Teflon Pan

A while back on the post Sunny Day  I got a comment from a rep of Du Pont, the chemical company who invented Teflon.  I had discussed getting rid of my Teflon pans in order to find a different type of non-stick or just simply use my stainless steel, and they wanted me try one of their products.  

The company sent me a product called the Flip-It pan to review.  I was told in an e-mail that it isn't even publicly available.  Once I received the pan I noted that it had a plate in it with the American flag. 

It's upside down, I know.  :)

Now, yes, I am a military wife, but I should note that not only am I not the most patriotic person, but that the pattern made cooking a bit difficult, as I will further explain later.  I read the booklet that came with the pan and it said there were other plates for the pan, and the front of the booklet had a pic of a flip-it pan with a smiley face and the words Good Morning.  When I contacted the company to ask about these other plates I was told, " there aren't other "plates" available for this pan."  Okay, now I am a bit confused as to why it would say it then.

But on to the actual review.  I really, really wanted to like this pan.  I'm all about the cutesy food....I've been known to make pancakes for G with blueberries or chocolate chips for smiley faces.  And I was the one when my brothers were little making mickey mouse, snowmen, and initials with pancake batter.  So I thought, if this works, it would be a neat pan.  

It just failed to impress me completely.  I have seen other 2 sided pans that closed together, but this had a good half inch gap which when flipped, required to make a pancake, batter went everywhere, no matter how much or how little batter I used.  I've been considering getting a 2-sided pan for a while now, because I love to make things like pancakes and frittatas, and thought it might make the job easier.  Unfortunately, in this case, it simply made a mess of my kitchen.  I had pancake batter all over my stove, my burners, and my counter tops.  Because of the gap, pancakes batter (and I was using a very thick batter) slid everywhere when I went to turn it.  

The Gap.

A tiny part of the mess....

Overflowed, but the one side was done, so not much I could have done about it.

In the end, the pancake recipe I used was delicious (it was a new one, so I was thrilled when G loved them!).  But the pan kinda sucked.  As you can see in the pics, the pancakes browned quickly on one side, but were still too gooey on the other side to turn without it going everywhere.  

The company wanted me to review Teflon, however, not the pan.  Which in my opinion would have been simpler to do with a simple saute pan, but eh, it's their decision.  They wanted me to review it's "ease of use, ease of clean-up, taste of the pancakes, etc."  Well, teflon's ease of use is well known.  Things don't tend to stick and make a mess, so it's easy to cook things without them burning, and clean up is fairly simple.  And I've never noticed a difference in taste when using Teflon coated products.  

But my problem with Teflon has nothing to do with any of those things.  I am more concerned with safety, and the safety of my future family.  There have been a lot of concerns that Teflon causes cancer.  If you google "problems with teflon" you will inevitably stumble across article upon article about issues the EPA had with Teflon back in 2004.  I have been told that it's safe as long as there are no scratches on the pan, but we all know how easy it scratches.  That is why, in the original post, I was planning on getting rid of my pan.  

There are other non-stick alternatives out there.  Hard anodized aluminum is one option.  But to be honest, I've found that stainless steel works just fine for me and my family.  I use a little butter or olive oil (and a little goes a long way), and quickly saute up veggies.  Want to make scrambled eggs?  I simply heat up a pat of butter before pouring in the eggs.  And I use ORKA silicon spatulas (I will have to do a review of them another time) and even without using metal utensils things do fine.  How do I clean up stainless steel?  I constantly have a kettle on, so I just add a little bit of boiling water to the pan, let it sit and it cleans up nicely.  For those of you who don't have a kettle on constantly, add water to the cooled pan, put it on the burner and let it come to a boil.  Easy as pie.  

My biggest problem with stainless steel is when it gets starch build up from foods.  I simply take baking soda and scrub it.  Once again, not hard at all.  And all of my stainless steel is dishwasher safe and cleans up beautifully.  

I am not against teflon products, but until they get the all clear safety wise, I'm not willing to place my bets on a product that I don't think in the end is any easier to use than the old fashioned stainless steel and cast iron that I grew up with my grandmama using (and she still uses to this day!).  I want to thank Du Pont for sending the flip it pan, but unfortunately it turned out to be a bust.  

 

*EDIT*  G told me I should add that I don't have any problems per se with Teflon, because as mentioned, as far as I know, it's fine if it's not scratched.  But they sent me what he calls "a poorly designed novelty item" that really didn't do much for me.  A simple saute pan would have been best, since I would have been able to talk about cooking chicken with vegetables or whatnot without using oils, which non-stick is good for.  We tend to eat fairly healthy though, so an item that was for pancakes and omelets (we tend to do simple scrambled or poached) didn't really do much for us.