Stainless steel pan too hot?

Stainless steel pan too hot? - Low angle of crop anonymous chef taking spaghetti from pan with boiling steaming water

I have been cooking with my stainless steel pan for a while, and have tried many techniques to prevent sticking. Hot pan then oil did work to some extent, but I still had trouble with eggs, potatoes, and tofu. While I was doing this, I did make sure that water droplets were able to glide across the surface, and not evaporate.

Recently I have been trying to to "season" the pan each time before cooking by getting the pan hot, adding oil, then letting it cool all the way. This way, I could add eggs at lower temperatures as I might in a Teflon pan, and they were able to slide around and not just release. I found this to work well for fried potatoes as well.

However, I am having second thoughts about this method for several reasons. For one, I am not sure it is healthy. Second, no matter what method I try, I always have trouble making crispy skin salmon in my stainless steel pan. Therefore, I would like to revisit the hot pan + oil method properly.

One problem I had was that the temperature of the pan to be hot enough, the oil would always smoke when added, and would start to splatter when I placed the salmon. Is there a way to achieve the Leidenfrost effect without burning the oil? Also, if this effect is indeed due to the pores of the metal remaining open at a certain temperature, how can I cook proteins at lower temperatures? Finally, how can I achieve the food gliding effect of seasoning before each use without reheating the same oil?



Best Answer

Heat the stainless steal pan on medium-high. After its hot add your oil. You'll know your pan is hot enough when the oil has wavy movment when you tilt your pan. Now raise the temperature gradually until the oil begins become only slighty darker. If you've reached smoke point you are done (the pan should only be SLIGHTLY smoking) Remove any excess oil and add new oil.

Cook.

Small amounts of oil are needed for fish without the skin. But if the skin is on and your trying to get it crispy all of the skin on the surface of the fish must be submerged in water to get an effective crust.




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What happens if stainless steel gets too hot?

An example of this could be stainless steel that has its chromium depleted because it has been burned. The result of burning is that iron oxide is formed instead of chromium oxide, and the stainless steel begins to degrade. The other occurrence that can happen when a metal is burned is incipient melting.

Can a stainless steel pan get too hot?

Even if you pre-heat your stainless steel pan properly, if you have your heat TOO high or heat the oil too high, the food can burn onto your pan.

How do you fix a overheating stainless steel pan?

Vinegar is an effective ingredient for ridding your pan of any unsightly discoloration typically caused by overheating. Simply wash your pan with vinegar and rinse with water to remove discoloration. Additionally, vinegar can be used to rid your pan of white calcium build-up stains.



A TRICK EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW | How to make any stainless steel pan non-stick | THE MERCURY BALL TEST




More answers regarding stainless steel pan too hot?

Answer 2

Each time I put a piece of meat in the hot oil in my stainless steel pan, it immediately got stuck to the pan. I now put the meat in the pan with the oil before turning on the heat. That works quite well.

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