You should never use any cooking spray that contains lecithin on any sort of non-stick surface. The reason is because of the difference in the way pure oils polymerize over time, compared with how they polymerize when they are contaminated with lecithin, which is found in most cooking sprays.
Pure oils will cause your cookware and bakeware to eventually darken over time. They end up with a tough, fairly durable, naturally occurring non-stick surface. They get better with age. It's also what makes cast iron so wonderful to use. It happens to your non-stick pans too, but it just takes much much longer to achieve the same level of polymerization.
However, when the oils contain lecithin, you eventually end up with a sticky, gummy residue that is difficult to remove, unless you scrub the heck out of it with steel wool or a heavy duty metal scrubber. This might be fine if your pan is made of bare steel, and you don't mind wasting heaps of your time scrubbing the heck out of it, but not if you have a non-stick surface. Steel wool or metal scrubbers will ruin non-stick pans. And that sticky gummy film will eventually cause foods to stick, requiring you to use even more cooking spray to achieve the same results, which will just make the problem worse, till you become completely fed up with it and toss the pan in the trash.
So, what is the alternative, if you want your expensive non-stick pans to get better with age, providing you with a lifetime of good results, instead of eventually ending up in the trash bin? Use a liquid vegetable oil that doesn't come in a spray can. Either apply it with a pastry brush or pour some in a food safe spray bottle, and spray it on that way. Either way will coat your pans with a pure oil that doesn't contain any lecithin.
April 14, 2021 at 3:15pm
In reply to Hi there! This is a… by equillen
You should never use any cooking spray that contains lecithin on any sort of non-stick surface. The reason is because of the difference in the way pure oils polymerize over time, compared with how they polymerize when they are contaminated with lecithin, which is found in most cooking sprays.
Pure oils will cause your cookware and bakeware to eventually darken over time. They end up with a tough, fairly durable, naturally occurring non-stick surface. They get better with age. It's also what makes cast iron so wonderful to use. It happens to your non-stick pans too, but it just takes much much longer to achieve the same level of polymerization.
However, when the oils contain lecithin, you eventually end up with a sticky, gummy residue that is difficult to remove, unless you scrub the heck out of it with steel wool or a heavy duty metal scrubber. This might be fine if your pan is made of bare steel, and you don't mind wasting heaps of your time scrubbing the heck out of it, but not if you have a non-stick surface. Steel wool or metal scrubbers will ruin non-stick pans. And that sticky gummy film will eventually cause foods to stick, requiring you to use even more cooking spray to achieve the same results, which will just make the problem worse, till you become completely fed up with it and toss the pan in the trash.
So, what is the alternative, if you want your expensive non-stick pans to get better with age, providing you with a lifetime of good results, instead of eventually ending up in the trash bin? Use a liquid vegetable oil that doesn't come in a spray can. Either apply it with a pastry brush or pour some in a food safe spray bottle, and spray it on that way. Either way will coat your pans with a pure oil that doesn't contain any lecithin.