Stainless steel is not only in demand for commercial and residential buildings, but it is a popular material of choice for kitchen appliances as well. Cooking with stainless steel is good, but it can be annoying since food loves to stick to the steel surface. Don’t worry, though, as you’ll learn some tips for using stainless steel for cooking your meals by the end of this blog.
Some Handy Tips for Cooking With Stainless Steel
If you’re finding it challenging to cook with your stainless steel pots and pans, we’ll give you some tips that might help. Try the following for easy cooking:
1. Low Temperature
In most stainless steel cookware, the sides and bottom heat evenly. Hence, it is not just cooking your food in one direction. Plus, make sure that what you’re cooking is also at room temperature. Dropping cold food directly to the pan can be pretty chaotic and usually leads to the ‘food-sticking-to-the-pan’ situation.
2. Always Preheat
When you’re cooking with stainless steel, preheating is a must. Stainless steel is porous when cold, which can result in the food sticking to it. However, the pores close after you preheat the pan because the pan expands. And voila! You’ll have yourself a smooth stainless steel surface to cook your meal.
To know that you have preheated enough to cook, try a water drop test. Once the rim of the stainless steel pan is too hot to touch, splash some water into it. You’re good to go when the water stays in a ball and rolls around the pan. Keep in mind that your pan will overheat pretty quickly after, so have your ingredients at hand to start cooking.
3. Add Oil After Preheating
Another thing to remember is that never add oil before preheating, as it can sink into the pores. Thus, pull the pan off the burner and add some oil when it’s heated as required. Then, swirl the oil around and put the pan back on the burner to heat it. In about 5 seconds, you can get to work since the oil will be ready to cook soon.
4. Check the Meat for Flipping
Now that you have properly preheated and oiled your stainless steel pan, you can learn when to flip the meat so it won’t stick. The meat will be ready to flip once it has seared and developed a nice crust, as nothing remains for the pores to grab onto. Therefore, you’ll be able to flip the meat with ease without levering it up.
5. Avoid Warping it
Wait for the stainless steel pots and pans to cool on their own before running them under the faucet. This is because exposure to temperature extremes can warp your stainless steel cookware.
6. Don’t Get Rid of The Brown Bits
The brown bits are not meant to be discarded; they can add flavor to your meals. Empty the pan by removing the food and draining the fat. Next, add water, stock, or wine to the pan. Scrape the brown bits when the liquid boils and continue doing so until it reduces by half. After that, as your seasonings, you’ll have a sauce to drip over your food!
7. Don’t Use Metal Scrubbers
You can use some baking soda to clean the pans but always stay away from metal scrubbers. Steel wool or scouring pad care is not a good choice to clean your stainless steel cookware.
What’s Next?
Cooking with stainless steel might seem chaotic initially, but with the proper techniques, you can make the best of it. Stainless steel is also widely popular for construction, and Fort Bend & Steel Supply has the best options. Dial 281-499-5800 to contact us for more information.