Oven cleaner.
If you want to dial it up: acetone and salt.
If you want to go full send, and you're sure your Teflon pans have no nicks in the surface: concentrated sulfuric acid.
All my favorite cookware are fucking heavy, so on that front I don’t have much advice. One thing I can say though is to experiment with lowering your cooking temperature. I know sometimes we can be in a hurry and we crank it up, but often we could have gotten the same result with a lower setting and a tiny bit more patience. This can make a huge difference with how hard the residue gets stuck. Finally, the nonstick film unfortunately gets worn out after a while and at that point everything will stick non stop. At that point there’s not much to be done but replacing the pan sadly.
I don't use nonstick for roasting, because thats an issue because if you want them to be perfectly cleaned you need to use steel wool. Stainless steel is the best. If you're not concerned about the non stick because there is sticky stuff stuck, use steel wool.
Also, roasting pans are generally acceptable to have some baked in grease, and unless you're in a 3☆ Michelin restaurant, its OK.
Non-stick typically means NO STEEL WOOL -- because it is almost always has thin coating that will get torn up. Then you end up eating tiny flakes of the coating. Then it stays in you forever.
And thats the main reason i don't use them
Don't use nonstick pans for roasting. The Teflon coating doesn't like high temperatures and will flake off. Use a stainless steel pan for that kinda thing. Cast iron works too, but requires more babying.
But also yeah, barkeeper's friend works well at cleaning the surface.
Okay, so if glass is too heavy, then I'm guessing cast iron is right out.
Any pan is going to get that sticky grease. Fats (including oils) polymerize at high heat. That's how people intentionally season cast iron cookware, but you're seeing it where you don't want it. The easiest thing to do is accept that you are getting an extra coating of 'protection'. Otherwise, maybe see if this link's boill-with-vinegar suggestion helps? https://food52.com/blog/25458-how-to-care-for-nonstick-pans
I use Barkeeper's Friend. It works great on most metal surfaces.
I’ve had success filling such pans with water and a single drop of dish soap then boiling it
I clean my cast iron pans with salt and kitchen paper over medium heat. It'll clean residue without removing the seasoning.
Sorry to add this so late, but TV news just told me about an increase in "Teflon Flu". Remembering you had non-stick pans, I wanted to find a link. In a quick check, the majority of the links seemed to come from somewhat suspicious sources such as NYPost and Daily Mail rather than a .gov or .edu.
I'm not saying this is a legitimate thing, but if anyone wants a starting point, you could try here: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a61623919/teflon-flu-symptoms/
Thanks. I’m generally a little skeptical of things like this, but I’m also skeptical of the materials used in pretty much everything these days, so. I’m currently on team nonstick because I moved and needed some pans under $10 that would make my food hot. So that was my main consideration. It definitely does sound like stainless is probably a better bet in the future though, if/when I ever get around to buying quality kitchen things.
Wikipedia has an article on Polymer fume fever with some sources you may find more trustworthy or definite.
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