Stainless Steel Cookware: where chefs and home cooks agree

Guess what? Stainless steel doesn't have that problem. It is perhaps the safest cooking surface I can think of.

And everything else, you just follow the directions of any other recipe you're using. And that's the beauty of stainless steel. It does it all.

Stainless is that version without all the [ __ ] Hopefully, I have you convinced.

Once the oil is in the pan, I want to talk about heat control. This is where everybody makes big mistakes. All right? This is where people burn stuff. This is where people smoke out their houses.

And this is also where people get that sort of brown ring around the pan, which is fine, but it's just annoying to clean.

There's a thin layer of oil around here that's going to get hyper hyper hyper hot because the edges of this pan are thinner than the bottom, right?

You will have to use more oil or more fat when you're using stainless steel. That is the simple reality.

Obviously, the parts of the pan that didn't have any oil on it is where the egg stuck on the scramble.

This is what stops people from cooking with stainless steel. They see this happen and they're like, I'm got to throw the pan away. And a lot of people have thrown their pans away because of this.

Common mistakes that will ruin your life or maybe just your pan. Number one, cooking on too high of a heat.

Now if this was a steak or whatever and you wanted to delaze your pan, this fond no more. This is just char. So if you delaze this, it'd be bitter. It'd be blackened. It'd be gross.

Let me be honest with you. This hack still sucks to do, but it works really well.

And the best thing is it distributes heat quickly, efficiently, and evenly over the pan.

But often times they heat really inevenly, and they take a long time to preheat. This to me is perfectly balanced in that way.

Another reason, it creates flavor like fawns. It gets great sears on any piece of meat.

But guess what? Most of it won't end up on the food. You drain it on a paper towel. Really, it's not too much more.

Once it has seared properly enough, it will naturally release from the pan. You can already see the edge of this egg already lifting up off the pan.

just to prove the egg came off clean. Look at the underside of the egg. See that? No sticking, no ripping.

Cleaning this isn't going to be that hard. You take an abrasive pad to get this part off first. Clean it immediately. You're ready to go again.

And the beauty of this is if your pan is hot enough, really, your fish should move around the pan. You won't even really need to scrape it off.

You can see the skin is nice and crisp and dried out. You got a little bit of mayard on the flesh. It's not even sticking to it, even flesh side down, but I can feel the fish.

I've been sitting around medium, slightly above medium for this whole temperature. Right. If the pan looks like it's starting to get too hot, just drop the temperature a little bit. You can fluctuate it however you need. That is the key to using stainless.

And what will be left behind is little brown bits from the flour, stuck bits from the meat that are on the pan. That is your fond. There's tons of flavor in that. You don't want to throw it away.

You can scrape on the bottom to release any stuck bits. Scrape on the sides. Scrape that into there. Now, you can see all the stuck bits. That's all that like reduced intense chickeny flavor now giving flavor to this sauce.

So, my pan's not like ripping hot. It's warm, so it'll release a little easier, right? We're almost preparing this to delaze it, right? You're basically delazing in here.

And you'll notice that even just by doing that, if I rinse this bad boy out, I haven't even used soap yet. This is 90% of the way clean.

We have a pan that basically looks almost brand new. It's literally that simple. This applies to pretty much every single scenario I could possibly think of. The key is soap and water or proper stainless steel cleaner. That is it.

Leave it in there. Don't scrape it off because it's going to stick anyway, right? Just let it cool down naturally, and you could easily bring it back on once it stops smoking and turn it to medium heat. Eventually, it'll release.

So, you're going to fill this up with water about halfway up. Set it on your stove. Add one drop of dish soap. That was more than a drop. Set over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, let it boil for about 1, two, maybe 3 minutes until the residue comes off easily.

And like I said, you got to season this. If it gets rusty, you got to season it again, right? Unless you use a cast iron pan every single day and maintain it regularly and always have fat and oil in it. Guess what? You're going to have to constantly season it.

you have to dry your stainless steel. Never, ever, ever just let it sit with water. You're going to get water stains, and guess what? You're going to have to clean it all over again.

But this pan has a slight warp in it because we did that a lot. The warping has created a bowl in there. See that? It doesn't sit flat on this anymore.

The beauty of stainless steel is there is almost no stain. It's stainless. No burned on bit. you can't clean off. You just need to know how.

Now, this is a still usable pan and that's fine. It happens. People make mistakes. But the more you do that to that pan, the more the pan is going to get more anded up, okay?

You don't have to do that with stainless steel. It's oven and dishwasher safe.

It's great for fish. It's great for vegetables. You can also cook gently in it.

you could easily just heat this pan back up. You don't even have to clean it yet, right? I've got tons of stuff in here. There's still flavor in this pan, right?

