Cooking with stainless steel pans, tips/tricks?

whoaru99

whoaru99

Epic Member
For some time most of my fry pan work has been with non-stick pans.

Quite recently I splurged (for me anyway, re. cookware) on Calphalon Signature series stainless cookwear set. It's pretty nice stuff, ~3mm thick, multilayer construction, all that good stuff.

But, of course, my first time out with eggs was a relative failure. 2 of 4 broken yolks.

Anyone have good tips for transition from non-stick to SS cooking (primarily the frying)?

One thing I've noticed is it seems like one to two notches less on the heat is in order?
 
Register to hide this ad
One word ... Pam ...

Just got some new pans here too, but decided to stick with non-stick ... <G>

Seems the new thick wall pans do prefer lower heat as well.
 
Is it solid stainless all the way through, or aluminum (or copper) clad on the outer surface ?
Reducing the heat by maybe 25% from your normal setting might prove beneficial....experiment a bit.
 
Doing eggs on stainless is pretty tricky. I use all cast iron and stainless for most cooking, but keep a little ceramic non-stick just for eggs and omelettes. People say there are ways to do it in stainless, but I've never really tried. I just use a healthy amount of butter or bacon fat, and the ceramic pan. The ceramic isn't quite as good as the conventional non-stick, but I'd rather not have the nasty Teflon and the like leaching into my food.
 
Last edited:
We cook everything in Lifetime stainless pans... except eggs. I cook those in conventional non-stick. Thought they were awful in the ceramic non-stick. Too bland- maybe I like the taste of Teflon! Get some Bar Keeper's Friend for cleaning the stainless.
 
With SS, I find that olive oil doesn't build up a sticky residue between the pan and what you are cooking ! Virgin olive oil burns up real fast...olive oil is healthier !
 
i made the transition away from teflon a few years ago (at my wife's insistence; she is an environmental atty w/ epa). i use Pam or the costco equivalent. spray it on thick. i have not had much luck w/ scrambled eggs but can do omelets just fine -- cook them low and slow (cover on the pan helps w/ cooking time). teflon is super bad for you.
 
One trick for helping stainless to not stick is to heat the pan up, so that it is hot, with nothing in it, before adding the oil. Then add the oil and let it heat up until it ripples. Then you can add your food. This method helps, but does not make the stainless into a non-stick surface. For eggs, we have a nice egg pan with a non-stick ceramic. A nicely tempered cast-iron pan works well for eggs also.

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
MaxxVolume said:
Is it solid stainless all the way through, or aluminum (or copper) clad on the outer surface ?
Reducing the heat by maybe 25% from your normal setting might prove beneficial....experiment a bit.
Click to expand...

Five layers, they say. "magnetic" stainless on the outside (confirmed they do work on induction burner) three layers aluminum in the middle, then 18/10 stainless on the inside.

Calphalon discontinued their 5 layer AccuCore (ss-al-cu-al-ss) and now has the 5 layer Signature series (ss-al-al-al-ss) as their top line.
 
sKiZo said:
One word ... Pam ...

Just got some new pans here too, but decided to stick with non-stick ... <G>

Seems the new thick wall pans do prefer lower heat as well.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, Calphalon specifially says they do not recommend any spray-type oils on their SS cookware. They say the propellant reacts with the oil and heat (or whatever, going from memory here) and can leave behind sticky, hard to remove residue.
 
Djcoolray said:
With SS, I find that olive oil doesn't build up a sticky residue between the pan and what you are cooking ! Virgin olive oil burns up real fast...olive oil is healthier !
Click to expand...

Yes, for this reason I use "light" olive oil for frying etc. It has a higher smoke point than regular olive oil, in fact as high as any I have tried.
 
whoaru99 said:
Interestingly, Calphalon specifially says they do not recommend any spray-type oils on their SS cookware. They say the propellant reacts with the oil and heat (or whatever, going from memory here) and can leave behind sticky, hard to remove residue.
Click to expand...

Operative word there is "can" I guess. I heard the same thing but also read that that's only really an issue if you overheat the pan. If you do get the goo, just soak the pans for an hour or so to loosen it up.

Oh. And never spray it on a hot pan. Any propellant should evaporate quickly when cold.

~~~~~~~~~

I've also been using this stuff lately ...

SmartBalOil.jpg

Supposed to be healthier than regular cooking oil and works good, even for crispy fish. I'll drop some in a pan and spread a liberal coat of it with a paper towel for most any cooking. Really nice with hash browns and stir fry.

In fact ... thanx for the reminder ... got some city chicken needs cookin' tonite! Mmm mmm mmm ... Ah loves them city chickens!

100_1512.jpg
 
Teflon is nice for eggs and other sticky lower temp cooking. SS is good as is cast for creating a fond in the pan. Then you add a liquid, broth, wine, water etc and deglaze it making a sauce. For example fry some pork chops and make a sauce from the browned bits which is not a good use of teflon.
I use different pans for different purposes.
I highly recommend America's Test Kitchen who makes Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country.
 
There's always cast iron.

Someone once told me you can hang them outside in a sand storm to clean them.

I live in Michigan, and we don't get a lot of sand storms ... but they DO make killer wind chimes ...

(ba dump dump)
 
I usually use butter for cooking lube, but sometimes olive or veggie oil is more appropriate. Home fries get made with Crisco if I don't have any bacon to cook first. Have to second the suggestion to let them warm up some before putting any food in. I do often start mine with just the oil or butter in, but food never goes in until there is some heat otherwise its sure to burn whatever you want to cook to the bottom of the pan. Mine are All-Clad, which I believe has a similar construction to the OP's, inner and outer stainless with an aluminum core.

Believe me when I say I am absolutely no chef. I can cook enough to not starve to death, and I won't poison anyone but no restaurant owner is going to be knocking on my door either.
 
Oh yes, we have a 12" cast iron fry pan that's coming along nicely and a 10" cast iron griddle pan. Also picked up a porcelain cast iron 6qt dutch oven and in the market for a smaller one, 3-3.5 qt. or so.
 
give up eggs is easy option .. all my frying pans ended up outside years ago . just the grill and oven now .
had a few real nice cast frying pans too .. have been veggie over 20 years .
only thing i use stainless pans for is boiling or warming .
still have my cast chip pan .its the best pan i own ..
 
Eggs and related fixin's are our weekend treat. That probably won't be changing anytime soon. I eat steel cut oatmeal at breakfast a few days a week to make up for it. ;)
 
IMO, Teflon isn't bad for you so long as you're not overheating it or scraping off bits of it into your food. Even then it's one of the most inert things around. The big downside is it absorbs food tastes/odors. Same problem with anodized aluminum; we gave away a large collection of quite expensive anodized aluminum pots and pans many years ago after we got the stainless. Or, on the upside, maybe absorption is good, in the case of my eggs.

I've been using a lot of olive oil lately. It even works pretty good on non-oil popped popcorn instead of butter. Like those steel cut oats too, but have to douse them with maple syrup.
 
My wife and I experimented with several brands/types of cookware before settling on All-Clad Master Chef as the foundation of our cook system. It works well for most things, but for eggs and fish, I prefer the Scanpan 2000 frying pan. From Denmark, it has a ceramic/titanium cooking surface, which over the years, has aged and taken on a seasoned surface similar to a cast-iron pan (it`s probably been used around 3,500 times or more). Never put soap in it, just boiling water, let it soak for a bit, then use a stiff-bristled brush, followed by another hot-water rinse, then dry immediately with paper towels. We also have a Scanpan 14-inch wok, which has seasoned equally well.

Scanpan 1 (800x800).jpg Scanpan 2 (800x800).jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom