Getting foods to release from pan

[stuartlikesstrudel]

That's an important bit of universal cooking advice that a lot of people don't seem to have down: many foods will release themselves, or become much easier to release, if you just give them time.

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This is a quote from the current Oven Chips thread, but raises a point that I was actually going to make a new post about anyway. I didn't know if there's a simple answer that could be resolved in that thread or whether it was worth splitting off into its own thread... I did a search and couldn't find anything obviously relating to this.

I had some leftover polenta which I yesterday fried/sauteed/cooked-in-a-pan and was getting worried it was going to totally stick and turn to gross burnt-and-mushy-at-the-same-time stuff, even though i had oiled the pan sufficiently. In the end however, the slices came off pretty cleanly and it worked out great.

My question is, can we tell which foods are going to work like this (releasing themselves) and which just stay stuck? I have tried a few times to make veggie burgers with quite a moist mixture, and they inevitably get quite stuck... even when i leave them longer than i want to (and they get a burnt-ish bottom). Do some foods just not work with this? Temperature must play quite a role, I'm guessing, as a hot pan might start to burn before the crust has time to develop and release...?

Also, somehow I got into my head that non-stick pans tend to make inferior crusts than other pans. Is this actually true? The non-stick pan we have is pretty cheap, so may not be a great benchmark point. I tend to reach for our solid cast iron pan for this kind of job, it just seems like a better choice.

[Fat Guy]

I'd love to know more about this whole line of inquiry.

One thing I can say for sure is it's true of most meat. I've had success cooking many kinds of meat without added fat, in several kinds of pans. Soon after you first put it in, it's very sticky, and if you try to move it you'll rip it apart. But eventually it comes completely or mostly unstuck.

[Emily_R]

I certainly agree this is true of meat, but in my experience it is most definitely not true of potatoes... When I've had potatoes that have stuck to the sheet pan (even after being oiled), additional cooking just burned them on there even harder. Is it the starch? Do starchy foods in general not release with additional cooking time?

[Fat Guy]

I've had inconsistent results with potatoes. Sometimes they get worse with time, sometimes better. I've never focused enough to observe whether it relates to type of potato or what.