I purchased a twin pack of restaurant quality half sheet pans at a Costco Business Center 22 yrs ago and I don't think I have used any other piece of equipment as much as I have used these pans. They are the BOMB! They have never warped and if they get really cruddy, I can Brillo them shiny again. I don't do this too often, but it can be done. The trick is to buy restaurant quality, even if you have to pay more initially. They will outlive you and then you can pass them on. Absolutely indispensable! THX 4 the video.
There's an idea for a video -- how to tell the difference between normal use/seasoning discoloration (e.g., sheet pans, dutch ovens) and when you're not properly cleaning and maintaining your kitchen tools.
It is fairly simple. Dirt (food/grease) on the cooking surfaces comes off with relatively little effort. A well seasoned pan, doesn't matter the type, takes real effort (lots of elbow grease, chemicals or mechanical methods) to remove the "residue". Also, "properly cleaning" is often in the eyes of the beholder. As long as it is clean (sanitary not appearance) and remains functional, that's all that's needed. From an appearance sake, in the eyes of some it is not CLEAN until it once again looks like it just came from the package. Fine for those who want that look and are willing to make the effort in terms of time & expense to do so. It's been my experience for a number of decades, that appearance is secondary to function as long as the pot or pan is clean from a sanitary standpoint. Remembering that the heat of cooking, if the food is cooked to recommended temperature, will also render any biological contamination harmless, in most circumstances. That said, I don't want left on rancid grease flavor, even if the frying pan was hot enough to kill both man and beast.
You guys may be right, the answers may be simple. For those of us who don't know everything, these questions arise. ATK can decide what they want to do.
I have 2 sheet pans and a pizza pan that I've used for over 10 years that are dark/discolored. They're the best pans I own and it took a lot of meals to get them seasoned as well as they are!
I love how you guys don't fuck around and just present a simple but useful topic in a 2-3 min video. Most channels drag shit out for like 20 minutes just to answer a simple question. Ain't nobody got time for that! Keep it up guys
The day before this was uploaded, I had been talking to someone about how some oily frozen fish might have ruined my sheet pan, leaving it with a dark irregular patina after the grease was scrubbed off. Bizarrely sychronous. Thanks for the timely video.
Glad I watched this. I have a sheet pan that looks just like that super dark one in this video and I was thinking the other day that I might try to strip it back to it's original finish. Guess I'll just leave it!
What a great series and fabulous choice of presenter! ATK, you are hitting 'em out of the park with your YT video lineup. Since I don't have tv, every installment from you makes my day. Thanks!
We have a bunch of Ekco cookie sheets we've inherited from people. The sheet pans we go to are some Edward Don (former regional restaurant supplier in the Chicago region), which I took from my last restaurant as a chef, as it was shutting down. They're steel, and even by the time I harvested them, they had gone from shiny to dead black. This video is absolutely on point.
I used to work hard to keep my sheet pans pristine, but after the young housemates started literally burning food on them, or just not completely cleaning them, I gave up. It doesn't have any effect on the end product, but it's a little irritating nevertheless.
A very useful video. The physics of this effect actually allows the darker surfaces to both absorb AND emit heat more efficiently. Faster release of heat, more browning.
The fact that a darker pan browns better is a transient effect. I mean, if I roast something for 1 hour, at some point equilibrium is reached, but the rate the dark pan heats is greater, which means that the better browning is to do having 15+ minutes at a slightly elevated temperature. This seems to imply that if I want to have better browning in general I should always preheating my pans. Of course another option is to simply cook for slightly longer times.
I have the nice Nordic ware pans. This last Thanksgiving, one of my guests was kindly doing the dishes, and put one of them in the dishwasher. It's fine and I still use it, but it darkened and got a rainbow affect.
NORTIC WARE IS GREAT! Heavy, thick, & sturdy! I went through a few crappy bunt pans b4 I realized that OLD crusty Nortic Ware my friend let me use once was the BEST! Found 1 @ Costco for $20!.👍
Thanks especially for showing your pan. Mine look like that and I have been searching for ways to clean it. None work. I also ended up scratching my pans. Thanks you are my turn to channel or TV show for last 10 yrs or thereabouts.
