Regis Stone Ultra Non-Stick Frying Pan (JML) [By @Cinabar]

Firstly let me start by saying Happy Pancake Day!!!

What better way to enjoy the day than by cracking open a brand new frying pan. This new one is from the Regis Stone range from JML and isn’t just non-stick it is ultra non-stick! It is made from a stone hybrid which also ensures that items are cooked evenly and it heats up quickly. It is non-scratch too, but I think that is something that needs time to judge it.
I have to admit to having seen on TV some infomercials for the new ultra non-stick pans, the Regis Stone one from JML seems to be very impressive so I thought it would be fun to try out our new one on Shrove Tuesday.
We added the batter to the pan in order to make the first pancake, and it did feel odd not adding any extra oil before hand, but that is supposed to be the magic of the pan. After a suitable amount of cooking it came to the flip, which actually means a turn with a spatula, but you get the idea. Impressively the pancake came away easily and both sides cooked really well.

When it finished it really did just slide off the pan and onto the plate, ready to serve. I can see this being a really good healthy way to cook. Knowing there is no requirement for extra fat when frying an egg for example does seem like a very clever concept. For now though I have pancakes, put the health aspects aside and pass me the ice cream. :-)

By Cinabar

Delimano Ceramica Suprema 20cm Frying Pan [Review by @NLi10]

When someone offers to send you a frying pan to review you have to presume they are pretty confident that it's better than the one you have.  I know I've cooked at a few other people's houses before (and in hostel kitchens) and had some fairly useless lumps of metal to work with, but at home I have a lovely little wok and a much larger wok pan which you'd expect for someone writing a food blog.  It was with some trepidation then that I accepted that I'd try some ceramic cookware and see what the fuss was about.

The parcel was delivered to my elderly neighbours and the man of the house suggested that bacon and eggs would be the best things to test it with.  And I agreed!

I added Udon noodles as these are the thing that most often sticks to my existing pans.  It does mean they become super crispy - but takes some effort to clean off.

First up an egg.  I did nothing to the pan except for washing it before use.  See how the little red stripe before the handle has appeared - I guess that means it's hot enough!

The egg fried and then slid straight out of the pan leaving no mess at all.  This was fun.  I then put the cheap, water and salt filled bacon (that I got from our little shop on our street as I was out of the good stuff) into the pan with no oil or fat.  I whacked the temperature up to get the fat out of the bacon to crisp it up.

While this did leave behind a lot of bacon residue the plastic spatula I used for cooking these easily wiped that off.  I added the cooked bacon to the bowl and moved on to the noodles.

These I softened with water and then added some Kikkoman Soy Sauce to the pan while cooking to give it that authentic flavour.  This usually causes the noodles at the bottom to stick to the pan.

In this case it didn't happen.  The noodles didn't seem to dry out as much and didn't crisp up quite as much as I'm used to, but also didn't stick at all.  They were evenly coated and all cooked well.

And with no water at all I used my puple spatula to remove all the bits that would usually require a scrub to get off.  This made washing up a very quick and simple affair.

I'm sure for big stir-fry that this wouldn't be able to replace my giant wok pan, but for general frying it's a lot easier and requires less heat or oil.  If your looking to reduce the amount you need to use then this could be for you.  I also think this range would make very good gifts as it's something that most people are unlikely to go out and look for - unless they've tried out someone else's and decided their kitchen needs an upgrade.

I doubted that adding a bit of science to kitchenware would make that much difference, but it's surprisingly effective.  At £33.99 it's not going to be the cheapest on the market, but it comes with a 5 year guarantee which is essentially a manufacturers way of saying they'd be surprised if it didn't last 10.  The full range is here and I'm very tempted to hunt these out as some of my family would definitely like one as a birthday present.

This said - it may be that all ceramic pans are simply more effective than the thin metal ones I'm used to - i'd be interested to hear other peoples opinions on this in the comments below.