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There is empirical support for the effect of temperature on pitting corrosion, although from what little I'm able to understand of the very complicated metallurgy, the common explanation given is far too simplistic and the actual behaviour is not nearly as clear-cut as "colder = more salt crystals = more pitting", but rather due to something called ...
21
What makes a good pan?
The main properties of a metal pan that are of interest to a cook are:
Evenness of heat distribution. Every burner produces more heat in some spots than others. The better the pan conduct heat, the more this heat is evened out before it is conducted into the food being cooked, which is important to prevent local hotspots in the pan, ...
13
Carbon steel is more malleable and less brittle than stainless steel. This means that it is easier to hone on a knife steel, to maintain an extremely sharp edge.
Some folks feel that the benefit of that sharp edge–for example, in easily slicing tomatoes, and other very fast prep tasks–is worth the compromise of more persnickety maintenance.
13
I used to have this fish sticking problem in my Aluminum wok.
The solution (accidentally discovered) was to put the fish in the wok only after the oil is hot enough.
Que: How do you decide whether the oil is hot enough?
Ans: Drop one Yellow Mustard Seed in the oil. If it cracks immediately then your oil is hot enough for the fish to be dropped in. If not, ...
10
As others have already said, it appears to be polymerized oil. It happens when oil is left in the pan hot for a long period (temperature depends on oil), or smoking for not as long. However, lye probably isn't required to remove it.
Bar Keeper's Friend and a bit of scrubbing will probably manage to take this off. As an advantage, while getting BKF on your ...
10
Those look like air pockets - you're using an unusual whisk, perhaps it can't get enough "bite" on the stainless steel bowl to pop them, whereas the plastic bowl's texture offers enough resistance. I'd try it with a balloon whisk rather than a spiral whisk, and see if that helps. Here's a breakdown on whisks and their uses from Craftsy.
10
The specks are corrosion pits. Austenitic stainless (aka- 18-8 , 304 , and several other numbers) are notorious for pitting in salt (halides). The 316 and 317 with molybdenum are more resistant but I doubt any cookware producer would go to the extra expense to use these alloys. However, I expect sitting for a couple days with salted water would be needed for ...
9
Summary: All materials are different, and copper is no exception. It has some unique thermal properties that may be desirable for some applications. But other combinations of materials (particularly aluminum) within a modern stainless pan can have other unique advantages that come close to -- and in some ways exceed -- copper's properties.
(For a ...
8
Lots of opinins but not much metallurgical knowledge.....reminds me of hotroders thinking something is better if its made out of billet instead 6061 AL (same thing). Where's that crazy smilie?
Carbon steel is actually a misnomer, in many industries carbond steel is refered to a mild steel alloy that isn't stailness. What our knives are made of is a medium ...
8
This looks like half-polymerized oil. It happens when you overheat a layer of oil in the pan.
It won't come off through scraping. If you insist on removing it mechanically, you will have to try a polishing brush on a Dremel or something similar. I remove these chemically. Make a lye concentrate in the pot and let it sit overnight. Rinse very (!) thoroughly....
8
Heat is your friend in solving this problem. As described here:
Oil creates a smooth layer across the surface of the pan when it is sufficiently heated.
I like to use a blend of a high smoke point oil (i.e. peanut, canola, but veg will work) and butter since the water content in the butter will promote the steam effect that is described in the link. Also, ...
8
I wonder where you have read it. Your link doesn't help, maybe you linked the wrong question? It talks about using a stainless pan with oil.
If you are talking about true saute (very quick movement of bite-sized pieces of food on a very hot pan), it is completely impossible without oil. If you are misusing the term to mean shallow frying, you can do it ...
8
You can but you probably shouldn't. Stainless steel scrubs are quite coarse, rough and with sharp edges. They are particularly abrasive, suited for scrubbing the pan's metal surface and removing the outer oxidized or grimy layers and achieve a "shiny finish".
Used on ceramics I imagine they will scratch the glossy surface quite easily; with continued use ...
7
I too use barKeepers Friend...love it. However, use a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil to scrub off the stain. It comes right off!
7
Grit means very little for sharpness beyond ~2000. Far more important is a consistent angle.
This is a good article that explains the angles
a good sharpening tool will have a angle guide, something like this
I'd recommend against "eyeballing" it the first few times.
Joerg Sprave made a nice video explaining a lot, he uses the Gatco set I linked.
And ...
