Hot Stuff (Published 2007) (2024)

SILICONE kitchen tools have been lending a playful, psychedelic air to kitchens across the country, especially those where stark, sophisticated stainless steel had been the coin of the realm. The new tools appear in colors from electric green and royal purple to sweetheart pink and terra cotta and come in every shape imaginable.

Until about a decade ago, Americans knew silicone, a synthetic rubber, mainly from Silly Putty and, more controversially, from breast implants. But in recent years cooks have been deluged with silicone spatulas, cake pans, muffin tins, potholders, colanders and ties.

Clearly, the designers are having a ball. And so are the manufacturers and retailers of housewares. According to HomeWorld Business, a magazine that serves the housewares industry, silicone products make up about 7 percent of the bakeware business. Sales of silicone bakeware for 2006 are expected to exceed 2.7 million units, up from 365,000 units in 2001, according to the magazine.

What’s less clear is whether these products are as revolutionary in their use as they are in their appearance.

After four days in the kitchen — ovens blasting, water boiling, microwave beeping — I have clear ideas about which pieces of silicone belong in my kitchen and which do not, even if I were starting from scratch. There were plenty of disappointments, but a lot of treats.

Let’s immediately dispense with a common myth about silicone baking pans, and a reason many people say they buy them: that they are nonstick and do not require greasing.

Those who once believed this can tell you about partial layers of cake left behind and about muffin tops in hand and muffin bottoms left in the cup. Stick resistant is a better description.

Michael Karyo, owner of SiliconeZone, which makes silicone cookware, agreed. “If any silicone manufacturer says you never have to grease a pan, no matter, they are not telling you the truth,” he said.

Despite many magical qualities, silicone is not Teflon. (In light of some questions about Teflon’s safety, this can be seen as a plus.) It is also not all things to all people: like glass and aluminum, stainless steel and cast iron, it is the best choice for some tasks in the kitchen and not for others. Used as a potholder or as a baking surface for cookies, it has no equal. Used to peel garlic or to squeeze lemons, it is unclear why anyone would bother.

The universally appealing qualities of silicone are its heat resistance; its flexibility, which allows you to fold it, flatten it and squish it into a drawer; its ease of washing; and its ability to go from oven or microwave to refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher (in most cases) and sometimes even to the dinner table, cutting down on the number and kinds of containers you need.

It is also, in its own way, environmentally friendly. The assorted lids, some of which quite conveniently form a vacuum when pressed down on a pot or a bowl, can be used again and again, saving on plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Silicone baking mats, sold by SiliconeZone and under the brand name Silpat, have slicker surfaces than silicone bakeware and are unbeatable at keeping pastries from sticking. The sheets eliminate the need for parchment paper.

While Silpat cannot be cut into smaller pieces, the baking mats made by SiliconeZone can, making them perfect for fitting into pan bottoms. Silicone ties can be used in place of string to tie rolled meats like boneless leg of lamb and to truss birds.

The better silicone products cost more than the glass or metal ones they replace. Some of them are worth it. But beware: not all silicone is created equal. To reduce costs, some manufacturers add fillers to the product. Luckily there is a simple way to tell: pinch and twist a flat surface on the item. If white shows through, the product contains filler. Pure silicone does not change color when twisted.

Kate Humphrey, owner of the Art of Cooking, a cookware store in Greenwich Village, does not carry any silicone products with fillers because, she said, “they compromise heat, stability and performance.” In other words, they are not uniformly heat resistant.

Mr. Karyo, whose products are 100 percent silicone, says some filler products “get crackly looking, start buckling and shrinking, dry out and lose their elasticity.” The pans with filler may even produce an odor that permeates food baked in them. SiliconeZone products have a lifetime guarantee, but will they last as long as the pots my mother had since her wedding day and handed down to me? Silicone has not been used in the kitchen long enough to know the answer.

The pieces that appeal to me most have to do with managing hot pots. The potholders that double as trivets; the “heat holder,” with the little finger and thumb mitt from Dexas; and the long-gloved Orka mitt, for taking corn and lobster out of boiling water, are ensconced in my kitchen. My old cloth potholders are slowly disappearing. The handle holders from Lamson & Goodnow, which have been slipped on to my Le Creuset sauté pan and to my Lodge frying pan, will never be removed.

Sautéing while using a Tovolo splatter screen, knowing there will be no specks of grease to wipe from the stove top afterward, is sheer heaven.

After two tries I learned to love the PoachPods from Lamson & Goodnow, ovoid shapes that poach an egg to perfection, as long as you grease the cup and run a knife not only around the sides of the egg but also along the bottom.

And for all but delicate cakes, silicone brushes work well, are easy to clean and do not burn.

The disappointments were mostly bakeware products, though some of the muffin tins, cupcake molds and specialty molds held up nicely. Loaf pans, cake tins, brownie pans and Bundt pans gave me the most trouble. Even SiliconeZone’s New Wave pans, constructed of thicker material than most silicone bakeware, which is usually so floppy it has to be placed on a cookie sheet, are not something I would invest in.

The sweet bread baked in the loaf pan never browned properly. A corner of one of the cake layers stuck in the greased pan. And when I took the brownies out of the oven, I lifted one side of the New Wave pan, resulting in a big crack in the brownies. Even these heavier pans should be placed on cookie sheets.

I take full responsibility for what happened to the angel cake I baked in a Bundt pan: I forgot to turn down the temperature of the oven and the cake burned, leaving dark black remnants that did not wash away. Instructions from SiliconeZone to boil the pan in equal parts white vinegar and water were marginally successful.

One kind of liner I tried for the bottom of cake pans was very trying. Silicone picks up a lot of static electricity, which not only makes it collect dust, but sometimes makes it difficult to arrange in the bottom of a cake pan. Once it touches the metal, it clings. There is a much thicker liner that does not cling, but it contains filler, so it will not stay in my kitchen.

The vertical roaster, on which to stand a chicken, failed its test immediately, tipping over as it was placed in the oven. My old metal roaster remained upright.

I spent 30 minutes trying to thicken an egg, sugar and lemon mixture in the silicone double boiler top that fits on a pan. Then I remembered that it is heat resistant, and I removed the mixture to a metal bowl. The egg mixture thickened in less than 60 seconds. Silicone is fine for melting chocolate, however.

I gave the spring-form, with a ceramic bottom, a second chance after cheesecake batter leaked out on the first try. The second time it worked perfectly, but baking temperatures and times had to be adjusted downward.

One question nagged at me as I put these tools through their paces: Is this stuff safe? Unfortunately, there is not as much research as I had hoped. Dr. Mitchell Cheeseman, associate director of the office of food additive safety at the Food and Drug Administration, said silicone is “regulated to the same safety standards as food additives like aspartame, monosodium glutamate.”

He added: “The F.D.A. ensures safety of the end product by ensuring the safety of the materials that produce it. The agency has a substantial database on silicone compounds. The industry has to submit data that is relevant. But there is nothing that requires verification of compliance because companies are not required to come back to us.”

No problems have been reported in this country and nonbaking products are the least likely to cause trouble.

Even silicone’s most ardent fans do not think it will put metal and glassware out of business. But I confess that I have fallen head over heels for the splatter screen, the potholders and the baking mats.