Does this mean I can put away the Barkeepers and 3m pad? Just let the Carboniferous layer grow until it looks like my old cast iron? By the old gods! This changes everything!
@@frenchloverstalker You really aren't going to have foreign things in flour. It's already been factory sifted and run through a metal detector. Sifting is irrelevant for most cooking. For most things a few lumps won't matter (pancake batter should have a few lumps actually), and electric mixers beat them out pretty well. The main things that need sifting are delicate baked goods, like cakes, where you shouldn't mix aggressively and recipes that call for "X amount of sifted flour" instead of "X amount of flour, sifted" since the difference in how much flour is in a given volume changes drastically between sifted and unsifted.
Their favorite pan is aluminum. I thought it was harmful to cook directly on aluminum. I have a commercial grade stainless pan. Besides it’s weight is there any downside to baking or roasting on a stainless sheet pan?
How do you get your sheet pan clean? Mine looks burned up like yours. Baking soda and vinegar didn’t work for me. I’m tempted to use EasyOff but the warnings say I shouldn’t. HELP!
Some cookie pans I've had for years had gotten very dark and cooked the cookies too fast. I put them in the oven during "self cleaning" and, although the shine didn't return, they are back light again.
What's the easiest way to clean it off. The annoying part is it makes an uneven surface and I don't want bits flaking off when I'm scraping the pan like when reducing tomatoes
I just bought a larger aluminum sheet pan (cause I wanted a LARGER surface) from a Restaurant Supply store and it still warped... It did sort itself out so I don't know if that will continue to happen..... ??
So could you season your baking sheet? Seems like a more direct route rather than waiting for it to get all spotted up. That way you could get a nice even coating of seasoning.
Thanks for the tip Seiki. I am going to try that with my next sheet pan. I bought a nice non-stick sheet pan a few months ago and its already getting gooped up .. so might as well go with the regular steel sheet pan next time.
I did see this question but not answered, so here goes, Isn't baking /cooking with aluminum pans? sheets not good for you as they leach onto the food? yes, great conduct of even heat but how about health considerations?
One caveat: Darkening or Discoloration does NOT mean Dirty! You need to make sure to PROPERLY clean your sheet pans after use, even if you line them up with Foil or Paper. Make sure to THOROUGHLY clean any food particles off of them so they are not magnets for Bacteria.
I don't think it's just "darker," I think that the micro-abrasions that make older pans look dull actually increase the surface area of the pan and therefore allow it to heat faster.
😒my pan warp all it wants. It's the best pan I've had for over 15 years and still my favorite. I can't STAND new sheet pans cause they aren't seasoned like she said😠
I use an electric toothbrush to scrub my raw meat wood board. I scrub it with a plastic scrubber and dawn dish soap. Then scrub it with the electric toothbrush. I wish they can make a hand size sonic scrubber.
I'm having a hard time believing that, in an oven, the darker color would actually cause faster heating as I would think the main heat transfer would be via convection not radiation. Would it not be more plausible that due to the heating and cooling down the metal undergoes allotropic phase transformation, restructuring the metal on an atomic level, giving the material different properties? I think that during use, the metal lettuce is transformed in such a way where internal heat transfer simply becomes easier.
That could indeed factor into the heat transfer, but still I find it very dubious to suspect a thin black film of thermally less conductive material stuck to metal to increase to thermal capacity of the entire unit.
I got used pans from a restaurant supply place. They are top of the line with just some hard use. Even with new cooling racks, they cost almost about half what they would have cost new. I get just about everything from these restaurant supply stores, their value to price is too good to pass up.
So if it's warped does that mean you shouldn't use it? Sorry but I don't know whats wrong with using a warped sheet pan? Mine aren't yet but just want know for when that does happen.
I think it depends on how you use the pan. If you want to use it to roast a slab of ribs or some chicken wings, putting foil on it is fine. I do it anyway for the sake of easy clean up. If you're baking cookies, put a sheet of parchment paper down and it will be fine. If you want to bake cake in it, then I would just get another one. They're not expensive at all. I think the Nordic Ware one is about $12 at Walmart. I bought a good one at GFS on sale for $7.
