I exclusively use stainless steel pans in my kitchen. None of the weird chemicals from teflon, I can scrape the shit out of them with metal tools and I can toss them in the dishwasher with no second thought. The only downside is that I have to deglaze from time to time while cooking to get stuck bits off, but it’s really not that bad.
Sometimes brown bits get stuck to the bottom of the pan while cooking and the best way to get them off is to toss some water into the pan before those bits can burn. Not much, maybe like a tablespoon - it dissolves all the brown bits into a very tasty brown sauce that coats the rest of the food in the pan. It’s really not complicated, but the added moisture sometimes makes the cooking take a bit longer and isn’t ideal when your goal is to cook something very dry and crispy (like when frying tofu)
Now, that being said those browned bits are delicious and are the starting point for a lot of sauces. A dirty steel pan is an opportunity for loads of flavor (provided were talking about a seared or sauteed food, not like pasta or something.
I agree with you on the stainless. I do still have one cast iron pan that I swear by for certain things but I also don’t baby it in any way. I also have a couple of ceramic coated pans for specific things that love to stick to stainless. I mostly use the stainless and the cast iron, though.
I exclusively use stainless steel pans in my kitchen. None of the weird chemicals from teflon, I can scrape the shit out of them with metal tools and I can toss them in the dishwasher with no second thought. The only downside is that I have to deglaze from time to time while cooking to get stuck bits off, but it’s really not that bad.
Can you explain the deglazing process and reasoning. I just got two stainless pans and I’m very curious.
Sometimes brown bits get stuck to the bottom of the pan while cooking and the best way to get them off is to toss some water into the pan before those bits can burn. Not much, maybe like a tablespoon - it dissolves all the brown bits into a very tasty brown sauce that coats the rest of the food in the pan. It’s really not complicated, but the added moisture sometimes makes the cooking take a bit longer and isn’t ideal when your goal is to cook something very dry and crispy (like when frying tofu)
You can deglaze with alcohol as well, and then reduce it into a delicious sauce.
Now, that being said those browned bits are delicious and are the starting point for a lot of sauces. A dirty steel pan is an opportunity for loads of flavor (provided were talking about a seared or sauteed food, not like pasta or something.
I agree with you on the stainless. I do still have one cast iron pan that I swear by for certain things but I also don’t baby it in any way. I also have a couple of ceramic coated pans for specific things that love to stick to stainless. I mostly use the stainless and the cast iron, though.