Pans:Stainless Steel vs. Nonstick
Besides my dad's huge wok, I've only had experience cooking with non-stick pans. You probably know this, but non stick pans are typically coated with Teflon and under high heat, the coating can come off and supposedly pose a threat to your health.
A few months ago, I started to dabble with Indian dishes, and most of the dishes that I made involved heating up oil really hot and then frying the ingredients to release the flavors. This really destroyed one of my non-stick pans. So, during my search for a new non-stick pan, I came across a set of stainless steel pans (Emrilware) that is made by iron-clad and I decided to try them out. When cooking with stainless steel pans, you need to turn down the heat because these pans have a lower specific heat (requires less energy to heat up). It's a bit tricky because if the pan is too cold or too hot, the food will stick. In my experience, anything coated with cornstarch will stick to the pan. However, if it's coated with flour, granted that the pan is hot enough and there is enough oil in the pan, the food won't stick. When cooking nowadays, I will probably grab my stainless pans first. I reserve my non-stick pans for cooking eggs, pancakes, potstickers, and to stir-fry any type of meat coated with cornstarch. |
Cooking with stainless steel pans.
I had received a Calphalon stainless steel wok as a wedding present a few years ago and was pretty disappointed with how everything stuck to the pan. And when the food didn't stick, oil would sometimes leave a tan stain on the surface of the pan that was almost impossible to scrub off. Well, it turned out that I just didn't know how to cook with a s.s. pan.
Here are some tips:
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