On 30/06/19 05:53, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

I wondered if anyone could recommend some good saucepans, baking
trays, etc?

I've tried a few baking trays, even branded ones such as Tefal and
Pyrex (non-stick metal, not glass) and none of them live up to their
name of being non-stick. They always end-up with brown burnt-on
deposits. Having asked around, I get the impression that all baking
trays are equally rubbish and it's not worth buying non-stick?

I used to use Mr Muscle cans of caustic soda to clean them and that
worked but I find the cheap tins of caustic soda do not, so perhaps
they use a less concentrated spray?

Here's an embarrassing story about my non-stick saucepans. I went
camping the other year so bought a cheap set of saucepans to take with
me. The other day I decided to use them at home to cook some pasta but
some got burnt onto the bottom of the pan. I tried scouring it but a
non-stick scourer was too gentle. The dishwasher did not remove it
either, so then I tried the spray can of caustic soda; that made no
difference.

I thought I should thrown the pans away and buy a new, better, set for
use at home but I thought I would have one last attempt at cleaning. I
had some caustic soda so I added a little to water and let it soak. It
did remove the burnt on food but it also removed the non-stick
coating!

Which brings me back to the question: which saucepans do you
recommend? I use gas at the moment but one day might like to use
induction. I'm thinking non-stick just isn't worth it?

If you used a concentrated solution of caustic soda on an aluminium pan
you are very lucky that it didn't burn a hole right through! Caustic
soda attacks aluminium just like a mineral acid, and will dissolve it.
It shouldn't touch the non-stick surface, though. I would guess that it
ate away the aluminium under the non-stick surface and loosened it,
rather than attack the non-stick surface itself.

As to what non-stick saucepans to use now, well, they are all crap IMHO.
I have some cheap non-stick saucepans bought at Argos over 35 years ago.
Some still have the surface intact, and are non-stick despite some
careless use of metal utensils on rare occasions, although I am usually
careful to use plastic or wooden utensils only. In contrast, the modern
ones barely last a year or two matter how careful I am (I find frying
pans particularly bad in this respect as they are exposed to the highest
cooking temperatures). I don't know if the coating has changed, or the
subcoat (how else would a non-stick coating stick to the pan?!).

If anyone can recommend long-lasting non-stick pans I'd also be
interested in hearing about it.

--

Jeff