1,507 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

The two frying pans

Where we see that a non-stick frying pan, if it is very practical in general, sometimes it is not enough.

9,172 4.7/5 (15 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Cooking Pan Casserole Utensils Meat Juices Tefal Teflon Non-stick

Last modified on: February 26^th 2022

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

The two frying pans

You probably have one at home, a non-stick frying pan or saucepan, which everyone calls "Tefal".

The non-stick pan

Very recognizable by its black color, and its very particular interior coating, the food adheres to it very little, which is infinitely practical for anything that needs to cook without sticking, an omelette for example, but this is the case most of the time.

poele tefal

It is extremely practical, but it is not harmless, the internal coating is teflon (hence the name Tefal), I will not go into it too much, but you have to be careful with these pans which age quickly (you have to change them as soon as the coating starts to get damaged) and be careful not to heat them too much, for example by forgetting it on the fire, empty, the time to prepare what to cook in it, the coating will then degrade quickly.

But, the risk being known, we have to admit that cooking with it is rather nice, it doesn't stick, and it is easy to sauté something inside.

But?

There is a downside, it doesn't stick, very good for fried eggs, but for a meat for example, with which you want to make a sauce or a juice after cooking, you will need the cooking juices, and with a non-stick, there is (almost) none... It is normal at the same time, as the meat does not stick, the cooking juices do not form, the famous Maillard reactions, if you want to add cream and Roquefort for a delicious Roquefort sauce for example, it will not be so successful.

Yes, because for this kind of recipe, on the contrary, you want it to stick, a little, so that a lot of cooking juices are formed, juices that you can then "deglaze" (some say "decook") by pouring a little liquid in the pan and scraping the bottom and reducing.

cuisson viande sucs de cuisson

You will have understood that for this kind of cooking, the non-stick frying pan is not well suited, you need a classic one, almost old-fashioned, in stainless steel if possible, a bit like this:

poele inoxydable

This type of pan is ideal for making post-cooking sauces after a meat as mentioned, but also a fish, scallops etc. etc.

On the other hand, to make an omelette in it, you really need to load it with butter or oil, so as not to have to remove the omelette with a chisel and hammer at the end of cooking...

Not one, but two!

Which means that in the end, you'd better have 2 pans, one non-stick for everyday cooking, and another steel one, for all the cooking that requires juices for after or during the cooking.

As always with kitchen equipment, you have to pay the price, if you have to buy a second pan, get one made of stainless steel with a thick bottom, why not a French brand, we can find here high quality brands (De Buyer for example), certainly a little more expensive but "the price is forgotten, the quality remains" (my favorite mantra)

The new generation of non-stick pansI

I'll end by coming back to the non-stick pans, the manufacturers, Tefal being the first, are finally becoming sensitive to the arguments of the consumers who don't want any more dubious products for their health, such as teflon (see the movie "Dark waters" that you may have already seen), teflon that they are progressively starting to abandon. So we have been seeing for some time now so-called non-stick pans appearing, but of a rather light color, where teflon is replaced by ceramic, completely neutral and much more solid.

poele céramique

Objectively it is not as flexible as the historical non-stick ones, but it is already much better for your health, ceramic being neutral, and also much more solid, it is not afraid of being hit by a fork or a knife.
I would like to recommend them to you.

To sum up: If possible, have 2 pans at home, one non-stick (ceramic if possible) for everyday cooking, and another steel (stainless if possible) for cooking that requires the formation of juices, for tasty sauces after cooking.

Lasts posts

Parsley stems

Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?
July 28^th 20255513

A drizzle of olive oil

Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13^th 20251,0815

Always secure your cutting board

When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1^st 20251,1025

Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?

When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29^th 20259985

Should potatoes be washed twice?

Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19^th 20252,661 15

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

Maillard reactions

This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...
January 28^th 201535 K4

Making the most of seeds: Dry roasting

In cooking, and particularly in baking, there are a lot of seeds we can use, such as linseed, sesame, poppy, etc. Usually, recipes simply say to add them just as they are to the mixture or dough. To make a seeded loaf, for example, prepare a plain bread dough as usual, then, towards the end of...
January 30^th 201559 K4.0

Egg yolks and caster sugar

We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.
February 15^th 201878 K 24.3

The mock CAP baker's certificate exam

The next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m now halfway through training and it’s still as exciting as ever, and exhausting – but maybe I’m just getting old, or both… Anyway, a few days ago we had to go through the mock CAP exam. A sort...
May 1^st 201818 K4.4

The cake and the raisins

When you bake a cake, like a cake or pound cake, you may have already encountered this thorny problem: How to make sure that the raisins, or the candied fruits, or any other small filling, do not fall to the bottom of the pan during the baking process?
May 31^th 201913 K4.7