I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia
.....Sharon

On Tue 18 Apr 2006 01:46:25p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it biig?

>
> I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
> pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia
> .....Sharon
>

Aluminum cookware doesn't pose as much of a threat as people seem to think it
does. A fry pan, especially, should cause you no harm since (I assume)
you'll be using it for frying with some sort of oil or shortening. Foods
being fried have much less chance of reacting the the pan they're cooked in
than foods in other liquids, particularly acidic liquids.

--
Wayne Boatwright Õ¿Õ¬
________________________________________

Okay, okay, I take it back! UnScrew you!

biig wrote:
> I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
> pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia
> .....Sharon

Why wouldn't it be safe to use? Probably better than non-stick stuff
which chips and peels off, IMO.

biig wrote:
> I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
> pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia

Sounds like you have two choices.

One, you use the pan a few times, worrying about whether aluminum oxide
will hurt you, and discovering that you have almost no use for an old,
pitted, nonstick electric fry pan. After some number of years someone
discovers it in the back of a cupboard and "inherits" it from you.

Or Two, you chuck the pan now, with appropriate thanks nevertheless to
its source, and forget about it, never missing it.

Come to think of it, there is a third choice if there is sentimental
value to it. Use it dry on a low setting to keep warm things like
tortillas on a buffet table. -aem

aem wrote:
> [snip]
> ...discovering that you have almost no use for an old,
> pitted, nonstick electric fry pan. [snip]

Sorry, that should be "non-nonstick". -aem

aem wrote:
>
> biig wrote:
> > I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> > and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
> > pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia
>
> Sounds like you have two choices.
>
> One, you use the pan a few times, worrying about whether aluminum oxide
> will hurt you, and discovering that you have almost no use for an old,
> pitted, nonstick electric fry pan. After some number of years someone
> discovers it in the back of a cupboard and "inherits" it from you.
>
> Or Two, you chuck the pan now, with appropriate thanks nevertheless to
> its source, and forget about it, never missing it.
>
> Come to think of it, there is a third choice if there is sentimental
> value to it. Use it dry on a low setting to keep warm things like
> tortillas on a buffet table. -aem

Thanks everyone for the opinions. I kinda of thought it was harmless,
but just wanted a second opinion. I want to use it in our van camper.

thanks again.....Sharon

"biig" > wrote in message ...
>
>
> aem wrote:
> >
> > biig wrote:
> > > I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> > > and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a
soap
> > > pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick.
tia
> >
> > Sounds like you have two choices.
> >
> > One, you use the pan a few times, worrying about whether aluminum oxide
> > will hurt you, and discovering that you have almost no use for an old,
> > pitted, nonstick electric fry pan. After some number of years someone
> > discovers it in the back of a cupboard and "inherits" it from you.
> >
> > Or Two, you chuck the pan now, with appropriate thanks nevertheless to
> > its source, and forget about it, never missing it.
> >
> > Come to think of it, there is a third choice if there is sentimental
> > value to it. Use it dry on a low setting to keep warm things like
> > tortillas on a buffet table. -aem
>
> Thanks everyone for the opinions. I kinda of thought it was harmless,
> but just wanted a second opinion. I want to use it in our van camper.
>
> thanks again.....Sharon

They are great for that -- you can bake as well as fry, or boil or steam
stuff. Good tool for on the road.

They are also great for melting glue sticks if you have a large enough
project (and don't want to use it for food anymore), they use them in
florist shops that way.
--
Lefty

Life is for learning
The worst I ever had was wonderful

Lefty wrote:
>
> "biig" > wrote in message ...
> >
> >
> > aem wrote:
> > >
> > > biig wrote:
> > > > I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> > > > and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a
> soap
> > > > pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick.
> tia
> > >
> > > Sounds like you have two choices.
> > >
> > > One, you use the pan a few times, worrying about whether aluminum oxide
> > > will hurt you, and discovering that you have almost no use for an old,
> > > pitted, nonstick electric fry pan. After some number of years someone
> > > discovers it in the back of a cupboard and "inherits" it from you.
> > >
> > > Or Two, you chuck the pan now, with appropriate thanks nevertheless to
> > > its source, and forget about it, never missing it.
> > >
> > > Come to think of it, there is a third choice if there is sentimental
> > > value to it. Use it dry on a low setting to keep warm things like
> > > tortillas on a buffet table. -aem
> >
> > Thanks everyone for the opinions. I kinda of thought it was harmless,
> > but just wanted a second opinion. I want to use it in our van camper.
> >
> > thanks again.....Sharon
>
> They are great for that -- you can bake as well as fry, or boil or steam
> stuff. Good tool for on the road.
>
> They are also great for melting glue sticks if you have a large enough
> project (and don't want to use it for food anymore), they use them in
> florist shops that way.
> --
> Lefty
>
> Life is for learning
> The worst I ever had was wonderful

Thanks Lefty
I want to use it for a pot roast and stews etc. I usually take a
slow cooker, but then need a fry pan too. This will cover both bases.
A van camper doesn't have much storage room. I have a small toaster
oven bought at a yard sale last summer for 3.oo cdn. and it does well
for meat loaf, baking biscuits etc. We have to be creative this way.
I'm not much for campfire cooking these days. ....Sharon

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Tue 18 Apr 2006 01:46:25p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it biig?
>
> >
> > I "inherited" an electric fry pan, aluminum. It looks badly pitted
> > and I am wondering if it's still safe to use. I scoured it with a soap
> > pad. I've never had aluminum pots and pans that weren't non-stick. tia
> > .....Sharon
> >
>
> Aluminum cookware doesn't pose as much of a threat as people seem to think it
> does. A fry pan, especially, should cause you no harm since (I assume)
> you'll be using it for frying with some sort of oil or shortening.

Aluminum poses absolutely no threat. Now "shortening" is another
story. Hydrogenated oils kill.

> Foods being fried have much less chance of reacting the the pan they're cooked in
> than foods in other liquids, particularly acidic liquids.

Aluminum is harmless.
>
> --
> Wayne Boatwright

--Bryan