How to Season a Stainless Steel Pan in the right way?

Cooking is an art and it can be attained by experience. However, the experience might lack when the use of equipment is inadequate.

According to a survey, most people don’t understand the difference between the use of a non-stick pan, cast iron pan, or stainless steel pan. It seems like a big hurdle if you want the perfect taste in every try.

Using a stainless steel pan seems easy, but requires the core knowledge of temperature control.

Taking a close look at stainless steel through a microscope, open pores are easy to trace down. These pores are porous and it shrinks when the temperature rises. If the food gets into the way of shrinking pores, food will stick to the surface.

So, it is necessary to gain adequate knowledge of using the stainless steel pan in the right manner. However, there are some easy tips to resolve this issue.

Few Crucial Tips before Learning the right style

It would be a better choice to understand that how you can avoid getting the food stuck to the surface of the stainless steel pan. The pan itself is semi-sticky, so you can find hope in getting the delicious taste without making the food stick to the surface. The easy to follow rules are –

• Always preheat the pan properly before using it. When you heat the pan, the pores on the surface will shrink and your food will not stick to the surface. You can use low medium hits and use water droplets to ensure the right temperature.
• When the pan is preheated, you can add a little oil in the pan and the oil will start shimmering. Make sure that it doesn’t smoke.
• Make sure that you don’t add food to the pan directly from the refrigerator. Keep your food in the kitchen for few minutes so it reaches the normal room temperature.
• Due to the room temperature of food, there will be less difference between the temperature of the pan and the ingredient. The chances of having trouble with stickiness will go away.

By this method, you can cook on a stainless steel pan without sticking the food to the surface. However, you must maintain an adequate and consistent temperature to reduce the chances of food sticking to the pan surface. This technique will come in handy when you are sauteing or searing the food.

Also Read: Stainless Steel Pan Advantages and Disadvantages

How to Season properly?

The main question of this post is, how to season a stainless steel pan in the right manner and it is easier than you might think about. When you are cooking large pieces of chicken, steak, or fish, you can use the below-given steps –

• Make sure that you always wait before flipping. You should look for the temperature and ensure that it is naturally released from the stainless steel pan.
• When you add any ingredients like meat in the preheated stainless steel pan, it will drastically impact the temperature of the pan. So, it is crucial to wait.
• When you add any ingredient, its lower temperature will make a change in the open pores of the stainless steel. It is necessary to flip the food at right time.
• As the pan starts heating and goes to the normal cooking temperature, the pores of the pan will open again and it will release the food. Now, you can flip without any problem.

By reading the in-depth detail of a stainless steel pan, you can understand that how the temperature affects the pores of stainless steel. If you get this thing in mind, you can cook like a professional and you won’t be having any issue while cooking in a stainless steel pan.

Also Read: Stainless Steel Pan Vs Copper Pan: Pros & Cons

The seasoning on a Stainless Steel Pan

When it comes to seasoning, you have to very specific with the stainless steel pan you are using. There are plenty of options available in the market, but choosing the right one is all about understanding the need. To season a stainless steel pan, you can use this method –

• Instead of preheating at a low medium temperature, you would have to go for medium-high temperature.
• Now, put a little amount of cooking oil and coat a thin layer on the surface of the stainless steel pan.
• The temperature of the oil must reach smoke point but it should smoke too much. When you start finding smoky essence then you can move to the next step.
• If the oil is not spreading properly, you can use a paper towel and spread it all around the pan surface for an effective coating.
• When the oil starts smoking, you can remove this stainless steel pan out of the heat and place it aside.
• Wait for few minutes and let the stainless steel pan cool down to room temperature.
• Now, start wiping the excess oil from the surface and you will get a non-stick surface this time.

The surface of the pan will be glossy and it is the sight of a semi-sticky surface. It is not completely non-stick but it will do the work for almost every style of cooking and every dish.

Also Read: Stainless Steel Pan Vs. Cast Iron Pan: Pros & Cons

Bottom Line

After understanding that how to season a stainless steel pan, you can follow all the steps adequately and get a unique taste with every dish. Make sure that you choose the right type of stainless steel pan to get all the mentioned benefits. We hope this guide will help you get the desired results.