Frying pans ..........an odd request ...

[whiskywill]

This is not a recommendation but a warning.
I bought two "Green Pans" https://www.greenpan.co.uk/products/fry ... frying-pan in a sale which had a superbly non stick surface when new but after a few uses they were definitely not non stick. Also, the handles were hollow with a vent hole and using them after washing meant they became mini steam generators. I burnt my hand many times before complaining to the company. In their favour, although my contact denied that the handle was hollow, they did replace both the pans.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've had various non stick and ceramic pans and none were worth a jot, though some non sticks would have been fine had it been only me using them. I threw away two large Le Creusets because the inner finish had ddisintegrated. That's why I'm looking at iron.

 

[Jacob]

https://www.vonshef.com/
Vonshef. I bought one. Very heavy, so pancake tossing needs practice. Better non stick than any other we've ever had. Cooks beautifully - just like an old fashioned skillet over a fire. Also very cheap.
Can be used from the box - don't need polishing up which some enthusiasts do.

 

[heimlaga]

I prefere cast iron.
Skeppshult is great but I have collected a hoard of cast iron frying pans for very little money from scrap yards and flea markets and dumpsters and such places. Lot of people don't know they can be cleaned up to become as good as new even if there is a bit of rust so they throw them away.
However some cast iron frying pans especially ones made in the Far East or in the Soviet union are too porous and not any good. Sometimes one will also encounter casting flaws or deep rust pits under the crud. It is a bit of a gamble buying secondhand but as the pans are cheap and most are good one can afford to gamble.

My grandfather brought home a pressed carbon steel frying pan from somewhere in Russia as a spoil of war. We still use it at times but cast iron is better.
The oldest cast iron pan we still have in use in the family was made by Oravais Gjuteri which went bankrupt in the 1860-ies. The pan has been in the family as long as anyone knows or at least since before the war. It is still a very good user.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a ribbed cast iron skillet - it was a beauty. As you say it was rusty when I paid 50p for it, but it cleaned up perfectly. Unfortunately it was extremely heavy ............ which is why my wife "mislaid" it.
I'm leaning towards wrought iron because while it's heavy, it's not so heavy as cast. For steaks I make do with a Le Creuset skillet I bought new at a car boot for a fiver. I have the skillet, an iron crepe pan, a decent small frying pan, a saute pan which isn't good for frying but is nice for sauces and an omelette pan, so its a straight frying pan 280mm ish (can't bring myself to use cm's ) I'm looking at.

 

[--Tom--]

Since getting my iron skillet I’ve barely used my le creuset frying pan, it’s built a decent seasoning quickly and now gives a better sear on steaks and is more non-stick.

Another to look at would be the debuyer minerale pans.After a lot of research I nearly went for one before getting the Alex Pole

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Bit the bullet and ordered.
https://www.kochform.de/Schmiedeeiserne ... riffen.htm
I went for the two handled one because it'll fit on the hob and in the oven more easily and because my wife finds heavy pans difficult to hold.

 

[AJB Temple]

You will find them very good Phil. I bought some, which No 1 offspring promptly pinched. (with consent).

I would say that the Sautés pans have a bigger flat bottom which can be handy.

Happy cooking!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I got the larger of those two so it will be plenty big enough.

 

[lurker]

For a moment, I thought you were going to come out as a pansexual, Phil

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Nah .......... my boat definitely isn't floated by Leila Moran. :shock:

 

[Eric The Viking]

We had a similar experience with Green Pan as Whiskywill above -- couldn't wait to get rid of ours as it became a complete nuisance once it stopped being non-stick, AND because I used baking soda and vinegar to clean it (this initially worked well), it got extremely pitted once the coating had been scratched (it's soft).

Then I destroyed our teflon omelette pan (yup, idiot!), so we were in the market for two, big and little, a couple of months before Christmas.

We got one of these:

https://www.johnlewis.com/eaziglide-nev ... n/p3767478

And a bigger one:

https://www.johnlewis.com/eaziglide-nev ... m/p3471209

And so far they seem excellent - the tough coating is very non-stick and oil just forms globules. they wash up extremely easily. The only slight annoyance is that the glass lids have bigger handle rivets than before, so the lid handles do get hot. That said it's great having a second handle on the big pan, and the DC says she really likes it. They might be PTFE ("Teflon"), but there's no mention anywhere about what the coating actually is, and it has a quite different texture to any Teflon pan I've used before.

It's taken me a while to get used to doing omelettes in them though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They're half price now, as well.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I liked the idea of the indestructability of wrought iron - my wife can destroy any anything from J.A. Henckels and Wusthof knives to Le Creuset pans ................. she has behaved herself recently, though, since she put my bread tins through the dishwasher.

 

[--Tom--]

The pan’s pretty indestructible, but before the seasoning is well and truly baked on i found the wife was pretty good at getting rid of it!

Being able to use it on the hob, oven, Bbq and over a camp fire without worrying about bits melting or getting damaged has been great

 

[Bm101]

I liked the idea of the indestructability of wrought iron - my wife can destroy any anything from J.A. Henckels and Wusthof knives to Le Creuset pans ................. she has behaved herself recently, though, since she put my bread tins through the dishwasher.

That Lodge pan I sent you the link to... came home from work. Mrs looking sheepish. RUSTY pan on the side. Wtf. Ahhh. She said. Scouring pad. Ahhh. I said . Ok.
Great thing about cast is you can't really break it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a really good heavy cast iron skillet - my wife left it behind when we moved as she found it too heavy. She didn't use it, but found it too heavy. :shock:

 

[flying haggis]

just to add to this thread I just bought the pictured pan this morning from my local charity shop. there is a makers mark on the handle of "Wagner, West Germany" which after a slight bit of googling seems to suggest it is copper with a tin coated interior and to my untrained eye looks unused
all for the pricely sum of £1

 

[--Tom--]

Here’s mine

Fried eggs this morning were completely unstuck

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Well, it's nearly a year. I hardly use the Turk pan at all. It's no longer remotely flat, so to prevent anything burning in the centre the outer edge has to be swimming in fat. It sticks better than any known adhesive, and it has to be washed after every use if you don't want the food taking on the taste of whatever was last cooked in it. Great if you like everything you eat tasting of onions.

I needed some glass lids, so when I was researching the prices I came across a seven piece saucepan set which included three lids for £32. Great, I thought, the boy can take the pans to university as they're throwaway at that price and I can keep the lids. The pans didn't get to him. They work brilliantly on an induction hob (which some advertised thus don't) and the frying pan is faultless. We tried to track them down again to get my daughter a set, but they seem to have vanished.
A frying pan, three saucepans and and three lids for £32? Brilliant!