After two months since the first post, I managed to "tame" the beast that is the stainless steel pan. Through buying a new 8 inch one, I have been frying sunny side up eggs every single day. Each failure, each stuck egg, I learned a bit more:
- An 8 inch pan has its own benefits. It is smaller than the 10 inch saute pan, meaning if I want to fry something quick, I can just grab the 8 inch instead of 10 inch. One of the drawbacks of stainless steel is you need quite a bit more oil than non-stick to prevent sticking. So it's best to have two sizes of pan.
- Another things I discovered is the stove would not heat evenly, especially at the center where the heat sensor stays. If I cranked it to maximum, it would heat up fast in some spot, but not at the center. So it's not that the stove is weak, or the sensor preventing it running. It was just the dumb design of the heating element.
The actual steps of frying anything on a stainless steel pan goes as follow:
- Heat up the pan on medium, medium high for 2-3 minutes. For electric, that is about 1000-1200 watts. Up until you can spray some water to the surface of the pan, and it bounces around in little water blob without splitting. If it splits, the pan is too hot. If it forms into larger blobs, the pan is hot enough.
- Put some oil so it covers the entire pan's surface. This is where it takes a bit more oil for stainless steel comes from. Turn the gas/power down to low. Leave it for 10 seconds so it heats up the oil. Afterwards, hold the pan up and give it a gentle swirl so the oil coats the pan's side wall. This ensures the food won't stick to the side wall of the pan.
- Put the food in and start frying. DO NOT lift the food or touch it after putting it on the pan. Leave it. After about 1 minute, then lift it slowly. Because it has created a crisp, cooked layer underneath, the food will be easy to be lifted up with a spatula. If not, leave it a bit longer.
This works for any food, except eggs. If I beat up the eggs to make scrambled eggs, or omelette, it's fine. If it's sunny side eggs, then it will stick. So I learn another way from Chef Joshy:
- Put oil in pan, then heat the pan up until the oil smokes. You should put just enough oil to cover the pan, because later, we can dump the seasoned oil.
- Dump the old oil. Then apply some more oil to cool the pan a bit. Turn the gas/power down to low. This is the new oil to cook eggs with. Leave it for 10 seconds so it heats up the oil. Also afterwards, hold the pan up and give it a gentle swirl so the oil coats the pan's side wall.
- Then put an egg in. DO NOT lift the egg or touch it after putting it on the pan. After about 1 minute, then lift it slowly. It should not stick, at least it creates a crust below the egg.
