Reply to I do not understand stainless steel pans

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Reply to "I do not understand stainless steel pans"

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[quote=Anonymous]Ok, this is what I’ve been told and it makes sense to me, but I’m not an expert, just a home cook. Seasoning creates a non or less sticky cooking surface - we season cast iron because it is relatively porous and the oil gets into those pores and becomes polymerized over time, creating a nonstick surface. Stainless steel is much less porous than cast iron and does not need as much, if any, seasoning. You can season a stainless pain by heating it on medium, adding high heat oil, brushing it evenly, and then removing the pan from heat just as the oil begins to smoke. Wipe out the pan leaving a layer of oil. Now it’s seasoned. If you get those brownish oil spots, it’s because the oil has been heated to the point of polymérisation. On a cast iron pan, you wouldn’t remove this, because it is part of the seasoning. You wouldn’t see it either, against the black pan.

The other thing you can do is what you should never do with nonstick - heat the pan to a high temp, then add cold/room temp oil and immediately add the food. If you heat water in a pan it boils. But if you add water to a hot pan, the water sizzles and actually levitates above the pan due to the Leidenfrost effect. The same thing happens to cold oil in a hot pan. The pan is hotter than the smoke point, and a vapor layer is created between the pan and the oil droplet. This prevents sticking. Plus Martin Yan said it best - cold oil, hot pan, no stick. Or something like that. [/quote]

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