Copper cookware is considered to be one of the most durable and versatile cooking equipment that a person can buy. Primarily known and praised for their non-stick quality, copper pots and pans are good conductors of heat and spreads the heat evenly throughout the surface of the pot. However, proper care and maintenance are needed in order to make the most out of your chef’s copper pans and pots. So, if you are fairly new to the beauty of copper cookware, read through and learn if do you use oil in copper chef pan or not.
Advantages Of Using Copper Cookware
Before we go and answer the question, do you use oil in copper chef pan, let us first learn what the advantages of using copper cookware are.
One of the most notable advantages of using copper pots and pans is that copper is known to be a good conductor of heat. This means that cookware with a copper surface heats up fast for a faster and more efficient cook time. Not only that, but copper cookware can also spread heat evenly throughout its surface without any hot spots.
Copper cookware heats up quickly but also cools down easily. While this may be considered as a disadvantage, this quality makes copper pans ideal for cooking delicate dishes that you wouldn’t want to overcook as much as you can.
How to Season Copper Cookware
Seasoning is essential to most copper cookware as it helps maintain the quality and condition of the pan’s surface. The process of seasoning your copper cookware with a thin layer of oil helps seal small pores in the metal surface and keep food from lodging and sticking to it.
Taking this into consideration, it is important for anyone thinking of buying copper cookware to know how to season copper pots and pans properly. To give you a better idea and answer the question do you use oil in copper chef pan, here is our step-by-step guide on how to season copper cookware.
- For brand-new or unused copper pans, the first that you would have to do is to prepare the pan by washing it with some soap and water. Do not use any pad and tool that may scratch the pan, instead use your hands or a soft towel to scrub the surface of the pan.
- Once clean, dry the pan using a soft cloth or paper towel.
- Then, douse some oil in a cloth or tissue and carefully rub the oil all over the top and bottom surfaces of the copper pan. Make sure to avoid using olive oil for this step but instead, use oil that has a high smoking point.
- When the pan is completely oiled, heat it up on the stove until the pan starts to smoke.
- Turn the heat off and let the pan cool down to room temperature.
- Once cool, gently wipe residual oil on the pan surface with a cloth or paper towel and rinse with some running water.
- Always pat dry the pan before storing to avoid any rust build-up.
For used copper cookware that needs to be seasoned again, you would first need to remove the present coat of oil in your copper pan. To do so, simply boil one cup of water with two tablespoons of baking soda and half a cup of vinegar. Once the mixture boils, let your copper pan cool down before rinsing it with some water. Then simply follow the steps mentioned above on how to season your copper pan properly.
Copper Cookware FAQs
Learning more about copper cookware is more than just knowing how to season it; but also requires knowledge on proper care and maintenance. To help you keep the condition of your copper pots and pan at tip-top shape, here are some of the frequently asked questions about copper cookware that you ought to know about:
How often do I have to season my copper pan?
Generally, the oil in your copper pan should be able to last for 3 to 6 months, depending on the regularity of use. If you use your copper pan often, you may have to season it as often as every 3 months. One clear indication that your copper pan needs re-seasoning is if it starts to lose its non-stick quality and food tends to stick to its surface, unlike before. Simply remove the present oil cover that your copper pan has and re-season it to get that non-stick quality back.
What type of oil should I use to season my copper cookware?
While we have answered the question, do you use oil in copper chef pan? We haven’t explained the type of oil that you should use. As mentioned earlier, the first thing that you should know is not to use olive oil or any type of oil that tends to heat up and smoke fast. For seasoning copper pots and pans, use vegetable oil, canola oil, peanut oil, lard, or grapeseed oil for that high smoking point and added flavor as well.
Can you use cooking spray on copper pans?
Generally, cooking spray is not ideal for any kind of non-stick cookware as it burns at notably lower temperatures and can damage the pan’s non-stick coating. If you are able to season your copper cookware properly, there would be no need for you to use cooking spray as the pan would be non-stick. However, you can still use natural oils such as canola and peanut oil on your copper cookware for flavoring.
Conclusion
When it comes to copper pots and pans, it is important to know how to treat, care for, and maintain them so that you would get the best out of your quality cookware. Copper cookware is known to be lightweight, durable, and reliable, which makes it an amazing choice for people who cooks often. For beginners, it is important to know the answer to the questions, do you use oil in copper chef pan, and how often do you season copper cookware, to know whenever your copper pan needs seasoning and re-seasoning.