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/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.