Trouble With Stainless Steel Fry Pans

**MadDoctor** · 05-12-23, 02:33 PM

One post?????? I'm going to go cook perfect eggs. The farmer likes the way I cook them but complains about wool between his teeth. But that's another subject.......

**Lurch** · 06-01-23, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Humboldt

I got a 2 skillet set of these a few years ago, small and large: https://www.gothamsteel.com

Their site is cheesy but that's actually a good deal.

Costco, Amazon has them also.

Very happy with them and they work great with eggs.

Interiors are still fine.

When you fry eggs in them do you add any oil?

**Lurch** · 06-02-23, 06:25 AM

UPDATE :

I'm getting a Duxtop induction cooktop burner. I saw a youtube video of a man frying eggs on one in a stainless steel fry pan, and they cooked perfectly, and quickly.
My stove is a smooth top / ceramic, and they say those are the worst for frying eggs and other things bc the temperatures are not steady.
So I will try eggs in SS again, with induction cooktop. If it sticks again, I will update my SS fry pan. Duxtop makes one for about $40.

I also am going to season my SS pans. To do it right, the pan is heated up first, then a fat is added, and brought to the smoke point, then allowed to cool.
I basically just want to fry eggs with no sticking at all in an SS pan.

**YeOldeStonecat** · 06-02-23, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by Lurch

UPDATE :

My stove is a smooth top / ceramic, and they say those are the worst for frying eggs and other things bc the temperatures are not steady.

Certain the smooth ceramic top stoves can vary in quality, and I'm sure some of the cheaper ones can be irregular.
However the big key is...having pots and pans that have thicker bottoms on them. They heat up well, distribute the heat evenly, and importantly..keep that heat when you plop big "cool or room temp" food on them.

With eggs, ensure the pan is heated up fairly well. You'll learn the temp it should be at. I just use butter, or bacon grease...for cooking my eggs (my wife and I follow a carnivore diet).
I like the pan hot enough so when I crack eggs onto it..they sizzle and form large bubbles on the bottom right away. I like over very easy (very runny). For sunny side...the bottom would brown/crisp up too much if cooking over the high heat I like, would have to lower pan temp a bit for sunny side.

**Lurch** · 06-06-23, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by YeOldeStonecat

Certain the smooth ceramic top stoves can vary in quality, and I'm sure some of the cheaper ones can be irregular.
However the big key is...having pots and pans that have thicker bottoms on them. They heat up well, distribute the heat evenly, and importantly..keep that heat when you plop big "cool or room temp" food on them.

With eggs, ensure the pan is heated up fairly well. You'll learn the temp it should be at. I just use butter, or bacon grease...for cooking my eggs (my wife and I follow a carnivore diet).
I like the pan hot enough so when I crack eggs onto it..they sizzle and form large bubbles on the bottom right away. I like over very easy (very runny). For sunny side...the bottom would brown/crisp up too much if cooking over the high heat I like, would have to lower pan temp a bit for sunny side.

IDK what's been happening with my eggs lately. They stick every time.
Yesterday in my Revere Ware SS fry pan, I heated it up to about 3, then added butter and a little olive oil, and 3 room temp eggs.
Then I put a cover on it and let it cook, then lowered the heat setting to 2, and they still stuck.
I used to do eggs every day in this pan with no sticking at all, but then I stopped doing that and now I can't recall how I did it to not stick.
I may need to use even lower heat.

It seems that if you cook at a setting about medium, they might not stick, but around medium it seems to stick.

I'm going to buy me a darned Allclad SS pan one of these days.
Allclad + induction cooktop might solve my egg sticking issues.

**triniwasp** · 06-06-23, 03:12 PM

Has anyone tried the Hexclad pans? If so, how do you like them?
https://hexclad.com/

**YeOldeStonecat** · 06-07-23, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by triniwasp

Has anyone tried the Hexclad pans? If so, how do you like them?
https://hexclad.com/

Not if you value your (or your families) health.

All non stick cookware is coated with a form of PTFE...polytetrafluoroethylene........teflon, which is in the PFAS "forever chemical" family.
Read up on the impacts to our health, as well as environmental horrors due to PFAS spills from plants that make products from it (such as leaking into rivers...)

**Lurch** · 06-07-23, 10:56 AM

I'm not going back to non stick pans again. They only seemed to work good when they're new, and after that they useless.

I will eventually find a method that works on stainless steel fry pans.

**Lurch** · 06-07-23, 04:46 PM

I got the Duxtop induction cooktop and it seems that frying non stick eggs are going to be a piece of cake with this in my existing Kenmore SS sauté pans.
At first I tried it like some guy on youtube, at around 275℉ and that stuck, though I used coconut oil.
The next time I tried at about 250℉, with butter, and it didn't stick much.
The next time, 2 more cold eggs, with butter, and about 180℉ to 210℉ and no sticking at all.

Evidently my problem has not been my Kenmore SS pans, but my GE smooth top range burners.

I love how the pan heats up in mere seconds on the induction cooktop, so you need to be ready with your butter and eggs.
It's even faster than gas.

**Lurch** · 07-28-23, 10:31 AM

I do best with low heat, that would be 180*F on the Duxtop induction cooktop.
I bought an 8" Duxtop SS fry pan that's quite nice, but all my SS pans get the same result if I start with some butter and use low heat.
I can fry eggs flawlessly this way.

**YeOldeStonecat** · 07-29-23, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by Lurch

I do best with low heat, that would be 180*F on the Duxtop induction cooktop.
I bought an 8" Duxtop SS fry pan that's quite nice, but all my SS pans get the same result if I start with some butter and use low heat.
I can fry eggs flawlessly this way.

Yup, stay away from non-stick....you can cook just fine with SS or cast iron.
Preheat
Lots of fat...
Use quality fat.
Coconut oil
EVOO
Good organic old fashioned butter like Kates Creamy, Vital Farms, or Kerry Gold
Or using good Tallow...quality beef fat from rendering the fat(suet) from beef organs. It's actually good for you. Decades ago we were taught the wrong thing about fats, and the food pyramid was taught to us upside down.
https://babsbonebroth.com/why-you-sh...th-tallow-fat/

**Leatherneck** · 08-03-23, 06:47 PM

I have done all the cooking in my house for at least 18 years trying at least 50 skillets. I also went from a gas stove to a smooth top. At first I hated the electric stove/oven, but it's all about mastering what you have. I learned to enjoy the smooth top and electric convection oven. I use different skillets for different meal styles. Absolutely cannot beat a perfect cast iron, but they are heavy and sometimes I just don't want to mess with it. My stainless skillets haven't seen the light of day forever. Just too finicky (for me). I have a couple cast/ceramic that are ugly as heck, but cook great. I have some Sam's Club non stick, anodized skillets that work too and are terrific for eggs. I would like to try some all clad, but just don't feel the need to spend that much since I have gotten so good with other pans. My Wife bakes special breads and would literally shoot someone if they took her cast iron skillet. They heat so evenly and stay warm so long, I clean them the next morning.