As far as I know, you don't condition a stainless steel pan. Are you possibly cooking at too high a temperature?

TRY THIS (I found this online in many discussion groups)............ Before putting anything into the pan - including oil, butter or sprays - you must season the frying pan first meaning, you must get the pan hot - not just warm, but hot. You will know it is hot enough when you sprinkle a couple drops of water in the pan and the water sizzles and forms little balls that dance on the surface. Before cooking, remove from heat until pan cools slightly (if you add oil or butter at this point it will burn) Once pan has reached the desired temperature, add oil and cook whatever.
Always keep the bottom of your pans clean - get rid of any brown build-up - a stainless steel scouring pad works best.

You don't condition a stainless pan. Part of the reason that you cook with non-stick pans is so that food WILL stick a bit, so it can brown.

You can't just leave stuff in the pan the way you can with non-stick. You have to attend to it. You also want to be sure that your oil is hot before you put in the food. Graywings mentioned cooking at too high a temp, and that could add to the issue. And,be sure that you leave the food to cook for a bit before you start turning it, and it will release some on its own. If you start moving it around too much the oil gets absorbed into the food before it can create a cushion between the food and the pan.

Oh, and stay away from Pam in your pans. It leaves a residue that can cause sticking over time.

I too just got an entire set of Wedgwood stainless steel pots and pans. The frying pans have a non-stick coating, but the covered saucepans,wok and stockpots don't. You can't season them. My old set cost a fortune and they were anodized aluminum, the anodizaton was coming off. (remember the "old" Calphalon?) I'm MUCH happier with the new set. :0) Hope you are too?

graywings/les, I think maybe I am cooking at too high a temp. Will give it another go tomorrrow morning with scrambled eggs. Thanks for the advice.

forboystoo, thank you, will keep those bottoms shiny!

nicole, that is the brand I bought, love the look of them just hope I can cook in them :>(

roseabbey.....I'm using comet or bonami to clean the pan bottoms, using a gas stove leaves a blue residue or discolors them. BUT.....they cook evenly, there's a ribbed griddle pan(Did you get that one?) that grills sandwiches like a dream. I use the wok like a chefs pan,for sauces,graveys, meatballs, since it has a glass lid(you can monitor it's progress without opening it). Rice doesn't boil over since the lids have little holes. I purchased a 13" splatter shield so I can fry chicken without a lid(keeps it crisper). I even hang mine on a pot rack, because I think They're sooooooooooo damn good lookin! (I gave a bunch as gifts to friends too) LOVE these pans!!!! Did I mention they gave them away free @ our local grocery store when you purchased groceries, like the old green stamps...?

So just wondering does anyone preheat their pan before adding the oil? (and yes never use the spray ..gunks everything up)
I also keep one pan separate for eggs ONLY. Nothing touches that small pan but eggs..

I just switched from anodized to all clad and I'm IN LOVE. I cook at a lower temp (gas stove) and yes, I preheat prior to adding oil. I use only olive oil, so I don't cook at too high a temp anyway.

I've noticed a bit of sticking, like last night when I prepared some veggies, but adding a touch of liquid to the pan helps. And I don't use any abrasive stuff for cleaning, I've heard that bartenders friend (??) is ok, but I've found that for tough sticking foods I add a bit of water, put in on low heat, and then I use bamboo spatulas to loosen what sticks. Clean as a babies behind.

I've not had my set long enough to have discoloring from heat, I'll have to watch for that.

nicole, sorry I made a mistake, I have wexford not wedgwood.

peskyl, I also cook with olive oil only, how much do you preheat the pan before cooking?

Definitely make sure the pan is hot before adding oil.

Not familiar with Wedgwood. Do the pans have a core of aluminum or copper? If not, that could be part of the problem. Stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat which means it doesn't distribute heat evenly. That's why aluminum or copper is sandwiched between the steel layers.

My preference is anodized aluminum or the old Magnalite made in Ohio. Only have one small stainless fry pan and a couple of the Teflon-coated.

natal.....I actually have the old magnalite, thought no one would of heard of it. The new Wedgwood has a layer of aluminum on the bottom....but I own a commercial grade Wolf range, the btu's are enough to handle anything....the pans are wonderful!!! Yes, I've also heard that non-stick pans are bad for you. I googled it and it could still be a problem....? Only the frying pans in my set have the non-stick surface and no oil, preheating or ....? is needed, They really slid an egg around and clean up with a sponge.....except for the bottoms.....the discoloraton is caused by direct contact with the gas flame. No complaints here. :0)

I have a Wolf too. Not sure what that has to do with anything. Cooking was the same on the old O'Keefe & Merritt. You don't mega BTUs to preheat a pan.

I can't find Wedgwood or Wexford pans online. Where did y'all buy them?

You don't need mega BTUs to preheat a pan.

I was having the same problem - especially with eggs. A friend told me to make sure the pan was really hot before adding any ingredients. I thought that was too easy a solution to be true - but it is true. I haven't had baked on eggs since I started doing this.

natal.....The chowhound.com forum was discussing stainless steel woks. The btu's was an issue in that discussion. I personally think btu's on an outdoor grill....a gas cooking stove...it ALL matters to me. :0) They keep inventing new and better things......I'm open to that.

