The Beginner’s Guide on How To Clean Ceramic Skillets
Why are you still packing all of those Teflon pans in your kitchen?
Don’t you know no one uses those things anymore?
And there’s more to it than just “we’ve found something new.”
The thing is, we’ve found something better.
“What’s better than Teflon?” you may ask.
I’ll tell you what’s better: ceramic.
There are so many benefits to using ceramic cookware over Teflon cookware, it’ll make your head spin.
Now, if you don’t know how to clean ceramic or are intimidated by the prospect of caring for it, don’t worry! It’s much easier than you think!
Why you shouldn’t use Teflon
First, let’s cover why it’s a bad idea to continue using Teflon, especially when there are better options out there.
For starters, Teflon contains material that, when heated to high temperatures, produces 15 different toxins.
The fumes of these toxins are known to fatally harm birds. They also produce flu-like symptoms in humans.
These symptoms are called “Teflon Flu.”
Kind of hard to look at Teflon the same way after you find out there’s a “flu” of sorts named after it, huh?
But let’s say that doesn’t bother you.
After all, birds are much smaller than humans. And Teflon isn’t fatal to humans anyways.
What about PFOA, one of the materials used when manufacturing Teflon?
PFOA has been shown to create cancer and birth defects in animals.
In fact, there are two cases of birth defects in children birthed by factory workers in West Virginia.
Any guesses as to what the factory they were working in produced?
That’s right: Teflon.
The benefits of using ceramic cookware
With ceramic cookware, there’s no risk of cancer or birth defects. There’s no risk of anything.
Ceramic cookware doesn’t produce or use any unsafe or otherwise unquestionable material.
That means it can withstand reaching temperatures higher than those that Teflon can safely reach.
Plus, they’re much more durable and will last a long time, provided you take care of them according to their manual’s instructions.
Oh, and did we mention they’re also non-stick? Because they are.
You’ll never need to buy cooking spray again if you switch to ceramic pots and pans.
All you need’s a small sliver of butter or a bit of oil to coat the inside of the ware prior to cooking or baking, and you’re set.
Ready for an added bonus?
Ceramic distributes heat evenly.
So all the time you spent sweating over making sure your food was dead-center?
It’ll be put to other use when you switch to ceramic permanently!
How to care for ceramic cookware
Now, bear in mind that ceramic requires a bit more care than Teflon.
But also bear in mind that, as we discussed above, ceramic is worth the extra work.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And so ceramic needs that extra bit of care.
First off, never, ever, ever, ever use metal utensils on ceramic.
Metal utensils have sharp edges that will deface and ultimately wear your ceramic cookware faster.
When using ceramic, opt for wooden, plastic, or other non-metal utensils.
Second: use only low or medium heat when cooking or baking with ceramic.
Yes, it’s true that ceramic can withstand higher temperature, but that doesn’t mean you should crank up the heat.
After all, just because you can run across the interstate doesn’t mean you should, right?
Using a lower temperature when cooking or baking with your ceramic ware prevents the non-stick layer from wearing off.
Thus, it prevents food from sticking to the side and staining the material.
Plus, since ceramic heats the food therein evenly, as stated above, there’s no real reason to turn up the heat.
Speaking of temperatures: when you’re done cooking, you’ll have a right big mess to clean up, regardless of whether or not you’re using ceramic cookware.
As tempting as it may be, never immediately fill a hot ceramic pot or pan with cold water.
Doing so will damage the non-stick coating, which will in turn greatly affect how well the ware performs.
Now let’s fast-forward a bit to the post-cooking/-baking part of the process.
You’ve got everything totally clean, and now you’ve ready to pack it all away for the night.
Again, as tempting as it may be, you should never stack ceramic pans and pots inside of each other.
As tough as ceramic is, its coating is very susceptible to scratches, especially from other ceramic cookware.
If you do need to stack your ceramic pots and pans, however, you can opt to stick paper towels between them.
You can also buy soft cookware protectors that you can slip between your various pieces of cookware instead.
How to clean ceramic cookware
We’re going to rewind back to the cleaning process now.
Cleaning ceramic can prove an intimidating, daunting task, likely because of how sensitive the coating is to scratches and other abrasions.
Don’t be intimidated if you don’t know how to clean ceramic! It’s much easier than you think!
Although cleaning ceramic is easy enough, it still requires a higher level of care than cleaning Teflon.
For one, you should always hand-wash your ceramic. Don’t ever machine-wash it.
There are a variety of other techniques available that make cleaning ceramic cookware even easier:
1) Letting the pot or pan set with water for an extended period of time.
This is the most basic “how to clean ceramic” (“and, well, anything that requires gentle handling and washing”) rule.
After you’ve let the pot or pan cool, fill it with water and let it set for a while.
Doing so will loosen up the bits of food still stuck to the side without any abrasive cleaning.
When the food is loose enough, you can scrape away the food with a plastic spatula or even your hands.
2) Use baking soda.
Instead of filling up your ware with water and leaving it alone for a while, you could try filling it with less water and adding baking soda.
Baking soda, as you likely know, can be used as a sort of cleaner.
It can be used to clean everything from your grill to your laundry to your toilet bowl.
The same logic applies here.
A little bit of baking soda can go a long way when it comes to cleaning your ceramic cookware
3) Use bleach or Oxi-Clean.
Be very careful with these materials because they’re not to be ingested.
For particularly troublesome stains, a touch of bleach or Oxi-Clean can be the answer.
Of course, be sure to thoroughly wash your ware after using either on it to prevent accidentally ingesting the chemical in the future.
Now that you know how to clean ceramic and care for it properly, go wild in your kitchen!
Whether you’re making a holiday treat for your loved ones or simply brewing up some hot cocoa, ceramic is the way to go for all of your cooking and baking needs!