Whats wrong with my frying pan

danlightbulb

Hi all,

Not quite a money saving question but I know there are a great deal of knowledgeable domestic gods and godesses in this part of the forum.

I recieved some advice a while back about my shopping and eating habits, which led me to do a lot more shopping at the butchers to bulk buy meat and freeze it. This is all working out great, but due to the change between less oven cooking I am using my frying pan a lot more.

I am finding that even cooking a small portion of bacon in it leaves a horrible brown residue that is really difficult to clean off. This brown residue covers my washing up sponge in seconds, so I have to throw them away and I'm getting through washing up sponges at a ridiculous pace.

I'm using a standard olive oil to cook in so that can't be the issue. There is no problem with the food, cooiking or taste wise - but the pan is a nightmare.

Anyone help?

Thanks

coffeehound

Yes I find bacon grease is a pain to clean up. I'll usually use newspaper or kitchen paper to wipe out the worst before the pan goes in the washing-up bowl.

krlyr

A little water in the pan while it's still hot helps loosen it - and I also do the kitchen paper trick.

splishsplash

What sort of pan do you have? Ceramic/Tefal/cast iron?

What do you mean by bacon? I think of rashers, but I wouldn't use oil to fry rashers so I'm a bit lost there, sorry.

If you do mean rashers, why not grill them instead of frying them? It allows the rendered fat to fall away and no frying pan problem!

As for cleaning the pan, I would use boiling water from the kettle with a dash of WUL to emulsify the fat, then once it cools a bit, wash with a soft nylon washing up brush and sluice the whole lot with more boiling water.

windup

- olive oil
+ paper towel before it gets burnt on, and before it goes in the wash

too much red/processed/fried meat isn't healthy

PasturesNew

It's part and parcel, pretty much, of cooking bacon ... you need to find a way to wipe the pan down before you wash it up.

Or, cook bacon another way (e.g. nuke it) - but it depends if you want brown/crispy/fried bacon, or are prepared to accept nuked bacon to save the washing issues.

sleepymans

I recently learned that olive oil is not the best oil for frying (something to do with the intense heat negatively affecting some of the enzymes IIRC) but that rape seed oil is best for frying and olive oil best for non heat recipes i.e. salad dressings and drizzling.(Rape seed oil is cheaper too)

I also use a pad of kitchen paper to wipe frying pan before washing it.

and always wash the frypan last...but thats just common sense, isn't it??

Slinky

Wiping the pan out with kitchen towel helps save WUL and also means there is less danger of blocking your drains with a fat build up (as my SIL found out to her big cost when they bought a house where the previous owner had been tipping fat down the kitchen sink).

melanzana

A good solid pan is one way to help this. Whether that is non stick, ceramic or cast iron (seasoned) is your preference, but I find thin based pans are brutal for residue removal.

Anyway, sprinkle some baking soda on the warm pan, add a few drops of white vinegar, and leave for a little while, then clean off with warm water and a scouring sponge. Works a treat.

Steve059

As above. Whatever you use, you need to deal with it before it cools and hardens and before a proper wash up. It's the only downside of fried bacon, and a PITA when Lynne's out and I need to hide the evidence.

Sagz_2

Grill bacon over tin foil, then you can throw out the fat easily.
Or in our house it gets fed to the dogs