Having problems with Calphalon One....

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Paint

Senior Cook
Joined
Mar 10, 2004
Messages
358
Location
USA,Colorado
I bought a 10" frying pan (Calphalon One), and was so impressed with it that I went and ordered the 7 quart sauteuse, which has a 14" diameter flat bottom. I only have a standard size electric ceramic hob and I don't think it's heating the pan up enough, because meat just isn't searing or browning anywhere near as well as the 10" pan. Any ideas on what (if anything) I could do to improve on this? I don't want my new pan to go to waste...

Paint
 
Are you using any sort of fat when trying to sear the meat? Fat helps carry the heat. Make sure you are using enough.
 
I would have to guess the problem is the temperature. You're not compensating for the pan size.

Assuming you're using the large burner on your ceramic cooktop - and it is about the same as an electric cooktop, 8-inches ....

With a 10-inch skillet you're heating 80% of the bottom of the pan. You only have 1-inch of the pan hanging over the burner. That's about right.

With the 14-inch "everyday pan" - you're only heating 57% of the pan surface - and you have 3-inches of pan overhang on each side.

If you have the 7-qt Sauteuse pan - it has a 16.75-inch diameter ... you're only applying heat to 47% of the pan surface and have 4.375-inches overhang on each side.

You'll need to use a little higher temp - and as GB said, you'll need some oil to create a hotter interface.
 
Thanks, It is the huge 16+" sauteuse that I have. I am using oil, but I was heating the pan up on a medium-high (as per Calphalon instructions). I may not be using enough oil as I'm used to non-stick pans, and I get a bit horrified at the amount of oil I'd have to pour in to cover this huge pan LOL! I'll try pre-heating the pan for longer, and on a bit hotter setting, to try and get it evenly hot. It's not quite big enough to cover two burners completely, but maybe I could try using 2 burners to pre-heat (maybe rotating it so it all has a 'turn' on the burners), then moving it to just one burner to maintain the heat while I'm cooking.

....if all else fails, I'll just have to get a new kitchen built LOL!

Paint.
 
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DON'T heat the pan at a higher temp than Calphalon recommends - Med-High. Going above that (a) voids your warranty, (b) causes a breakdown of the nonstick surface, (c) if heated above 480-500 F empty will release toxic vapors.

I don't know what I was thinking about last night .... I was thinking about the diameter being heated and not the total surface area being heated. Somewhere I once read that you should never use a pan that hangs over the burner more than 2-inches. I don't remember who said that - but looking at the surface area (square inches) it kind of makes sense. For an 8-inch (large) electric burner .... this is how much of the pan you are directly heating:

8-inch - 50.24 sq. in - 100%
10-inch - 78.50 sq. in - 64%
12-inch - 113.04 sq. in - 44%
14-inch - 153.86 sq. in - 33%
16-inch - 200.96 sq. in - 25%
16.75-inch - 220.24 sq. in - 22.8%

Two suggestions:

1 - Oil the meat - not the pan
2 - Only try to sear in the middle of the pan - and expect it to take a little longer
 
Thanks Michael, I'm going to try the 2-burner method, using just a medium-high heat, pre-heating for a little longer and keeping it on both burners to cook.

My ideal size would have been a 12" everyday pan - but they don't do this size in Calphalon One (they do that size in the other ranges though!!). I thought about the 14" everyday pan (too expensive) and the 12" frying pan (too shallow, too expensive and no lid), so the special price on the sauteuse won me over. I've been looking at these pans ever since they first came out - waiting to see if they were going to do a 12" everyday pan - but no luck, so eventually I gave in and got this huge sauteuse..... Oh well, we are thinking of moving house next year anyway. I desperately need a much bigger kitchen. We have a largish house, but the floorplan is awful - lots of wasted space, and the kitchen is so badly designed and tiny (8' x 10' of actual 'kitchen') that I have to store stuff in the dining room :(. We are thinking of buying a brand new home, so I will have some say in kitchen design and fitments this time. The range will definately have to fit the pan LOL!

Best wishes, Paint.
 
That really is a problem with us ... pots bigger than our ranges will handle. One of these days I WILL get a six burner 2 oven duel fuel range of my dreams. Frankly I don't know why houses come with all those excess rooms when the kitchen is where it's at!
 
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