Andy wrote:
> Any folks have that knack of shuffling/tossing a pan full of stuff to toss
> things around in that fashion where the food looks like it's going to fly
> out of the pan but is magically gathered out of thin air back into the pan
> in less than the blink of an eye?!?
>
> Does it require a special pan? And if it does, which kind?

No special pan beyond that it needs to be slope-sided. I
just finished teaching a cooking class and for the first
couple, the attendees were dazzled by flipping food and
knifework. When I took 15 minutes to show them how to do it,
the mystery disappeared and we got down to food. Knifework
took a bit more time and effort.

> I'd like to add a little flash but this technique has escaped me forever!
> Dammit!!!

Probably because the intuitive way to do it is to propel the
pan with the food in it upward. That won't work. You need to
use the sloping sides of the pan to force the food upward.
The basic technique is to push the pan away gently from you
and then abruptly pull it toward you. A good way to practice
is to put a skillet flat on a counter with some beans in it.
Not a non-stick because the beans might scratch it. Counter
intuitively (sorry, the devil made me write that), gently
push the skillet away from you WITHOUT LIFTING IT FROM THE
COUNTER and abruptly pull it toward you. The beans will
forcefully slide up the slope and be airborne. Quickly push
the skillet back under the cascade of beans. Voila.

For the first few tries, maybe use - don't laugh - a few
loose socks or bits of some kind of fabric. A sponge or
three. Tea towel or two, folded. Face cloths. Or waste a few
silver-dollar pancakes.

That push-pull-push move is hard to imagine in preference to
the push it up and catch it on the way down notion.

Happy flipping.

Pastorio