Mouthing Off | My frying pan is sticking. Should I replace it with a ceramic, cast iron or non-stick one?
- As Andrew Sun finds yet another frying pan sticking, he weighs the pros and cons of the different types of frying pan available in stores
I need a new frying pan!
My non-stick pan recently started to stick. It happened with scrambled eggs and sausage. Since I had to vigorously scrape the breakfast off its surface, I probably caused more damage to the pan. Signs of wear and tear were also noticeable.
I was going to just stick it on the back shelf with a couple of other worn out cookery tools. But honestly, I don’t know why I bother to keep around a useless stack of fryers. Part of me imagines a time might come when in a dinner emergency I’ll need an extra skillet.
But that day will never happen, so I’ve decluttered the kitchen corner and junked these rusted old woks and scratched up pans. Sadly, my local Green 6 recycling shop in Hong Kong will not take them, but the cardboard-collecting granny did – it seems she has sources to second-hand metal and aluminium depots.
Now comes the big decision: what kind of pan should I get as a replacement?
The variety available has greatly increased in recent years. Serious chefs and cooks may frown, but I tend to go for non-stick Teflon pans because they are light, cheap and, well, food does not stick – at least initially.