smooth bottom pans make the rockin world go round?

June 1, 2021 7:48 AM

I have some oldish cheap cookware (hand-me-downs handed down again once at least) and I've noticed recently that the circular etching on the bottom has been patchily smoothed out. I haven't noticed any differences in cooking or anything, but I'm sure the tread served a function. Is it time to get new pans, or can I get a few more years' use out of them? Thanks!
posted by snerson to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: It's for traction, and to increase surface area for heating (over flame). If the interior of the pan is fine, the difference in heating is likely marginal and you're already coping with the reduced grip.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:56 AM on June 1, 2021 [5 favorites]

My guess would be that the purpose of the rings, if there actually was a purpose beyond decoration, would have been as a heat sink, to diffuse the burner's heat most efficiently. If you aren't noticing any adverse effect in the pans' cooking ability, use them until you wear a hole in them.
posted by bricoleur at 7:57 AM on June 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I have always view a pan with the bottom worn smooth as one that has been well used. All my stainless pans are over 20 years old and the bottoms are smooth.
posted by tman99 at 9:49 AM on June 1, 2021

... bottom has been patchily smoothed out.

This almost certainly means that the pans would have very uneven contact with a glass top stove and therefore uneven heating, probably uneven contact with coil type electrics, and wouldn’t matter very much with gas.

That pan also looks like nonstick pans I’ve seen, and if the bottoms of those were that worn, the nonstick coating would almost certainly be in bad shape and so prone to flaking off in food that I would think they should be discarded.
posted by jamjam at 5:03 PM on June 1, 2021