Tips & tricks
Silicone Cookware — An RVers Dream Product
By By Ron Jones
Aug 9, 2006, 10:07

Silicone bakeware/cookware is weird stuff, that is, it doesn’t act or feel normal and most people don’t trust it. That makes sense to me—I didn’t trust it either, at first. Keep reading.

Silicone cookware was developed in the 1980s for commercial kitchens. It is FDA approved, inert, and safe up to various high temperatures (stamped in the bottom of each piece). Silicone will melt if heated above its safe range but doesn’t produce toxic vapors. Silicone cookware includes muffin pans, baking pans, spatulas, molds, whisks, and more. It is considered the only non-reactive, non-stick cooking material.

Advantages of Silicone for RVers

Silicone cookware is great anywhere but is considered “The Answer” for RVers. It is…

• Flexible — you can literally roll or wad it up and stuff it in a drawer, use it as a cushion to pack between other conventional pans for travel, it will fit and can be tucked in just about anywhere.
• Lightweight — My guess is that silicone cookware counterpart is about 1/10 the weight of glass baking dishes. Regardless of the actual amount, it is significantly lighter. Leave those glass baking dishes behind.
• Cooks Great — Use silicone cookware in any appliance where it will not come in contact with direct heat (open flame or electric burner). It’s great in microwave, gas or electric ovens, and convection ovens.
• Easy to Clean — While it’s the best non-stick material I’ve used, occasionally food sticks. Its flexibile, just bend the pan and food often pops off! Wash it with the other dishes. It is dishwasher safe.
• Cheap — Don’t pay big bucks for silicone—shop around. We paid $19.00 (yes, nineteen) for a three-piece set (loaf pan, bundt pan, and muffin pan) of silicone at a pharmacy chain. Works great!

Special Care

Sharp objects like knives or forks can damage silicon cookware. I use silicone spatulas, too. If you happen to cut or puncture the surface, the pan is still usable but food will collect and stick inside the cut.

Using Silicone Cookware

Don’t change your recipes with silicone. However, the flexibility works against you. Try filling a 9 x 13-inch silicone baking pan with a runny batter and then put it in the oven! It’s hard enough with a metal or glass dish. A floppy pan brings on new challenges.

For baking, our convection oven requires a metal rack that sits in the microwave tray. I set my 9 x 13 silicone pan on the rack, pour in the batter, and lift the metal rack (with baking pan on it) up into the oven. Or, place your cookware on a cookie sheet and when filled, lift the cookie sheet and slide the cookware into the oven.

Silicone cookware is nearly the perfect product for RVers. While it won’t make your food taste better, it will make it a bit more fun to cook. Learn more here...

(This suggestion is one of the more than 500 in All the Stuff You Need to Know About RVing (ISBN 156870514-X) by Ronald Jones info@rvstuff.org and Robert Lowe bob@rv-partsplus.com)