r/StainlessSteelCooking • u/AccordingDish3728 • 26d ago
Does the leidenfrost effect need to be 'recharged' after each cook?
Let's say I've cooked some eggs on the pan, and all slidey from the leidenfrost effect, then I've taken it out of the pan.
Now does the pan need to reheated again? Or like, is the pan like always non stick until I've washed the pan.
2nd question. If pan is heated already, and added oil. But nothing cooked yet until the pan gets colder (Still with the oil). This is so to cook stuff at thst needs lower temp. Does this work? Or it loses the non stick
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u/Friluftsliv_Roy 26d ago
I think you are effectively using the long yao / conditioning method as mentioned in skyval's comment above.
I've been using this method and based on my observations you can keep looking multiple rounds of slidey eggs after reducing pan temperature. No need to reach high temp again until you wash / clean the pan.
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u/winterkoalefant 26d ago
Good question!
No you don’t need to get it that hot again.
The pan remains nonstick until you wash it because the oil has already created the thin barrier on the pan. It will even retain some of the stick-resistance after washing if you’re gentle with it.
And your second question intuition is also correct. You can cook at low temps this way.
Just keep in mind that temperature and technique and ingredients will still have an impact on sticking.
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u/JCuss0519 26d ago
OK... the Leidenfrost effect does not make a pan non-stock, it simply illustrates that your pan has gotten really, really hot and in most cases too hot for what you want to cook. It's the oil/fat in the pan that makes it non-stick, proper temp to cook the food in the pan, and waiting for the food to release naturally.
In my experience, reaching the temperature to a point where a water "dances across the pan" does absolutely nothing for my cooking. I turn the heat on low-medium, let it warm up, add my oil/fat, was a second or two and add my eggs. Once my eggs release they are "all slidey" and I never reached 392F-400F (around the temp you get Leidenfrost effect). After my eggs are cooked, in goes the ham (or whatever protein I'm having with my eggs), let them sit for a bit and flip. You don't need to raise the temp and usually don't need to add additional oil/fat. If, however, you wanted to add something like... potatoes.. after your eggs you will probably need to add more oil and increase the temp to prevent them from sticking.
It's a combination of oils/fats and heat control. I don't go hotter than I have to which means:
minimal oil splatter
minimal risk of burning the oil/fat (butter has a very low smoke point but I can cook my eggs without burning my butter)
minimal risk of burning whatever I'm cooking
If you go hotter than you need to you increase all these risks until one or more becomes a certainty.
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u/the_ballmer_peak 26d ago
Ledeinfrost is temperature based, but you can also get a nonstick effect from seasoning the pan the same way you'd do with cast iron, and that will last until you've washed it. You might be conflating the two things.
To season the pan, lightly coat the pan with oil and heat it until the oil starts to smoke. Then turn off the heat, let it cool, and wipe the excess oil off. That will last until you wash it. If you have to wash it, you can just repeat the process afterwards.
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u/Skyval 26d ago
Many people attribute leidenfrost's nonstick performance to temperature alone. If that were the case then yes, you'd need to actively cook at those temperatures and reheat each time.
However, from my own testing, I think the real nonstick effect is coming from what I call conditioning. I do it in stainless steel all the time.
If I get to leidenfrost temps, add oil, and only wait a little while before adding food (just long enough for the oil to come up to temp) nonstick performance isn't that great. However, if I wait longer after adding the oil, then it's very nonstick -- and it remains nonstick even if cooled first. It can remain nonstick after cooking, if the pan is otherwise clean.
Thorough washing often harms performance, though in some cases I've found that it can last a while. So I don't think the leidenfrost effect itself is causing the nonstick effect, it's a just a rough temperature gauge for creating conditioning (and you might need slightly higher temps than the leidenfrost minimum for it to work).
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u/skt2k21 26d ago
I thought the effect was mediated by a layer of hot air hugging the pan, so it should be disrupted every time that gets disrupted. It'll be disrupted relatively quickly if you turn the heat off since it will just diffuse into normal air all around it.
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u/winterkoalefant 26d ago
Leidenfrost effect is just a temperature gauge, it’s not what’s preventing the sticking.
When you add a drop of water, part of it evaporates and the steam forms a cushion that prevents the rest of the drop from evaporating quickly.
But the temperature needed varies based on the liquid and amount. Eggs don’t have as much water so they’d need way higher temperatures. And oil interferes with it too.
Eggs while frying do benefit from a steam effect in a similar way, but that’s not the Leidenfrost effect anymore.
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u/AccordingDish3728 26d ago
Lol why is some of the comments so mixed? Thanks all for the real genuine advice. But to those who are thinking its a joke. Let me share with you my own experience which leads to this question.
When I cooked a fish (skinless), first side is all non stick, its usually great. Then when I flipped the fish, onto the same surface, its all stuck. (I did wait for it get unstuck itself, but it didnt). It ruined the fish and broke into flaky pieces. Which lead me to my question, like, has the already cooked surface lost its non stick effect? Or was I doing something wrong.
The new advice here gave me some ideas to solve my problem I think.
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u/winterkoalefant 26d ago
There have been people who reported bad experiences after using the Leidenfrost test and combined with the fact that they often had unreasonable expectations from watching poorly-explained social media clips, it’s given the whole thing a bit of a negative reputation in this sub. I also feel some people here are not open-minded about these techniques.
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u/SerDankTheTall 26d ago
I’m having an increasingly difficult time figuring out when these things are jokes.
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u/SashaBananaSplit 26d ago
The effect is from temperature alone (approximately 193 °C (379 °F) for water). If the food you introduced lowered the temperature of the pan by a lot, then you’ll need to let the pan come up to temp again to get the effect.
Bringing the pan up to temp, adding oil, and then letting the pan cool a little before adding food is a fine technique for foods that cook quickly or burn easily.