I just ordered my first stainless steel pan and I’m kind of nervous about using it. I think I’ve hyped it up in a head a bit. I’ve been watching soooo many videos about the leidenfrost effect when heating up stainless steel pans but not ONE video where they explain why it’s nonstick even after lowering the temperature after attaining the effect. I saw someone say that the expanding of the metal from the heat makes it nonstick but that still doesn’t explain how it remains so even after turning it back down to low.
In: Physics
So a lot of people don’t seem to understand what exactly is happening when they cook. The TEMP determines how quickly the outside of the food COOKS. The TIME is what determines how QUICKLY the heat PENETRATES. So when you have HIGH temp, the outside is cooking really quickly but the inside needs way more time. You’re trying to balance the two to arrive at whatever outcome you want.
You want that high temp in the pan where water beads up and dances in the pan. Then when you put whatever in the pan, you want to have it on low heat so you maintain temp so the outside doesn’t brown too quickly and you get the correct internal temp. You still want oil in the pan since stainless will never be like Teflon/non-stick but it will have non-stick properties once you master the technique.
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