THE 5 BASIC RULES TO USE, CARE AND CLEAN NON-STICK POTS AND PANS WITHOUT READING THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Yes, you’re right. They are extremely boring. Even people who write them get absolutely bored while doing it. But you should read them. Yes, it’s true. A cast aluminium pan with non-stick coating is not an electronic tool with latest technologies, one hundred million configuration options and all those advanced functionalities technology fans love, but its instruction manual tells you some interesting things that could help you make your pan last many years. Furthermore, the writer has carefully worked with dedication and responsibility so reading it would be nice on your side. Anyway, we are not going to force you. We have even written a more entertained and funny instruction manual version especially for you including some useful tips to take the most of your pan. It’s focused on cast aluminium pans with non-stick coating, but we suggest you to follow them no matter your pans are made of. Anyway, if you prefer the serious version, you can easily found it in our web FAQ’s and even download all our instruction manuals to solve all your doubts. Instruction manuals are available for all our cast aluminium, cast iron and stainless steel collections.

 

1. Forks are made to eat, not to cook

 

Yes, chefs do it. We are sure you have seen them doing it in TV more than once. Don’t. Never. We know temptation is huge: it’s on hand; you have just used it to beat eggs so why don’t use it to remove the omelette or even to turn the steak? It’s OK; it’s just one time, isn’t it? It’s not OK. Forks and metallic utensils scratch the non-stick coating, even the most resistant and durable one. Scratched and damaged non-stick coating is the first sign showing your pan will need to be replaced soon. If you don’t want this to happen, always use thermoplastic, silicone or even wood utensils to cook from now on.

 

2. Stop doing one hundred things at the same time

 

You must be focused on cooking when you are cooking. Stop sending cute kitten memes and silly jokes to all your WhatsApp groups. You can do it later. Don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to take a picture to your recipe once is finished to share it in Instagram. If you are doing one trillion things at the same time you will probably forget that fry pan you left alone in the hob. Consequently, food will get burned; pan overheated and non-stick coating damaged. Maybe even your cooktop will get damaged. Good news is you will still have a funny post to share with your friends.

 

3. Being able to turn the heat on full doesn’t mean you should do it

 

We know you love using all energy and power available. It’s there, so why don’t? But turning the heat right up is as tempting as unnecessary; and even counter-productive. Even though doing it and waiting until the fry pan is super-hot to cook anything may seem a very practical good idea, you will only achieve one thing: wreak your pan. Follow these easy rules if you don’t want this to happen to you:

 

– Don’t start cooking at high temperatures. Preheat the pan to a low temperature for about 10 seconds before turning the heat up to protect your pan and the non-stick coating.

– In fact, you could try not to cook at high temperature never again. Just get used to medium to low temperatures and you will note food tastes even better and on top of that you will save money, especially if you choose a hop that’s smaller or equal to the bottom of the pan.

 

4. Scourers and pans will never be friends

 

Throw them away or use them for any other thing because they have been made to scratch your pan. Furthermore, you don’t need them anymore. If you have a good pan and listen to us you will note any food rest can be easily removed with hot water and a mild detergent. You can even clean it in the dishwasher if you are not one of those who pile everything in the dishwasher with no order. If so, there’s a risk your pan gets damaged by a knife or fork piled just underneath it.

 

Learn more about how to take the most of your non-stick coating.

 

5. Don’t cook where you must not

 

When we explain cast aluminium pans with non-stick coating can be used in all cooking surfaces we mean gas, vitroceramic, induction and electric cooktops. In fact some of them can also be used in the oven –Castey ones for sure, as they come with our great removable handles featuring many advantages. You have plenty of options to choose, so don’t use them where you shouldn’t. We are referring to barbecues, coal, wood fire and especially the microwave.

 

Silly speech has finally made this post a little bit longer than the typical instruction manual, but hopefully also a little bit funnier. We will be glad if we have not bored you too much and also if we have helped you to know a little bit more about how to take care of the non-stick coating of your pan; because if non-stick coating doesn’t work, you will need to throw your pan away for sure.

WHAT IS PFOA? WHAT IS PTFE? ARE THEM TOXIC? SOLVE YOUR DOUBTS

You have probably read or heard many things about PTFE –or Teflon-, as it has been known as the non-stick coating public enemy number one during the last few years. PTFE is one of the different non-stick substances that can be used to coat a frying pan . Although it was patented in 1938, it has been used since the 70’s. And, even though there are other ranges of non-stick coatings in the marketplace, PTFE is still, in our opinion, the one providing better results.
In general terms, it has been told that PTFE is toxic because it contains a carcinogenic substance called PFOA. But there are two important things to clarify about this point. First one is PTFE coatings don’t include this substance anymore. We could stop writing this post here -no PFOA, end of discussion- but let’s go beyond to explain a little bit better what PFOA is and which was the real problem with it; also to let you know that you don’t have to throw your old pans away just in case they still have PFOA. 
 
