The ubiquitous crap aluminum skillet

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aaamax

aaamax

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A friend just took over an establishment and needed some help over the weekend.
The ubiquitous aluminum skillet was the order of the day. I haven't used aluminum pans in over 10 years and I have to say, I freakin' love them. All the hubbub about health concerns not withstanding, these things just smoke everything else out there except for good copper. I bloody hate the teflon crap that is used in 90% of all the places I see.
What do you all think about these pans? still using them?
For the hell of it I made a simple omelet for one of the busboys and damn the heat was just so even and perfect… I forgot how easy these things made of the day's work.
Cheers.

 
How do you do an omelet on these without it sticking all over the place? (Clueless home cook here)
 
Get it hot. Add fat. Get it hot. Add egg. It looks daunting, but you just need to have a million tickets piling up and a bunch of angry, hungover diners looking at you in an open kitchen and, crap, do you figure it out fast.

Worked for years at a neighborhood place where we cooked omelettes in a steel pan in a 700 degree pizza oven. They were... different. Souffled.
 
Eggs won't stick if the pan is the right temp.
 
Lol! Indeed, your two main friends for the rights-of-passage omelet: Heat and Butter.
My preference is of course the very, well seasoned cast iron skillet for this task. Take that, you non stick teflon upstart.
Side note Perneto, The classic and Imo the best omelet, is fresh eggs in bowl, minimal stirring and still leaving it lumpy and that is IT. pour into hot pan and butter, pinch salt and pepper stir a bit with fork then don't touch. when almost done, fold and serve.
Invite alllll you neighbors over and make everybody an omelet. At the end of the day you will have become a COOK. Seriously, control that simple omelet and you are beyond 75% of today's cooking school graduates.
bon appétit.
 
I can make a pretty good classic French omelet, like the second one in this Pepin video: [video=youtube;s10etP1p2bU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10etP1p2bU[/video]

I don't really see this happening without a super well seasoned carbon or cast iron pan, or non-stick, though?
I use a ceramic coated pan that works well, which I use for eggs only; I also have a carbon pan that I've been trying to get omelet-ready for ages, but so far it hasn't worked.

I think the one you (aaamax) describe is more like the first one in the video, what he calls country-style?

Can you guys make a non-browned omelet in a steel or aluminium pan? Seems impossible?
 
Great video Perneto. Pepin, the master that he is, lays it out so well.
We all have our own ways of getting to the final result. Pepin's country version is damn close as you pointed out. The big difference for me is that I actually want the white strands and work the mixture 1/10 the amount that he does both in the bowl and in the pan.
As for your question about the browning, It's all in the heat and using a LOT more butter at first and then taper back once you get the hang of it. That's a biggie. Use 3x more than Pepin when you're starting out. Pans, I use only old thriftstore cast iron for my omelets if I have a choice and at home. Curve on the sides is nice but not a prerequisite. NEVER wash your omelet pan. If something gets burned, scrape it off and yes you can use some water, but then dry it and then oil the hell out of it. To get the pan truly non stick, just make a **** ton of omelets in it using good amounts of butter and you will be in to win. Every european country has good cast iron and the old ones are imo just great. Here in Sweden they more or less just give these heavy bastards away. I have a collection that are just a pleasure to work with. Makes me not miss the old american ones I had.
So Perneto, this weekend, make some omelets for dinner and keep it as simple as possible. Use a ton of butter and then come back here and let us know how it went. As you can see I love the omelet, not just the taste but the art of making one. It gives immediate feedback to your cooking form at any given point in your development. No other dish does it as well and so quickly.
Cheers!
 
Yes...cheap aluminum pans are good for heat transfer. I have tons of thick stainless pans that simply don't get hot evenly and fast, once they are up to temp, they are slow to lose temp.

Same with lodge iron pans, they are thick and heavy, take forever to get hot, but once the flame is off, they still stay hot. El cheapo aluminum pans are good no frills workhorse pans.

