(CI = Cast Iron, SS = Stainless Steel.)
I really like to cook fried eggs and cheese in non-stick.
For the last few years (4 or 5?) I’ve been buying a $15 to $30 non-stick skillet, and using it till it starts to stick.
Toss it and get another.
Treating them as throwaway cost-of-cooking, for $5/month, I get a great non-stick experience. (I’m genetically LBYM, so getting to viewing these as throwaway, was difficult!)
Let me describe “non-stick”. I put a TBSP EVOO in the pan, heat briefly on medium heat, drop an egg on it, cover, cook til white is firm and yolk barely jiggles.
Non-stick means the egg slides loosely around in the pan, and out of the pan onto a plate, no utensil needed.
Same with cheese. Oil the pan, put some cheese in the pan, heat til cheese starts to bubble, add an egg, loosely break egg yolk and stir into the hot cheese. The mixture slides loosely/easily around in the pan and out of the pan onto a plate.
Clean-up is wiping with a paper towel.
Or, no clean-up required.
I’ve tried circulon, analon, t-fal, "stone/granite/speckled, golfball-like divots, anodized AL, ceramic, cheap ($15), expensive ($30), etc.
WRT non-stick, the make and coating does not seem to matter. The “non-stick” character: $15 last 3-5 months, $30 lasts 4-6 months. $20, $25… last similar length of time.
I most recently got a Ninja Foodi Never Stick. The claim is use any utensil (metal is ok). Blah blah blah.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ninja-Foodi-NeverStick-Essential-…
It cost $30, I expect the non-stick to last… 6 months.
I have experience with various stainless steel, and with All-Clad SS. Keep stirring, medium or maybe medium-high heat … it’s fine.
SS is good for sauce pans, stock pans, etc. Clean-up requires effort.
Skillets… the different brands/qualities of SS is stick and burn.
I have an old, slick/smooth CI skillet that seems properly seasoned. A couple times per year, I’ll smear a light coat of oil on it, and season it. This supposedly maintains and “improves” the non-stick character of the patina.
It is “sorta” non-stick. It sticks more than non-stick, but less than SS.
If I oil it, put some cheese and egg in and cook as described… it “sorta sticks”.
If I don’t watch it… it’ll burn and stick.
Clean-up requires some effort.
I much prefer the true non-stick experience.
I had a wok thing, that developed the “non-stick” patina similar to the CI skillet, and similar to the skillet was merely “sorta” non-stick.
@PSU and anyone else, what is your experience with the Blue Carbon as non-stick?
And CI, seasoned to its non-stick character.
Is it truly non-stick as described above? Do eggs slide easily around in the pan and out onto the plate?
Or is it “sorta”?
Or, am I just doing CI wrong?
ralph
Remember the joke about why to use oil to cook kale, so it’ll slide out of the pan into the trash more easily?
Maybe use a new non-stick pan, too?