Silicone mats in lidl

rubadub

I have mentioned "magic sheets" in other threads, they are nonstick sheets, I stick them in a wok and can cook without any oil. Lidl have silicone mats at the moment


http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:r4_KZZVP2wgJ:www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080128.p.SiliconeMat+silicone+mat+lidl.ie&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2

They might be thicker than usual as mine usually wear out after scrubbing for ages. They also have larger size ones. These can be cut up and used for various pans, i.e. cut to the circle shape of a small pan.

You can have your pan heating up and prepare stuff directly on the sheet, like cut up meat or add spices, tenderize etc. Then you can dump the sheet with meat directly onto the pan.

egg boiler for a tenner too. Some lifters might want that
http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080128.p.ElectricEggBoiler

dudara

rubadub wrote: »

egg boiler for a tenner too. Some lifters might want that
http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080128.p.ElectricEggBoiler

I have an egg boiler too

eve

I got one of the large silicone mats in Lidl the last time around and cut it in two. It's perfect for oven chips/wedges, fish, or anything that doesn't leak or run too much. Boyfriend seems to be scared of washing them though and still uses tinfoil

rubadub

how thick is the mat? The magic sheets are about as tough as a strong black sack. I was hoping these might be 1-2mm thick or more. Maybe like the top layer on a mouse mat.

neuro-praxis

I cannot even visualise what you are talking about. Pics? How can you put a plastic sheet in a wok and cook on it? I'm intrigued.

rubadub

You just stick it in and it forms around the sides, if you have say a steak on the sheet, it's own weight will push downwards so it is in contact with the bottom, the sides just sort of fold up. Like a fairy cake case.



If you flatten that it is circular in shape. Or you can just cut it to a round shape to match your pan. But leaving it big means it can be put on a baking tray too. It is handy for taking stuff out too, you just pick the sheet up by the 4 corners and lift it out. Another trick is to put your item on one half of the sheet, when it needs turning you take out the entire sheet, now fold the empty part on top of the uncooked side, not put both hands on either side and flip it over in your hand. This is good for cooking delicate stuff that might fall apart when trying to flip it, like omlettes or pancakes. It is also safer since you have no splashing oil when you flip something.

NextSteps

Will the dry heat not ruin your saucepans?

Pigletlover

My mother has a silicone mat that sounds very similar to what you described, I used it last night for rolling out pastry, but I can't imagine it being used as you described rubabdub. Any chance you might be able to post a pic, I can't see anything on that link.

oneweb

Call me paranoid, but I think heating anything silicone has the potential for as-yet undiscovered health risks. Of course, I could be wrong. But I'll wait a few years to find out!

rubadub

Will the dry heat not ruin your saucepans?

Not sure, does that normall ruin them? I use it in a old wok, seems fine, I have done it for ages. I know if you dry heat a pan to a very high heat and dump in cold water it will quench it and it can warp due to expansion/contraction. But I am not really doing that. There is a thin air gap between the sheet and meat, and the meat is not containing enough "coldness" to warp a pan by cooling too quickly.

Pigletlover wrote: »

My mother has a silicone mat that sounds very similar to what you described, I used it last night for rolling out pastry, but I can't imagine it being used as you described rubabdub. Any chance you might be able to post a pic, I can't see anything on that link.

I thought the same thing too. I have the magic sheets and they work, I think they are silicone based, but not really rubbery. Silicone lined cookware is very common these days, rather than teflon (PTFE)

oneweb wrote: »

Call me paranoid, but I think heating anything silicone has the potential for as-yet undiscovered health risks. Of course, I could be wrong. But I'll wait a few years to find out!

I think the silicone is preferable to PTFE healthwise, not sure though. But I use boil in the bag stuff. And any tins you get are plastic lined and heat treated. With the silicone sheet you can avoid using oils altogether, so any negative health effects might be offset by the fact it is more healthy with less oil. Do metal salts not worry you too?

Everything is a health scare these days, if you were to eat only foods that have not had a rumour of giving cancer then you would die of starvation...

EDIT I got the mat just now. It is about 1.5-2mm thick and very stretchy. Nothing like the magic sheets I am used to. I think Pigletlover is right, it probably would not work for frying, since it is so thick it would stop heat transfer. Maybe doing pancakes or eggs but no full on frying e.g. I do steaks & burgers at high heat on the magic sheet. The pack has a pic of a hob crossed out, I think it would be ok in a pan on a low heat though. Says up to 260C. There were none in the first lidl (deansgrange), and loads in pottery road lidl, but only big ones. €9

The link is now gone, here is googles cached one
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:r4_KZZVP2wgJ:www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080128.p.SiliconeMat+silicone+mat+lidl.ie&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2

some on ebay http://search.ebay.ie/silicone-mat_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQcatrefZC5QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfclZ3QQfromZR14QQfrppZ50QQfrtsZ50QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ3QQfssZ0QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQga10244Z10425QQsaaffZafdefaultQQsabfmtsZ0QQsacatZQ2d1QQsacurZ0QQsalicZQ2d15QQsaobfmtsZexsifQQsaslopZ1QQsbrsrtZdQQsorefinesearchZ1

Pigletlover

That's the exact one she has. I must try and get one of the thinner ones for my wok, where did you get yours rubadub? I heated it too high a while back and set it on fire If I use it now I have to use loads of oil because it seems to just soak it all up and burn anything I try to cook.

rubadub

Pigletlover wrote: »

That's the exact one she has. I must try and get one of the thinner ones for my wok, where did you get yours rubadub? I heated it too high a while back and set it on fire If I use it now I have to use loads of oil because it seems to just soak it all up and burn anything I try to cook.

ON fire! I wont be using mine on the pan so. My old thin one is called a magic sheet. I got it in tescos in the tinfoil section, it was in a yellow pack and is a small black sheet that suits a normal medium baking tray. it is not stretchy at all, more like a thick black sack material that you can get for gardening, tough to hold thorny branches. They wear out after a few months, getting small holes, so oil will pass through but they are still useful

I think it is the same material those toaster pockets on informercials are made from, the ones where you pop stuff in a small black pocket and put it in the toaster.

Pigletlover

rubadub wrote: »

ON fire! I wont be using mine on the pan so. My old thin one is called a magic sheet. I got it in tescos in the tinfoil section, it was in a yellow pack and is a small black sheet that suits a normal medium baking tray. it is not stretchy at all, more like a thick black sack material that you can get for gardening, tough to hold thorny branches. They wear out after a few months, getting small holes, so oil will pass through but they are still useful

I think it is the same material those toaster pockets on informercials are made from, the ones where you pop stuff in a small black pocket and put it in the toaster.

It was the wok I set on fire, I heated the oil too high and it went up in flames!

I have a better idea of what you're talking about now and I can see that they would work well (I couldn't get my head around it before now, I'm a bit slow), I must look for them next time I'm in Tescos.