I take mine to an autobody shop. First they hit them with a soda blaster, then wetsand with 2000 grit sandpaper. Finally they polish them up with a medium cut polishing compound with a buffer. They only charge me $250 per pan.
We might hear the “weird boinging noise” if the loud competing background music wasn’t there! Please consider NO MUSIC AT ALL for these instructional videos.
I agree, from TV commercials to videos on You Tube....background music is VERY annoying and distracting. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my ears when I mute the TV!!
Karsten Von Fjellheim "so what brand of sheet pans do you use? Can't you just say it, or do i have to buy this months issue?" Watch the video again, and this time PAY ATTENTION!
Are you ever concerned about cooking with aluminum? I don't know if the alleged Alzheimer's link is real or not (I'm skeptical), I would like your opinion on that, thanks.
Your explanation is way off. Black colors don't absorb more heat. They reflect less light so more photons transfer their energy. How ever in an oven the source of the heat isn't the oven light so color should not make a difference. There has to be another reason.
The "light" in this case in infrared energy which is in the same electromagnetic spectrum as visible light. The "light" source is the heating element of your oven and the increased absorption of the pan is indeed why it gets hotter than a shiny/reflective pan. Using dark pans in baking is a tried and true method for getting good browning for cookies etc.
I purchased a twin pack of restaurant quality half sheet pans at a Costco Business Center 22 yrs ago and I don't think I have used any other piece of equipment as much as I have used these pans. They are the BOMB! They have never warped and if they get really cruddy, I can Brillo them shiny again. I don't do this too often, but it can be done. The trick is to buy restaurant quality, even if you have to pay more initially. They will outlive you and then you can pass them on. Absolutely indispensable! THX 4 the video.
Perfect timing! I have some darkened sheet pans and was just considering getting new ones, I guess I won’t.
There's an idea for a video -- how to tell the difference between normal use/seasoning discoloration (e.g., sheet pans, dutch ovens) and when you're not properly cleaning and maintaining your kitchen tools.
that's easy.
If there are chuncks on the pan it is dirty due to the chuncks could be food.
Do not buy sheet pans a yard sale if they look used.
+++
It is fairly simple. Dirt (food/grease) on the cooking surfaces comes off with relatively little effort. A well seasoned pan, doesn't matter the type, takes real effort (lots of elbow grease, chemicals or mechanical methods) to remove the "residue".
Also, "properly cleaning" is often in the eyes of the beholder. As long as it is clean (sanitary not appearance) and remains functional, that's all that's needed. From an appearance sake, in the eyes of some it is not CLEAN until it once again looks like it just came from the package. Fine for those who want that look and are willing to make the effort in terms of time & expense to do so.
It's been my experience for a number of decades, that appearance is secondary to function as long as the pot or pan is clean from a sanitary standpoint. Remembering that the heat of cooking, if the food is cooked to recommended temperature, will also render any biological contamination harmless, in most circumstances.
That said, I don't want left on rancid grease flavor, even if the frying pan was hot enough to kill both man and beast.
@@oldtimerlee8820 Awww what you don't like rancid grease flavor? I thought it was right up there with bacon flavor🥓
You guys may be right, the answers may be simple. For those of us who don't know everything, these questions arise. ATK can decide what they want to do.
I have 2 sheet pans and a pizza pan that I've used for over 10 years that are dark/discolored. They're the best pans I own and it took a lot of meals to get them seasoned as well as they are!
thanks , now i do not feel bad for having browned sheet pans anymore YAY!! Baking with confidence !
I love how you guys don't fuck around and just present a simple but useful topic in a 2-3 min video. Most channels drag shit out for like 20 minutes just to answer a simple question. Ain't nobody got time for that! Keep it up guys
The day before this was uploaded, I had been talking to someone about how some oily frozen fish might have ruined my sheet pan, leaving it with a dark irregular patina after the grease was scrubbed off. Bizarrely sychronous. Thanks for the timely video.
Glad I watched this. I have a sheet pan that looks just like that super dark one in this video and I was thinking the other day that I might try to strip it back to it's original finish. Guess I'll just leave it!
I was taught in foods class ( 30 years ago) to NOT wash your cookie sheets. I only wipe off big messes, I treat it like a cast iron pan
oh my god... you have NO idea how many hours of scrubbing with BKF this could've saved me.
