Taking care of utensils

Gordon

Just wondering if anyone has any special way of taking care of their cooking utensils.

I have a wok that was non-stick and became absolutely bolloxed from something I made so became non-non-stick. I have got rid of the base layer and subsequently after I wash the wok I put a thin coat of oil over the bottom. This is healing the surface quite well - does anyone have any tips on how to re-non-stick your pans?

Also garlic crushers and sieves... any good way of cleaning them except for just leaving them to soak...?

Samson

Originally posted by Gordon
does anyone have any tips on how to re-non-stick your pans?

I don't think you can.
Maybe there is some sort of teflon spray available, but I suspect that unless your pan was extremely expensive it would not be worth doing.

I have a selection of pans and woks and whilst the non stick pans are handy, you can't beat a proper skillet.
They will last far longer than anything non-stick once, as you said they are kept oiled.

My non stick pan has lots of scratches in the coating from using metal utensils, another drawback.

Gordon

Skillet huh? What's a skillet when it's at home, in your kitchen? (I am hoping it has nothing to do with candy floss )

Samson

A heavy black iron frying pan (the old fashioned type).
Takes absolutely ages to heat up properly, but when it gets there you can't beat it.

bonkey

You cant re-non-stick teflon pans, and it should be worth noting that teflon itself is toxic.

If the pan is badly scratched, you either throw it out, or use metal wool or something to remove all the teflon.

If you have a non-non-stick wok, or have stripped your teflon what you need to do is season it. Repeated use, with oiling after cleaning can do this, but the fast approach is to rub it with oil, and burn it in. Then clean it off with a damp cloth (no detergent). Repeat the process up to a dozen times, until the metal is blackened, and the cleaning after burning is not coming away with blackness. After that - treat the pan as though it were non-stick.

In general, I would reommend you throw out, rather than strip a non-stick pan, because the metal isnt heavy enough to make a really good wok anyway. If youre around Dublin, go to an Asian Market, and pick up a nice heacy cheap wok, and season it as above.

As for sieves etc.....I use a brush, and just "dab dab dab" through the holes to clean them, then dry immediately. Course, I dont use garlic crushers - I use the flat of a knife.

jc

Gordon

"Burn it in" Huh? Excellent thought, I'll try that, thanks. Garlic crushers are great, I use it for ginger.

"Beware the one that uses edge of knife to crush garlic, the garlic force is strong with him" That was confusion that said that yeh?!

four_star

buy new ones and then don't use them.