Seeking flat-bottom non-stick skillet


 
Follow-up: Maybe the shape of the pan changes as it heats, causing the oil to move. I need to try this again with oil...but I just placed my 10" OXO non-stick on the burner and poured a circle of cold water in the middle...where it stayed. Then I turned the gas burner on HIGH, and when the water started to heat and bubble it started moving to the back side of the pan. So maybe the pan expands and changes shape during heating and the liquid moves accordingly. Or maybe the metal grate over the gas burner expands and contributes to an uneven surface for the pan, too.
 
Hash brown potatoes (well, we prefer home fries) is the exact side that led me down this path, lol. And so, yes, I live with my hand on the skillet handle and continuously swirl. Upon first glance the interior appears flat, but add a couple Tbsp of liquid and a different picture emerges. I do not own any non-stick skillets that react any different when cold. I want to whine and complain about this but I'm not interested in paying $150 to get a flat bottom. And if I were willing I'd have to hide it because my near-perfect wife cooks everything on high heat. I enjoyed reading your thoughts!
 
It is not because the skillet bottom is not flat this happens but is due to the low surface tension caused by the non stick surface. I honestly have never really had an issue. I put my oil in and give it a swirl just before dropping in the food. Just did pan suate'd catfish fillets last night in my large Calpholon non stick. Had no issues at all. I think you may be a little too "anal" about it :D
 
I am not at all an anal guy, lol. I can rest the edge of card stock such as an index card in the bottom and it clearly shows the middle is more shallow than the edges. Well, that may have sounded anal. It's enough that there is no cooking oil in the middle. It's not an issue on all food types but sometimes it is. Like the potatoes lol. But I digress; I'm apparently carrying on over an issue that is not going to be solved with a non-stick skillet, or I might need to pay more than what I'm willing. So I'll live with it.
 
BFletcher said:
I can rest the edge of card stock such as an index card in the bottom and it clearly shows the middle is more shallow than the edges.
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That's something I wouldn't have thought to do, and it sounds kind of useful, actually. I've got a new OXO 12" non-stick pan coming from Amazon and I'm going to try your index card trick on it when it comes, then I'm going to monitor its flatness over time.

You know, when I watch TV cooking shows you see lots of non-flat, deformed skillets in commercial kitchens, and I assume that's because they're blasted with such high heat that they deform over time. Do you think your pan was flat when new and has gotten out of shape with use, or was it never flat to begin with?
 
Chris Allingham said:
Perhaps there are some technical reasons why stamping a metal disc into a pan shape results in a slightly domed center...I don't know. Are there any pan manufacturers in the house?!?.
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Maybe the center of the skillet blank gets stretched less than the outside when it's stamped. So it's slightly thicker / taller in the middle .
 
Go over to Bed Bath and Beyond and look at the AllClad B series non stick pans. They're dead flat
 
BFletcher said:
Hi Chris - can you report on the interior flatness of your OXO pan, yet?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed response.

Same result for the OXO 12" non-stick skillet. It's slightly high in the middle and low around the edges.

This photo illustrates it...when flipping the pan UPSIDE DOWN and placing the bullet level across the center on the OUTSIDE BOTTOM of the pan, you can see light under the level in the center and only the left/right ends of the level touch the pan.

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I am not sure measuring the bottom of the pan from outside always translates to the inside. I think the bottoms of all pans are slightly "hollow formed" to allow the pan to sit correctly on the burner tops when they heat and expand
 
LMichaels said:
I am not sure measuring the bottom of the pan from outside always translates to the inside. I think the bottoms of all pans are slightly "hollow formed" to allow the pan to sit correctly on the burner tops when they heat and expand
Click to expand...

My first step was to place the bullet level into the inside center bottom of the pan, where it rocked back and forth, high in the middle, low around the edges. Only after that did I take the outside photo shown above.
 
Just did a little research and I hate to tell you that you are ill informed Larry.
Calphalon pans are stamped and milled. None are cast.
That’s from their site.
Not sure who sold you the idea that they were cast but, does not appear to be the fact.
 
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