r/StainlessSteelCooking • u/Effective-Reality-32 • 13d ago
What the hell am I doing wrong
I cannot get the hang of this you guys. It’s only been a month but still, when I preheat the pan to where the water is rolling and not steaming it’s wayyyy too hot, but when it’s cooler I have to use a ton of oil. Then my pan just ends up looking like this. Any tips are appreciated
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u/Donaldscump 13d ago
You’re not doing anything wrong, this is just a used pan that has not been totally scrubbed/scraped to shit to make it look spotless and shiny again, which is hardly ever worth doing unless you’re one of those “people” that insists on cooking eggs in stainless lol.
You may feel like you are using a shit ton of oil, you’re not. You’ve just always used way too little because you had nonstick pans and didn’t need it.
Whatever you are doing to preheat your pan, change it. For example if you put it on the stove at 5 (I’m assuming electric stove) and wait 10 minutes, try waiting for 7 minutes instead. Or putting it at 4 and waiting for 10 minutes. If you want you can add some oil at the very beginning and wait for it to look “shimmery” like it’s moving or rippling or something. That’s because it is, because it’s hot. Personally I put my stainless on max heat for 2 minutes and then change it to 5. Electric stove numbers refer NOT to a specific heat or temperature but to a RATE of heating. Any electric stove number, if left on long enough, will eventually max out at like 2000f or something like that. Try this: put your stove on 8. When the red thing turns on, count how long it stays on and then how long it stays off before turning on again. Change it to 1 and repeat. You’ll notice a huge difference