Mastering Your Vermicular Pan: Part I (Cooking)
Essential Cooking Guide for Vermicular Frying Pan and Oven-Safe Skillet
We are all familiar with the two essential aspects of being a home chef: cooking and cleaning. When developing our pans, we sought to create the ideal, everyday kitchen companion that would vastly improve the experience of both. We coated the pans in our proprietary, non-toxic enamel, which not only delivers exceptional cooking performance for delicious taste and texture, but provides versatility and absolute ease-of-use while cooking and cleaning. Here are a few tips for making the most out of your Vermicular pan.
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Unless otherwise specified, this article refers to both the Vermicular Frying Pan and Oven-Safe Skillet as the “pan.”
Before you start cooking
Here are some important things to keep in mind when using a Vermicular pan:
- Always preheat the pan thoroughly before adding ingredients.
- Avoid using metal utensils for cooking.
- Both the Vermicular Frying Pan and Oven-Safe Skillet are compatible with all stovetops: gas, ceramic, induction, and electric.
- The Oven-Safe Skillet can be used in the oven (up to 570°F). The Vermicular Frying Pan is designed for stovetop use only.
Stovetop Cooking Guide
Proper preheating is essential to prevent ingredients from sticking—fortunately, Vermicular pans preheat rapidly.
Food can stick easily to a cast iron pan if the pan is not properly preheated. Always thoroughly preheat your pan over medium-high heat, allowing smoke to rise from the entire surface before adding ingredients. This will help prevent the ingredients from sticking. Typically, cast iron pans of the same size take 4 to 5 minutes to preheat. Vermicular pans only take about 90 seconds.
Basic Preheating Steps
- Preheat over medium-high heat for about 90 seconds (60 seconds with induction cooktops).
- Add oil and swirl to coat evenly.
- Wait for smoke to rise from the pan's entire surface. Now the pan is preheated and ready for cooking!
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Adequate preheating is achieved only after smoke has risen from the entire surface of the pan. It is important not to rush this step.
Additional Preheating Steps
Some ingredients, like eggs or flour, tend to stick more than others. When cooking with these ingredients, turn off the heat once the pan is preheated to further equalize heat across the pan's surface and minimize sticking.
- Follow steps 1–3 from above.
- Turn off the heat and let the smoke clear, about 10–30 seconds.
- Once the smoke clears, add ingredients while the heat is still off. Wait for 10–30 seconds.
- Turn the heat back on and cook over low or very low heat.
Cooking Tips for Best Results
Tip 1. Use the appropriate heat levels.
Vermicular pans have a superior heat transfer capability compared to conventional cast iron pans. Combined with the heat retention properties of cast iron, the heat level can potentially be overpowering to delicate ingredients if you use high heat.
If you find that your ingredients are frequently burning or that food is sticking to the pan's surface, try lowering the heat. In fact, using low heat yields the best results, even when sautéing vegetables and/or searing proteins, because Vermicular pans heat and distribute heat evenly and rapidly even at lower temperatures.
Medium-High Heat
Used when preheating, quickly stir-frying vegetables, or sautéing thinly-sliced meat.
- Gas Stove: Flames should cover about ¾ of the base area
- Induction Cooktop: 1400 watts
Medium Heat
Used when searing thick cuts of meat, such as hamburger steaks and pork chops.
- Gas Stove: Flames should cover about ½ of the base area
- Induction Cooktop: 1000 watts
Low Heat
Used when cooking ingredients that tend to stick, like eggs, slowly cooking the inside of a thick-cut steak while creating an even sear, or braising.
- Gas Stove: Flames should barely touch the base of the skillet
- Induction Cooktop: 450 watts
Very Low Heat
Used when cooking flour-based recipes that easily burn, such as pancakes and dumplings.
- Gas Stove: Flames should not touch the base of the skillet
- Induction Cooktop: 250 watts
Tip 2. Use the right amount of oil for ingredients.
In most cases, adequate preheating and using the appropriate heat levels will solve food-sticking issues. However, if ingredients are still sticking, it could be due to an inadequate amount of oil in the pan. Though the amount of oil needed varies by recipe, you may need to add more for dishes that involve ingredients prone to sticking, such as eggs, flour, or fish.
Oven Heating Guide (Oven-Safe Skillet only)
Use the temperature ranges below as a reference when baking, roasting, and broiling.
Low: 300–360ºF (150–180ºC)
Used when slow-roasting thick cuts of meat, cooking light egg dishes, or baking moist cakes, cookies, and pies.
Medium: 360–460ºF (180–240ºC)
Used when baking with moderate heat to achieve a lightly golden-brown finish, or roasting vegetables until sweet, tender, and caramelized.
High: 460ºF (240ºC) and above
Used when crisping and browning at higher temperatures for shorter durations, such as fish and lean cuts of meat, or making homemade pizzas.
Broil
Used when requiring intense overhead heat radiation on meat dishes or for the final browning of crusts and cheeses.
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Temperatures are approximate. Different ovens have varying heat settings, temperature ranges, and preheating efficiencies.
Where to begin?
Mastery of a Vermicular pan begins with a single step: start by cooking our Eggs Sunny-Side Up recipe, which is introduced in our tutorial video below. Go ahead and give it a try!
Have any questions?
Visit our Help Center for answers to frequently asked questions, or feel free to contact support@vermicular.us for further assistance.