Since the dawn of time cooks have struggled with the simple task of keeping food from sticking to their cookware. Now if that's not an introductory sentence from a high school science paper, I don't know what is. The truth is that many things are claimed to be nonstick but most of them are only nonstick in theory. In practice, you're swearing at your eggs while your children look on in horror and your dinner guests wonder what's happening in the kitchen.
This is a no-shame zone, so let's all just take a deep breath and then admit that we've had food stick to pans which were described as miraculously nonstick. We've had food stick to all sorts of pans, probably. And the thing is, there are a few simple things that can be done to keep it from happening as often, but it'll probably still happen occasionally. Breath. Cleansing breaths. It's not because you're a bad person.
If you're using something other than a nonstick pan, food is sticking because you haven't used enough oil. That's 99% of the problems right there. If you're using cast iron (or carbon steel) maybe there's something wrong with the seasoning of the pan (that's essentially baking oil into the metal until it builds up a polymer coating which, in theory, should keep things from sticking, in case you were wondering) but usually it's that you're trying to be low-fat. If you want to be low-fat, you need to invest in a nonstick pan, or master the extremely finicky techniques of steam-stirring.
But nonstick skillets are supposed to, you know, not stick. The problem is both that manufacturers lie and that no one gives people an operating manual on a pan.
Let's tackle the lies first: nonstick is stick-resistant, in the same way that bulletproof is usually just bullet-resistant. If you burn something to the bottom of a brand-new nonstick pan, it'll probably stick. Not only that, but you may ruin the nonstick-ness forever. There are good coatings and bad coatings and the differences between them are usually pretty minor.
You can't do anything about that. What you can do is treat your cookware right and cook with it in the right way. First off, follow the instructions about utensils to use. Do not wash in the dishwasher. I know, they may say you can but it's a filthy lie. Honestly, if you do things right you should hopefully be able to just wipe most things out with a damp rag. You aren't going to do things right though, so resign yourself to hand-washing your nonstick pan. It's a small thing. Make sure you use a nonstick-safe scrubber. Do not use abrasives.
Don't heat your pan up really hot with nothing in it. Even if it doesn't ruin the finish, it gives off unpleasant gasses and can actually kill pet birds. Also, don't take your pan from hot straight into a cold sink. Thermal shock is bad in general for pans, but it can create micro cracks in the finish which will collect food like a magnet.
Your food may be sticking because your pan is crap. Sorry to break it to you. You should have bought a thicker, heavier pan. Most thin pans scorch and stick and do all those nasty things, and no amount of nonstick coating will help that. You can help keep this from happening by cooking over lower heat, but in the end you're probably going to want to invest in a heavier pan.
Lastly, the kicker is that even nonstick pans can use a little oil. You don't need much, just a few drops, which you then should spread out using a paper towel. You'll be left with very little oil in the pan because most of it will be in the paper towel, but you'll have created a thin film of oil which will act something like the seasoning on a cast iron pan and help your nonstick coating do its thing.
Don't think that just plopping some oil into the pan and swirling it around with a spoon is going to do. Oil naturally doesn't want to stick to nonstick pans. It just wants to bead up.
Ironically, being nonstick makes the pan harder to make nonstick. So you need to create that film of oil, and the best way to do that is, in a cold pan, pour in a teaspoon or so of oil, then use a paper towel to wipe the oil all over the pan in circles. You'll get good even coverage in a thin layer and you won't use enough oil to worry about counting calories.
Cooking spray is apparently bad for nonstick finish, so don't use it there, but if you have a not-nonstick pan, you can use the same wiping trick with cooking spray for better nonstick results. The oil in the cooking spray is mixed with binders so that it will stick to the cookware better, but even it can use a little help from a paper towel and some light elbow grease.
Now, one thing I must mention is that sometimes you want food to stick at first. That's how fond builds up, that lovely brown crust you get. If you're pan-searing something, if it sticks a bit at first, don't worry, that just means it's not time to flip it yet. It'll release after a bit. Obviously this isn't true of fast-cooking things like eggs, but meat may stick at the beginning. Let it alone for another 30 seconds or so, then try nudging it again. This can happen even with a pan full of oil. Patience.
If something stuck that shouldn't have, most things that stick can be saved, though you may have to get a little creative with your presentation. If you've got an omelet that looks like it was gnawed by weasels because it didn't flip right, chop it up and make it a rustic scramble instead. If your fish fillets broke apart in transit, make a green salad and serve them crumbled up on top. If the boss is coming for dinner to discuss the big promotion but you burned the roast, serve steamed hams instead.
You'll be okay. Blame the aurora borealis. This is cookable.
Comments
Post a Comment