Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumNeed advice re Toroware omelet pan
I have an 8" Toroware omelet pan, heavy duty aluminum.
I've had it for decades. Loved it because no matter what I cooked in it, the stuff would not stick and slide out onto a plate.
Lately, stuff is sticking to the bottom, like fried eggs or scrambled eggs no matter how low the heat. Seriously sticking.
Here's the question: should this pan be "seasoned" along the lines of cast iron, whereby I coat it with Crisco and let it stay in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour, etc.?
Other than the above, what can I do? I get the feeling that the bottom of the pan is missing a coating or something that made stuff not stick to it. Any ideas?
Thanks!
FBaggins
(26,748 posts)But it isn't quite the same as with cast iron (which is done at a much higher temperature).
IIRC, it's:
Clean thoroughly... coat with vegetable oil... 250 degree oven for a couple hours.
no_hypocrisy
(46,122 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)even with the best of care the normal use will eventually wear away the surface layers. Once the finish starts to break down it just seems like the erosion accelerates and once it begins there's no help for it. You can try re-seasoning the pan and it may allow you to use the pan a bit longer, but the same problem will return.
Be prepared to buy a new pan. There are a lot of newer non-stick surface coatings on the market today and you'll have plenty to choose from.
Warpy
(111,276 posts)which occurs as soon as the raw aluminum is exposed to air. It's a very hard layer and pretty much nonstick.
What it sounds like is that years of hard use have scuffed up the pan and wrecked the surface. These pans were originally designed to survive restaurant treatment. However, they're not eternal and they will wear out and it sounds like yours finally has.
If you really want to salvage it, you can try to get it sandblasted smooth and polished down to a mirror finish and allow it to oxidize for a bit. That would probably restore the surface. This is drastic and expensive.
You can try cheaper solutions to extend its life a little at a time or you can buy a new pan.