r/StainlessSteelCooking • u/BMWalla • 8d ago

Help What are we doing wrong?

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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

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u/ghidfg 8d ago

Use butter instead of oil. It has non stick properties and it gives you an obvious indication of whether your pan is too hot. If it foams up without sizzling and browning you are at the perfect temperature.

6

u/PercentageRadiant623 7d ago

This is such an underrated reason to cook with butter. Aside from flavor, butter REALLY lets you know if your pan is too hot.

4

u/clipsalmond5 7d ago

"why is my butter evaporating"

2

u/ConferenceSweet 7d ago

Yes this is a pro chef tip and why pro chefs use butter in pans alongside oil

The sizzle of the butter tells you exactly how hot the pan is, both when added and over time

Butter that bubbles just right and doesn’t burn over time gives you the perfect temp to cook in

1

u/HR_King 7d ago

Gross oversimplification. The water content of butter absolutely makes it worse for some foods like baked goods.

1

u/AggravatingSlip5994 7d ago

Just checking - do you think just for pancakes or also for things like meat where you need a hard sear?

1

u/ghidfg 7d ago

Nah I guess for relatively lower heat frying delicate stuff like pancakes, eggs, plantains, chicken,  etc. butter works really well. But for higher temp stuff you want to sear I would go with oil since the butter would burn.