Cooking & Baking

trof

(54,256 posts) Thu Apr 21, 2016, 07:36 PM Apr 2016

Did you know you can season a stainless steel frying pan?

Damn.
I'm 75 and I just learned this.
Everything I fried in a stainless pan stuck.
Even bacon.

You can season a steel pan, just like a cast iron pan, and make it as 'stick-free' as Teflon.

I tried it.
It works.
Heat high smoke point oil until it smokes.
Let pan cool completely.
Repeat.
Several times.
It works.

Search for it on you tube and you'll find several instructions.

4 replies

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Did you know you can season a stainless steel frying pan? (Original Post) trof Apr 2016 OP

You can do this with baking trays too. MADem Apr 2016 #1

The process is the same, just not quite as effective as with cast iron Major Nikon Apr 2016 #2

I've done this with woks. surrealAmerican Apr 2016 #3

I use to do it with my stainless until I read that you shouldn't. I guess I was 1/2 right. rusty quoin Apr 2016 #4

MADem

(135,425 posts)

1. You can do this with baking trays too.

Reply to trof (Original post)

Thu Apr 21, 2016, 07:39 PM

Apr 2016

Country folk in Italy do this with pizza trays. Toss 'em in the fire.

Major Nikon

(36,827 posts)

2. The process is the same, just not quite as effective as with cast iron

Reply to trof (Original post)

Thu Apr 21, 2016, 07:52 PM

Apr 2016

Most stainless cookware is polished, and because it's stainless, there's not much for the polymers created by seasoning to hold on to. So while it's certainly possible to season stainless in the exact same way as cast iron, the effect won't last as long. So what I do is just season it before each use by getting it really hot and wiping a thin coat of fat or oil on it, and then leaving it on the burner till polymerization happens.

Here's another tip, you can also season the stainless grill on a Weber (or pretty much any other type of grill), by wiping them down with some cooking oil after they have gotten really hot. This creates a polymerized coating which keeps food from sticking to the grill.

surrealAmerican

(11,361 posts)

3. I've done this with woks.

Reply to trof (Original post)

Thu Apr 21, 2016, 08:07 PM

Apr 2016

It's pretty effective too.

rusty quoin

(6,133 posts)

4. I use to do it with my stainless until I read that you shouldn't. I guess I was 1/2 right.

Reply to trof (Original post)

Thu Apr 21, 2016, 11:31 PM

Apr 2016

I have so many pans since then. I have a set of carbon steel pans now, so I get a kick out of seasoning them. One is a 14" fry pan that I use more than the others, because of its surface area.

I like the slippery slide surface I make. One thing about it, if I use tomatoes in them, the acid brings them back to to point of season again, which I don't mind.

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