In my post on Healthy Cookware I mentioned that I was trying a new-to-me brand of safer pots and pans called Xtrema by Ceramcor. They sent me a skillet a few weeks back and I have now had a chance to use it in the kitchen. Their pans are high temperature ceramic that is non-scratch and easy to clean. I don’t see a non-stick claim on their site but in my opinion they are very much non-stick. They can be used on stove top, oven, under broiler, freezer, frig, microwave and on a barbeque grill. The company recommends that you use nylon, silicone, or wood cooking tools with these pans but as you can see in the photo above I used a metal spatula for cooking eggs. I don’t like plastic or silicone spatulas and wooden ones are too thick for flipping eggs. It didn’t scratch the pan but for all other types of cooking I used wood spoons.
For fried eggs this pan was great. They cooked like a dream and they flipped very nicely without sticking. The pan was also a snap to clean. I also used it to make some fresh fish for the kids, and also to saute mushrooms and onions for other dishes. IMO it took a bit longer for food to cook with this skillet than in my stainless steel skillet. That said, I must also share that I recently went from cooking on an electric range to a gas range again and I am NOT digging the cook times for gas, so that could be the issue as well.
This isn’t my new favorite pan or anything but it is very nice for cooking eggs on weekday mornings, or browning up some mushrooms for lunch… when I don’t have too many people to cook for. It is super easy to clean, which makes me VERY happy and it is a nice looking skillet as well. I am happy to give this healthier skillet a home. I would like to try the Xtrema Wok and give it a nice test run as well.
Why Its Healthy:
* Handmade using natural gas, clay and water
* No trace metals or chemicals leach from the cooking surface
* There is no harmful PTFE coating and it produces no harmful PFOA gas which can occur with most popular petroleum based non-stick coatings.
Why Its Green:
* Materials are inorganic natural minerals from our earth’s crust
* The non-scratch ceramic cooking surface on the Xtrema cookware is non-reactive and 100% non-toxic
* Durability – These pans will last for a long time and cannot be scratched… even if you use steel wool. There is even a 50 year warranty.
Thanks so much for testing out these pans/pots! We are in the market to replace our wedding set (very long overdue to be replaced!) so I really enjoyed your review.
Thanks.
Cool. I appreciate this review. I’m alwasy interested in new non-stick frying pans that aren’t Teflon.
Thanks for the review! Though I’ve long replaced the Teflon icky ones, I do need another one since one of my ceramic coated ones chipped pretty badly…which is why metal is a no-no. I wonder how well these particular ones hold up in that way.
I have been researching new pots and pans for myself and found out that xtrema does contain lead in the glazing. They state nothing leaches into the food, but for me I would never take the chance. No lead is good lead. Check out Emile Henry if this is the type of kitchenware that interests you. I have checked them out and they state no lead or cadmium is used at all. It is very hard to trust anyone claim on the lead issue and I have a hard time with it myself. The companies are allowed to say lead-free if it is below the CA Prop 65 limit which is crazy. So no lead is what you want a product to say.
Hey,
This is a great review. What a great idea to review one of these pans. We did a story on this a little while ago. It is a good idea to inform people of the harsh chemicals found in nonstick pans. We don’t know what we are using, plus, we get so caught up in the convenience of the pans that we don’t know we could be hurting ourselves!
Hey nice half fryomlet