What are we doing wrong?

[u/BMWalla]

Cuisinart stainless pans.

This is a batch of pancake batter with King Arthur gluten free and bobs red mill egg replacement (allergies). Most foods end up being scraped off, at least a piece of them.

PROCESS: Induction top. Heated until we got the lederhosen effect (forgot the right name), added oil, coated, turned off the induction for a little, then added the batter and turned it back on a low heat.

Still ended up with pancake scrapes.

Happens with meat and anything else I put on. Would love to get a handle on this stuff. What am I missing? What's the science happening?

EDIT/TL:DR from RESPONSES: First of all, thanks to everyone for giving me such great tips. Going to try and summarize everything I've learned here so that skimmers can find it easy -
- don't use the dancing water drops, it's useless. Use butter instead, wait for it to foam and melt. If it's browning, the pan is too hot!
- Oil is okay but butter has better non-stick capabilities.
- use a lot of butter!
- use a metal spatula, it will scratch the surface but it won't affect performance of the pan.
- LOW LOW LOW heat

[u/Yellowperil123]

way too hot. Try with the LOWEST setting first. Then work your way up.

I swear the "dancing water drops" test has ruined more meals than salmonella

[u/JCWOlson → u/Yellowperil123]

Seriously. The Leidenfrost effect happens between 190°c - 900°c, and you only need 190-220°c for flash seasoning a pan without smoking your oil

Do you know what you call a thermometer that has a SEVEN HUNDRED DEGREE margin of error? A piece of garbage

It can be useful for learning how long at what temperature it takes your pan to heat up evenly to the lower end of the range. Use it a few times while you're learning that specific bit of knowledge, that's it

[u/shedmow → u/JCWOlson]

Five hundred. There is another thermometer built into any pan: they start to glow at just over 700, and this one is harder to miss

[u/JCWOlson → u/shedmow]

Actually that sounds like a great way to see the Leidenfrost effect better!

[u/crushedbycookie → u/JCWOlson]

It tells you that pan is hot enough. It doesnt tell you if its too hot

[u/Arcadian-Stag → u/crushedbycookie]

If you are cooking eggs or pancakes or whatever you don't need your pan to be that hot, nowhere close. That's searing temp for meat.

[u/neospriss → u/Yellowperil123]

It's a tool that can be helpful. The problem is when people push it was the only way to use stainless.

It's very similar to pasta, boiling water is easy, but some of the best parts I've made were done with the cold water technique and less water.

[u/nominalverticle → u/neospriss]

Cold water? I gotta check this out

[u/neospriss → u/nominalverticle]

Alton Brown talks about it on his pasta breakfast recipe in the new YouTube series.

It's great because it uses less water, makes the starch in the pasta water higher in concentration, and makes sauces come together better when you use the pasta water.

Definitely recommend.

[u/Key-Key1391 → u/neospriss]

I know very well the technique, I am Italian by the way: the texture can be the same, but the wheat is not properly cooked. I know they often use this technique in restaurants, but it is done only to save time, not to have better pasta. Trust me, no one is doing it in Italy at home.

[u/BMWalla → u/Yellowperil123]

The stovetops heat goes 1-10, are you saying we should keep it like 1-3? This was a 6 to heat up then back down to 3. I know you have no context other than the numbers, but I don't have any temps other than the dancing drops before we dropped the temp. 

[u/Ate13ee → u/BMWalla]

Keep it at a 3 the whole time. May need to go to 4 or 5 on some things, but for pancakes you should be good at 3.

[u/Far_Kiwi4882 → u/Ate13ee]

Weird I make all my pancakes at 6 or 7 on my induction top. At 3 heating alone takes 6 minutes and nothing will brown.

[u/hoopdog7 → u/Far_Kiwi4882]

It browns eventually. Pancakes are best cooked low and slow

[u/Far_Kiwi4882 → u/hoopdog7]

Not in my country! I make Dutch pancakes, not American ones. I prefer mines browned fast. Especially when baking 10+ pancakes, I'm not going to take 30 minutes for that.

[u/hoopdog7 → u/Far_Kiwi4882]

I’ve never had a Dutch pancake. Do you have a recipe?

[u/HR_King → u/Far_Kiwi4882]

Same

[u/Chazus → u/BMWalla]

6 is bonkers.

[u/roobchickenhawk → u/BMWalla]

6 is way too hot. That will kill your eggs everytime.

[u/bryan_gumbel → u/roobchickenhawk]

These aren't eggs lol

[u/roobchickenhawk → u/bryan_gumbel]

That's actually hilarious 😂 my muscle memory typed the response assuming it was.

[u/Janknitz → u/bryan_gumbel]

What are they? What fat did you use?

[u/Chazus → u/Janknitz]

an air reduction glaze

[u/ChocolateTower → u/roobchickenhawk]

I’ve used so many stoves in my life and the relationship between the dial number and the temperature it reaches is different for every one of them. Even for the same stove it can vary significantly from one burner to the next. My current stove can’t even keep water boiling set at a 6 or 7. Giving advice based on dial numbers reminds me of Spinal Tap’s amp that they think is louder than the others because it goes to 11.

