Watch the original video:
Check out our green skillets review:
Check out our ceramic skillets review:
Buy Our Winning Nonstick Skillet:
Buy Our Winning Cast Iron Skillet:
Buy Our Winning Carbon Steel Skillet:
Follow Hannah on Instagram:
Check out more episodes:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
Related posts
48 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Non-stick skillets suck.
Lovely assistant. Hard worker!! Look how tired he is
I have learned that it isn't really worth buying super expensive non-stick pans as their lifespans aren't much better than the more budget friendly pans. So if I'm going to have to replace it in a couple of years I don't want to drop a lot of money for it. With that said, I usually don't buy the cheapest pans either. I do my research, look at reviews and usually land somewhere in the middle.
Very nice dog there…. 😀
once again your hair looks terrible
"Associate" love it!
My Best Buy winner for ceramic non-stick would be J A henckels zwilling pan. Using voice typing and cooking it right now
This is a highly unprofessional video that I did not expect of American Test Kitchen.
Best cooking methods are to use good quality, heavy stainless steel cookware.
Apply oil or butter with a napkin to the cooking surface before applying heat.
Use the minimum amount of necessary heat to prevent food from sticking to the bottom.
There might be a bit more cleaning to do than with ceramic or Teflon cookware; however, it might be safer.
Ceramics
“Keep in mind that the metals of the “protective” surface can also end up in your food. These are generally safe options. Health concerns about using ceramic and enamel stem from components used in making, glazing or decorating the cookware, such as lead or cadmium.”
How can you trust that the manufacturing of ceramic coated kitchenware is free of lead and cadmium? Are you actively testing for these metals?
Teflon. Really.
“Pyrolysis of PTFE is detectable at 200 °C (392 °F), and it evolves several fluorocarbon gases and a sublimate. An animal study conducted in 1955 concluded that it is unlikely that these products would be generated in amounts significant to health at temperatures below 250 °C (482 °F).[32]
While PTFE is stable and nontoxic at lower temperatures, it begins to deteriorate after the temperature of cookware reaches about 260 °C (500 °F), and decomposes above 350 °C (662 °F).[55] The degradation by-products can be lethal to birds,[56] and can cause flu-like symptoms[57] in humans—see polymer fume fever. Meat is usually fried between 204 and 232 °C (399 and 450 °F), and most oils start to smoke before a temperature of 260 °C (500 °F) is reached, but there are at least two cooking oils (refined safflower oil at 265 °C (510 °F) and avocado oil at 271 °C (520 °F)) that have a higher smoke point.”
There are these new Korean marble coated nonstick cookware like this https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Nonstick-Marble-Stone-Coating/dp/B00KWM5OSE but are available in large Asian markets.
Do those use a different coating?
Have you (ATK) looked at those?
Hi Hanna, (& Tanner). I have an old, high quality nonstick pan and the nonstick surface is flaking quite badly. Is there a way to completely remove the nonstick surface in order to save and repurpose the pan albeit without its nonstick properties? Thanks!
The only problem with Teflon pans is when its overheated. Always turn your oven hood vent on. If you have a pet bird it may get sick and it may die. Teflon does nothing to human beings otherwise.
If you cannot cook and egg in a cast iron skillet, you are a moron and have no business in the kitchen.
Good information, terrible sound echo effect!
I had to go back and watch this again because I spent entire first viewing watching dog.
What about using glass cook ware?
Once the nonstick coating wears off you are then exposed the aluminum underneath the coating. Acidic foods will leach the aluminum from the pan, you then are eating aluminum. Not good. Throw it away. Use stainless, cast iron or carbon steel. Carbon steel is a good option if cast iron is too heavy.
Thanks for the info on ceramic. Love your dog.
OK, Hannah, so if I buy an All-Clad skillet (thick walled, can sear, can go from stove to oven, takes high heat, doesn't scratch) for $130 dollars and it lasts 30 years or more, or I buy a $30 TFPE skillet (thin walled, cannot sear, cannot go from stove to oven, doesn't take high heat, does scratch) that may last a year or two, which is the more cost effective skillet? Tanner is a good dog!
How are anodized nonstick pans? Like those from anolon? Do they also have a coating that will wear off?
