De-sticking sticky non-stick pans

I admit it, I'm weird about non-stick pans.  I expect them to be... you know... NON STICK.

Hell, I knew the guy who quality tested the very first non-stick pans as a scientist. His call sign was 'Handy Landy'. He let me play with them.  They were actually non-stick, for a while.

My whole life my experience with non-stick of any kind is they work great out of the box, but it's only a matter of time.  I have bought, used, and tossed a lot of pans over the years. Usually deeply frustrated at the time.

Almost exactly one year ago I bought three good quality non-stick pans. One 10" and two 8".  I told the kids one of the 8" pans was theirs's, and  touching mine was punishable by Dad Glare.  That worked for a while, but Girl Child is the textbook example of obstinate. It took me five years to get her to stop cooking eggs on medium high.

Eventually *their* pan stuck food so bad I trashed it rather than try to get it clean once again.  Of course Girl Child (And mother) started using my non-stick ASAP.  AARRRGGG!

This morning I tried cooking bacon in the 10" pan.  BACON!  It stuck.  I'm not kidding. Bacon, cooking in it's own grease, stuck in the pan so bad I had to scrape it out.  That was it for me, and I was poised with pan over the trash can.

Then I calmed down and gave it some thought.  Technical thought.  WHY does non-stick become must-stick? Every single pan eventually turned into must-stick.  Why?

I mean, I know why my beloved cast iron doesn't stick. It has a polymerized coating on it from seasoning the pan properly.  If I burn or blow that coating, back to square one and season again.  Yet here I am, looking at what *appears* to be a perfectly fine non-stick pan that happens to stick everything that gets near it.  Why??

Study time.  I read up on what coatings are used, how they work, and most importantly what makes them stop working.  I quickly arrived at a theory, and a fix that (almost) worked.

If spay oil is used, and high heat is used, the lecithin in the spray oil will attach to any microscopic fissure and polymerize into a sticky coating.  Or sumpin like that.  The fix was that age old granny tale of vinegar and baking soda. Fill the pan half full of vinegar, set the heat on, add baking soda, let it boil for a while.  That's supposed to get it clean down to the coating.

I'm pretty sure anyone who knows a little chemistry is smirking right now. Acids and bases neutralize each other and arrive at... bupkis.  Yet, both substances are quite good at cleaning various things and I use both.  It's just that mixing them makes a lovely and useless fizz that appears to be doing something.  It's like politicians.  All show and no go.

So I thought to myself  "Self, can you use vinegar and baking soda but play to their strengths?  Baking soda is a base and a very mild abrasive that will clean off any physical presence on the coating.  Vinegar, especially heated, is an acid that will strip the lecithin that dish soap won't touch. Lets give that a try!"

I gently scrubbed the two pans with baking soda and water as a paste. Maybe a minute of scrubbing to each pan.  Washed them clean, and then on the stove with vinegar to half full. Bring to a boil, put a lid on, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Dump the hot vinegar into a container to clean the dishwasher with, and scrub the pans with soap and water.

That done, the real test.  Fry an egg.

I heated the pan on medium heat. A small pat of butter for flavor.  Break a duck egg into a dish and place in the hot pan.  Wait till it starts to solidify, and shake the pan. 90% of the egg was sliding. A little fry pan shuffle turned that into 100%.

This method works.  I might repeat it again just to see if there is any profit to a second treatment.  Two non-stick pans, NOT tossed in the trash.

1. Scrub pan with soap and water (non scratch washy thing).
2. Use a paste of baking soda and water to polish the pan thoroughly. I used a sponge.
3. Re-wash pan with soap and water.
4. Fill halfway with white vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Re-wash pan with soap and water.
6. Done.