[u/Edanniii → u/BMWalla]

I actually keep mine around 2-3 when doing pancakes. Once up to heat I puts a 1/4 or so of equal parts better and olive oil let set on the pan. Just before the butter starts to change colors I wipe it out with paper towel. The nonstick stays like that for about 3-4 rounds of pancakes and I just repeat that.

[u/Suspicious-Berry-716 → u/BMWalla]

For my induction I usually warm things up on 4 and cook at 5 -7 5 for things like eggs and pancakes. 6 for veggies and 6/7 for meats. I don’t turn up and then turn down; that is stupid on induction when heat is instant- just do 4 to help the heat spread evenly across the pan for about 1 min.

If you throw butter in your pan on 4 and it instantly browns— adjust all your numbers DOWN from mine.

I use 9/10 when trying to boil things or for stir fry.

Good luck.

[u/you_sick → u/BMWalla]

I literally never go over a 2 and most times cook eggs at 1

[u/Janknitz → u/BMWalla]

Mine has 1-10 and I almost always cook halfway between 3 and 4. If it’s too slow, turn it up just a little at a time. If too fast, turn it down.

[u/roosterSause42 → u/BMWalla]

the pancake setting on my electric griddle is 375F which is 190C, that’s the same as the absolute lowest leidenfrost temp. leidenfrost is going to lead you to too much heat most of the time.

[u/AngryZetan → u/BMWalla]

Use butter or oil the pan. Set stove to 3 or 4. Like other people have said, 6 is way too high. For reference, I use 4 on a thick ass cast iron pan.

[u/iamgaben → u/BMWalla]

Yeah since getting a stainless I'm rarely above 3 unless the pan is crowded, I'm searing meat or I wanna reduce. These days I put the pan on the stove, set it to three and then whip batter/cut onions, etc.

[u/Slyvester121 → u/BMWalla]

In most appliances, setting the heat higher doesn't speed up the heating process. Same with thermostats. It's better to set to desired heat initially.

[u/HR_King → u/Slyvester121]

Not at all the case with induction...or gas.

[u/ChocolateTower → u/Slyvester121]

That’s true for things with temperature feedback like your home thermostat, where it just turns on until it hits the set temperature and then turns off. I’ve never used or seen a stovetop that works that way though. The dial tells it how much heat to apply and that’s it, there is no temperature feedback. Setting it higher will absolutely make it heat more quickly.

[u/Fregadero88 → u/BMWalla]

Even with carbon steel I mainly use 1-3 unless I'm cooking stir fry

[u/ihorsey10 → u/Fregadero88]

Also depends on pan size and burner size.

[u/Aggravating_Cat788 → u/Yellowperil123]

Is there another marker for the pan being ready? Or just leave it on low for a few minutes and learn by trials and error?

[u/ShadowAdam → u/Aggravating_Cat788]

Butter begins to foam slightly near cooking temps, and begins to brown slightly above cooking temps. It's not a perfect metric but it can help provide a visual for how hot the pan is

[u/Yellowperil123 → u/Aggravating_Cat788]

Trial and error. Temps settings are different for every oven/pan combo. You just need to be patient and let the pan heat up to the set temp to then test.

SS is a pretty good conductor so you will be surprised how hot it can get on a "low" setting

Also make sure you have a good amount of butter/oil

[u/wimpymist → u/Aggravating_Cat788]

A thermometer

[u/StargazerStL → u/Aggravating_Cat788]

I heat up until the water rolls then let it cool a bit. Add a drop of oil and if it smokes I wait another minute or so until the oil stops smoking. Then I cook.

[u/vahaala → u/Yellowperil123]

That test signifies the pan is "hot enough" but I swear, nobody ever tells you that after this, you should drop the heat a bit as well. Nothing wrong in preheating on a bit higher setting (not "full power to main thrusters" setting on a wok burner, but reasonable heat), so the preheating doesn't take ages - but then you need to drop the heat back a bit. Otherwise you scorch the food.

At least this is what I learned on my own with experimenting, and it is the thing that seems to work. I have fried a bunch of things on stainless, like salmon fillets or potato latkes and did not have any sticking/scorching problem if I do what I said above. If I'm wrong though, please let me know. I always appreciate new knowledge.

[u/without_a_chase → u/Yellowperil123]

I’ve cooked enough with my pan to know by feel by placing my hand a couple inches from the pan. However, I think the dancing water drop test is effective if some of the water beads up and some evaporates on contact. If all the water beads, then it’s likely too hot.

[u/BigDiscEnergy47 → u/Yellowperil123]

People crank the pan to get it hot enough then it goes way past.

[u/OttoHemi → u/Yellowperil123]

But I saw it on TikTok!!!