Ok, I've been trying to give up my nonstick pans because they always scratch and you're supposed to stop using them. Nowadays we know that even heating them high will make the coating out gas and possibly make you sick.

So I got out my cast iron skillet which I hadn't used much.

I'm actually liking it! I just wipe it out with paper towels and use kosher salt to clean it. I rub any sticky spots with the salt. I thought I invented that method of cleaning but apparently not... I was watching an Alton Brown video and he used it there, I know I had seen that video before so I must have filed that info deeply in my brain.

Anyway, stickage not so bad really.

I put another light coating of oil on the pan before I put it away.

I also have a stainless steel pan and everything seems to stick to it no matter how much oil I use. It makes me mad! Is there anything I can do to get the stainless one to not stick so darned much? It makes flipping things hard too.

I was given a Green Pan

OH, it is the BEST pan I've ever had and non-toxic

http://www.green-pan.com/dev/ae/html/products.html

Does it scratch?

I'm looking into this more and ran across this: http://forums.cooking.com/showpost....7&postcount=173
http://forums.cooking.com/showthread.php?t=2156

I have issues with the different pans, and am trying to generally get away from non-stick as well.

I've found with some practice that the same rules apply to the stainless steel (and the ubiquitous aluminum in commercial kitchens) fry and saute pans as do to the cast iron or the anodized (my fave 12" pan).

I don't use soap unless I've been cooking something acidic or fishy, fairly rare. I wipe or pour out excess fats (not in the sink drain, plays havoc with plumbing, septic and sewers, y'all!), and store. IF I had to use soap or for that matter sand, I clean thoroughly, and reseason. Yes, the other pans as well. Mostly, I leave them, if already seasoned, with a very thin film of the current cooking fat on them, whatever doesn't easily wipe out.

And when cooking, always preheat the pan then add the fats/oils. It gets into the pores and the pan is less likely to stick. Most foods, you need to leave them long enough to actually caramelize on the bottom before moving or turning, they tend to release themselves when that happens. Schmaltz or any kind of fowl fat is excellent. Coconut oil or clean pork/bacon fat is excellent. The saturates seem to work best, though high smoke point oils are very good, too.

This is helping me quite a bit with the whole sticking problem...the big test being eggs over easy, without breaking!

By the way, that GreenPan site doesn't say what the stuff is, just what (now known to be iffy products) they DON'T have...leaves a lot of room for new, soon-to-be-found-to-be-iffy products.

Also, I found some "eco-pans" at Wally Mart the other day, bought 1 very small one to try out, a single egg size . Supposed to be some kind of (biodegradable, eventually) ceramic coating. Though the handle is still plastic as far as I can make out. We shall see if it lasts, though it might be a while in the testing, and that certainly isn't the high heat kind of performance testing going on over in the cooking.com forums.

I found that too and I have NO idea what was wrong with that person. (maybe they work for tFal?) I've had mine for 6 months and I used it every day with STEEL spatulas.
I do not, however, put it in the dishwasher. They tell you not to. It cleans so simply you won't believe how you ever lived without the dern pans.

It's now the only frying pan I use. Another editor at work got one and she loves it too.

I cooked with Revere pans for ages and eventually, they get tiny pits all over them. It is the pitting that causes the sticking (assuming you are using oil). If your food is sticking because of tiny pits, I would suggest getting a new pan. I don't season stainless steel pans because they get sticky and nasty if I don't use them for a while.

had the same thing with Revere pans too. And so did my Mom (had hers from the 50s)
My regular pans are Lagostina. I like them.

I'm not sure what my new ones are, but they have super-heavy bottoms and they don't pit. I remember they were pretty expensive, but I bought them on sale at Macys.

Copper-bottom Belgique? I bought that brand at Macys - on sale as well. For the most part, I like them. But I have sticking problems. Of course, I tend to over-cook stuff. I know others who have the same pans - with zero sticking problems.

The insert that came with the pans said to pre-season them. Of course, I haven't done so since.

I'll have to try IslandGirls suggestions to see if they help.

I switched to cast iron, enameled cast iron and anodized aluminum.

I used to use stainless and everything stuck then I switched to teflon but with the health issues and the scratching I decided to switch over. I love the cast iron... its just the weight of them. And I use the enameled cast iron for acidic foods and slow cooking (I much prefer the way it turns out and gave up my crock pot).

I use a nylon brush to clean but that salt idea is really nifty... how exactly do you do it?

I would be interested in the salt too.

I've had decent results by first spraying the pan with some Pam knockoff. Then heating it up. Just before oil would have started to burn brown, I add in the regular cooking oil (OV or Safflower), waited a few seconds and then the food.

It worked well when, in a former life, I made things like potato pancakes. Just make sure the pan doesn't run dry of the oil. You might need to keeping adding some.

I had to go to the Macy's site and look it up: Calphalon. I bought a 10 and 12 inch fry and one sauce pan. That was several years ago when they weren't brushed, but blindingly bright. They're still blindingly bright. I don't have any stick problems either.

It's kosher salt you want to use, not sea salt (sea salt is too expensive, table salt too fine).

You just wipe out the pan with a paper towel and get the oil and wet stuff out. Then pour a few Tbl spoons of kosher salt into the pan and rub any spots with gunk with salt, using a paper towel. Works great! I was thinking about getting a wooden block and putting that on the salt to get more pressure, it'd be about like sand paper I suppose.

I'm going to try seasoning the stainless steel pan and see if that helps it. I think I have tried adding oil to an already hot pan, but maybe not. I'll try it again and see if it helps.

I'm actually starting to fall in love with the cast iron skillet. It really does clean up easily with the salt and by golly, it seems like everything I make in it tastes awesome. Yeah, eggs do stick on the bottom of the pan where the heat is highest but not to the sides. But the paper towel and salt clean up is easy to take care of.

As I was reading I read about WearEver's Excellence porcelain coated pans. Goodhousekeeping gave them a really good review. I wonder if they're using the bad stuff in them?

Next is... pots? I've got some really expensive Calphalon pots and it seems like that coating is really embedded in the pot. I wonder if they present a problem?

What do other folks like using for pots?