6
We just experienced the same phenomenon, and we were able to confirm that the specks were NOT bubbles - if we were careful enough, we could isolate the flecks. They came in different shapes - some were specks, but some were almost filaments.
We have a stainless steel bowl, but we suspect the whisk was aluminum.
Since aluminum is Mohs hardness 2-2.9 and ...
6
In my years of cooking in restaurants i do not remember seeing a stainless steel flattop. so i did some poking on the world wide inter tubes and found this quote from
wikipedia "The vast majority of commercial grade griddles are made from A36 steel, though some are stainless steel or composites of stainless and aluminum".
It goes on further in the ...
6
Just use a glass pot, Corningware make some decent ones that can be used on a stove. But any glass pot designed to work on a stove with direct heat/flame exposure should work in this case.
If you are worried about uneven heating or hot spots on a gas range due to less conductive glass, you can use a cast iron or aluminum heat diffuser plate under the glass ...
6
Quality austenitic stainless steel* should certainly not rust from boiling plain water (excepting MAYBE some rust in places like handle weld spots - the metallurgy is upset in these spots, and usually they don't touch the food anyway.), given that cookware is made from it that is perfectly dishwasher proof, and won't rust if salted water is boiled in it. If ...
5
Typically "oven safe" indicates that none of the components will break down in high heats. As there are no plastic or wooden components, and the utensil is all metal, it would appear that it is oven safe. Assuming there are no other chemical compounds used in the fry pan that would break down you should be good to go and toss it in the oven as long as you ...
5
Carbon steel is, as you've mentioned, a lot harder to maintain than stainless steel. However, carbon steel is a harder metal than stainless steel, meaning that it will be less vulnerable to the physical stress of everyday use and will hold an edge longer than stainless steel. As such, carbon steel knives are generally regarded as better for heavy or extended ...
5
Eggs and Crepes
Get a cheapish lightweight Teflon pan just for eggs and crepes. To cook these foods you never need to go over 200°C so no health concerns. Make sure everyone in the household KNOWS not to use them for anything else, or to put oil of fat in them. That way they will last a few years of good service. In general Teflon pans never last long no ...
5
Most reputable sources say that curved surfaces such as woks don't work as well on induction stoves. They even make special tools and cooktops for inductively heating woks. This phenomenum could be because of the angled surface or the extra distance from the cooktop, but it's probably both. It's not that these surfaces are immune to induction heating, just ...
5
In my mind, bread baking containers are divided into two categories:
1- Pans for shape
Many bread pans are used only to give bread shape. These can very from "normal" loaf pans for sandwich bread to baguette pans.
These pans need to just stay out of the way of the heat as much as possible. Baguette pans are even perforated for this reason. They are ...
5
Tweaking your technique, rather than pan choice, may help a bit - people often use whatever is to hand to make recipes, and what you have is what you have as far as pans go. I've used the same techniques on a a cast iron thaava and stainless steel griddle, and it was workable on each of them, for what it's worth.
I usually don't find using a lot of oil ...
5
From your description there are two things that stand out to me:
1) stainless steel pans should NOT be seasoned in a manner similar to cast iron. These are completely different materials, and if you "seasoned" your stainless pan, such that it has a coating of basically burned oil on it, you have to first clean that pan until it's nice and shiny/bare steel ...
5
First of all, it is difficult to get right. Don't be disappointed if you need some time to learn how to do it well.
As for your method, there are two things in your description you can improve on. One is the fat. You need a lot of fat to fry in a stainless steel pan. The bacon grease is unreliable even if you have the rest of the process perfected, and ...
4
I concur with rumtscho in that scraping isn't going to get this off. Before you go the route of lye, I would try one of two things:
1- Pour can of diced tomatoes into pan. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes start to bubble, stirring occasionally. Stir heavily once bubbling, then discard tomatoes and wash pan.
2- Fill pot with a large amount of rhubarb ...
4
I get that haze in my stainless steel pans after cooking certain things, especially beans. When I notice it after washing (by hand or in dishwasher), I just spray some regular white vinegar into the pan, lightly covering the affected area, let it sit for a minute or two, and wipe it out with a paper towel. It looks brand new. On rare occasion, maybe after ...
4
No, don't season stainless steel unless the manufacturer recommends it. Read the accepted answer here: Why does my food turn out poorly using an All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan?. That's how to best to use and treat a "nice stainless steel pan". Also from that same thread, s_hewitt shares a great video on temperature testing. Getting your pan to the proper ...
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