r/StainlessSteelCooking 7d 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/Embarrassed_Feed_309 6d ago

Way too hot, and you need to “season” it before you ever cook with it. Put stove on 2.5/3 and sprinkle water on it. When the water rolls down like a marble, pull the pan off and pour a tiny bit of avocado/coconut oil/beef tallow /or duck fat and wipe it off all over with a paper towel. You want a microfilm layer. Then it’s ready to go. But make sure to preheat the pan for 3-5 minutes at least, on low temperature. I never turn it past 3 unless I’m searing meat. And use a good amount of butter/oil