Ask a professional chef what they cook in nonstick pans, and you’ll likely get a short list — a very short list. While non-stick ceramic pans and pans with PTFE have their place in the modern kitchen, many foods do best when cooked in some type of metal frying pan.
An instrumentStainless steel, copper and carbon steel do the best job of transferring heat to the food, which is the best way to get the desired char and reliable searing of meat, fish and vegetables.
Nonstick pans come out of medium heat — that’s why your rack should be stocked with nonstick pans. Searing a steak or chicken thigh in a non-stick pan means fighting a crust that you won’t get. That brownness is not cosmetic. The Maillard reaction, and that’s where the real flavor resides.
So, what is the right food never cooked in unfinished dishes? I asked Richard LaMarita, a chef instructor in Health-Centered Culinary Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. LaMarita describes disposable cookware, including ceramic, as “niche” and admits it’s rarely the go-to spot for many chefs in professional kitchens.
Here’s what LaMarita told me about foods that don’t belong in the frying pan.
1. Meat and fish
Finding the right steak, pork chops, chicken or fish is almost impossible in an empty pan.
The first is food that needs or wants to be heated outside. If you’re looking for a deep, caramelized crust with a nice color, like beef, chicken breast or a piece of salmon, you won’t get the color you want in a nonstick pan. Nonstick is not designed to withstand the high heat required to achieve the desired crust, and its surface is not intended to improve that crust due to the coating on the pan.
2. Lots of vegetables
Cast iron is perfect for cooking vegetables.
Like meat, vegetables need a little char for maximum flavor, and you just won’t get it from an empty pan. For zucchini, carrots, onions, asparagus and bok choy, reach for a stainless-steel or cast-iron skillet for best results.
3. Any food you want caramelized
A cast-iron skillet or pan-steel is best for caramelizing onions or creating fond (remaining pieces of caramelized food).
Do you know about the fond? It’s the caramelized, crusty bits of food left over in the pan after it’s been heated, and it’s the key to great flavor (and happiness). Fond is used to make pan sauces. Things are first heated, then picked, and those good, tasty bits of food are put into the sauce. To make a favorite, a nonstick pan will not work. It is not enough to heat the surface.
4. Acidic foods and wine-based sauces
Highly acidic foods such as tomatoes and sauces with wine or vinegar can corrode the surface of a non-stick pan.
Cooking highly acidic foods in empty pans is not recommended. Acidic foods include tomato sauce, dishes with a high level of vinegar in the pan (such as braised cabbage), and those with lemon juice in the cooking. “Ratatouille is one dish I will never cook with nonstick,” says LaMarita. “The acids in this recipe and others will corrode the soft surface over time.”
5. Recipes that require whisking, scraping and stirring
Recipes that require constant stirring or stirring such as Chinese stir-fry or soft sauce are not good candidates for a nonstick skillet.
Along the same lines, avoid cooking food or dishes that require a fair amount of stirring. A stir-fry, sauce or dish that requires a lot of tossing and mixing can get old quickly. “I find that areas that are not focused on eventually deteriorate, even if they are used correctly, so why speed up that process?”
For more, here How can you tell if your Teflon pans are safe?and a complete guide to reheating all types of leftovers.
