Non-Stick Mistake and Cure

Question

I made about 4 quarts of Tomato Crab and Jalapeno Soup that contains two cups of heavy cream using a NuWave induction eye and a Circulon non-stick stock pot. The gallon of soup had to be brought to a boil and after adding the crab brought back to a boil.

It was taking too much time to bring the soup to a boil at a setting of 375F. The NuWave can be set to 525F, and I did just that to speed things up. Things went very well, the cooking time was short, and the soup was good. Then when I cleaned the stock pot things turned very bad. The high heat and heavy cream left a mess on the bottom of the non-stick stock pot that wouldn't come off. Well I knew enough not to use anything abrasive on the non-stick surface.

Circulon is the best cookware I have ever owned, and it was time to read their instructions. They state very clearly not to use high heat on non-stick products, and never use anything abrasive for cleaning.

There, somewhere in the instructions was the advised method to get rid of the gunk on the stock pot bottom.

Mix 1/3 vinegar with 2/3 water and boil for 5 to 10 minutes. The pot was clean even before the recipe started to boil, but I let it boil anyway.

If you don’t already know about this trick, file this gem away for future use.

Good Luck!
Wil

dutchmensport · Answer

We've been using that method for years to break stuff stuck on every pan, not just no-stick pans. You actually do not have to bring it to a boil, just add water, and put on low heat and let the water simmer a few minutes. No vinegar, just a few drops of dishwashing liquid. It works for every pan, almost every time. Only a very few times did this not work, probably because we did not let it simmer long enough.

Good tip. Glad you passed this along. It's saved us LOTS of frustrations cleaning caked on food.

swmo · Answer

I refuse to use anything anymore non stick than cast iron or anodizing. In order to stick the cream had to bind to the non stick and I would imagine some of the chemicals mixed in the soup. I don't want my food touching something that can kill birds with its fumes.

Vinegar is great for cleaning regular SS pans that build up calcium from hard water. We have to give are pots that treatment monthly because our water is so hard.

wca01 · Answer

When retailing those unproven bird stories, you might want to revisit the defunct Al Gore stories and the aluminum cookware alarms.

I don't care what you decide for cooking, but your response seems to be a political position that can't supported with facts.

Please just comment about a good method of removing "stuck" gunk. That's all my post was about. Leave the choice to cooking materials to another thread.

Good Luck!
Wil

dutchmensport · Answer

It still doesn't matter what kind of pot or pan it is, no stick, aluminum, cast iron, Teflon, or glass, if crud is stuck on the bottom, just add water, put on stove, heat and let it simmer a while. The crud will break loose. Just that simple!

Actually, I remember those days when Teflon was still a new concept in cook ware. After a while the Teflon would begin to peal off the bottom of the pan, and we'd find little specks of it in your fried eggs and stuff. We ate it anyway. I guess it didn't kill me ;) After all, I'm still here, but for the life of me ... da, da, da, uh, um ... well, I can't remember who I am any more! :)

mike243 · Answer

yep heating water takes the crud out, dont put the white vinegar up yet though, for stainless skillets put a small amount in them then heat til evaporated, let cool wash. You will be surprised as how much it helps keeping foods from sticking, just retreat when food starts sticking again &amp; depending on how high of heat &amp; usage it will last several months

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Non-Stick Mistake and Cure

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