How to cook with stainless steel without major sticking issues?

[Anonymous]

I have recently purchased a few stainless steel pans in an attempt to move away from my non-stick ones. I feel like a complete novice cook again though because I somehow manage to have everything stick to my pan. Whats the trick? Anyone have any tips?

[Anonymous]

1. wait till the pans are very hot before putting any food in

2. use oil rather than sprays like Pam etc.

[Anonymous]

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I find you have to use WAY more fat to get stuff not to stick. Mixture of oil and butter seems to work best. But yeah - I would love not to use nonstick but sticking is an issue.

[Anonymous]

I concur that you have to use more fat to ensure things don't stick. In my book that's OK because things taste better and have better mouth feel with some fat in them.

Seriously, those non-stick compounds that break down no matter what Dow Chemical tells you are very bad news. You would do better to carry around 5 lbs, from oils, than to ingest PFOA and PFOS all week long.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so here's what works on ours: Hand-washing!

I use olive oil when I cook. I have found that if I put them in the dishwasher it goes right back to things sticking. But if I hand wash them (and I know I am doing a decent job!) there is less sticking. I don't know why this is but it works great for me. I get upset now when DH automatically puts them in the dishwasher.

[Anonymous]

I've never cooked with nonstick. What I was taught (and I think my mom got this from some cooking show on PBS in the 80s, the Frugal Gourmet maybe?) was to get the pan hot, then add the fat (oil, butter, whatever), then add the food.

Never put good pots and pans in the dishwasher. Not sure why, but I've lived by that my whole life.

Might also help to let the food cook a bit longer before trying to stir or flip it.

and as 9:21 said, don't use oil sprays like Pam. The propellant in them makes them stickier. (and makes me cough, too)

[Anonymous]

Yup, pan hot first. I don't use obscene amounts of oil either, but I do prefer oil.

[Anonymous]

Put the food in and then don't fuss with it. Let the meat or veg really brown first and it'll readily release from the pan.

[Anonymous]

Make sure pan is hot before adding food, but also make sure that you are cooking with the right temp. I find with stainless that I don't need to cook on as high a heat as I do with non-stick.

[Anonymous]

My pans are All-Clad - the trick is to get the pan hot enough to get a good sear but that doesn't mean cranking your burners all the way up to High. Try medium to medium high, and make sure you get leave your food alone so that it gets the proper sear - don't keep flipping or lifting your protein to check the sear. Watch the color of your food at the edges & listen to the sound of the food cooking to determine done-ness. You should see good caramelization along the edges of your food, some release of juices, and hear soft crackling rather than loud sizzling sounds. Food should release easily at this point . And don't forget to deglaze your pan w/ stock or wine - yummy sauce & easier clean up.

[Anonymous]

How do you deglaze a pan? And do you keep stock/wine available all the time for this purpose? I use my stainless saute pan on an almost daily basis, but don't always have stock/wine at the ready (w/o opening a new carton/bottle, which seems silly simply to clean a pan). Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure pan is hot before adding food, but also make sure that you are cooking with the right temp. I find with stainless that I don't need to cook on as high a heat as I do with non-stick.

this. Stainless conducts heat really well, so you pretty much never want it on 'high' heat. The hottest I go is medium high, and that's when I want a good sear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you deglaze a pan? And do you keep stock/wine available all the time for this purpose? I use my stainless saute pan on an almost daily basis, but don't always have stock/wine at the ready (w/o opening a new carton/bottle, which seems silly simply to clean a pan). Thanks!

Not the pp, but I deglaze often too. I dont deglaze just to clean, but to use for sauce. If you were just trying to clean, you could use water. For sauce, wine and stock are best - those cartons of stock last about 2 weeks in the fridge after being opened and I usually have an open bottle of wine, but other things that keep better work well too: sherry, vermouth, madeira, etc.

[Anonymous]

In addition to getting the pan top the right temperature, make sure the food (whether it be protein or vegetable) is as dry as possible. Moisture on the food will contribute to sticking.

[Anonymous]

I posted earlier about deglazing your pan. Agree with other posters about stock/wine and even water, but one shortcut I use when cooking is to freeze leftover wine / stock in an ice-cube tray so that I have "individual" portions (about an ounce - ounce and a half) to add to the pan. I store the stock/wine cubes in a gallon-sized ziplock and just pull them out whenever I need just enough to get a nice pan sauce going. Once the deglazing is done, you can do a variety of "add-ins" to further flavor your sauce - mustard, cream, herbs, balsamic... whatever you like! Hope this helps.