~a hopeless neurotic with tears in his eyes
Let you pans look dirty! Brag to everyone that they're just well seasoned. It's a mark of pride!
What a great series and fabulous choice of presenter! ATK, you are hitting 'em out of the park with your YT video lineup. Since I don't have tv, every installment from you makes my day. Thanks!
We have a bunch of Ekco cookie sheets we've inherited from people. The sheet pans we go to are some Edward Don (former regional restaurant supplier in the Chicago region), which I took from my last restaurant as a chef, as it was shutting down. They're steel, and even by the time I harvested them, they had gone from shiny to dead black. This video is absolutely on point.
I had no idea that darkened pans heat up more efficiently! Thanks so much for making this video.
I used to work hard to keep my sheet pans pristine, but after the young housemates started literally burning food on them, or just not completely cleaning them, I gave up. It doesn't have any effect on the end product, but it's a little irritating nevertheless.
Just remind yourself that they're for cooking, not for looking. They're tools, not works of art.
Just like me ,dull and older but hotter.
This comment made my day
Steve G
Oh my goodness, you are too funny!
😂😂😂😂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@@janedoe805 I'm still sizzling, trying to bake scones on the sides of my nose.
A very useful video. The physics of this effect actually allows the darker surfaces to both absorb AND emit heat more efficiently. Faster release of heat, more browning.
The fact that a darker pan browns better is a transient effect. I mean, if I roast something for 1 hour, at some point equilibrium is reached, but the rate the dark pan heats is greater, which means that the better browning is to do having 15+ minutes at a slightly elevated temperature.
This seems to imply that if I want to have better browning in general I should always preheating my pans.
Of course another option is to simply cook for slightly longer times.
I have the nice Nordic ware pans. This last Thanksgiving, one of my guests was kindly doing the dishes, and put one of them in the dishwasher. It's fine and I still use it, but it darkened and got a rainbow affect.
NORTIC WARE IS GREAT! Heavy, thick, & sturdy! I went through a few crappy bunt pans b4 I realized that OLD crusty Nortic Ware my friend let me use once was the BEST! Found 1 @ Costco for $20!.👍
This was so helpful. Thank you for testing this.
i accident bought Nordic ware years ago and have never bought another brand since. it is amazingly strong.
Thanks especially for showing your pan. Mine look like that and I have been searching for ways to clean it. None work. I also ended up scratching my pans. Thanks you are my turn to channel or TV show for last 10 yrs or thereabouts.
When I first clicked the video, I thought 'uh oh', but after watching it, I feel better.
Good! I was wondering if I need to continue filling up those landfills with metal! Thank you Hannah! I am keeping my ugly ol pans!
Just discovered this channel. It's very cool! I love science and cooking.
Does this mean I can put away the Barkeepers and 3m pad? Just let the Carboniferous layer grow until it looks like my old cast iron? By the old gods! This changes everything!
Love my Nordic pans, glad to know mine are still good!
This seriesss is sooo gooodd
I love this question and answer! My elbows are happy, but my Brillo pads are sad!
Thanks Hannah!! I have a doubt: it is efficient to aerate the flour using a wire whisk in a bowl?? Or is better to use a flour sifter??
A flour sifter. A wisk wont get rid of the lumps or any foreign items in the flour.
@@frenchloverstalker
You really aren't going to have foreign things in flour. It's already been factory sifted and run through a metal detector.
Sifting is irrelevant for most cooking. For most things a few lumps won't matter (pancake batter should have a few lumps actually), and electric mixers beat them out pretty well.
The main things that need sifting are delicate baked goods, like cakes, where you shouldn't mix aggressively and recipes that call for "X amount of sifted flour" instead of "X amount of flour, sifted" since the difference in how much flour is in a given volume changes drastically between sifted and unsifted.
Their favorite pan is aluminum. I thought it was harmful to cook directly on aluminum. I have a commercial grade stainless pan. Besides it’s weight is there any downside to baking or roasting on a stainless sheet pan?
How do you get your sheet pan clean? Mine looks burned up like yours. Baking soda and vinegar didn’t work for me. I’m tempted to use EasyOff but the warnings say I shouldn’t. HELP!
