Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pan

Springform pan recipes wanted.

emd3737 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:11:21 -0800

What else besides cheesecake can I make in an springform pan? I recently purchased three springform pans of different sizes, and now I'd like to start using them. I made a pumpkin cheesecake this morning, but I'm wondering what other sorts of things (desserts, casseroles, breads, etc) can be made in a springform pan? I'm looking for recipes that don't include chocolate (I'm allergic). Thanks!

ISO: Cake Pan in shape of Comedy/Drama Masks

He Is Only The Imposter — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:49:29 -0800

I'm looking for a cake pan/mold in the shape of the traditional theater comedy/drama masks. This is for a gift, so I need an actual pan, not a workaround for making the cakes. Googling got me cookie cutters but no cake molds. Thanks!

Pan and the what?

tylerfulltilt — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:17:33 -0800

What is the name of this fantasy book that I only vaugely remember? I'm looking for the name of a fantasy book that I came across on someone's list of fantasy books they've read. But I don't remember where that page was or the exact google keywords that I used to find that list.

I remember that it's out of print now. It was the story of a little roman boy who was cast out of his family, possibly, something along those lines.

At the start of the story he's crying under a bridge and the demi-god pan comes along and inspires him to go on a journey to find his dad. That's all I remember.

It's not The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen.

The title is something like Pan and the boy or the god pan and the child or something like that.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Bonus internets to anyone who can find the list that I heard it from originally.

I know I'm lucky my house didn't burn down, but do I really need to buy new cookware?

Meg_Murry — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:54:22 -0800

Can I safely use a burnt Revere Ware copper-bottomed saucepan? I have an old Revere Ware copper-bottomed saucepan, maybe 30 years old. I was heating some water on the gas stovetop and got distracted--called away to another room, stupidly left the pot boiling for a good hour or so. By the time I returned, all the water had boiled away, the inside of the pot was swirled with white powdery marks, and the bottom had a thin layer of black burnt stuff flaking off. Under the black layer, which I can scrub off pretty easily, there's still copper.

I'd rather throw away the pot than risk having the bottom fall off while cooking or some other disaster, but I don't want to throw away a still-usable pot. Is it safe to use?

I'm trying to share my PC's net connection with my BT phone, not the other way around

bartleby — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:11:44 -0800

How do I share my computer's (wired) Internet connection with a smartphone, over bluetooth? That's PC->BT->phone, not phone-as-modem->PC. I've got a Motorola Q9h (AT&T) WM6 smartphone, which is my work PDA and my personal phone.
It's great on the smart, as a nifty PDA; but it's not so hot on the phone - the call quality is bad.

I can just swap out the SIM to a better phone-phone and cancel the data plan that made it a good PDA.

What I'd like to do is keep using the Q9h as my work PDA - but the only way it would be functional (for my uses) is if I could get Internet on it through some other means when I'm in the office and at my house.

The Q9h does not appear to have WiFi (unless there's some hack I haven't found?), and the Micro-SD WiFi card is still a dream.

So I thought I'd look into a Bluetooth PAN to share the internet connection from my PC with my phone. But all the HowTos I'm finding are for doing it the other way - sharing the phone's mobile data connection with a non-connected laptop = "tethering".

How do I do the opposite - share a PC's internet connection over bluetooth and access it via a Windows Mobile smartphone?

Anyone done this?

Is my nonstick pan ruined?

TSGlenn — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:19:49 -0800

I left my new non-stick pan on the hot stove with nothing in it. Is it ruined? The burner was on medium heat (electric range), between 5-6 out of 10 (still plenty hot for cooking). I had just taken some eggs off of it, so there was a little bit of Pam on the pan, but nothing else. It was on there empty for 15 minutes. When I caught it, I took it off immediately and let it cool off.

It looks okay... there is some kind of sticky residue around the edges (not on the main flat part, only on the curved edges) that isn't coming off very easily. I know you aren't supposed to use harsh cleaners on it, so I haven't tried very hard to get the stuff off. The pan isn't warped or anything. But I also know there are chemicals in there you aren't supposed to let get too hot.

The pan is a $50 Calphalon. Is it okay to use?

Pan catching on fire [kitchen]

red_rika — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:36:02 -0800

When will the pan catch on fire? (kitchen) I was just watching hell's kitchen and in one of the episode, a chef was cooking meat in a pan and the pan caught on fire.

So i am just wondering when or how will the pan catch fire in case I will be cooking in the future, I could avoid the flames.

Could my non-stick pan be setting off the CO/gas detector?

geeky — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:38:33 -0800

Could my non-stick pan be setting off the CO/gas detector? In the last two days, our carbon monoxide / explosive gas detector on the first floor of our home has gone off twice indicating that it detected explosive gas (not CO). Both times, I was cooking on our electric stove using a non-stick pan (just like this one, but smaller) that I often use. The detector is located about 8-10 feet from the kitchen. I was using the pan slightly hotter than I normally would, but not overly hot, on both occasions.

I had the gas company come out to test for gas leaks (none found!), but now I'm trying to figure out why the detector keeps going off. It doesn't seem likely to be a malfunctioning alarm because it isn't going off constantly. Is it possible that the non-stick pan got hot enough to give off a gas that set the alarm off? (FWIW, we have noticed recently that the pan gives off a slight chemical odor after I've cooked with it. I asked the gas man about this, but he gave a non-committal answer.)

