Making Stainless Steel Cookware Non-Stick

[Shel_B]

This video was sent to me by a friend who feels that stainless steel cookware "causes food to stick" to the pans.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1376ITxF1Oc

 

I understand that in many instances one wants food to stick to SS to help develop fond and flavor.  I also know that, if one tries to remove or move certain food before a crust forms, the result may be sticking food and difficulty in removing any burnt on food.  IMO, based on my experience using stainless steel cookware, if you know how to deal with the characteristics of stainless steel, sticking and difficult cleanup are pretty much non-issues.

 

That said, many people like to use nonstick cookware because it makes cooking some things very easy, and many people believe that you "need" nonstick surfaces for cooking certain things, such as egg.

 

The linked video shows a method for making stainless steel cookware nonstick.  Has anyone had experience with this technique?  Does it work well?  Does it last a while?  Might there be a downside to using the technique?  Is it really even needed? 

 

Just curious what your thoughts on all this may be ....

Edited May 3, 2015 by Shel_B (log)

[AlaMoi]

if you go and get all physical about it -

 

checking the space of the atomic lattice work in stainless steel

and

comparing that to the molecule size of (pick a fat)

 

you'll probably reach the conclusion someone is smoking something other than oil in a pan.

 

but, does it work?

consider the age old French practice of keeping steel pans for 'nuttin' but eggs'

 

it appears to work.  if one dispenses with the soap thing - which makes for an "OMG it's got a germ" problem.

[paulraphael]

Stainless steel doesn't cause food to stick; bad cooking technique causes food to stick. 

Happily this problem can be cured for free.

[paulraphael]

You can certainly "season" stainless steel the way you can an iron pan. But the coating of polymerized oils will be much more fragile because it won't have much to grab onto. And you'll be undoing some of the biggest advantages of stainless steel: that it's non-reactive,  durable, and that its bright color lets you easily see the color of pan drippings as they brown, so you can deglaze at the right time.

 

I've seasoned a raw aluminum griddle. It works pretty well. But the polymerized surface is likewise a lot more fragile than the equivalent on an iron pan. Very easy to flake off. The problem would be worse on stainless.

[scott123]

But the coating of polymerized oils will be much more fragile because it won't have much to grab onto.

 

This.

 

It's like trying to paint a glossy surface.  This is why you sand between coats of paint- so the next layer has something to grab on to.

 

When producing regular non stick pans, they sandblast the metal to a relatively porous state, so the non stick coating has something to attach to. This is why you don't want to sand down cast iron to be seasoned to too smooth of a surface.

 

I don't see much of a point to it, but if you were willing to sacrifice the surface of your steel pan, you could take a page out of the non stick book and scratch it up a bit before seasoning. Or you could take an older pan that perhaps was already scratched up a bit. Same for aluminum. Both will get a bit grabbier, seasoning wise, with a courser surface.

 

But, like I said, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.  Seasoning isn't the same thing as non stick, so the oil you need for a seasoned pan will most likely be comparable to the oil you need for an unseasoned stainless pan.

 

And, FYI, the instructions for seasoning in that video are absolutely horrendous. Seasoning = polymerization. The process she's using barely polymerizes the fat.  She's just basically working with an oiled pan (initially).