Stainless Steel Pan

There can be multiple types of the stainless steel pan. They come in various thickness and with different metal cores. Biggest disadvantage of these pans is that food tends to sticks to the surface. However there is a way. Most common cores are:

Aluminium core

Aluminium is light there it makes pan lighter, however on cost of heat retention. There are also versions with thicker core, which improves heat retention while keeps pan light.

• Best for cooking acidic food
• Best for sauces and soups

Steel core

Heavy steel is great in retaining heat, pan can achieve very high temperatures. This comes at cost that pan is very heavy.

• Best for searing meat

How to achieve non-stickiness?

First of all, never put oil in to the cold stainless steel pan!

In order to get food sticking less to the surface is to achieve Leidenfrost effect. In short heating the pan to approximately 193 °C (379 °F). However if we need to make two eggs quickly it’s sometimes simpler to use hybrid or teflon pan.

Don’t forget that in certain cases, like searing meat, we actually want food to stick to the cooking surfaces, in order to support Maillard reaction. In those cases it’s recommended to heat pan to up to 450°F (230°C).