Nonstick cooking sprays like Pam and Mazola are convenient to use and boast fat-free cooking. But these products have also always seemed to us like one of those strange slightly-mystical products akin to Bac-Os bacon bits or pre-grated Parmesan cheese in a can. Just what the heck is nonstick cooking spray?!
Food Science: The Science Behind Nonstick Cooking Spray
From what we can tell, most nonstick cooking sprays are simply an oil (usually canola) thinned out with water. The water and oil are kept suspended with an emulsifying agent like lecithin (found in egg yolks). Nothing terribly unnatural or artificial there. The spray delivery method also allows you to administer a much thinner coating of the oil than you could do by hand.
Some of the mystery surrounds this idea that nonstick cooking sprays allow for fat-free and calorie-free cooking. This makes us scratch our heads a bit, seeing as how the main ingredient is oil and so far we haven't heard of any fat-free oils being produced.
In reality, this is a bit of tricky (some might say, subversive) advertising. If there are less than 5 calories or 0.5 grams of fat in a single serving of something, the company is legally allowed to advertise that product as zero-calorie and fat-free. Our problem is that most cooking sprays say that one serving is equivalent to a 1/3 second burst, which seems almost impossibly brief to us. Even if we had the reflexes to only trigger the spray for 1/3 second, we can't imagine getting an entire pan coated in that period.
So how much fat and how many calories are you actually cooking with? According to the Pam website, there is about 1 gram of fat and 7 calories in a one second spray of their product. Other products are roughly equivalent. For comparison, one teaspoon of olive oil contains approximately 4.5 grams of fat and 40 calories. So, while nonstick sprays aren't exactly fat-free, they are technically lower in fat than other cooking mediums.
For our part, we still prefer to do our every-day cooking with "whole" fats like olive oil or butter (gasp!), but we do keep a can of nonstick cooking spray around for coating pans and cookies sheets for baking. We find that nonstick sprays do a better job of coating these surfaces without interfering with the flavor or texture of what we're baking.
What are your feelings on nonstick cooking sprays?
Related: Good Question: Stainless Steel vs. Nonstick
(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
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Pam with flour in is a baker's best friend.
That said, if you're worried about sprays in general, you can buy spray bottles that you pump up and can put olive oil in or something. Personally, I use the sprays for baking but otherwise use a bit of olive oil.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
I think where the 1/3 second burst comes in is that 1 serving doesn't equal one pan. You couldn't cover an entire pan in a 1/3 of a second, but you could probably cover the space equal to one brownie.
view kellyem's profile
Yeah, I don't use pre-packaged spray products, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it leaves a nasty, brownish sticky film that is well nigh impossible to remove from pans and skillets and such. Buy a Misto-type thing, it works just as well. What I do is use a silicone brush that I keep in a small jar in my cabinet, one that is filled with canola oil, one with olive oil. I can brush just a miniscule amount on a pan or skillet, and it works fine.
view Peggasus's profile
I just used the spray in my mary ann cake pan, which would be way too tricky to oil or butter by hand. Otherwise I use oil or butter.
view Joan A.'s profile
I use them, but not often. I'll use them if I know I'm going to use a lot of oil later in the recipe, for example, but if I'm not going to use a lot of butter/oil elsewhere, I usually just stick to the traditional stuff for the pan.
view ejbrammer's profile
I have always used Baker's Joy for buttering and flouring pans, because that's really tedious with small nooks and crannies. But otherwise, I use a pump thing for spraying oil. Pam kind of creeps me out, especially since it's nearly impossible to clean off (at least for those without a dishwasher).
view ottan's profile
Personally I laughed out loud (I lol'ed! ;D) when I saw this type of product for the first time on my trip to the US this summer. It seems like completely unnecessary.
There is also no reason for avoiding fat in food. Calories are a lame measurement for "healthy eating". It's the sugar (and carbohydrates) that are bad for you.
I would never buy or use Pam and the like, from now on it's real butter only in my kitchen.
view Herzleid's profile
I mostly use butter and oil for cooking, but I do use Pam for baking. My dog hates Pam. Whenever I use it she comes running and barks her head off. Then I hold the Pam canister down for her to see she tries to bite it! Someone must have Pammed her in the face as a puppy, I just can't think of any other explanation. Poor little thing.
view megbot's profile
I'm NOT a fan of the sprays. The nasty sticky residue Peggasus refers to really is impossible to clean.
That and I now have a very nice set of infused anodized pans. Non-stick sprays aren't recommended (they can ruin them, actually).
About the only time I find them useful is for certain types of baking pans with intricate designs. Otherwise I stick with olive oil or butter. You don't need much if you have good pans.
view Shana Lee's profile
I use PAM. It really like to use it after I am done using cast-iron to help give a glossy glow. It is just nice when I am done doing dishes and all I have to do is give a quick spray and a rub down on the pans. I use it for coating cookie cutters as well when I make marshmallows. It would be next to impossible to coat a snowflake cookie cutter with butter or oil in every little spot. So quick and easy with PAM.
view mamaspank's profile