PFOA-Perflurooctanoic acid-is a substance with many industrial uses, such as foam extinguishers or textile agents, which was also used during the non-stick coating application during many years. Researchers are still analysing the real toxicity of this substance, which concentrations can be really harmful and which negative effects may cause to people, but it has a high persistence in the environment and it has been found in animal’s and human’s blood. According to some researches, high concentrations of this substance could be harmful for human health. In fact, the USEPA – the Environmental Protection Agency of the USA- defined it as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified it in group 2B, which contains all substances with low carcinogenic danger for humans. 
 

Is Teflon -or PTFE- toxic?

 
Unless it is heated over 300 ºC, PTFE is an inert, stable and non-dangerous material. Nobody should cook at this temperature. In case somebody did, PTFE degradation would produce some steam which, even though it’s not very dangerous for human health, it’s not recommended to unnecessarily breath it.
 
On the other hand, regarding to PFOA, it is very important to remark that PFOA was only used to apply the non-stick coating to the cookware. This means its presence in the finished product when it reached the consumer’s home was already barely detectable. For this reason, using these products at home has never been dangerous.
 
Anyway, even though there was no real danger for consumers, PFOA used to apply the non-stick coating to the pans was breathed by people who applied the non-stick coating. Also, manufacturers that used PFOA might send their wastewater to the sanitary sewer. The contaminated water flowing from the landfill could be sent to a wastewater treatment plant or just end up in the groundwater.  
 
For this reason, it it is very important to stop using this substance in any industrial process. In fact, it has already been removed from the process of applying PTFE non-stick coating to pans. All countries that signed the Stockholm Agreement have already prohibited using PFOA and production has been restricted all around the world.
 
We recommend you to read chapters 1 and 3 of our non-stick coatings manual to learn more about this component. You will find useful information about the main non-stick coating categories , how to take good care of them to make them last through years or how to clean burnt pots and pans.
.

THE BEST NON-STICK FRYING PANS: PTFE OR CERAMIC COATING?

We could write a book about non-stick coatings but it would be really boring son we will try to summarize a little bit. There are many manufacturers, coatings and qualities, but so as not to make this too long, here we will only talk about the most common ones.

 

The old one – popularly known as Teflon- is PTFE. It has had some bad press recently, but don’t believe everything you read because it is not always true. Despite trues and lies about non-stick cookware, what have made PTFE been the most used non-stick coating are its non-stick properties, the best ones to date. Some cooking traditions and stiles don’t require the best non-stick properties, but in Castey country, where cooking Spanish omelettes is a tradition and Mediterranean healthy cooking is a way of life, having a non-stick frying pan is a must, which makes other non-stick coatings very difficult to success.

 

Anyway, PTFE bad press has paved the way to other coatings proliferation. Ceramic has been the noisiest one lately. It became very popular and trendy few years ago as a supposedly ecological alternative to PTFE. Its main selling point -apart from being supposedly ecological- is it’s very scratch resistant –you can even use scouring pads to wash it!- and also resistant to very high temperatures. It can also have more different colour finishes than PTFE. But not all that glitters is gold. Non-stick properties start degrading soon, especially if you cook at very high temperatures, which in Castey country means the Spanish Omelette is going to get stick on the surface of the pan very soon.

 

Which one should I choose?

 

Well. It depends. If you are a trendy colour fan, love washing with scourers and have no intention to cook omelettes in your pan, ceramic could be the best option. The true is high quality range non-stick properties of ceramic coatings is quite good if you take good care of it.

 

Anyway, generally speaking, we recommend you to choose the old PTFE one to be on the safe side. But be careful, there are many different qualities. The problem is that, unless we are non-stick manufacturers, we won’t be able to distinguish good coatings from bad coatings until we use them, so if you want to ensure it’s going to have the best performance, you would need to choose a good pan from a brand you trust in and take good care of non-stick coating if you want it to last. Look at the price, material and brand. Remember stamped cheap pans usually come with low range non-stick coatings and die cast pans usually come with the highest quality ones. Don’t take risks and request limited lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects.

 

Read More

 

MY PAN DOESN’T WORK. ISSUES WITH INDUCTION COOKTOPS.
 
WHO INVENTED THE SPANISH OMELETTE