The Frying Pan

Do you know how long I had to search to find the perfect frying pan?

You may not think it is a big deal, but I make a lot of stuff that requires a good pan, and unless you have one it is something that can be quite frustrating. I used to have a great set of cookware, in fact it was a present for my wedding.  Unfortunately that perfect set was ruined in just one weekend when he had guests come and stay. Someone used a fork to cook bacon and destroyed the frying pan. I know they didn’t mean to, but I had just lost the best pan I had ever had. Nothing stuck to it, and it always cooked evenly. I have not been able to find a replacement.

This may sound dumb, but every frying pan I have bought since then has had an issue. Either the coating wears off after a few months or it never really seems to be non-stick as it is supposed to be. I am always careful with them, but they never last. I have spent money on an expensive one and have not been happy with it. I have come to realize that a good frying pan is not about the non-stick surface as I thought it was. It is more about how the heat is held and spread through the pan.

I finally found an answer to my dilemma in the most unlikely of places. I had been given a set of cookware that my mom had up in her attic for quite a long time. She had gotten it when she was married many years ago, and retired it after some time. This set was made of stainless steel, and the frying pan that was included does not have a Teflon coating on the bottom of it. For a while I didn’t use the frying pan at all, thinking that it was going to be a problem to clean and everything would stick.

In desperation one day I finally used that frying pan because everything else was dirty and I wasn’t in the mood to do dishes before I had to cook dinner. To my utter surprise, that frying pan turned out to be the best one I had ever used. It cooked so well that it is now the only one that I use. Some stuff does stick to the bottom, yes, I’ll admit that, but that is a small price to pay for the great way it cooks the food. If you are looking for a good pan, you might want to skip the non-stick surface and go for the stainless steel. You may find that you never go back.