One Thing You Should Never Put in a Non-Stick Pan
I love non-stick pans. I use mine mainly for frying eggs, pancakes, and breakfast potatoes, three of the stickiest breakfast foods. I buy them cheap , rarely wash and never put them in the dishwasher, and I’ve found they last quite a while if no one takes metal utensils with them. (I’ve heard of non-stick pans that go well with metal, but they’re expensive, which is why I have a silicone spatula.)
A nonstick pan can help you cut down on fat when frying a wide variety of foods, but there are no rules against using fat in a nonstick pan. (Although nonstick manufacturer Anolon notes that when cooking, “thick vegetable oils can leave residue that can affect the quality of the nonstick coating.”) I use a lot of oil when I fry eggs , and a lot of bacon fat when I fry potatoes , but I never use , ever hit the pan with any cooking spray.
PAM and similar enemies of non-stick cookware due to the presence of an emulsifier called “lecithin”. According to Real Simple , lecithin will “cook on the surface of your pan, build up, and be nearly impossible to remove.” Anolon also cautions against cooking sprays, noting that they burn “at lower temperatures and can damage your product’s non-stick coating.”
All this will turn your non-stick pan very sticky; using cooking spray may even void some brands’ warranties . Fortunately, there is an easy solution: use butter instead. Or, if you want a thin layer of something greasy, fill a bottle with pure oil and spray it into the pan. Or, for a solution that doesn’t require Mr. Buy, dampen a little with a paper towel and wipe the pan with it. (That’s what I do.)