Heat pan on medium heat

Add in olive oil (you can pour from the bottle I like to spray, not the commercial spray like Pam, but put good evoo in a spray bottle designed for oils)

Wait until just starting to get shimmery

Add eggs

This is important: let the eggs sit in the hot pan until the bottom is fully cooked. If you move them too early you get stickage. After the bottom is booked you can start to stir your scrambled eggs or flip a fried egg for over easy.

After you add the eggs you can keep the temperature on medium or lower it. Eggs are generally more tender with slower cooking.

For me this is easier to avoid sticking on a seasoned cast iron pan but also works with stainless. Sometimes if I don't get the timing right it sticks a little on stainless, but with soaking can be cleaned.

Anonymous wrote:Heat pans using medium heat then add oil until it move like water. Then add the egg.

This. It’s just takes practice, OP. You have to get the heat and timing just right: how hot the pan is before you put the oil in and how hot the oil gets. Usually I heat the dry pan on about a 6/7 for a minute or two, put the oil in, then wait maybe 30 seconds, then eggs. Let the scrambled eggs sit for a bit before you agitate them, turn down to 5. Perhaps not perfect French style scramble, but it’s fine for us. For fried eggs, you need a hotter pan and a little more oil, but dont let it get too hot. Once you crack the eggs in, let them sit and get crisp on the bottom. If you move too soon, they will stick.

Usually if you see flames or smoke, it’s bc the pan is too hot when you put the oil in. Or you let the oil get too hot before adding food. Even if food sticks, they are pretty easy to clean afterwards with a hot water soak. If you happen to burn the oil, then yes they are pain to clean. Bar Keeper’s friend and some elbow grease does the stick.

Stick with it. You’ll get the hang of it. It’s so much better than nonstick. Even cast iron can be a pain and is harder to clean if food does stick.

Anonymous wrote:For eggs, pancakes, french toast, butter is far superior to oil in terms of preventing sticking.

NP. Sadly, lactose intolerant folks like me cannot use butter. So I find the oil cooking tips very helpful.

For eggs, pancakes, french toast, butter is far superior to oil in terms of preventing sticking.

We only use All Clad, cast iron, and Staub in my kitchen.

I like my stainless steel pans. One thing I do like to do is after I’m done cooking if there’s anything stuck on, I pour a cup of soapy water in the pan while it’s still hot and just leave it on the stove for later. By the time we’ve eaten, everything comes off easily.

I've used them all. No need to revert to non stick. But I would drop the SS. I still have All Clad stainless than I use for some things, along with some Le Creuset cast iron an others. But the best by far has been these:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tramontina-Preseasoned-2-Piece-Cast-Iron-Skillets-with-Silicone-Grips-80131-654/315029455?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&fp=ggl

I use butter, and I add the eggs as soon as the butter is completely melted--definitely under smoke point temp. Cook to taste at about 6/10 heat. Never sticks. Not kidding. Only struggled for 20 years before this!

I would rather deal with sticking than use a non-stick pan.

PPs are correct that much of the problem can be alleviated with correct heating and oil/butter.

But also, when you're washing the pan, if you can't easily remove the residue, use Brillo or SOS pad to scrub it away. Voila.

Heat pans using medium heat then add oil until it move like water. Then add the egg.

I also use nonstick for eggs but stainless for everything else.

1. Heat oil using high and then turn down to medium or just do medium. Use more oil than you think you need. It’s ready when it starts to glisten.
2. When you add breaded or floured chicken or fish , keep on medium or medium low. Do not move it until the bottom is fully cooked. Once it’s browned, it will release from the pan. If you move it before, the breading will fall off.

Give yourself an afternoon to just practice. Cut meat up in smaller pieces and do several test runs.

Anonymous wrote:Any non-stick surface eventually will chip.

Buy moderately priced nonstick, use for eggs only, and replace semi-often.

Plant some trees when a pan is headed for a landfill.

Most of us are home cooks, not pros. I have a set of nice stainless pans, that maybe I shouldn’t dedicate more time to learning the techniques, but cooking for a family the hassle isn’t worth it.

Try cast iron

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was almost always nonstick when I was BOH.
I assume my eggs are prepared nonstick when I dine out.
I now use nonstick at home.
Use nonstick. Avoid Jacques Pépin's fork technique; otherwise follow Jacques Pépin.

No restaurant use oil in the pan for eggs.

No restaurant you’ve worked in, or are you describing the experience of every other brunch cook on the planet ?

Eggs are cooked in a cheap stainless steel pan with oil or on a grill with oil. Hence the term fried eggs. Restaurants do not use non-stick pans because they cannot withstand the high-volume, high-heat, abrasive and fast-paced nature of a professional kitchen. This no oil in eggs on a non stick pan is purely made up home cooking.

No restaurant you’ve worked in, or are you describing the experience of every other brunch cook on the planet?

- history cooking eggs in a variety of egg cooking professional kitchens

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was almost always nonstick when I was BOH.
I assume my eggs are prepared nonstick when I dine out.
I now use nonstick at home.
Use nonstick. Avoid Jacques Pépin's fork technique; otherwise follow Jacques Pépin.

No restaurant use oil in the pan for eggs.

No restaurant you’ve worked in, or are you describing the experience of every other brunch cook on the planet ?

Eggs are cooked in a cheap stainless steel pan with oil or on a grill with oil. Hence the term fried eggs. Restaurants do not use non-stick pans because they cannot withstand the high-volume, high-heat, abrasive and fast-paced nature of a professional kitchen. This no oil in eggs on a non stick pan is purely made up home cooking.