Do you recommend lining with tinfoil or no? and why not , thank you!!
Some cookie pans I've had for years had gotten very dark and cooked the cookies too fast. I put them in the oven during "self cleaning" and, although the shine didn't return, they are back light again.
Is it bad that I love you? Thanks for the info.
would it be beneficial to put your pan in the oven as your oven is preheating so that the pan can slowly heat up with the oven to prevent warping?
The best baking sheet is Polarware. I wish I got more of them because they are hard to find. Never warp, had them for 30 years.
What's the easiest way to clean it off. The annoying part is it makes an uneven surface and I don't want bits flaking off when I'm scraping the pan like when reducing tomatoes
Fantastic information, thank you!
does it also make them lil bit non stick, becos of polymerized oil?
It probably depends more on smoothness. Boedy Pennington (youtuber) demonstrates this by polishing a cast iron pan and cooking on it unseasoned.
I just bought a larger aluminum sheet pan (cause I wanted a LARGER surface) from a Restaurant Supply store and it still warped... It did sort itself out so I don't know if that will continue to happen..... ??
More of these videos please. :)
So could you season your baking sheet? Seems like a more direct route rather than waiting for it to get all spotted up. That way you could get a nice even coating of seasoning.
Yes, you can. I have several steel sheet pans, and I deliberately seasoned one of them.
Thanks for the tip Seiki. I am going to try that with my next sheet pan. I bought a nice non-stick sheet pan a few months ago and its already getting gooped up .. so might as well go with the regular steel sheet pan next time.
I’m glad I now know
So, should we 'season' baking sheets?
Fun and great video.
Nordic Ware .... shout out Minneapolis
I did see this question but not answered, so here goes, Isn't baking /cooking with aluminum pans? sheets not good for you as they leach onto the food? yes, great conduct of even heat but how about health considerations?
Is it bad if I use my stockpot as a dutch oven?
Is it bad if I cook tomato dishes in my carbon steel pan?
One caveat: Darkening or Discoloration does NOT mean Dirty! You need to make sure to PROPERLY clean your sheet pans after use, even if you line them up with Foil or Paper. Make sure to THOROUGHLY clean any food particles off of them so they are not magnets for Bacteria.
Good one. Thank you.
I don't think it's just "darker," I think that the micro-abrasions that make older pans look dull actually increase the surface area of the pan and therefore allow it to heat faster.
it's a good thing sheet pans cost practically nothing so I don't worry about them the way I would about an all-clad skillet or something expensive
Look at this fatcat. Do you know how many bags of lentils one can buy for the price of a new sheet pan?
My Pernini sheet pans twist and warp every time I use them...is that bad? Should I get rid of them?
Should you use foils or parchment paper?
What about those "non-stick pans" and their non-stick layer peeling off? Can those pans still be used?
😒my pan warp all it wants. It's the best pan I've had for over 15 years and still my favorite. I can't STAND new sheet pans cause they aren't seasoned like she said😠
I must have the most awesome pans!
I use an electric toothbrush to scrub my raw meat wood board. I scrub it with a plastic scrubber and dawn dish soap. Then scrub it with the electric toothbrush. I wish they can make a hand size sonic scrubber.
Of course I use the toothbrush only for the wood board. I have about 3 brush I bought for around $7 each. It scrubs the sink faucets really well.
messed up sheet pans make the best texture layer in Photoshop
I'm having a hard time believing that, in an oven, the darker color would actually cause faster heating as I would think the main heat transfer would be via convection not radiation. Would it not be more plausible that due to the heating and cooling down the metal undergoes allotropic phase transformation, restructuring the metal on an atomic level, giving the material different properties? I think that during use, the metal lettuce is transformed in such a way where internal heat transfer simply becomes easier.
That could indeed factor into the heat transfer, but still I find it very dubious to suspect a thin black film of thermally less conductive material stuck to metal to increase to thermal capacity of the entire unit.
Should I use oven cleaner to get rid of oily build up on sheet pans?
if your dull/dark pans are not evenly dark/dull wouldn't that mean you get uneven cooking though?
