Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Had dinner with a friend yesterday and she prepared chicken in her T-Fal skillet. Seasoned the chicken but added nothing to the skillet. It was delicious. Has anybody used T-Fal? Recommend?

fitzie

I have some (a Jamie Oliver professional induction capable set). It's ok. It's just pretty standard nonstick as fas as I can tell. Compared to better quality pots (Demeyer, All Clad) it is extremely slow on the induction range (8 min to boil 4 qts of water vs 2 min in an All Clad pot). It's probably a factor of having just an induction capable disk on the bottom vs having top and sides made of magnetic stainless steel. The upside is that it is nonstick and cleans up easily.

I've always had good luck with T-fal, but it is definitely a case of getting only slightly more than what you pay for. They are inexpensive but better made than anything else at their usual price point. That said, I've treated my pieces pretty kindly and, cheap or less cheap, they've all lasted years. I have a round griddle pan and an omelet pan (bought as a set) and some of their "one egg" pans (inherited). None of them get daily use, weekly maybe, and I've always hand washed them. The griddle and omelet pans are around 12-13 years old now and have a few minor scratches. The surface is still going strong and is well-bonded to the pans. I think I got the set on sale for $10, original price $20 (including spatula!). I've had no problem with uneven heating (on a gas stove), but they don't heat gently so you have to adjust accordingly.

So, yeah, I'd recommend it. It doesn't cost much to try the stuff, after all.

Thanks for your replies. I appreciate the info. Thought they might be good for low fat cooking which it appears we need. Bah humbug!

fitzie

FWII, CI gave a T-fal skillet a high recommendation a couple of years ago. It’s the one with the textured interior and the red spot that indicates cooking readiness.

My 10” version still releases eggs cooked without using fat, but the rivets create a noisy “popping” on pre-heat and cool-down.

My skillet gets a lot of use, and still looks/behaves fairly new after a year. I use a Misto oil pump with it, or if I'm lazy, I put a little oil in the pan (maybe a tsp at most) and wipe it out with paper towel so that only a very thin coat is left. With that little oil things don't stick at all.

I'll be the grumpy gus here. We had a T-Fal skillet which we gave away.

The reason we got rid of it is that it was thin steel with a wide flat bottom ... about 12" across the bottom. When we put it on a gas flame and heated it up, the bottom bowed, rising almost 1/8" higher in the middle than on the edges of the bottom. This caused oil and butter to burn.

Otherwise, it was a great skillet. On a stove where the burner covered the whole bottom of the pan, it might have done well.