Lisa McManus Answers Your Questions About Skillets | Gear Heads

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46 Comments

  1. I notice that on many of the pots & pans reviews, All Clad quite regularly comes out on top. If not always. Well, with the exception of the non-stick where Oxo was best pick. But since it's not induction compatible, the second choice was…. All Clad. I do agree All Clad is phenomenally good. I have a 20 year old All Clad stainless set that performs wonderfully and is still almost like new. And that is with years of daily cooking for a family of 6. Now empty nesters, but it still get used 5-6 times a week.
    But on the newer editions, D3 or D5, the handles on sauce pans and skillets are, for me, an absolute nightmare. The edge of the hollow U-Shape handle cuts into the palm of my hand, it is absolutely uncomfortable.

    I find Demeyere, Le Creuset (both stainless frying or the non-stick skillet), etc… even Made In or Misen have a way better handle design. And all are on-par with All Clad.

    In the non-stick review you did, I would put the Le Creuset miles above the All Clad, just because of the handle design. I only found one review ("The Best Nonstick Skillets for Avoiding Sticky Situations" from 2019), where there is a very short remark that Hannah seems to have the same apprehension about the handle cutting into her palm as I do.

    So why the infatuation with All Clad? Am I the only one who finds the handles impractical?

    Thanks for the time to read and (perhaps) respond.

  5. Your videos are always so helpful! I’ve been using (since years) aluminum saucepans to boil milk. After watching your videos I got to know that aluminum pots/pans aren’t the safest option. So I have been researching on this topic. Have you guys tested stainless steel saucepan for boiling milk? I’m asking because a bad quality pan will have burnt milk on the surface and it’s a task to clean it. I don’t want to spend a bomb on an All Clad and repent if it didn’t serve the purpose. I think I could also go for a Le Cruset, but its very heavy and I’m not sure if I could use it very comfortably. Your help in this regard will be highly appreciated 🙂

  6. I don't know anybody that actually likes their induction cooktop especially after they get one and have spent a long time raving about them they end up finding out… Pretty much everything Lisa just said they're easy to scratch they can break if you quank a Pan down too hard on them It gets cosmetically screwed up almost immediately only people that follow instructions to AT instructions to AT very carefully can keep the surface of their stove clean and looking nice and only then for so long at some point… The screen printing will come off that was on the glass or a kid will come over and scratch the surface all kinds of stuff happens… And a warped Pan will totally screw up whether or not heat is being transferred… Exceptionally more so with induction…. But with gas and electric You could heat up a shapeless piece of aluminum foil quite evenly…lol. Just something to think about and my personal opinions that glass and induction cooktops are not all they are uh cracked up to be

  17. RE: CERAMIC RADIANT & INDUCTION COOK TOPS You’ll need to take your new ruff bottom CI to a Metal Machine Shop for bottom flattening and smoothing, and it’s expensive. For the past 40 years, CI pan manufactures are Scroogelike (miserly) so they don’t manufacture CI pans with a finer surface cast meathod or with machine finish, both inside and out, like they used to make them.

  20. You guys need to stop recommending the T-Fal pan for induction burners. While it does have some steel that lets it work on induction, it is so thin that it doesn’t transfer the electromagnetic energy efficiently and takes for absolutely ever to heat up. I bought it on your recommendation a year or so ago and I might as well toss it in the garbage. I actually did a test where I boiled a quart of tap water in my 12” T-Fal alongside my equivalent Scanpan and the T-Fal took almost twice as long to boil the water.

  28. This question will probably make me sound like a complete idiot, but…are the terms skillet and frying pan interchangeable or are they referring to completely different cooking tools? I did not grow up using the term skillet. I'm just wondering if it was just my family or if it's a New England thing or if it's a professional term. Thanks in advance for your help!

  30. Carbon steel has been a real game changer for us. Less heft than cast iron with all of the benefits. Our American Metalcraft pans take and hold seasoning well, are well made, and were an absolute bargain.

  32. I wash my cast iron pots with liquid soap, I dry with a paper towel, i add a little oil onto the paper towel and do another rub over, this seems to prevent rust, it works even if it's not completely dry nor heated, if I forget to use heat as a final dry, works well on both carbon steel and cast iron.

  33. I won't purchase a ceramic cooktop because I'm a very temperamental person when it comes to pristine cleanups, scratching would annoy those using my stove or create distractions every time I hear a pot moving.

  37. I worked in retail in the home dept for over 30yrs. The induction style was only available within the last few years. We always had people confused as to which pans worked with this. If the box didn’t have the induction symbol I’d tell them if a magnet stuck to the outside of the pan it would probably work. Also, if they wanted to be sure, they could try to heat only water in the pan, that way they could be resold since actual food hadn’t been used in them.

  38. I've NEVER used a scrubbing media to clean my cast iron. Not even the advised table salt. I put maybe about 3/8" water in it and bring it to a boil. Pryor to removing from the heat I run the hot water in the sink and when it is at it's hottest I put the skillet under the running water *with the boiled water still in the skillet*. That way there is no thermal shock. I use a plastic scouring puff thingy with a long handle to scrub the skillet. Pour out the water and rinse and put it on the stove at a medium heat to dry it. When it gets heated real good I wipe it with an oiled bandanna that I keep in a zip bag along with the oil bottle in a cabinet beside the stove. Hang it back on the hook until next use. I use Olive Oil because I can't afford Grape Seed. I fry and flip eggs in a small cast iron skillet and they don't stick.

  39. I can’t use the oven on my stove. The previous owner used oven cleaner & after washing it/wiping it down several times, when I tried to use it, the fumes caused chest pains….so,

    how can I season my cast iron skillets without an oven?

  41. Thank you for addressing glass cooktops! It seems to be the “upgrade” appliance but frankly I’d rather have electric coils because if your pan is even slightly warped it doesn’t work well on a glass top. I have given up on tri-ply, 3 uses and they’re too warped to use on glass. We finally decided to risk the lodge cast iron on the glass top and it’s a big game changer for searing meat and doing that nice Sunday breakfast!

  42. if u live in a humid place or have a problem with rusting and storing in a cabinet put a tub of damp rid it will collect water from the air but u have to make sure u listen to lisa and dry it on the stove prior to putting it away

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