All the people saying to go cast iron are overlooking one problem with cast iron cookware and that's the weight of it. For elderly people or people with wrist problems/arthritis cast iron cookware is too heavy for them to use comfortably. I have a parrot and trust me when I say finding something as simple as a waffle maker that doesn't use ptfe is an absolute nightmare. I finally found a rotating model by Oster that uses a ceramic coating that I'd ptfe free and had my first homemade waffles in a years. It was pretty amazing and I'm thankful for ceramic coatings even if they don't last well.
Your assistant is adorable! Who's a good doggo?! 🐶🐶 Yes you are! You are!
Thank you for the introduction to this sweet sleepy beauty! And thank you for a great response video, I bought my first set of non-stick pans and it said on it to oil them too! I'll totally follow your recommendations to warm them up a bit and use a less flavourful oil (not olive oil, haha)!
Hannah, here’s an idea: is it bad if I don’t weigh my ingredients when baking?
I use a ceramic pan but only for eggs, perogies and caramelizing onions. Everything else is non-stick or cast iron.
This video doesn't look professional. She looks like she woke up 5 minutes before taking this video. The quility of audio is also bad. It was hard to understand what she says. Can't believe this is made by America's Test kitchen.
The I just woke up and I’m going to make a vid doesn’t work. Doesn’t use us to try to make a point……
I don't think Tanner cares about non stock pans.
We love your associate. He's so cute! Your talk was very informative, but the poor acoustics in that room was very distracting and took away from the professionalism that I've grown to expect from America's Test Kitchens. Otherwise 👍. With love ❤ from sunny 🌅 Arizona 🌵
ANODIZED STEEL FTW
So does using soap when cleaning nonstick / Teflon pans going to remove the coating?
The black gloss on carbon steel pans and cast iron is call patina I believe.
I've used and tried many frying pans in my life. Non-stick will forever always be the last resort in any cooking for me. My cast iron just seems to do it all, and what it can't do, the stainless steel surely can. I've come to the conclusion that the widespreadness of non-stick cookware is because of heavy marketing to the people who just don't like cooking because they don't know how to cook. So instead of getting people to learn to cook properly, they just mass produce these cheaply made items in numbers much higher than they ought to be (I accept there are a few legitimate applications for non-stick surfaceware) telling them it'll rid their problems in the kitchen that inundate the market with their presence and… well here we are.
Good info, BUT… Oh migosh! I know you guys are foodies and not AV geeks, but pay a little bit of attention to your audio — you're America's Test Kitchen. Show some pride.
Is Tanner a good boy? Who's a good boy?
My nonstick pans seem to last a couple of years before they become so "non nonstick" that I can no longer make omelets in them. Then it's a question of whether to just throw them away or try to use them as something else. For years I went to my local restaurant supply for nonstick skillets, but my last purchase was a T-Fal (red dot) skillet. Want to see if it last longer.
Is it bad if your co-host looks better than you and that he is a dog?
Thanks for another informative video, Hannah! Your assistant is adorable by the way. Regarding non-stick pans, I usually wind up retiring mine after a couple of years of almost daily use. I use mine mostly for omelettes and eggs in general. I usually just wipe mine clean.
Dog seems abused, please teach people how to cook on stainless instead of CI, CS, Teflon, etc. I can do the spatula free omelette in stainless (or clad) and I see no reason for 'nonstick'.
Question : did you use European pans in your testing? Monix (spain) or Domo (italian) . Fyi there are high endurance ceramic out there . Some even went on the outside of the space shuttle . I find the key to ceramics is to not use metallic tools and not use them in the dishwasher and no level eight or nine on your stove . The high heat will eventually cause blistering if there is a chip or crack , the same for the tiles on the shuttle .
thanks for addressing ceramic!
Calphalon nonstick surfaces do use a PTFE (non stick) coating. Calphalon is Teflon free but that's because they don't use the Teflon brand for their coating so it's really semantics.
Teflon and other non-stick pans kill birds. Bird enthusiasts and veterinarians have known for decades that Teflon-coated and other non-stick cookware, if heated to high temperatures, is acutely toxic to birds.Apr 3, 2003
Thanks Hannah! Your assistant is super chill 🐶🐶🐶
Terrible sound quality. Makes it almost painful to watch.
Great info but echo and background distracting.
I like your assistant. 🙂
I have non stick pans which had lost part of their coating and I started putting them out for the cats, and dog to eat or drink out of but the containers was accumulating so I decided to go to carbon steel cookware and still get the non stick finish with regular usage.