Over my years I’ve owned many types of non-stick pans. Judge me as you see fit, but I’ve owned Teflon, stainless steel, ceramic, and cast iron pans, but none of them seem to stay “non-stick” for more than a few years. I’ve had the best luck with cast iron, but my wife doesn’t like to use them because they’re heavy. I hand wash them all with soap and water, but they all seem to lose their ability to shed off what I cook in them. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good non-stick pan?
EDIT: It seems like the consensus is on cast iron, or ceramic steel. I just looked it up, and there are “slim” cast iron pans, so maybe that’ll be a happy medium. Thanks for all the anecdotes and suggestions folks.
Not using soap is nasty. The seasoning is actually the polymerized oil so it don’t give two shits about soap and only comes off with a lye based oven cleaner in my experience. You should apply a thin coat of oil after washing them but I haven’t found that to mater much vs doing it next time you cook.
Stripping and re-seasoning a cast iron pan is super satisfying too! Strip it down by your mean of choice, coat with oil and put in pre-heated oven upside down. Repeat a few times as it stops being tacky/smoking and you’ll have a pretty golden pan that is good as new!
Stainless is what I use for all my pots though. Great stuff!