Broiler Pans – Banes of My Existence
My position on all things Green is well-established. I am so Green that I slice my English muffins over the green container so as to be certain the crumbs that fall will then be composted. That’s Green. But I swear that if I could find a single-use broiler pan, I’d opt for it every time. Attempting to wash a dirty broiler pan has to be the most thankless, fail-ridden task in all of kitchendom.
I mean, a broiler pan wants to be somewhere between a grill and a pan. A pan, I know how to clean – soak, then scrub. If it’s one of our wonderful stainless-lined copper pans, I can scrub it with steel wool. That makes clean. Success! If it’s a grill, then I get it as hot as possible and scrape at it with a steel brush. Again, success! But a broiler pan everyone seems to try to clean with a sponge. This non-nonstick surface gains texture after just a few uses, and no sponge is getting that off. Know what that texture is? Charred food! Carbon cake. Ewwww. And you’re supposed to just keep cooking on it. That’s beyond unpleasant.
So, yeah, I’d totally go for disposable broiler pans. Use ‘em, toss ‘em. Maybe if I got a bit too energetic I could come up with a dwelling design that incorporated used broiler pans. But until then, I say gather them up and launch them into the sun. Or make up your mind and use either the grill or a pan.
