this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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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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[–] miridius@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In a good non stick pan you can fry an egg without any oil at all, so no, adding a bunch of oil is not a replacement for that

[–] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Some people, like me, can't possibly keep non-stick pans safe. I live on a sailboat, and the effort to keep non-stick pans (even ceramic) safe from damage is disproportionate to the advantages.

There are other cases, such as people who own birds. Overheating Teflon pans can result in PTFE toxicity in birds.

[–] WhosMansIsThis@lemmy.sdf.org 24 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Don't know who needs to hear this but you don't need to season stainless steel. You just need to pre-heat it correctly for it to gain non-stick properties.

You have to pre-heat to around 400 degrees Fahrenheit before you put anything in the pan - including oil. You know its good when you drop some water in and it immediately beads up and glides across the entire surface. If it boils and evaporates, the pan is still too cold. If it beads up and starts to glide but freaks out in a certain spot, you have a cold spot in your pan. You're trying to achieve the leidenfrost effect

Keep in mind that in a lot of dishes you actually want some of the food to stick to the pan and become [frond].(https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-fond-995681) Then you deglaze it later with some kind of wine or stock.

Stainless steel is perfect for this kind of cooking. I've been using it exclusively for years. Its versatility and low maintenance is why all the best kitchens in the world use it.

[–] Fenrir 3 points 5 days ago

Fond. Fronds are parts of a tree.

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[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Even easier, heat the stainless steel pan until water balls up and skitters/rolls across it instead of evaporating.

Add oil and you can fry an egg on that pan

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 12 points 6 days ago

Can someone link to the actual fucking article describing how to do the spot seasoning method?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago (11 children)

Sis anyone else watch the video? I was waiting for his”spot seasoning method” until I saw just how much oil he used to cook and egg without sticking to his wok. Dude lost all credibility right there, and I quit watching

[–] glitching@lemmy.ml 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

"the egg glides freely..."

the egg does not, in fact, glide freely. it's also fucking burned to a crisp and there's like an ocean of oil in there. terrible, terrible video.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

This is how you cook with stainless. Get a high smoke point oil, get the pan and oil plenty hot, the put the food in. It immediately sears the contact surface and this is what prevents sticking. This is also why you slowly place food in the pan (other than to avoid spatter), it gives a little extra time for this to happen. Otherwise you gotta wait for the surface to brown and hopefully unstick, which might work for things like chicken or the skin side of fish, but anything liquid like eggs or super soft like the fish meat will have a good chance of sticking.

IOW, just do what chefs usually tell you to do with stainless and get it hot with the correct oil. Best odds of not sticking. Modern non-stick pans are pretty good if you obey the rules about using them.

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[–] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Recipe:

1 egg

3/4 cup of your favorite oil

1 medium banana

1 pinch lemon zest

Put oil in pan over medium high heat until oil just smokes, allow to smoke for 15 seconds, then reduce temperature to "egg making temperature". Add egg. Burn the shit out of that innocent bastard and push it around while repeating "egg slide freely!". Remove your egg with a crispy, brown bottom and wet, runny whites from the skillet. Reserve oil.

Into one large coffee mug, pour your oil, add lemon zest.

Last, throw all this in the trash with your Teflon skillet, and eat the banana.

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[–] nek0d3r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 6 days ago (5 children)

I keep seeing people urging to go back to cast iron or stainless steel, but when I left the nest 5 years ago, I picked up ceramic pans, and you can use them the same way as teflons and I have yet to lose the nonstick.

[–] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Some people, like me, can't possibly keep non-stick pans safe. I live on a sailboat, and the effort to keep non-stick pans (even ceramic) safe from damage is disproportionate to the advantages. Also, I am away from resupply for long periods of time. If my pan gets damaged, I can't just hop down to the store to replace it.

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[–] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 13 points 6 days ago

I need my pans that need to be treated like a princess and then fail anyway in a few years and need to be thrown and replaced. I need to keep doing it cause those poor people at teflon plants cant have a job creating one of the most polluting chemicals out there

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Don't properly nonstick pans mostly not use teflon anymore anyway?

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They still use a chemical that’s part of the PFAS family, teflon is just one of those chemicals under the PFAS umbrella. Unless you mean ceramic cookware.

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[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Also for skillets you can just buy ceramic. As long as you don't let them sit with food on them they stay pretty non-stick for years.

[–] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Some people, like me, can't possibly keep non-stick pans safe. I live on a sailboat, and the effort to keep non-stick pans (even ceramic) safe from damage is disproportionate to the advantages.

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Huh, I haven't treated my ceramic skillets special at all, just rinse 'em out when I'm done and throw 'em in the dishwasher, or if I have to hand-wash I can just scrub them real quick since they're not nasty with food gunk all over them. To the best of my knowledge they don't require special treatment, I only suggest not letting them sit with food on them because that'll make anything harder to clean up.

[–] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The first hazard to my pans is clunking around while at sea. This is mitigable by putting a cloth in the pan to protect it from other pans. My partner made a bag to hold our ceramic pan. But then the bag got nasty moldy, as porous things always do when sitting in a compartment on a boat. Then our silicone spatula wore out, like they invariably do; I've had the same stainless cooking utensils for going on 30 years. The ceramic pan was given away at our next port.

And ceramic pans still wear out with use, regardless of the level of care. They just last a bit longer than traditional non-silicon nonstick pans.

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

Oh yeah I didn't think about the fact that it's porous, shit. Yeah I've had my ceramic skillet set for like 15 years and never done anything special with them, but also no salt water and stuff growing on every available surface. Fair point.

“a stainless… steel… WOK.”

I’m going to need a supercut of this guy saying “WOK”.

[–] oyzmo@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Bought a carbon steel pan - never looked back, it is excellent and lasts forever!

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[–] lietuva@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

my seasoning flaked off and it became metallic appearance. I was struggling with obtaining stable seasoning, but found a reddit post that suggesting Blueing process. You heat-up your clean wok a lot with no-oil the iron reacts with oxygen to form magnetite Fe3O4 which holds seasoning much better. After you blue your wok, you season it by heating up some oil, but generally it seasons itself diring usage. If something starts sticking, more oil and more heat usually does the job.

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