Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate]
![Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Focused male in apron adding ingredient into frying pan heating on gas stove while cooking meal for woman](/assets/images/even_after_i_heat_and_oil_why_does_food_stick_to_my_stainless_steel_pan_duplicate_0.jpeg "Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Focused male in apron adding ingredient into frying pan heating on gas stove while cooking meal for woman")
I've had this pan for 8 years. It's low priced and average — I see no brands or names on it — not even on the bottom! I followed What’s the Difference Between Nonstick and Stainless Steel Cookware?
So here’s the crazy thing: stainless steel pans can be nonstick, if you’re doing it right. If you heat up your pan with oil or butter until it’s hot enough then add your food, things will not stick. Stainless steel pans can withstand really high temperatures, so you can sear and brown things like meat in them, and you can also add water to the pan to deglaze the brown bits from the bottom and create a delicious sauce.
and How to Turn a Stainless Steel Skillet into a Nonstick Pan | Epicurious
You can season a stainless steel pan and make it more or less nonstick. Here's how:
Heat a stainless steel skillet over medium or medium-high for 2 minutes. Add enough vegetable oil to coat the entire bottom of the pan with a ⅛ inch of oil. Heat the oil until wisps of smoking begin to appear, about 6 minutes. When the oil begins to smoke, remove the skillet from the heat and cool the oil completely. Once the pan has cooled, pour out the excess oil and wipe up the remaining oil in the skillet using a paper towel. You want a glossy sheen left in the base of the pan—that's your nonstick surface.
Question 1
Please see pictures below. Please approve my pictures? Can you confirm if this is stainless steel?
Question 2
If it is, then why does food stick to it? I tried to — separately — home fry potatoes, stir fry rice, boil pasta with filtered water. The potatoes rice, pasta all stuck to the bottom of the pan!
I thought that all stainless steel pans were non stick? Was I wrong? Do some stainless steel pans stick? If so, how can I deduce which stainless steel pans are non stick? I'm thinking of buying a new brand name, high quality NON STICK stainless steel pan!
https://i.imgur.com/xtiKrxz.jpg
Best Answer
Stainless steel pans are not non-stick by default, since they don't have a non-stick surface/coating.
You can recognize a non-stick pan by the non-stick coating on the inside of it. (It's usually Teflon (a black coating), but there's also things like ceramic)
As far as your pan goes, it looks like a plain stainless steel pan to me, no coating to make it non-stick.
Pictures about "Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate]"
![Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Metal pan with pasta in boiling water](/assets/images/even_after_i_heat_and_oil_why_does_food_stick_to_my_stainless_steel_pan_duplicate_1.jpeg "Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Metal pan with pasta in boiling water")
![Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - A Woman Cooking Indian Food](/assets/images/even_after_i_heat_and_oil_why_does_food_stick_to_my_stainless_steel_pan_duplicate_2.jpeg "Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - A Woman Cooking Indian Food")
![Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Barbecues on Grill](/assets/images/even_after_i_heat_and_oil_why_does_food_stick_to_my_stainless_steel_pan_duplicate_3.jpeg "Even after I heat and oil, why does food stick to my stainless steel pan? [duplicate] - Barbecues on Grill")
Why does food stick to my stainless steel pans?
Stainless steel pans look smooth, but the cooking surface actually has tiny pores. When you heat the pan, the steel expands and the pores shrink. The shrinking pores grip onto the food, causing it to stick. To prevent sticking, preheat the pan to medium, then add ample oil, then add the food.How do I stop food sticking to a stainless steel fry pan?
Stainless steel can be used to cook all kinds of food without exception, including meat, fish and even eggs! To prevent food from sticking to stainless steel, simply pour a few drops of water into a stainless-steel pan over high heat.Why does everything stick to my pan even with oil?
As Harold McGee explains in \u201cKeys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes,\u201d \u201cHigh heat causes food proteins and carbohydrates to form bonds with the pan surface.\u201d And according to the Royal Society of Chemistry, \u201cProtein-rich foods are particularly prone to sticking because the proteins can ...How do you make stainless steel not stick?
Preparing Your PanA TRICK EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW | How to make any stainless steel pan non-stick | THE MERCURY BALL TEST
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Gary Barnes, Klaus Nielsen, Gagan Cambow, Francesco Paggiaro