Help me unstain my pans!

saeculorum — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:27:01 -0800

How can I prevent or remove polymerized oil from aluminum sheet pans? In my various attempts at producing ever-more edible food, I continually run into problems with my aluminum sheet pans getting burnt-on oil stains. I used to use cheap dark "non-stick" pans which had the same problem, but were very cheap to replace after a year or two. This time I went all out and got a couple of solid aluminum quarter sheet pans. They're nice and hefty... but they've all hence become stained despite my best efforts otherwise.

The majority of the time, I use the pans with a non-stick barrier (specifically a Silpat-style mat). However, I find that items that I'd like to brown (mostly potatoes) don't do so very well with the mat and work much better with a thin coat of oil on the pan. I've personally experienced oil sprays polymerizing quickly, so I don't use those any more and instead rub on vegetable oil with a paper towel. After every use, I wash the pans by hand, but the stains keep on getting worse and worse. If the pans were stainless steel, like my skillets and pots, I'd just use oven cleaner. However, my bottle of oven cleaner specifically says not to use it on aluminum.

Short version of question Is there any form of cleaner that can remove polymerized oil that works with aluminum? Is there any way to prevent oil stains other than simply never using any oil?

"it's getting very hot, we'd like to get out now..."

scruss — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:59:32 -0800

Short public access film: man asks eggs if they want to go for a swim, but they're too cold in the pan of water, so he turns the heat up, and they start to scream. What was this? I've been terrorizing my friends and family with the memory of this half-remembered clip for years. Please help me find it.

What I remember most is that it's clearly one guy holding the camera and doing all the voices. It's the eggs' happy little falsetto "Oh Yes Please!" response to the "Would you like to go for a swim?" question that really stuck with me. I'd really like to know how it ended.

I think it might've been featured on the show Manhattan Cable, which aired in the UK in 1991.

Why does my pan, heating, smell like lighter fluid?

stance — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:53:44 -0800

Just started heating a newish stainless steel Alclad pan and noticed a weird smell as I was throwing onions into them (I've used it a few times before, and have never noted any strange odor). The best description I can think of for the smell is a charcoal grill, or lighter fluid. There was a whitish residue on the pan before I started cooking, which I thought was just hard water markings, but it could have been dish soap, too. Can soap smell like this when heated in a dry pan? The carbon monoxide detectors haven't gone off (just tested them, too: they're working, and they're loud), so I'm not sure what this strong smell is.

I guess the bottom line is: should I eat these caramelized onions? Also good to know: what is this smell, is it dangerous?

I suck at washing dishes.

stormygrey — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:56:28 -0800

How do I clean my non stick pans? This is kind of goofy, but apparently I can't wash dishes right. Most everything I just throw in the dishwasher. However, I can't seem to hand clean my nonstick pans without the pan forever smelling like dish soap.

I soak, I scrub, everything, and I can still smell it. So what's the trick.

Secondly, can I really not just stick them in the dishwasher on the gentle cycle or something? What would happen?

long zoom anyone?

Gankmore — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:27:43 -0800

Searching for famous scenes from movies where the camera pans out across a vast distance in a single shot... for example, powers of ten is one of the best examples. Also, the opening scene in Contact where we zoom out from Earth through the cosmos only to end up in the young Jodie Foster's eye. But the subject matter doesn't have to be the cosmos per se, just any memorable scene where a camera pans or zooms out across a vast distance.

(I'm also aware of the opening scene from fight club where we zoom through a characters brain and such)

Choosing cookware

benjh — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 08:51:50 -0800

I'm looking for some cookware, and need some help choosing. [mi] My basic needs are non-stick cookware, semi-decent looking to leave out in the kitchen. Right now, I don't have much but a few pieces, so I would like to buy a set.

I was looking at a T-Fal Jamie Oliver set, but thought MeFiers might know better.

PC equivalent of Mac OSX screen savers

tirade — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 13:52:32 -0800

I'm looking for a PC equivalent of the Mac OSX default beaches/nature/cosmos/etc screen savers. I've yet to see anything on the PC that can gently zoom/pan its images like that. Ideally this would be something that would allow me to use my own images.

How to keep a cast-iron pan clean

starvingartist — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 07:16:53 -0800

How do I keep a cast-iron pan clean? [more inside] First of all, the pan is already seasoned. I know how to do that. But I've started eating bacon in the morning, and the cast-iron seems to do the best job (I can't stand microwaved bacon, and the non-stick isn't big enough). I read somewhere that you shouldn't wash the pan, just coat the inside with salt right after cooking and then wipe it out a bit later. But the bacon leaves spots of cooked fat that don't come off with just a salt wipe. Can I wash it with mild dish detergent?

Cleaning stainless steel cookware

The Michael The — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 16:09:43 -0800

I just got some new stainless steel cookware, and now I have some (grease?) gunk stuck on the bottom of my frying pan, along with a yellowish hue, likely from mildly overheating the bare pan while cooking. I tried soaking it for a few hours in water and soap, and scrubbing really hard with a plastic scouring pad, all to no avail. How do I get it clean? Steel-wool? Different soaking? Special cleanser? Other?