Homemade Pam

[seabream]

I recently traded my Teflon non-stick pans for stainless steel pans + Pam (for making fried eggs, Spanish tortilla, etc). I realize now that I traded an evil for another. Pam smells bad, the little droplets on the sides of the pan are a pain to clean, and the list of ingredients is scary. I also don't imagine the quality of the olive oil used to compare to the olive oil I use in my kitchen. But it works like magic.

That got me thinking: the magic in Pam is lecithin, so couldn't I make my own high quality "Pam" by mixing lecithin and good olive oil? I'm curious if any of you has tried that with good results. I'd like to try it, but I'm unsure whether I should use liquid lecithin or lecithin in granules.

I am also wondering if by mixing lecithin with peanut oil, I would be able to pan-fry at high heat with no sticking. In other words, is it safe to heat lecithin to high temperatures?

Also, I heard that using Pam on Teflon surfaces causes those surfaces to becomes sticky over time (although I don't understand the need to add a non-stick substance to a non-stick pan). I am wondering if Pam causes the same problem to other surfaces, in particular, stainless steel pans, silicone molds, and aluminum molds.

[Ttogull]

Not really a direct answer, but have you considered a paper towel dipped in an oil of your choosing (I like grapeseed for high heat neutral oil) and, perhaps with tongs, brushing oil on your pan? I use stainless steel and cast iron and don't own Pam at all. A half onion is also great.

Edited June 8, 2013 by Ttogull (log)

[seabream]

For high heat cooking, I find that I am able to use the stainless steel pan with little to no sticking. If I heat the pan dry until it's pretty hot before adding the oil, meat/fish don't usually stick.

My problem is with fried eggs. For those I keep the stove on the lowest heat setting throughout, and the eggs stick consistently on my stainless steel pan, regardless of which fat I use. I also make Spanish tortilla often enough (in fact, I just made one), and I would be afraid of making it without Teflon or Pam. If the eggs stick even just a little bit, the tortilla won't be so pretty after being flipped.

But you mention something that may be the answer: cast iron. I own a cast iron pan but have never used it for eggs because it's so big. But I'll have to try it. If it's non-stick enough, I would buy a small one to make eggs.

How do you make your fried eggs?

[Lisa Shock]

People cooked eggs for a long time before the advent of teflon and Pam. Generally, you use more oil than you would of Pam. Cast iron is fine, but you need to work quickly as it is less responsive than steel.

I grew up with steel and learned to turn out eggs (scrambled, fried, omelets) in it as part of learning to cook. My suspicion is that you are heating the pan too high for eggs, and you may not be using enough oil.

[ePressureCooker]

Is there any reason you couldn't just use an oil mister and olive oil without the lecithin?

[Lisa Shock]

I have not been able to make a spray, but, I have been making the non-stick pan coating from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book for years. It works really well with baked goods, I keep a jar in the back of the fridge. My only change to the recipe is that I add a tablespoon of BHT to a quart of oil and let it dissolve overnight before using. (prevents rancidity)

1/2 cup lecithin -I have only used the granules from the health food store

1 cup vegetable oil (use a type that will not burn at high heat, I use peanut)

Pour into a blender and mix well for a minute, store in the refrigerator. Apply evenly with a pastry brush or paper towel.

[seabream]

For fried eggs, I heat the pan and cook the eggs in the lowest gas my stove allows. I don't like the brown bits in the egg white, and this helps avoid that. I add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, plus a tsp or so. If I use just oil without lecithin, little bits of the egg white will stick to the bottom of the pan every time.

Good point about cast iron being less responsive to heat. A simple fried egg would take much longer to make compared to using stainless steel.

Good to know about the lecithin+oil mixture. A spray is not necessary in my opinion. How long does the mixture keep in the fridge? Do you notice your baking pots becoming sticky or dirty over time from the lecithin?

[Lisa Shock]

Cast iron can also get too hot and stay there for too long, making crunchy eggs...

I toss out the oil/lecithin mixture after about a year, just in case. (I often make a half-batch at a time.) With the BHT, which prevents rancidity, it's probably ok for use for a lot longer, but, I don't have a lab to check on it. I am concerned -because it's whipped in the blender, oxygen has gotten to all of it, unlike a regular bottle of oil where just the top is exposed. (and, of course, oils can be rancid and full of cancer-causing compounds before you can smell that it's gone off) I vacuum seal the lecithin granules and store those in the fridge to use later. I have kept some of those for up to five years, sealed.

It does create less brown sticky stuff, mostly because I apply it only where it's needed, there's no stray drops on odd areas like with a spray. It's also nice because it doesn't wind up oiling your kitchen, and can't be inhaled by you or your pets. (IMO, a goodly % of the greasy crud that forms on kitchen cabinets and range hoods is pan spray.)

BTW, don't use olive for for this, it not only tends to burn but, it's super-firm when cold and difficult to use.

[Mofassah]

Butter, and nothing but good 'ole butter, is all I ever use to fry or sear anything in my skillet, especially everything with eggs. Not only because I love the flavor, but also because it's better at helping to avoid stuff to stick than any form of oil and fat I have ever tried. If I am going to fry something hard, at really high temp, I use clearified butter, since the white proteins that ends up at the bottom when the butter melts may add an unpleasant burnt sour flavor and also cause some sticking.

I have invested in a really good sturdy thick non-stick pan now, and I love it, but I have used both steel and cast iron for 25-30 years and I've never had a problem with things sticking to it. The clue is to NEVER EVER use any form of soap in it. Just rinse and scrub it under running warm water after use, when it's still hot, and dry it off thoroughly with a paper or a towel. If you burn something or fry something smelly, like fish, you can fill it with water and let it boil hard for a couple of minutes, then dry it off and smear it with a bit of sunflower oil or another oil that handles heat well, i.e. not olive oil.