Searing, sautéing, developing a fond, and then removing the fond through delazing, making a sauce with that, putting it on top of our thing, and we have a final dish all with one pan.

That's all you really need to know about sticking. If it's sticking, let it sit in the pan longer. Either you started too cold or it's not done searing.

If the pan looks like it's starting to get too hot, just drop the temperature a little bit. You can fluctuate it however you need. That is the key to using stainless.

I really am a big believer in stainless steel.

You don't want to spend money on stainless steel? Get cast iron.

you can reduce sauces in it you can also do a really shallow brace you can make chicken Tika Masala in this by itself

because this can also go in the oven if you're searing a really thick steak guess what you throw that thing in the oven it literally Cooks everything

I don't want any rubber handles on this this should be solid stainless steel

cast iron can fry cast iron can sear a really mean steak they can saute vegetables you can make pizza in cast iron you can bake in cast iron it will literally do everything pretty well

cast iron skillets are relatively cheap and propel you into that pro level category will make you into a better cook because they do have a learning curve but the learning curve is really all the fundamentals of cooking so once you've mastered cooking on a cast iron skillet you've basically mastered cooking

if you're looking to make sauces out of the fond fond is basically the leftover sticky bits that are left on stainless steel skillets you can make a sauce out of that by adding wine or a chicken or beef broth or whatever broth that you want to use

just like cast iron carbon steel can be used for almost anything i've made pizzas in it i've baked i've cooked and seared amazing steaks in it you can saute in it and you can even make sauces

stainless steel skillets can literally cook anything acidic foods meats proteins you can bacon them you can do anything you want with stainless steel skillets

but they do one thing extremely well and that's fond if you want to make an amazing sauce stainless steel skillets are for you

i tend to use mine mainly for italian dishes or something where i know i want to make a sauce right after and that's what stainless steel skillets are really good at

but i have gotten rid of all my cast iron skillets ironically i've given them away to friends and family that are that had just started cooking and how you know i've actually moved on to carbon steel

but it can make anything i mean a stainless steel skillet can make a great steak

Cool spots, like the ones I caused by repeatedly dropping water intp the pan, also have an impact.

So, after watching the tests over and over again, and with the considerations I just mentioned, I believe in the context of stainless steel cookware the Leidenfrost Effect begins around 420°F or 215°C.

But if you're measuring from the center of the pan, aim for approximately 430°F or 221°C to ensure the entire pan is hot enough.

Heritage Steel, Taima, and the stainless steel pan all came out with noticeable scratches.

The stainless steel pan ended up with circular scratches that were deep and I could feel with my fingers.

The stainless steel pan had small dark spots starting to form, and at first I just thought this might be mineral buildup, so I cleaned it with vinegar and Bar Keepers Friend. But the spots didn't come off. They hadn't corroded through the surface yet, but it was the beginning of pitting.

After the second and third rounds, more spots appeared on the stainless steel pan. And when I zoomed in, I could see that they were actually starting to eat into the steel. When I rubbed them with my fingernail, I could feel the indentation.

The second thing is that, from my experience, once I realized how to use a stainless steel pan, the food comes out tastier. And I feel that in many cases, what I cook tastes better from most restaurants.

There is that level of crust that you can't do in pans that are not stainless steel pans or iron cast pans that give that special texture and umami, and it's amazing.

Another example is that just from the smell that comes out of the pan, I know the level of heat of the pan. I know it sounds weird, it sounds bad even, but trust me, it's that film that you can compare to any other pan.

so now for my Allstar picks of what if I had to start over what would I buy I would go with a 12-in fry pan

Because cast iron pans are thicker than stainless steel, and cast iron has a lower thermal conductivity than the materials used as the core layers of stainless steel cookware, it heats slower.

If a cast iron skillet is too big for the burner, food in the middle will cook faster than the edges, as you can see with these chicken cutlets.

The water in the stainless steel pan started boiling after 2 minutes and 55 seconds, and the water in the cast iron pan started boiling after 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

Don’t get me wrong, stainless steel pans, especially good quality fully clad pans, retain heat well, but not at the same level as cast iron.

Also, cast iron tends to absorb the flavor of the food you cook. So fish and other pungent ingredients can linger in the skillet and impact your next meal if you don’t clean it thoroughly.

However, because it’s not coated and doesn't have a layer of seasoning baked into the surface, foods like eggs are more prone to sticking.

The one major problem with stainless steel cookware is food sticking. It’s easy to ruin eggs, and cleaning sticky stainless steel pots is no fun.

and also in the care section you'll find that there are ways to make your stainless steel cookware very nonstick into efficient it's just absolutely amazing