No, this isn't a cast iron thing. Using stainless pans, you can get nonstick effects that, in my experience, far outperform Teflon anyway. The process is called "spot seasoning." I have cooked crispy, cheesy rice noodles with eggs with zero sticking.

I love my cast iron pans, but stainless is my daily go-to. Added bonus: use 100% copper wool to clean your stainless pan. The copper-coated wool at most grocery stores is problematic; you might get a few uses out of the coated garbage and then it starts shedding metal bits.

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[–] 63 points 1 year ago (35 children)

It's the simplest thing in the world with a stainless pan. Bring up the heat, add in some oil, wait for it to smoke, wipe it out with a cloth, in with cold oil, add in your food. It won't stick.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (16 children)

    Thanks for this but I will stay say teflon is simpler (not better!)

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  • [–] 47 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    The most annoying thing for me with Teflon was that in two years or so it is no longer nonstick, so your pans have essentially an expiration date.

    Not to mention that it will be scratched and danger to you and all around you long before that.

    I preach the gospel of our lord and savior stainless steel pans!

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    A soft (e.g. silicone) spatula is all you really need to avoid damaging a non-stick pan. And they are incredibly useful for other uses (a rubber flipper is awesome if you are perpetually impatient when it comes to flipping meat and don't want to damage the skin).

    But yeah. They are inherently a consumable which is why nobody should ever spend more than 20-ish (pre-trump) USD on one. It is up to an individual to decide if they would use it enough to justify that.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Id recommend going for carbon steel instead of teflon if all clad or stainless steel is too much work.

    For like $40-100, they heat up insanely well, are very light and will last your lifetime. They form an excellent non stick coating after several uses just like cast iron.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I bought two a couple of months ago and I am never going back to anything else.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Sometimes the food can do it too -- I scratched my last nonstick pan with a silicone spatula because I ground black pepper on my eggs and caught a craggy piece just right while flipping. After being super careful for months! So irritated.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I like the heat retention of a good heavy and smooth cast iron best, and you don't have to season it very often at all. I pre heat it, add a little butter or oil, and do my cooking. Only way to go if you aren't cooking a steak or burgers outside. Eggs slide like new Teflon.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    right? six steps and having to deal with hot oil every time or use teflon and have a slightly higher risk of cancer and zero extra steps to cooking. I'll stick with teflon and hope for a global war to wipe us all out before I have to worry about cancer.

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  • [+] -9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    If you’re lazy just say that

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    i am lazy but i'm not even saying doing less steps is worth the cancer it gets you. I'm just pointing out that simplicity isn't really a strong side of stainless steel when comparing it to teflon since simplicity is basically the only thing teflon has going for it.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    I add oil, just enough to barely coat the pan, and then tap a teeny drop of tap water from my finger onto the pan. Once the drop pops (if it got touched by the oil) or simply boils away, I can start cooking.

    Additionally: butter. Butter somehow doesn't stick for whatever reason, even if the pan isn't fully heated up yet.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Been using the same set of pans for about 30 years. Just cold oil and a hot pan, get my food in immediately and same thing. I can slap pork chops in there no problem. I just have a feeling if I tried this instead of your method on a new pan, I'd be screwed.

    I'm pretty sure the pan is just seasoned after that amount of time and they definitely get used daily, if not multiple times a day.

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  • A stainless or carbon steel pan will take to the cold oil method first time. Cast iron will depend on the quality; some come preseasoned, but the quality of that varies a lot too.

    I got my first nice CI skillet about five years ago and daily driving it. I talk a good game about steel pans but I just don't enjoy them as much. You build their seasoning, it works perfectly once, then it's gone. There's no relationship, no satisfaction in getting a fried egg to slide freely about the pan.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Does this work with cast irons too?

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Update: just made eggs sunny side up this way on my moderately unwell seasoned cast iron pan. Worked amazingly well. Who knew I was putting too much oil… I brought the temp down a little after cracking the eggs in.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    "wipe it out with a cloth" I'm curious about the cloth you use and what you do it? Sounds really messy an oil soaked cloth.. But you do say it's the simplest thing..

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  • Sometimes I forget others haven't accepted tea towels into their heart. I've got a dozen or more cloth towels around the house for mopping up. It all comes out in the wash. Cotton ones won't burn readily, so they'll dry out a hot oily pan no problem.

    Paper towels work fine. Just make sure they're pure paper and not mixed with synthetics or weird scents or whatever.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Except the easiest thing in the world is just as the youtube guy said. If you use a cast iron or carbon steel, the seasoning doesnt really wash off as much, so you don't have to re-season the thing every time you want to use it. My cast iron pans stay seasoned, even if I wash them with soap. SS doesn't really have any benefit over carbon steel, and only a benefit over cast iron in that it's lighter. If you want a lighter pan/wok, there's little benefit over getting carbon steel.

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  • [+] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    No oil in your batter? I wanna know more. Doesn't that make the pancakes too chewy?

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