frying pans anyone?

[Fred]

I'm in the market for a couple new frying pans and am hoping someone here has a little experience in selecting one. I had no idea there were so many different models and pricing available.
I currently have some TFal ones that are anything but non-stick anymore. I'm not sure if they just wore out or if they weren't "dishwasher safe", as I see some advertise that they are. They're probably 20 years old, so I guess they had a long life.

So, is there anything to these $125 frying pans, or am I just as well off buying another set for $70 and hoping I get another 20 years out of them? I have an old Griswald and preferred (when they worked better) the TFal ones, so am looking into a 12 and 14" with a non-stick coating again.

Thanks for any help [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

It's been my experience that the non-stick ones work pretty well as long as you use plastic and wooden utensils, but that using metal utensils ruins them. We have a couple of old non-stick frying pans that we still use, but we also have a couple of cast iron and a set of stainless steel that gets used a lot; just depends on what we're cooking. I think we finally got rid of all the aluminum except for those two old non-stick frying pans. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Fred]

Thanks for the suggestion. They have never seen a metal utensil and I am careful when I stack them.
Because the surface seems to have rapidly deteriorated in all my pots and pans, but obviously it's more noticeable frying an egg rather than boiling water [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] I was kind of leaning towards the concept of that expensive one I saw saying "dishwasher safe". Maybe having hard well water even had something to do with them losing their slipperiness....

I need to do something quick. I'm getting tired of *three eggs into the pan and 1-1/2 out* [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[egon]

Cast iron! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[Fred]

Oops, should have clarified, Egon. Griswald is a big cast iron cookware manufacturer, at least they used to be around here, by Erie where they were made. I guess they are kind of a collector's item now, at least here.. (see above [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ).
Too much care involved. I'm more of a rinse and put in the dishwasher kind of guy.
But like Bird said, you have different pans you like using for different things and I always break out the Griswald for sausage gravy, clean it right away, rub a little oil on it and put it away for another month or so....

[BlueRidge]

Too much care? Rub out with oil & salt. Done. If you don't bake or scrub the seasoning out, cast iron is very easy to live with.

Our many cast iron pots & pans rarely see more water than a quick rinse.

[Pat]

My experiehce indicates that when it comes to non-stick pans, expensive pans aren't really better than mid priced ones. Cheapies are usually too thin, spread the heat poorly, distort easily, and may have inferior coatings.

I have a heavy stainless steel set with thick layer of aluminum on the botom to ensure even heat distribution. Stuff sticks to the stainless so I use them for selected tasks only. Cast iron is fine if well seasoned, never see the inside of a dishwasher, and yoi are careful with them.

For general purpose use, I can't find anything better than mid priced non-stick but NEVER ever use anyting except plastic and wood implements in them. I have had water so hard it would bruise yo in the shower but it did not harm the non-stick properties of pans. I did "polish" a couple pans with oil and a paper towel to get rid of hard waer residue. Looked better but I can't tell any performance difference.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Fred]

I picked up a $17 square griddle at Wally World last week and it works great, but has not been subjected to my dishwasher or the test of time yet either. I'm actually washing it by hand, which is quite a novelty for me [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
My Tfal fry pans are a lost cause. I visited their website and saw where I could re-season them. They looked good after I was done, but that didn't keep the food from continuing to stick to them [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I guess they have seen their day.

Thanks for the heads up on the high end pans, Pat. I'll probably go Tfal again and hope I get another 20 or so years out of them.

[MartyAnderson]

Magnalite aluminum pans without non stick are the best pans our family has ever used. My wife has been cooking with them for 50+ years (the same ones - they really hold up).

Some of her Magnalite was passed on from her grandmother, & is 70 years old.

This link can get you more info: http://www.americanculinarycorp.com/...PL&PLine=1