Stainless steel pans are incredibly popular in professional kitchens around the world, but in many home kitchens, it's nonstick-coated pans that dominate – despite the many advantages of stainless steel: Free from coatings, built to last a lifetime, and with incredible heat distribution.
A stainless steel pan should be used a bit differently than a nonstick pan. But don't worry, we'll show you how easy it can be done, and then you can make anything in your pan.
If you've just brought the pan home, all you need to do is wash it with water and soap before use. (Note: We also have a carbon steel frying pan, which requires seasoning. The 5-ply, which this article is about, does not.)
If the kids are getting excited for meatballs, or friends are arriving for steak béarnaise in 30 minutes, we've compiled the six most important tips here – though we recommend reading the entire article. Both to get the most out of your pan, but also to take the best care of it.
Our six most important tips
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Use a burner that matches the bottom of the pan.
Uneven heat supply is not only harmful to the pan, but you'll also get worse frying results because the edges don't get the same heat as the center.
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Heat your pan gradually from low heat.
No cookware benefits from being heated quickly on high heat, as it can warp. Additionally, heat distributes better throughout the pan when it's heated slowly.
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Add cooking fat only when the pan is hot.
This way food releases from the pan more easily. We describe how you can check the pan's temperature further down using the water test.
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Don't leave the pan empty for too long.
Although you should heat the pan without fat, it shouldn't be left empty for long. Heat it until it passes the water test, then add cooking fat and ingredients.
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Be patient while frying.
If you're frying items like fish, fried eggs, meatballs, and the like, let the item form a crust before you start touching it. That way it releases from the pan much more easily.
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Avoid large temperature shocks.
Avoid cold water on a hot pan and boost functions. It can shock the metal, risking warping.
Those were our most important tips – but now to what you'll definitely also benefit from knowing. We've made a video to help you along the way, but if you prefer to read, just scroll down further.
Heat your pan correctly
First and foremost, use a burner that matches the bottom of the pan, and start on low heat. If your burner goes up to 10, it would be 3-4 points. After a couple of minutes, you can begin turning it up to 5-6. As a rule, you'll never need to go above 7 with a 5-ply pan, as it conducts heat so effectively.
Of course, there's a big difference from stove to stove, also depending on whether it's induction, ceramic, electric, or gas. So our best advice here is to start slowly and notice how the pan responds to the heat.
But why the gradual heating? The entire pan's construction consists of metal, which expands when heated. So if it suddenly gets a heat shock, it can warp. No pan, regardless of type, benefits from being put on the burner and turned up to max. Even if your pan has handled it until now, it can warp one day.
Once your pan has started to warm up, you can do the water test to see if it's ready to receive cooking fat.
What is the water test?
The water test is a way to check if your pan has the right temperature. The temperature before adding oil is important when frying items that can stick to the pan. This could be steak, eggs, or pancakes.
If you're roasting spices, making a tomato sauce, heating up a curry dish, or similar, where you don't need to fry an item, you can start on a cold pan. Heating without oil and the water test are to get your frying items to easily release from the pan and create good crusts.
If you'd like to read more about the water test and why it works, you can read up on the "Leidenfrost effect". But for now, let's focus on how to do it:
How to do the water test
Add a small teaspoon of water to your hot pan. Here are the three possible scenarios that tell you about the temperature:
The water evaporates
If the water evaporates as soon as it hits the pan's surface, the pan isn't hot enough. You should therefore let the pan heat up a bit longer and try again.
The water splashes everywhere
If this happens, your pan is slightly too hot. Therefore, turn down the heat a bit and wait a moment.
The water collects and dances around
If the water collects into a large water droplet and dances slowly across the pan's surface, the temperature is perfect.
With time, you'll become better and better at heating and knowing your pan, so you won't need to do the water test every time you cook.
When the pan has passed the water test, add your cooking fat and let it heat briefly, so it's hot when you add food to the pan.
Choose the right thing to fry in
You can definitely get your food to release from the pan without a nonstick coating – but it requires you to fry in fat.
We recommend that you leave the extra virgin olive oil on the shelf for your salad dressings, as it's not particularly good for frying. It sticks easily and can burn onto the pan.
Instead, we recommend a neutral oil with a high smoke point – that is, the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke. This could be oils such as rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, or grapeseed oil. It should be refined, which means not cold-pressed.
You can also use butter for frying. Butter has the advantage that it helps prevent things from sticking. On the other hand, it burns easily at high temperatures. If you fry in both butter and oil, you can raise the smoke point of the butter, so it can withstand more heat.
Take your food out of the refrigerator
Feel free to take your food out of the refrigerator about an hour before it's to be prepared, so it gets as close to room temperature as possible, especially when it comes to proteins.
You won't get a good result if you place an ice-cold steak on a hot pan. It will lower the pan's temperature drastically, so you risk ending up with a steak that neither releases from the pan nor has a good crust. And a large, cold item on a very hot pan can also cause a temperature shock that's not good for the pan.
Additionally, it's important that your item is dry if possible. If you're frying fish or potatoes, for example, you should dry it well with a cloth or paper towel before placing it on the pan. Water on the item can make it stick more easily to the pan and also prevent it from getting the crispy crust we want.
Now the food is on the pan – what's next?
Patience, patience, patience.
If you start moving meatballs around right after they're placed on the pan, you only achieve two things: The meatballs stick, and the pan cools down.
Let your frying item form a good crust before you start moving it around. This gives you both the result you want and simultaneously releases the frying item from the pan once it forms a crust. In the gastronomic world, this is called the Maillard reaction.
Get the most out of the pan residue
If you've fried meat, there will often be some protein residue in the pan, even if you've followed all the steps. This is completely normal and is called fond.
Now you're ready to create delicious results with your stainless steel frying pan – and we just want to wish you happy cooking!
