Here is my question to Gastrolux head office, with their very quickly supplied reply

Q I thought I would drop you a line as I have had a number of customers raising the issue of cooking at high temperatures on non stick cookware such as SKK or others that contain Teflon or the equivalent. The pan guidelines for these pans say that the pan should not be heated higher than medium heat. As I understand it this is due to food burning on and creating a residue, but I also thought that the pan surface degraded as well?

There is no guideline on Gastrolux to say that the pan surface degrades or that the pan should not be heated more than medium heat. Is the issue only with the build of food residue therefore?

Claire

A Dear Claire, Thank you for your mail and your question which I'll answer below.

The Gastrolux BIOTAN coating will change morphology and gradually lose its non stick effect if the pan is heated up to more that 310 degree C. The process starts at 316 degree C (that's why we use 310 degree C as the guided limit) as a circle around the center of the pan radiating out to the outer radius - just as the concentric circles in the water when you are throwing a stone into a mirror looking surface of the pond.

Food is normally prepared/fried in the temperature range of 200 degree C ± 20 degree. To achieve this, the pan is normally heated up to app. 240-260 degree C which with ref. to the above mentioned is absolutely no problem. If you use oil - the smoking point of oil is approximately within the 180 - 220 degree C range depending of the oil in question. From the top of my head I think that rape seed oil is one of the oils which have the highest smoking point around 220 degree C.

If you cook or fry your food above 300 degree C you probably can not eat the food and the oil/fat if you use at these high temperatures turns - according to what I know - into something very unhealthy to your body.

So can the Gastrolux frying pan take high temperatures? - that's depending on what high temperatures is.

• If it is temperatures up to 310 degree C - which is high for normal uses in the kitchen - then yes.
• If it is temperatures above 310 degree C which is being considered high - then the answer is no (but for practical use this has no meaning at all - because if you fry your food with temperatures above 310 degree C - then it is not healthy to eat and will be practically uneatable - as far as I'm concerned).