Help with stainless steel pan

[stephen129]

I've owned a stainless steel pan for a while and I'm having some issues with it. Hopefully you guys can help me.

1. Let's say you cook something in it and it leaves a residue/fond. I find I can't cook something else in it and have it be non-stick again. Do I have to clean the pan between each thing?

2. I understand I have to get the pan to a certain temp for it to be non-stick, but what if I want to cook something gently. E.g eggs cook in seconds in a pan that is hot enough to be non-stick.

3. I can't seem to do the water ball trick after I've cooked something in the pan and there is a fond, does it only work in a clean pan?

 

[btbyrd]

Stainless pans aren't nonstick and they're even less nonstick when they're dirty.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

No pan with a fond left in it will be non-stick. That's dried food.

 

[bkdc]

Get yourself a subscription purchase of Barkeeper’s friend.
Some blue/rainbow oxidation is ok, but for non-stick technique, you can’t have food residue.
I think most will agree that the butter works best when frying an egg on non-coated stainless.

 

[rickbern]

I don’t like chemical non stick coatings at all but I’d recommend using a carbon steel pan that’s well seasoned for eggs. I prefer them to stainless for many things, but especially for non stick applications.

 

[btbyrd]

Unless you're doing a French-style slow and low scramble, in which case Teflon is your friend.

 

[jjlotti]

Iron is > steel for eggs. It can be seasoned as opposed to ss. Your favorite "lube' would solve the problem and if it's butter, taste a lot better too...dry go with BT Byrd's advice. Work with a pans capabilities not against them.

 

[mengwong]

Sticking in carbon steel (and stainless, for that matter) is largely a matter of technique.

Detail:

but what if I want to cook something gently

Scramble:

 

[mengwong]

Let's say you cook something in it and it leaves a residue/fond. I find I can't cook something else in it and have it be non-stick again. Do I have to clean the pan between each thing?

Yes, you do.

This is why deglazing is a thing. Drop in a handful of water at the end, and scrape with spatula or wooden spoon while everything is still hot. Now you have a sauce for your dish, and a pan that’s easier to reset in the sink.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-deglaze-10807

 

[Nemo]

I use a well seasoned carbon steel pan for eggs at home but sometimes you are travelling and the only pan that's available is stainless.

It is possible to cook eggs in a stainless pan.

I usually do a semi seasoning of the pan first: smear a THIN (the thinnest you can manage) layer of vegetable oil in the pan. I wipe it on with a paper towel. Heat on high until the oil forms a semi mirror satin finish. This is the beginnings of a polymerised layer of oil (a full burned off seasoning would be the end point, but we don't want that on stainless steel) and is a much less grippy surface than bare steel. You may also smell the oil polymerise. If it starts smoking, you have gone too far- take it off the heat immediately. It still works ok if it's got a slightly light brown tinge but it's best to stop as soon as there is evidence of polymerisation. Let it cool enough to wipe away any excess oil.

Then heat the pan until you see the Leidenfrost Effect shown in the videos above. Add a little oil and spread over the pan. Add your eggs. The heat in the pan should instantly vapourise the water in the egg immediately adjacent to the pan, forming a protective cushion of steam. By the time the steam has dissipated (a matter of seconds), the underside of the egg should have formed a crust that won't stick to the pan. You may need to encourage it to lift off the pan with an egg flipper (spatula) a little more than with a non stick or a well seasoned steel/iron pan but it is definitely doable without leaving any burned egg on the pan.

Once the underside of the egg is cooked sufficiently to not stick to the pan, it is prudent to reduce the heat under the pan, or your eggs will burn. You can actually cook very low and slow from this point on.

To remove the seasoning, wash with dishwashing detergent (or deglaze with an acidic solution).

 

[btbyrd]

If the pan is hot and there's fat in it, you likely won't have problems with sticking regardless of pan type. That doesn't change the fact that stainless isn't nonstick. To have it perform in ways that are non-sticky, you have to use the right amount of fat and heat, and that largely precludes cooking things very gently. That's what Teflon is for. You can get fluffy, fast cooked scrambled eggs with little sticking from stainless, but if you want dense, custardy, slow scrambled eggs, look elsewhere. Here's something stainless doesn't do:



On another note, if you cook something in a pan and it leaves a fond, that *is* sticking. The idea that you'd cook something, have it form a fond, and now the pan isn't "nonstick" seems confused. Fond is, by definition, stuck to your pan. It doesn't form in nonstick pans (or rather, what would become fond instead unsticks itself and kind of recoats the meat in a strange way that doesn't let you make a decent pan sauce). It's not like the fond turned your nonstick pan into a sticky one. It was sticky all along, and is stickier still now that it has fond stuck to it.

You don't need to season (or semi-season?) stainless steel, you just need to use enough fat from the get-go. I don't have problems frying eggs in my stainless pans and I never wipe a thin layer of oil on before adding more oil and I definitely don't form a layer of seasoning that needs to be removed when cleaning.