Some Questions About Pyrex and Corningware

[palo]

Corningware has a contact us page that you might try:

 

http://www.worldkitchen.com/en/contactus

 

It's not the same as talking to a "real" person and you might just get a "form" response, but it's a start.

 

p

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I use pyroceram under the broiler.  It's pyroceram after all.

[SylviaLovegren]

I used one of my old pyrex casseroles on the stove top recently and it shattered into a hundred pieces.  Surprised the heck outta me since I'd been doing that for years.  (It was fun getting the peas and glass out of the burners.)  It was a glass one not a ceramic, but I'd still be hesitant to use intense heat like that now. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Consider Corning laboratory hotplates are made out of pyroceram.

[Lisa Shock]

Vintage items can be dangerous: has the surface been deeply scratched, was the item stressed by being dropped on multiple occasions, ever dropped anything heavy (like a cast iron skillet) on top of it?

 

Then, there's the question of how you're going to use it. Will you be putting a big pile of frozen food on it and shoving it under the broiler so that some exposed parts will become hot quickly while other parts of the pan will be closing to freezing temperatures? Will you be pulling it from the fridge and immediately putting it under the broiler?

 

It's rare for those items to break, but, they can break and need to be handled with care.

 

Glass, ceramics, etc. are not allowed in professional kitchens because they can and do break. A metal pan (sheet pan, hotel pan) will last longer and take more abuse. -And will probably cost less.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Shel_B,

 

I love my vintage Corning Ware, and it has many, many uses in the kitchen. Stove top on direct heat, despite Sylvia Lovgren's anecdote of successful use for years, and under the broiler are not one of them.

 

That said, a fiance I lived with for a couple of years in the 80's had a set of "Visions" cookware we used on an electric stove as recommended by the manufacturer. I loved it, because you could see what was going on inside your pot, and we had no mishaps. Now we have tempered glass lids pretty standard on metal pots, and that is plenty good enough for me.

 

I even like to avoid high heat oven baking of meats or anything where grease can polymerize on your Corning Ware piece. Then how do you get it off? Anything effective you scrub it with is liable to scratch it, which is a definite no no. I cover my Corning and Pyrex pie plates with foil when I use them for the second cook on twice baked potatoes for easy clean up of grease pops from the cheddar cheese.

 

You are going to be much better off with metal under the broiler. I still usually line the broiling pan with foil, because fat will polymerize at those temps, and that makes clean up pretty tough. I have a dedicated stainless broiling pan with its own rack that I use naked, and it looks rough with burned on grease, but I don't really care. I can even throw that one in the dishwasher.

 

Do yourself a favor and save your vintage ceramic bakeware for lower temp cooking. It will become more expensive and harder to replace as time passes. It's amazingly durable, but broiling is unnecessarily pushing your valuable kitchen workhorse beyond its very respectable limits.

[IowaDee]

Almost all of my cookware is Vision Ware.  I have eveything from loaf pans to large casseroles.  Some of it has the non-stick coating in the bottom but the majority is plain.  When it first came out, my local grocery store had a deal where you could get one piece per week with a minimum store purchase.  I have picked up additional pieces at thrift shops over the years.  Use it all the time on the stove, in the oven and in the microwave.  I don't use it in the broiler.  Also have many pieces of Corning Ware with the blue cornflower on them.  Again, I use it everywhere except in the broiler.  Hardly ever run across pieces in thrift shops  People must realize what treasures they have!  Sometimes older really is better and vintage, best of all.

[radtek]

I have both a P-84 and a P-84-B which are identical for all practical purposes except one was made in the States and the other Austrailia. I've used them on the burner before but since they were my mother's and precious to me that practice has been phased out. 

 

When fat polymerizes on them Easy-off oven cleaner takes care of it.

[Shel_B]

OK, I'm convinced to skip using the Corningware under the broiler.  Thanks!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I broiled chicken in my thirty some year old Corningware and thought of this thread.  When I wish to broil something I grab my Corningware.

[IowaDee]

I too have many old pieces of it, all in the cornflower design.  Most are marked on the bottom as how to use them.  For example, my 8 in. square pan says it is for oven, range or microwave use. I could find no pieces that mentioned using them in the broiler, but I would feel comfortable doing just that.  The new stuff, maybe not  Best coffee I ever had was made in a Corning Ware electric pot.  It was a sad day in our kitchen when the pot was recalled. In return for sending in the lid, I got credit or coupons for all types of their products.  Don't tell anyone but I found another lid at a yard sale,a couple of years later and sent it in as well.  If you were lucky enough to be on my Christmas list that year, there was a piece of Corning Ware with your name on it!

