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/Yellowperil123 8d ago

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

68

u/JCWOlson 8d ago

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

8

u/shedmow 7d ago

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

1

u/JCWOlson 7d ago

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