Let’s be real, you’re probably using your nonstick pan for everything, but it’s time for some tough love: you’re ruining your food and your nonstick cookware. That slick, convenient surface (as well as teflon) is great for eggs, but it’s actively working against you when you’re trying to get a decent sear on a piece of meat.
Here’s the deal: nonstick pans are low-heat pans, and they will never give you that beautiful, golden-brown crust you want. Instead, you get a sad, gray, steamed piece of protein. Even worse, by cranking up the heat and using the wrong utensils, you’re literally scratching and chipping away the nonstick coating, which can end up in your food.
Stop using your nonstick pan as a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s a specialized tool, not a workhorse. Before you ruin another meal (or another pan), learn what you should never, ever cook in it.
We all love easy cleanup as much as the next bloke, but most of your culinary projects fare better in stainless steel, carbon steel or cast iron. These pans impart high surface heat, giving food char, depth and flavor development. I grilled a career cooking teacher to compile the ultimate nonstick no-go list.
Richard LaMarita is a chef-instructor of Health-Centered Culinary Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. LaMarita describes nonstick cookware, including ceramic, as “niche.”
“Scrambled or fried eggs, pancakes and fried tofu are great for cooking in nonstick pans,” LaMarita told me via email. “These sticky foods must come out completely without leaving remnants in the pan. Nonstick pans are popular, easy to clean and convenient, and I recommend every cook have one.”
They’re not designed to handle high heat, be placed in the oven or scrubbed vigorously. The coating that makes a pan nonstick can deteriorate faster when confronted with certain foods or cooking techniques.
So, what foods should never be cooked in nonstick cookware? Here’s what Chef LaMarita says.
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1. Most meat and fish
Getting a proper sear on steak, pork chops, chicken or fish is next to impossible in a nonstick pan.
First are foods that require or desire searing on the outside. When you’re looking for a deep, caramelized crust with good color, such as on a steak, chicken breast, or a piece of salmon, you won’t get the color you want from a nonstick pan. Nonstick is not made to tolerate the high heat required to achieve the desired crust, and its surface is not geared toward developing that crust because of the coating on the pan.
2. Most vegetables
Cast iron is ideal for cooking vegetables.
Much like meat, vegetables need a little char for maximum flavor, and you just won’t get it with a nonstick pan. For zucchini, carrots, onions, asparagus and bok choy, reach for a stainless-steel or cast-iron skillet for best results.
3. Caramelized food
A cast-iron skillet or stainless-steel pan is best for properly caramelizing an onion or creating a fond (leftover bits of caramelized food).
Do you know about “fond?’ It’s the caramelized, crusty bits of food left on the pan after searing, and it’s the key to big flavor (and happiness). Fond is used to make pan sauces, searing items first, then picking up those beautiful, tasty bits of food and incorporating them into the sauce. For making fond, a nonstick pan will not serve you. There is simply not enough surface heat.
4. Highly acidic foods
High-acid foods such as tomatoes and wine- or vinegar-based sauces can corrode the surface of a nonstick pan.
Cooking highly acidic foods in nonstick pans is not a good idea. Acidic foods include a tomato sauce, or a dish with a high ratio of vinegar in the pan, such as a braised cabbage, or if there is lemon juice in the cooking process. “Ratatouille is one dish I wouldn’t cook in a nonstick,” LaMarita says. “The acids in this recipe and others will corrode the delicate nonstick surface over time.”
5. Stir-fry, soups, sauces
Recipes that require constant stirring or whisking such as Chinese stir-fry or a delicate sauce are not good candidates for a nonstick skillet.
Along the same lines of wearing down the surface, refrain from cooking foods or dishes that require a fair amount of stirring. A stir-fry, sauce or a dish that demands a lot of tossing and mixing could wear down the surface quickly. “I find that nonstick surfaces wear down eventually, even with proper use, so why speed up that process?”
For more, here’s how to tell if you Teflon pons are Safe, and a complete guide to reheating every type of leftovers.