[Lisa Shock]

Do an internet search for "exploding pyrex". I had a pyrex measuring cup explode in my hand while measuring cold water, nothing hot was involved, about a decade ago. I have gotten rid of almost all all the glass bakeware in my kitchen, just some Duralex custard cups remain, and almost all of the ceramics (just holding on to a couple of vintage items with sentimental value). Honestly, I use my copper clad stainless pots and pans, plus my beloved wok and cast iron, for almost everything and for baking I use professional sheet pans and hotel pans.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Lisa Shock
forgot to add cast iron (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I think the exploding Pyrex is a problem with the later manufactured stuff after they switched from borosilicate glass to tempered soda lime glass. I have a bunch of pieces that I bought years ago and have never had a problem with them, but there is definitely a problem with the newer stuff, which you could not pay me to accept.

 

@Lisa Shock, was your measuring cup of recent manufacture? That is so scary, and I am seriously wondering how that could happen. 

 

I've had several glazed stoneware pieces that are marked "oven proof" (they aren't) fail, but they usually just crack into two or three pieces, ruining your food, of course. I got rid of them because the oven proof part was most of the appeal.

 

A live in boyfriend had a set of Visions pots and pans. This was in the late 80's to early 90's. I liked them because you can see inside as to what's going on with the food. I can't recall an undue problem cleaning them and I do remember missing them when he moved out enough to invest in some cookware with tempered glass lids so I could see my food cooking again. We used the Visions on the stove top with no problem, but that was then and this is now.  I would not even consider soda lime glass for kitchen ware, but if you can find the vintage borosilicate, you will be fine, I think.

[Lisa Shock]

The cup was purchased in 1997, right after a move. It exploded in 2007, in front of witnesses. It was in the cupboard, I pulled it out and was putting water from the tap into it and it just exploded. I did not knock it on the sink or anything.

 

I know about the 2 types of glass, and drink from Duralex cups. What worries me are baked goods and savory foods that people regularly cut into while still in the pan. I looked at my Pyrex pan from 1984, which had seen many a lasagna cut inside it, and realized that there was a huge network of scratches - any of which could cause failure. At least a SS hotel pan won't break because it got scratched.

 

Between the French oven that came with my copper-clad pans, my cast iron Dutch oven, and a variety of hotel pans, I realized that I have a lot of good options for baking the savory foods I generally bake like: baked beans, lasagna, macaroni casseroles, scalloped potatoes, enchiladas, etc. (I love making frittatas in cast iron skillets!)  I do have dedicated pans (sheet pans, cake pans) for pastry, breads and other bakery items -once again, I don't really need anything glass or ceramic beyond the occasional custard or souffle cup.

 

I guess that I also realized that I simply owned a lot of pans, far beyond my stove's capacity, and I really did not need that many. I also realized that I had a lot of glass mixing bowls, but was limited with how I could use them -I was nervous about whipping cream or eggs. At the same time, I also own a good collection of steel bowls in various sizes (for several of them I have as many as 4 of the same size) and I realized I could easily just use the steel bowls if I purchased a couple more. The steel bowls stack nicely and don't weigh very much.

 

Nowadays, I don't worry about dropping pans when moving them around. And, I can grab bowls quickly and easily.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

9 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

The cup was purchased in 1997

 

That is not old enough, but still shocking that it could have happened with a cup at room temp from a cabinet! If I did not know and respect you so much, that would be hard to believe, but I do know, trust and respect you, so it happened. That soda lime glass cheat cost cut is horrible and no way to sue Chinese companies for injuries or losses. Brought to you by businessmen/women who poisoned their countrymen's babies with formula tainted with melamine. Some of the responsible parties were eventually executed, but that did not bring the babies back to life.

 

Here's a link to how the good and useful cookware became extremely dangerous.

 

I "love"  the statement that there has never been a recall on their products. They also rest on their laurels of past performance of decades, which is true, but things have changed and not for the better for the consumer. That is because the political climate here in USA and many other places is so friendly to business that even people who are severely injured by their lower than crap products nowadays have a hard time suing. Please don't buy soda lime glass. It is dangerous in your kitchen!

[pastrygirl]

7 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

That soda lime glass cheat cost cut is horrible and no way to sue Chinese companies for injuries or losses. Brought to you by businessmen/women who poisoned their countrymen's babies with formula tainted with melamine.