I add just a touch of water to my omlette mix and whisk the hell out it with a braun blender for 80's :)

The trick to making a truly great omelet is to not scramble the damn eggs. You know a big crusty egg in a pan is not an omelet.
 
aaamax said:
Great video Perneto. Pepin, the master that he is, lays it out so well.
We all have our own ways of getting to the final result. Pepin's country version is damn close as you pointed out. The big difference for me is that I actually want the white strands and work the mixture 1/10 the amount that he does both in the bowl and in the pan.
As for your question about the browning, It's all in the heat and using a LOT more butter at first and then taper back once you get the hang of it. That's a biggie. Use 3x more than Pepin when you're starting out. Pans, I use only old thriftstore cast iron for my omelets if I have a choice and at home. Curve on the sides is nice but not a prerequisite. NEVER wash your omelet pan. If something gets burned, scrape it off and yes you can use some water, but then dry it and then oil the hell out of it. To get the pan truly non stick, just make a **** ton of omelets in it using good amounts of butter and you will be in to win. Every european country has good cast iron and the old ones are imo just great. Here in Sweden they more or less just give these heavy bastards away. I have a collection that are just a pleasure to work with. Makes me not miss the old american ones I had.
So Perneto, this weekend, make some omelets for dinner and keep it as simple as possible. Use a ton of butter and then come back here and let us know how it went. As you can see I love the omelet, not just the taste but the art of making one. It gives immediate feedback to your cooking form at any given point in your development. No other dish does it as well and so quickly.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

I finally got my carbon pan properly seasoned! I stripped off the previous layer of seasoning, did a few rounds of stove-top seasoning following a mix of these two videos:
[video=youtube;xoIO8YOpyN4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoIO8YOpyN4[/video]
[video=youtube;Ojp8rkBp-Rc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojp8rkBp-Rc[/video]

The main thing I changed this time was to take the pan off the heat as soon as the oil stopped smoking, or even a bit earlier. I think in my previous attempts I was leaving it on too long, and the seasoning was actually burning off.

Then, 2nd breakthrough after seeing this video:
[video=youtube;XKW4uogE8ZI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKW4uogE8ZI[/video]

Crepes! I actually have a carbon crepe pan that took its seasoning just fine from the start. I now understand it's because my crepe-making habit of oiling the pan with a paper towel in between each crepe is actually perfect for seasoning! So I made some crepes in the freshly seasoned pan.

And then the moment of truth: omelet... I made two: first a browned, country-style one, using something like 30g of butter - I heard you :) No sticking whatsoever.
And another the next day, with a little less butter (still at least 15g), which I tried to do in the classic style (2nd one in the Pepin video), but my pan was too hot so it still had large curds. Still no sticking :)
Hopefully next time I can reproduce what I did before with a non-stick pan.
 
Xlnt Perneto!
The butter thing will be ever changing depending on so many factors, temp, age of eggs, etc. Sometimes a small pad (5 grams) works just great while other times 20 grams and it will have some sticking spots. Yes on the paper towel or rag idea, especially if your using olive oil instead of butter, which is probably a lot healthier option. That is what I do when making classic american pancakes. The pan will season real well on its own just by using it and not washing. Just scrape (with wood) and wipe to get out the junk which is easiest while still warm.
Have fun with what I consider the best prepared dish ever when taken into account the flexibility, taste and speed to which a first class omelet can be made… There is no rival.
Cheers.
 
Y'all are crazy, cheap AL pans suck. Once the warp (which isn't very long after they are brand new) they aren't flat and don't heat evenly. The carbon pan (like De Buyer) is the perfect replacement for these. Not the De Buyer ones, the knock off ones, which are actually thinner, lighter, still durable as hell and cheaper. Please send me all of your cast iron, carbon and stainless pans please. Also, who the hell uses teflon for everything?
 
I can't begin to express the hate I feel towards the flimsy aluminum pan. The most I use them for is scooping mashed potatoes or rice. Unfortunately, our stewarding crew can't be bothered to care for cast iron or carbon pans (every time I use a paella pan it involves a good scrub session). We have transitioned over to what is basically a thin metal pan with a thick chunk of stainless tacked onto the bottom; not a bad compromise as it doesn't warp, does a decent job of heat distribution, and doesn't lose temp too badly when it gets loaded up. Oh, and they are still quite inexpensive. Update International is the manufacturer for the pans we use, and they come it at about $16 for a 10" saute pan. Only problem is that the handle is welded on instead of riveted, and I have, on more than one occasion, had it snap off while in use. Dangerous, but the pans should have been replaced before they came close to that point, and that is an issue with management nickle and dimeing everything.
 
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