The Best Non-Stick Pan Makes Killer Eggs Without Killing You
Frieling Hybrid Stainless-Nonstick Fry Pan
> $65, Buy now at Amazon
Nonstick pans have gotten a really bad rap, with serious gourmands putting them aside in favor of well-seasoned cast iron or ceramic cookware. Teflon, the typical nonstick coating, isn’t inherently toxic on its own, but if scratched up by metal utensils or overheated, its chemical components may have negative effects on your health. If you really want to use a Teflon pan, you must baby it with a silicon spatula or plastic utensils, reserving the heavy duty steel implements for your other cookware. For dishes that exist in the in-between zone, where you want the nonstick insurance but need a thin, metal tool to free thin gyoza wrappers or fish skin, you’re kind of boned unless you’re cool with a very fun game of toxic chemical roulette.
That’s the reality I lived with until I randomly picked up the Frieling Black Cube fry pan at my local restaurant supply store a few years ago. I was hesitant at first. (“$70 for a frying pan? For real?”) But the pan is totally worth it: it’s light (just clocking in under 2 pounds for a 9 ½-inch model), nonstick, and, most importantly, scratch-proof.
This last bit is the most important. Being able to use a thin metal spatula to aggressively get under a pancake or fried egg feels really freeing to the point of culture shock. It’s like drinking a cocktail on a New Orleans street and having no cops bother you, or transferring to a school without uniforms. You think, This is allowed here? People are just walking around, using metal tongs on their pans? Not having to weigh the choice between scrappy, sticky food and the vague possibility of cancer-y death is a relief.
When I make gyoza, which are notorious for being finicky little things, the section of my mind that used to worry about the delicate wheat wrappers tearing on lesser pan surfaces can instead be occupied with other, less pertinent anxious thoughts about moral philosophy or the melting polar ice caps. I can slide a super thin metal spatula under the dumplings after they reach a perfect golden brown and flip them over with little effort, acting like the Benihana chef I’ve always wanted to be.