[chefmd]

Try DeBuyer blue steel crepe pans. After initial seasoning (with potato peels!) they are really non stick and produce gorgeous crepes. Additional use: searing steaks.

[seabream]

Thank you everyone for all the great answers!

I am going to try the lecithin+oil and the butter solutions to fry eggs on my stainless steel pan in the coming days.

[seabream]

Quick update: I fried an egg using lecithin + peanut oil and the pan was as non-stick as using Pam. Very cool.

Lisa: how do you mix the lecithin granules with the oil? I tried two ways:

* For the first batch, I blended the granules and oil in the Blendtec.

* For the second batch, I powdered the granules in the spice grinder and then blended them with oil in the Blendtec.

The second batch was much better mixed. The granules in the first batch sunk to the bottom of the jar after a few minutes. The powder in the second batch was still well dispersed after half hour or so.

I can imagine this solution would work well for greasing pans when baking.

[Lisa Shock]

I never thought to grind the granules, I always just tossed the ingredients in my Oster classic beehive blender (circa 1996, real chrome on steel not the newer wimpy one) and let it run for a while, maybe 3 minutes... It makes a paste sort of like honey butter, keeping it in the fridge may stiffen it up a little. It's not attractive, but it works. Sometimes I apply it by putting on a disposable kitchen glove and scooping it up and on the pan with just my fingers.

It's always worked very well for me with baked goods: breads, cakes, etc.

[HungryC]

The OP doesn't like the "funny stuff" in Pam spray, which means she's objecting to the petroleum components of propane and isobutane. Which means that BHT (or its cousin, BHA) are probably just as objectionable. BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) & BHA do prevent rancidity, but they're retained in the food, as opposed to the propane & isobutane's dissipation (both are gases at room & cooking temps). BHT/BHA are petroleum-derived products, just like the propane & isobutane. Ain't nothing natural 'bout any of that stuff, even if it is in the Laurel's Kitchen book.

Me, I use a little butter in the pan to cook my eggs. Sometimes I use bacon grease. I'd rather have saturated fat than petroleum by-products in my food.

[Twyst]

Im also in the duck fat or bacon fat clan. Never had a problem with sticking and adds great flavor. In a restaurant setting I stick to clarified butter (and the only nonstick pan in the kitchen!)

Edited June 12, 2013 by Twyst (log)

[seabream]

Yeah, I would rather avoid the BHT. If I make small batches and store them in the fridge, I'm pretty sure I'll use them up before they go bad.

I noticed that "Pam for baking" contains TBHQ as a preservative, also a derivative from petroleum, but "Pam olive oil" doesn't.

They both (obviously) contain "propellant" - propane and/or butane I assume?

I'm also not comfortable with the "palm oil" in "Pam for baking" - an ingredient I avoid as much as possible, equally for health and environmental reasons.

I would also rather not cook with GMO canola oil in "Pam for baking", and I don't trust the quality of the "extra virgin olive oil" in "Pam olive oil".

And I wonder what scary stuff goes in "artificial flavor" in "Pam for baking".

There are some other ingredients that I don't know much about: phosphated mono- and diglycerides, dimethyl silicone, silicone dioxide.

Lecithin is known to be safe though, and luckily is also the ingredient that makes Pam non-stick. So I see no disadvantage to the homemade technique. In fact, I think it's safer than the highest quality oil used on Teflon.

Although please speak up if you think my logic is flawed

[seabream]

Also, I get lecithin granules from non-GM soy. I doubt that Pam's lecithin is non-GMO.

[furzzy]

Try DeBuyer blue steel crepe pans. After initial seasoning (with potato peels!) they are really non stick and produce gorgeous crepes. Additional use: searing steaks.

How does one use potato peels to season a pan?

[furzzy]

HungryC & Twyst, I'm with you. On all things cooking: butter, clarified butter, duck fat, pork fat (both bacon & pure rendered leaf lard), schmaltz, caul fat, and occasionally real suet. Well, I use some organic oils: olive, rapeseed (canola), peanut, grapeseed, safflower, etc...but always organic.

[beau]

My question is, can I also use liquid lecithin in home-made non-stick pan coating?

Also . . .

<< . . although I don't understand the need to add a non-stick substance to a non-stick pan . . >>

There are some ingredients which will stick badly to non-stick surfaces. I make gulten-free waffles with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Biscuit and Baking Mix, and if you don't season the non-stick waffle iron you're going to have major sticking problems which require a difficult clean-up, given the shape of waffle irons.

I prep the surface with 1) leaf lard when the iron is new and occasionally later on (do not use Armour brand), and 2) sunflower oil. Then I brush on sunflower oil before every use, and still there are some serious sticking problems. This is bothersome because a lot of oil must be used, I don't like the wastefulness esp since I buy high quality sunflower oil (La Tourangelle and Rapunzel).

I just started using Pam, and it absolutely works wonders, causing zero sticking. So if you're using gluten-free flour, Pam is the answer . . . but I'm going to try the home-made non-stick because I dont' care for Pam's petrochemical ingredients.

Finally, as someone pointed out to me years ago on eGullet, cast iron seasoned with real leaf lard is far and away the least-sticky surface. For years I seasoned cast iron with oils until one day I tried leaf lard, and the difference is enormous.

Edited February 9, 2014 by beau (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I've always made it with the liquid lecithin.