ok i scrubbed [with a green scotch-brite pad] the base of the frying pan, i hope i can cook on it today?! i want to just do an egg at lunch time to see what happens, what should i do on it's first use? add more oil or just use it as is? a low heat or crank it up? is the temperature in the frying pan on the stove top likely to exceed the 150c that i baked the oil on with in the oven? i'd like to get an infrared thermometer at some point too.
rainrain1,
Jan 11, 10:44pm
Couldn't help popping in with a grin:-)
buzzy110,
Jan 11, 10:50pm
Definitely add some fat/oil of some description. Eggs are nicer with the addition of fat.
0800xford,
Jan 11, 10:55pm
ok cool, i'm about to do it now.
can stainless steel frying pans be 'seasoned' similarly i wonder...?
No. Not s/s. They don't need it. Seasoning is really just putting on a coating to prevent rusting (cast iron and spun iron). You'll never get a coating onto a s/s unless you want a burnt on coating and then everything will stick, rather than slide off.
Coatings work only up to a point in terms of non-stick. Food will still burn and stick. Seasoning also means that you shouldn't need to scour your pan. A dish brush in regular washing up water should be about the harshest cleaning utensil. If you find that bits are still left on then the ever useful handitowel will deal to stubborn bits. Well it does in my house. If DH has been cooking, sometimes soaking is required.
Every so often use a s/s cleaner on your s/s frying pan. This probably slightly hones down all the uneven bits (like honing a sharp knife with a steel to keep the edge smooth) that you can't see but which grabs at food when cooking.
0800xford,
Jan 11, 11:40pm
i'd like to try my washup wizz, it's nylon [?] and is good for teflon too.
Tee hee. You have used your summer holidays wisely grasshopper. Now you have acquired two new kitchen skills you didn't have a month ago. And they are great skills to have btw.
What's next?
0800xford,
Jan 11, 11:55pm
cooking with weeds ==> hand/homemade mince ==> hand/homemade pasta ==>
buzzy110,
Jan 12, 12:02am
Giant strides.
0800xford,
Jan 12, 12:59am
what temperature should the frying pan be to do, say, eggs? or steak? all stoves will be different and all cookware will differ too, the egg i just did today i had the element on full to see what would happen but of course i have no idea what the temp was, do any of you use an infrared thermometer?
$50 well spent?
buzzy110 > giant leaps for oxykind indeed!
davidt4,
Jan 12, 1:52am
For eggs, med - low so the whites don't frizzle.For steak, maximum heat to get a good crust on the meat.Steaks need to be rested on a warm plate for 5 minutes before serving.
I've never used a thermometer.
bigchipper,
Jan 12, 1:59am
cast iron with the handle cast iron too so you can put it in the oven too.
0800xford,
Jan 12, 3:05am
i always do this, it relaxes and is nice and tender, just like lounging about in a deck chair on a sunny day!
owl32,
Jan 12, 3:35am
Mine is a stainless steel one. I was given it as an engagement present 15 yrs ago.... and its awesome. It cost $75 from briscoes at the time.
buzzy110,
Jan 12, 4:03am
I don't cook my steaks at high heat. My butcher cuts them really thick and if I did that I'd have charcoal on the outside and the living beast on the inside.
No thermometer either. You will have to use the temperature knobs on your stove as a guide. I've got electric though so am a bit iffy about advising someone with gas. Still, I bring pan to heat - sometimes dry, sometimes with a bit of fat or oil in, at two notches below high, throw in steaks and sear one side then turn down to about half. Then, if things are looking like they are cooking too hot I turn temp down another notch and turn over. The other side, I do just long enough to get a nice brown appearance. Usually it is cooked just how I like it then.
I have beef steak thermometers and cook till they read medium rare, or the gauge goes just past the red. Not keen on really raw steak and hate it grey. I like it pinker rather than pink and of course it continues cooking whilst resting.
buzzy110,
Jan 12, 4:07am
Fish, IMO, needs a gentle heat. You'll learn oxy and then you will go to bbq parties and cringe when you see what blokes who can't cook are doing to the steak and lamb chops - namely turning them into tough, gristly, overcooked, pieces of inedible leather.
owl32,
Jan 12, 4:24am
my hubby has learned how to cook steak on the bbq, and I've learnt how to cook it in a frying pan. Mainly through watching food programmes to be honest. But it makes a difference, adn yes, it makes us cringe to see people overcooking the steak and chicken into horrible burnt leather....
0800xford,
Jan 12, 4:47am
i just have a regular electric oven in this flat fish is easy to cook i reckon, so long as you remember not too hot or long.
time to experiment a bit more with this pan
rainrain1,
Jan 12, 7:18pm
Who hit 0800xford over the head with a frying pan?I enjoyed the laugh anyway :-)
kumerakid,
Jan 13, 6:07am
my big fry pan is my hubbies grandmother its over 90 yrs old, have the middle size (great for pancakes) but have lost the little one,every now and then they need tobe made non stick - by taking pan outside to the bbq and heat up when hot add some oil till smoking, stand back and add a layer of salt, keep heated for 15min or so and then turn off, leave till cold, give a wash - try not to use dish liquid as it takes non stick off.
elliehen,
Jan 13, 7:07am
Maybe he's been clubbed with the cast iron frypan and dragged off into a Primal cave... ;)
samboy,
Jan 13, 8:26pm
havent read rest of thread but I find the stainless steel one absolutely brilliant for pikelets and pancakes, otherwise we have a ceramic one (from Farmers) which is very good or cast iron as other posters have said.
malcovy,
Jan 16, 1:57am
I don't know if this has been mentioned but the best method I have used with my cast iron pans to make non stick is heated salt.I have to do this on a regular basis as I use the pans for most things ie making tomato sauce, frying, simmering etc.Heat salt in cast iron pan, take pan off heat and let sit till cooled, normally the colour of the salt darkens depending on what has been used in pan. Rub the salt in well, I use oiled handy towels and elbow grease it can take a few minutes.
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