SKILLETS OR FRYING PANS?

Electric Skillets

 Use of the word “skillet” is uncommon outside of North America.  Traditionally, early frying pans were made of cast iron.  Although cast iron is still popular today, especially for outdoor cooking, most electric skillets are now made from metals such as aluminum and stainless steel (my favorite).  The materials and construction of modern electric skillets include, in addition to aluminum and stainless steel, anodized aluminum, cast iron, and copper.  With an aluminum or copper core, a Teflon coating can be applied to the surface of the electric skillet to make it non-stick.  This is popular for electric skillets sold to the home user, but less so for the electric skillets used  by professional cooks and restaurants.  Electric skillets made from copper will require polishing to remove tarnish.  Aluminum and stainless steel electric skillets generally do not require much maintenance.  Electric skillets with Teflon coating should not be overheated or the Teflon will melt----right into your food.

Like deep frying, electric skillets depend on conduction and convection.  In electric skillet frying, a layer of oil has four functions:  to lubricate the surface, to increase contact between the food and the pan, to reduce cooking time, and to increase flavor and coloring.

Copper frying pans were used in ancient Mesopotamia.  There are many types of frying pans.  The common frying pan was among the first objects to be electrified in the 1890s.  A British example dates from 1898.  It had an element fitted below the pan and a socket at the end of the wooden handle.  In 1953, Sunbeam introduced the electric skillet.  It was a square, cast aluminum pan with a built-in element.  The heat control and fry guide was on the handle.  The twelve-inch electric skillet looked like a griddle.  In 1954, the first stainless steel electric skillet came along.  Nonstick coatings came along in 1956 making electric skillets easier to clean.  Electric skillets were very popular at that time.  The electric skillet could also stew, braise and bake with the lid on.  The use of the electric skillet waned when its rival, the microwave, came along, but electric skillets are still part of our lives today, if only when Mom uses them.