, that hasn't presented a problem yet either.

I will insert my standard disclaimer on cast iron... I am a firm believer in quality cast iron, and that means very old American made, like Griswold or Wagner Ware. I'm told that some of the modern European cast iron is of good quality, but I have no experience with it.

-Norm

I think I ruin them with a combo of occasional over heating / using too hard an abrasive scrub brush / cooling too fast

A new Green Pan right out of the box is unbeatable, your food practically JUMPS out of the pan its so slick. A few weeks later for me, I can't even cook a pancake on it without it turning into a mess. My latest hypothesis is that my scrub brush (the green sponge one) is too abrasive, along with I'm always in a hurry to clean the pan, not letting it cool enough.

We'll see how I do with this new one and curbed behavior.

Washing a hot pan in COLD water will cause problems, but it should be fine washing with hot water. I always let my pan cool before washing... Food never sticks, even after cooling down on it for an hour or so

Another +1. I LOVE my cast iron skillets so much that I just ordered a cast iron stove-top waffle iron!

Cast iron is cheap, too.

I picked up a large cast iron griddle/grill plate at a yard sale for two bucks last year. It's large enough to span two eyes on my stove. Can't wait until I make corn tortillas from scratch again - it'll fit a lot more on there cooking than I could in my skillet!

Try a Dobie pad, if needed. (Shouldn't need it much on your brand new pan.) And always use with water (e.g. water in the pan or running on it while you're scrubbing) not dry. See if that helps.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/scotch ... _Household