Jamie Oliver - Forums / Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

hippytea · Sun 10 Mar 13 7:47pm

Thinking of getting a midsize frying pan and I'm trying to decide which one. Right now I have a tiny one and a hyouge one, both non-stick. But I've never used a frying-pan I'm totally satisfied with. I've decided against:

Teflon. It can't stand the heat, and should therefore get out of the kitchen. I like to cook HOT.

Stainless. Everything sticks angry and it won't take a seasoning.

Cast iron. Too heavy. Fine for griddles (I don't lift the griddle much when I'm cooking) but a pain for a frying pan.

So I was wondering about ceramic non-stick. Does anyone here have experience with them? Are they as miraculous as they look on TV? How durable/scratch resistant are they?

Or on the other hand there's carbon steel. I had never come across these, but I just started a cooking class at a local college and they have these really really basic carbon steel frying pans, just a lump of steel formed into a pan with a steel handle bolted on. I could imagine liking this - it'll take a seasoning and a lot of punishment, and perhaps might be cheap? And they've got to be lighter than cast iron. Anyone used one of these? What are they like? (I haven't used them yet, the first session was just demo).

oliviascotland · Mon 11 Mar 13 9:51am

My OH gave me a couple of ceramic frying pans for Christmas and, initially, they were wonderful. But within about 3 weeks they started to stick, and are difficult to use. Great for anything with a sauce, but sadly no longer for non-stick frying sad

hippytea · Mon 11 Mar 13 9:53am

That's interesting

One-nil to carbon steel, then. Any advance?

Thistledo · Mon 11 Mar 13 11:20am

If there is one Hippy, I'd like to hear about it. I too am looking for a new frying pan but don't want heavy. I already have a cast iron one which is great when it comes to heat and sticking it in the oven to finish off chops or steak. Non stick are out of the question; they're not dishwasher proof.

Come on in folks! Opinions and experiences please.

Ashen · Mon 11 Mar 13 11:47am

they are cheap enough to just buy one and give it a try .. remember you need to get a good seasoning on it, but that is much the same as seasoning new cast iron pan.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/4/Kitchen-Cook … 2c03.r10.1

MsPablo · Mon 11 Mar 13 1:38pm

I've had a Calphalon version which was quite nice, but almost as much maintenance as cast iron and cast iron conducts a little better. One of my favorite small skillets is Le Creuset - enameled cast iron - very easy to clean and conducts heat beautifully. I have a very deep-sided large skillet in stainless steel that is very useful and of course, you can use steel wool to clean it, but I have never needed to do that, mostly because that pan gets used to make sauces and is always being deglazed with liquids at the end of cooking.

minerva · Mon 11 Mar 13 4:29pm

I have 'Greenpan' frying pans............ceramic........they are fab..........as long as you use silicone spatulas etc they are really good.
'Greenpan' is the make you see here on tv most often nowadays. I have had mine for a few years now & they are a little discoloured to how they were new, but not remarkably so.

Back to heavy steel or the dreaded teflon...........no chance!
It's 'Greenpan' for me.

Last edited by minerva (Mon 11 Mar 13 4:30pm)

Grandmadamada · Mon 11 Mar 13 4:40pm

cast iron thumbsup

hippytea · Mon 11 Mar 13 7:00pm

Does anyone know what the underlying metal in the ceramic non-stick pans is? I had assumed it would just be steel, but minerva's post suggests they are lighter than steel.

If it's aluminium I'm not that interested - most of the alu pans I've seen are not thick enough to absorb high heat without warping. I saw Perfect Pans being demonstrated once (hard-anodised aluminium), they seemed nice and thick, but super expensive.

I'm not all that worried about the maintenance of the seasoning. I feel like more fuss gets made about this than is justified. I don't find the cast-iron griddles hard to care for at all - they're not mirror-shiny works of art, but if you're not aiming for perfection, it's really not that hard to keep them good.

hippytea · Tue 12 Mar 13 2:09pm

What? What for?

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forum: Food, Wine and Gardening

#1 Sun 10 Mar 13 7:47pm

hippytea

Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#2 Mon 11 Mar 13 9:51am

oliviascotland

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#3 Mon 11 Mar 13 9:53am

hippytea

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#4 Mon 11 Mar 13 11:20am

Thistledo

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#5 Mon 11 Mar 13 11:47am

Ashen

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#6 Mon 11 Mar 13 1:38pm

MsPablo

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#7 Mon 11 Mar 13 4:29pm

minerva

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#8 Mon 11 Mar 13 4:40pm

Grandmadamada

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#9 Mon 11 Mar 13 7:00pm

hippytea

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?

#10 Tue 12 Mar 13 2:09pm

hippytea

Re: Frying pans: carbon steel vs. ceramic non-stick?