I got used pans from a restaurant supply place. They are top of the line with just some hard use. Even with new cooling racks, they cost almost about half what they would have cost new. I get just about everything from these restaurant supply stores, their value to price is too good to pass up.
Question: Is it bad for aluminum foil to touch your food.
I suppose you could just clean off polymerized oil w/ Easy Off.
Just don't use oven cleaner (lye) on aluminum. It will dissolve the aluminum!
@@dictare: I double checked the label, & you are quite right! Thx. for the heads up! :/
dictare is right.
If the color of the sheet pan freaks you out just place some aluminum foil down and cook.
@@richiegrey5377 thanks! :)
Is it bad that all of my cookware is the cheapest, or bought from secondhand shops?
Good to know. I just feel disgusted when I see strongly stained pans at other people’s place! Don’t feel like eating their food 😂
So if it's warped does that mean you shouldn't use it? Sorry but I don't know whats wrong with using a warped sheet pan? Mine aren't yet but just want know for when that does happen.
They typically only warp temporarily making that sound.
I had a pan that warped with a POP! and tossed the food every which way. Big oven cleanup. Get a new one.
I stupidly put my aluminum sheet pans in he dishwasher and they got dull and splotchy. Is that bad, or just ugly?
just ugly :)
They heat better but are they safe? I mean, what is all that gunk on the surface and is it harmful?
no, totally safe! it's just oil baked on, like on a carbon steel or cast iron pan
what about glass baking dish with the baked on grease.
Should I toss if it’s flaking? I use but cover with foil.
I think it depends on how you use the pan. If you want to use it to roast a slab of ribs or some chicken wings, putting foil on it is fine. I do it anyway for the sake of easy clean up. If you're baking cookies, put a sheet of parchment paper down and it will be fine. If you want to bake cake in it, then I would just get another one. They're not expensive at all. I think the Nordic Ware one is about $12 at Walmart. I bought a good one at GFS on sale for $7.
Bernadette Blair Thank you
Is it bad to keep chicken fat longer than a few weeks?
what if it has rust??
Ok but is there a way to make shiny again?
I take mine to an autobody shop. First they hit them with a soda blaster, then wetsand with 2000 grit sandpaper. Finally they polish them up with a medium cut polishing compound with a buffer. They only charge me $250 per pan.
Robin Dobbie LOL you had me for the first 3 sentences!
Except if you want to clean them you can use Easy Off or Any Oven Cleaner that will take away Years of Grease !
We might hear the “weird boinging noise” if the loud competing background music wasn’t there! Please consider NO MUSIC AT ALL for these instructional videos.
I agree, from TV commercials to videos on You Tube....background music is VERY annoying and distracting. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my ears when I mute the TV!!
I hit the mute button and CC read it. Southern Living RUclips channel is also very annoying.
💙
Is it bad if I use mayonnaise as an instrument?
You should definitely use it instead of butter when making grilled cheese sandwiches.
Browning isn't always a good thing. A light sheet pan is often favoured because it doesn't impart too much colour on to baked goods.
Please turn down the volume of the "music". Distracting and annoying. Thanks for the good information otherwise.
**sigh** so what brand of sheet pans do you use? Can't you just say it, or do i have to buy this months issue?
She did say AND they provided a link in the description. I have seen that brand at Target
Karsten Von Fjellheim "so what brand of sheet pans do you use? Can't you just say it, or do i have to buy this months issue?"
Watch the video again, and this time PAY ATTENTION!
Cooking on aluminum is unsafe. Do your research. Thanks for sharing
aye Chef Hanna
Are you ever concerned about cooking with aluminum? I don't know if the alleged Alzheimer's link is real or not (I'm skeptical), I would like your opinion on that, thanks.
She's cute... She single?
Love fest wtf?
Your explanation is way off. Black colors don't absorb more heat. They reflect less light so more photons transfer their energy. How ever in an oven the source of the heat isn't the oven light so color should not make a difference. There has to be another reason.
The "light" in this case in infrared energy which is in the same electromagnetic spectrum as visible light. The "light" source is the heating element of your oven and the increased absorption of the pan is indeed why it gets hotter than a shiny/reflective pan. Using dark pans in baking is a tried and true method for getting good browning for cookies etc.
Thank you. Came here to find this comment