Titanium Fry Pan – do they really suck?

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I have experimented with a lot of pan frying techniques, it does require and even heat.  The heat level seems to be around 200 watts: less that a fast boil, more than a simmer.  You can add a LOT of oil, but then you are almost deep frying your food.  Diffuser help, elevation helps, however; the best results that I have been able to obtains are with a thicker walled aluminum pan.  That being said, I am pretty strict on my requirements.  A good fry pan can cook a pancake with an even brown surface with no hot spots.  A great frypan can cook an egg over easy without sticking.  I have yet to find an ultralight fry pan that works well cooking eggs.  I have been pretty successful using an MSR Blacklite frying pan built that comes in at 5.2 oz.  My 2 cents

[DAN-Y]

Second try with the photo:

Canadian bacon in 8″ seasoned Ti fry pan. It’s all about seasoning the pan just as you would season cast iron or aluminum.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben, thanks for the feedback.

“I’ve been wondering about putting ribs on a thin wall Al pan that would provide strength and a conduction path to spread heat.”

Interesting idea, certainly might work.  My thought was to coil some thick’ish and somewhat flattened copper wire around the bottom.

But I’m not sure how one would bond the two?  I’ve done a little experimentation with brazing Al to Al with a micro torch, but I don’t know if that would be able to handle the heat, nor if it could bond Al and Cu together?  Might just be easier to do Al to Al like your idea.

Either way, would have to do the bonding before the anodizing, as my understanding is that bonding to a thick Al oxide surface ala anodizing doesn’t work too well and really decreases the bonding strength.

[DAN-Y]

I recently seasoned a small 2 cup capacity, Keith titanium bowl with handles. I used it as a small frying pan and it performed beyond my expectations. I’ve been frying eggs in it for the past 3 days. This morning I fried 2 eggs over easy and the photo shows that there was no sticking to the bowl. I am well pleased with the seasoned titanium bowl as a fry pan.

[Mole J]

Dan, that looks quite useable. Please could you explain how you seasoned the pan?

[DAN-Y]

Mole J. I used Canola oil as my high heat oil. I washed the new ti bowl with soap and water, rinsed and then scrubbed it with a few shakes of salt to remove anything tiny on the surface, and then rinsed well and then dried it.

I placed 1/4 cup canola oil in it, swirled it around to thoroughly coat the inside and then dumped the excess back into a small glass container. On the stove top I ignited one of the burners so it had a small flame. I held the bowl by it’s handles over the flame until the oil began to smoke, swirled the oil around a little and then shut the burner off and then placed the bowl onto the burner to let it totally cool down on it’s own till it got down to room temperature.

I did the above heating procedure 6 times and it was ready.

I used canola oil to fry/scramble the eggs. I also fried a slice of cheese without it sticking.

 

[Mole J]

Thanks Dan for the detailed reply.

I will try it on a Toaks frypan I have not used to fry with yet.

I usually use a Trangia NS frypan (mini or type 27) as it’s a super nonstick coating. But like all coatings, they are vulnerable to scratching.

[Mole J]

Dan. I attempted to season the pan as described. Doesn’t look as even colour as yours, but I tested it and fried an egg over easy. No problems at all. The egg slid about almost as easy as a non stick pan

Thanks. Every day is a schoolday.

[James Marco]

Yeah, a gelled grease coating works pretty well. But, on ti and al, it scrapes off easily.  My home cast iron pans do this too, but the burnt carbon actually “soaks” into the iron… DO NOT cook acidy stuff in a seasoned pan. It will strip the coating off. DO NOT SCRAPE it, it will come off on ti/al.

[DAN-Y]

Mole, glad to hear it worked out for you. Use more oil when frying, blot onto paper towel before eating.

Tomorrow morning I will attempt 4 eggs over easy. I like the ti bowl as a fry pan, keeps eggs confined for easier flipping. I use a  I’ll use olive oil or lard instead of canola and see what happens.

I use a spoonula for flipping eggs and assisting in the cooking.

Thanks for tip on acidic foods James.

[todd]

Very cool folks!  I hope more successes get posted here.

[DAN-Y]

Also next week….omelets

[DAN-Y]

Todays 4 over easy using EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil was a sucess :-)

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

That is imporessive!

[DAN-Y]

Next I’ll try a Fancee Feest burner designed for isopropyl alcohol for dry baking and see how well it works with this bowl/pan. The Fancee Feest has a short integrated pot support, should work ok with alcohol. The bowl/pan is now dual purpose, cooking and water heating.

Edited to say I will try an omelet next in the house and then outside with the Fancee Feest.

This new found Keith titanium bowl/pan does not suck, it rocks :-)

 

[Roger Caffin]

That Keith Ti pan looks rather good. Very versatile.
Cheers

[Author]

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