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Tired of eggs sticking to my pans... what pan to purchase?

128K views 39 replies 24 participants last post by  oregonyeti 
#1 · (Edited)
No matter if I scramble or fry my eggs, they seem to always stick in my al-clad 6 inch pan(non Non-Stick). Not sure if I am just using the pan incorrectly, but I let the pan heat up first, then spray with PAM or coat with vegetable oil or butter. Eggs still stick!! Am I using the pan incorrectly?

So I attempted to 'season' the pan by lightly coating in veggy oil and baking on very low for 10 hours. However, I now understand that the material of the al-clad is not meant to be 'seasoned'. Seasoning came off rather easily with scrub sponge.

Ok.. I am on a quest for the best egg pan there is. THE BEST!

I also would like to sautee and do light frying in this pan. What pan should I buy?

By the way, I am not sure I am crazy about non-stick coated pans. Seems like after a year or so, they flake or start to peel off the coating.

thanks in advance!

Bryan
 
#2 ·
Well seasoned cast iron is virtually stick free.  Takes some maintenance, but works well.  I like the older Wagner and Griswold pans that have machined interiors, although many people appear quite happy with their Lodge pans.

While I have cast iron pans that I can use for eggs, personally, I generally use a T-Fal Pro pan and simply replace it every couple years.  They are cheap and work well for the few items where a non-stick pan is most handy.  If you don't use very high temps, the coating is less likely to degrade.
 
#4 ·
Yes.  You're doing something wrong.  I'm not sure what, though.  Possibly preheating too fast so the pans have hot spots, possibly cooking too hot or too cold, possibly not using enough grease, possibly the pans are scratched or have food cooked into them, etc.  Could be lots of things. 

Seasoned carbon steel is just as non-stick as cast iron, but lighter and easier to manipulate.  Cast iron is superior at "holding the heat," a quality which isn't really important for cooking eggs.  In fact, cast takes so long to preheat evenly, I'd rate it as "not that great" for the task -- especially if we're talking omelets or scrambles. 

There are a lot of good carbon pan makers, Vollrath and Matfer are two of my three favorites and very good indeed.  My current carbons -- which are pricey but which I like quite a bit because they're so substantial and the handles are so comfortable -- are De Buyer "Mineral."

Good luck,

BDL
 
#5 ·
+1 to what BDL said. I bought a De Buyer carbon steel pan a couple weeks ago and it's one of my favorites already. All you have to do is wash it really good, I used the potato peel method, and season it. It only took one seasoning and it's non-stick, I cooked eggs that weekend
 
#6 ·
My 9 inch  teflon coated pan is only teflon pan I have . When it gets old or badly scratched I dump it and get a new one. Or I remove handle and use in the oven for heating single service anything.
 
#7 ·
I'm a fan of well used cast iron for eggs... sunny-side up, over easy, or scrambled.  Ya do need a touch of some kinda fat in the pan.  Have a t-fal pan... and just end up chasing the eggs around... broken yolks on "dippy" eggs.  Nice, black cast iron... spatula slips right under for flipping.
 
#9 ·
Neighbor bought one. Kind of lightweight but a million dollars worth of hype and advertising. "AS SEEN ON T.V  type junk item.

$19.95 plus shipping $7.00 Second one FREE? just pay more shipping and handleing  $8.95  so that makes the deal 2 for $36.00 ??
 
#11 ·
I just got this new catalog and it has different brands of pots, pans and the like.

I have been google-ing GreenPan[emoji]174[/emoji], it looks pretty good, but I'm not too sure about it yet.
Urgh don't. I got one of the "better" GreenPans a few years ago. At first I loved it, and thought I had discovered the new, secret non-stick pan that you could heat really hot, etc.... but within only 2 or 3 months the coating came off. I threw it away after 6 months.

Ever since I have cooked eggs, crepes, pancakes etc.... in a seasoned carbon steel pan and absolutely love it.
 
#13 ·
Although the first seasoning of a new pan is very important, I think that regular care and especially wiping of a pan with oil after each use is a key to well-seasoned carbon steel.

In my opinion, carbon steel holds initial coating quite weakly compared to cast iron. Just because carbon steel is not porous as cast iron and it can hold relatively thin layer of polymerized oil. In it's turn, it's quite easy to damage this layer when cooking. Wiping with very thin layer of oil after each use solves this problem because oil is getting polymerized due to contact with oxygen, and as a result we get very persistent coating that consists of many layers of polymerized oil.
 
#14 · (Edited)
A follow up. I picked up a de Buyer Mineral 12" pan to play with. Interestingly enough, it weighs more than my Wagner 12" cast iron pan. 5 pounds 15 oz. vs 5 pounds 6 oz. For sake of comparison, a new Lodge Logic 12" cast iron pan weighs in at 7 pounds 5 oz. (uff da!)

So if weight is an issue, the de Buyer 12" carbon steel pan is decidedly lighter than a Lodge cast iron pan, but heavier than a Wagner cast iron pan. I would expect that it would also be heavier than a Griswold cast iron pan as they have similar castings to Wagner (and are even lighter in some models).

Of course carbon steel has different heating properties than cast iron, but in some cases may not also have the virtue of less weight.
 
#21 ·
After several years of use, I love my 8 inch aluminum fry pan dedicated to frying eggs.  Using only butter either salted or unsalted, the eggs are fried gently.  And when it comes to washing, I don't.  All I do is rinse the pan with hot water and gently scrub with a plastique scouring pad, just enough to remove the egg-remnants.  And then I allow it to air-dry prior to the next use.  Works quite well for me and it allows me to send PAM to the highway never to be seen and used again.  Butter rules with an unwashed but scrubbed aluminum fry pan.
 
#22 ·
I too am a big fan of cast iron. I have four Lodge cast-iron pans one of which I use for eggs. Eggs never ever stick regardless of how I make them and they cook perfectly. I also have about 40 pieces of LeCreuset enameled cast-iron cookware and nothing sticks to those pans either. Nothing cooks like cast-iron in my opinion.
 
#24 ·
I use all-clad and cast iron for my eggs, but my husband who still is a novice cook uses ceramic non-stick, and I have to say it's pretty remarkable. His eggs never stick anymore, but you won't get the same texture eggs you do from an all-clad stainless steel or cast iron pan.
 
#26 ·
Anyone here from the UK know where I can get a pan that doesn't stick scambled eggs. I'm not familiar with the brands mentioned in the thread and I am desperate to find a solution. I didn't realise it was a common problem to be honest, I just thought my pan was old and needed replacing, but I popped down to Sainsburys at the weekend and picked up a new non-stick only to find, low and behold, scambled eggs still stick. Nightmare. I eat 8 eggs per day and it's just getting me down the time it takes to clean the pan afterwards. I was thinking of getting a ceramic pot. Anyone got any experience? My thinking being that the eggs don't stick to the bowl I eat them out of!
 
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