KITCHEN TIPS (KEEPING FOODS FROM STICKING ON A STAINLESS PAN)

ALOHA FROM MAUI! On this blog post I'll go over some tips on using a stainless steel fry pan. You see there's a time for non-stick pans, and times for stainless steel pans. For one, if I'm making omelets or a healthy sauté I'll use a non-stick pan which allows a cook to use less fat, such as oils. However there are good healthy oils to use like polyunsaturated oils or monounsaturated oils. Here are the differences. Animal fats contain high doses of cholesterol, which can be very unhealthy in large doses, we call these saturated fats. While the other oils mentioned comes from vegetables or are plant based. Olive oil falls under the monounsaturated oils category and is healthy to use. Okay, now that we got some of that scientific stuff out of the way let's get to the fun part. And that's how to keep a stainless steel pan from sticking.

1. Make sure that your stainless steel pan is preheated well before cooking.
2. Make sure that your food is well marbled, meaning there's some natural fats on there, like a well marbled prime ribeye steak for example, or a nice well marbled pork chop. You don't need any fats or oils if it is well marbled.
3. Use some poly or monounsaturated oil if your food isn't marbled or contains natural fat.
4. Once it is preheated, place your food into the pan, and do not move it.

a. if it's a piece of prime beef cut steak, you want to sear it well.
b. if it's a piece of pork do just the same.
c. fish? it's up to you, but more than likely if it's a fine piece of tuna (ahi), you want to just sear it quickly leaving the inside rare. (this is where a nonstick pan comes into play I never use stainless pan for fine cuts of fish).
d. let the oils from the well marbled cuts of meat render out, then flip it. And serve it hot.

Note: What if it still sticks? Okay maybe for some reason only God knows, something went wrong, that prime cut of beef is sticking… "Hey Ron, you said it was going to work." Well, here's the deal, sometimes shit happens. Remove the pan from the heat and using a metal spatula, pry the meat off of the pan and flip it on to a plate. Using the same spatula, scrape the stuck portions of meat from the bottom of the pan to the side of the pan, don't throw it away it can make good stuff for a sauce or gravy, we call this the fond.

Return pan to heat, add a little oil (canola or vegetable) creating a thin layer, heat it well but not smoking. Return meat to pan, and cook the uncooked side until it is ready to your liking. This is just to recover from a mishap. 

Always remember these few things when using a stainless steel frying pan, you should do fine. Until the next blog post, have a great life.

Ron Sambrano

           

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