 

I don't think it is fair to blame (or try to sue) the factory if Pyrex changed the formula and the factory was delivering product made to Pyrex's specifications.  If someone at the factory independently substituted a different/cheaper ingredient or process without consulting the parent company, that's a different story than if Pyrex simply decided to change the formula and the new formula sucks. 

 

 

[Toliver]

This discussion has become a burr under my saddle, so to speak. Every where I go now on the internet, I am deluged with photos/ads of that horrible "Visions" cookware that I linked to in my earlier post.

Grrrr.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

That is not old enough, but still shocking that it could have happened with a cup at room temp from a cabinet! If I did not know and respect you so much, that would be hard to believe, but I do know, trust and respect you, so it happened. That soda lime glass cheat cost cut is horrible and no way to sue Chinese companies for injuries or losses. Brought to you by businessmen/women who poisoned their countrymen's babies with formula tainted with melamine. Some of the responsible parties were eventually executed, but that did not bring the babies back to life.

 

Here's a link to how the good and useful cookware became extremely dangerous.

 

I "love"  the statement that there has never been a recall on their products. They also rest on their laurels of past performance of decades, which is true, but things have changed and not for the better for the consumer. That is because the political climate here in USA and many other places is so friendly to business that even people who are severely injured by their lower than crap products nowadays have a hard time suing. Please don't buy soda lime glass. It is dangerous in your kitchen!

 

Here is a picture from Wikipedia that illustrates the difference:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex#/media/File:Pyrex_and_PYREX.jpg

 

I believe all my measuring cups are borosilicate.  My three newest say "Corning NY USA".  My older ones no longer say much of anything at all.

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Here is a picture from Wikipedia that illustrates the difference:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex#/media/File:Pyrex_and_PYREX.jpg

 

I believe all my measuring cups are borosilicate.  My three newest say "Corning NY USA".  My older ones no longer say much of anything at all.

 

So clear Pyrex good, blue Pyrex bad?  

[Porthos]

Bold Block Letters logo: Good, rounded: lettering bad.

 

I have very littel glass in my kitchen; if I were single there would be even less.

[lindag]

I have a set of the blue cornflower Pyrex made for microwave use that I got for my first microwave in the mid 70s

I'm still using it and have only had to find a new lid for the little skillet (that I found on eBay).

I've actually I've used it on the stovetop but only under very low heat.  

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by lindag (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

So clear Pyrex good, blue Pyrex bad?  

 

Apparently...and the French made Pyrex is said to still be borosilicate.

 

[boilsover]

On 8/2/2017 at 9:05 AM, Toliver said:

Corning makes a "Visions" line of cookware, but I can't recommend it for stove-top use.

My mom had this (click) sauce pan and tried using it to make something simple like gravy. It always, without fail, burned at the bottom.

Good luck with your search.

 

This is funny.  Visions is THE worst cookware ever, IME.  At IHHS last year, even the people making it admitted to me how atrocious it is.

 

To the OP:  No cookware on the market is unsafe (at least from a poison-in-your-food standpoint).  If you dine out, you are already regularly eating food cooked in bare aluminum.  And you are getting dramatically more aluminum from your toothpastes and antiperspirants, among myriad other products.

[boilsover]

On 8/5/2017 at 9:36 PM, Lisa Shock said:

Do an internet search for "exploding pyrex". I had a pyrex measuring cup explode in my hand while measuring cold water, nothing hot was involved, about a decade ago. I have gotten rid of almost all all the glass bakeware in my kitchen, just some Duralex custard cups remain, and almost all of the ceramics (just holding on to a couple of vintage items with sentimental value). Honestly, I use my copper clad stainless pots and pans, plus my beloved wok and cast iron, for almost everything and for baking I use professional sheet pans and hotel pans.

 

 

I agree with you 100% about Pyrex (yes, all years, both borosilicate and soda lime glass) being an unreasonable safety risk.  However, it is a different animal than pyroceram, from which Visions is made.  IMO, Visions is much safer in terms of breakage, but words escape me to describe how horrible it is to cook in.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

40 minutes ago, boilsover said:

 

I agree with you 100% about Pyrex (yes, all years, both borosilicate and soda lime glass) being an unreasonable safety risk.  However, it is a different animal than pyroceram, from which Visions is made.  IMO, Visions is much safer in terms of breakage, but words escape me to describe how horrible it is to cook in.

 

I recently gave the last of my Visions away.  Good riddance, horrible cookware.  However Visions is not -- never to be confused with -- Pyroceram.  Please.