Pots & pans.....decorating....it's just new toys as far as I'm concerned. I like trying new things.....so little time....so many toys!

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion on stainless wok....

Cooking at too high a temperature is a very typical mistake. There's a reason why your stove has all those other settings on the dial - use them! :-)

My culinary school spent nearly three weeks on egg cookery alone. I do scrambled eggs on the LOWEST heat my stove will produce and start with a relatively cool pan and a generous bit of butter, lifting the cooked-egg "mass" at the edges with a silicone spatula to let the uncooked egg to run underneath. They never break (get watery) or stick and they have a lovely custardy texture instead of getting tough and rubbery. Ditto for omelets. Low-low-low heat, and if it's cooked in the pan it's overcooked on the plate. Yes, it takes longer than dumping the egg into a screamingly hot pan (which is a recipe for tough, watery eggs) but well worth it.

We have virtually all All-Clad (they pop up for half price at Marshalls/TJMaxx from time to time and I snatch them up) and then last year DH won a full set of Emerilware (made by All-Clad) at work. I was surprised at how much I like the Emerilware, I was prepared to hate it. The "feel" is very much like the All-Clad (weight, balance, etc.). I just made a batch of macaroni and cheese - the proper kind, with the sticky-as-heck Bechamel base and about nine tons of cheese LOL - and normally getting the ring of cheesy gunk out of the pot is a nightmare of scraping and scrubbing but the sauce just slipped right out of the Emerilware pot. I had to get rid of all my cast iron *sob* when I couldn't lift it anymore, even empty.

When I was a pre-teen, my folks were very friendly with a Taiwanese family who owned a local Chinese restaurant. The father took me under his wing and taught me how to do vegetable carving and brought me into the kitchen when business was slow to learn how to do stir-frying in their bazillion-BTU wok setup. I always remembered his admonition, complete with waving finger, "hot pan, cold oil, food no stick!" (I still have the jade Kwan Yin pendant one of his employees carved for me when I was about 14. He wanted to take me back to Taiwan and marry me!) However, nonstick pans are the exception and should NEVER be heated empty or allowed to cook dry.

As for the discoloration of pan bottoms, that is PURELY cosmetic. You should see the bottoms of restaurant pans - black as the Earl of Hell's undershorts. (Dented all to heck too, usually from being chucked into the pot sink from a dozen feet away.)

Since we are talking about skillets, my daughter wants an iron skillet. Do you gals use/like iron skillets? Are they supposed to be seasoned? Does it matter where you buy them? She has a birthday coming up & thought I could include one.

Nicole, I've witnessed many wok discussions. Some people claim you're not truly stir-frying unless you have mega BTUs. Never heard of stainless woks. Only carbon steel. Mine is carbon, but I'm just as likely to pull out the Calphalon H/A Everyday pan to stir-fry.

Ruth, cast iron has to be seasoned (if it's not coated in enamel)! That's what makes it naturally non-stick. I use cast iron when I make gumbo. And dh uses it outdoors when he blackens fish. People swear by them for cooking cornbread and eggs!

johnmari/pesky1.....All clad! WOW! Now that's a nice pan! If I was going to spend money on a new set of pans, not get them free, I'd go with Allclad!!!! I've never met anyone that didn't LOVE them!!!!

ruthy1....my first set was iron, my mom had an iron stockpot & skillet.....but.....iron reacts with acid, like tomatoes. The iron itself comes off in your cooking....it "IS" considered healthy....as in "iron" is good for you. But if you leave spaghetti sauce in an iron skillet too long......leaves a nasty metallic taste!!!!

I was @ my favorite thrift store, they had the iron skillets locked up in a glass case. Maybe because of the weight, sold for scrap metal?

Yeah, I got the Emerilware...treated myself as a reward for finishing my kitchen. I LOVE IT with a passion.

I heat my pan till the olive oil just sort of slides around on it..can't really describe it, but it gets it just perfectly hot. Pour it in the center then it glides over to the side...fun to watch, and then I turn the heat down once I've added my ingredients.

I bought most of my cast iron at yard sales, inherited several well-used pieces from around WWI (not kidding!), and believe it or not actually dug one frying pan out of the dirt in the backyard of a mid-1800s farmhouse I rented 15 years ago when rototilling for my landlord's garden. It was very rusty but once we got the rust off (wire brush attachment on an electric drill!) and reseasoned it it was good as new. I see them all the time at Goodwill and "Sal's Boutique" ;-) for just a couple of dollars because they're always all black and nasty looking, but they're easy to rescue. IMO the best place to buy NEW cast iron is an old-fashioned independent hardware store, where it costs maybe 1/4 what the fancy kitchen stores charge. Lodge is an excellent brand and the only brand still made 100% in the USA (and mostly from recycled iron!). There are many ways to go about seasoning cast iron and everyone is convinced that only their way is the right way and everyone else is wrong. :-) The ones I had that came from yard sales and other dubious sources got a run through a self-cleaning oven cycle or blasting-hot grill (if you use a charcoal grill, bury it right in the coals while you cook on the grate above) until a layer of ash formed on the surface. I washed that off and reseasoned them, and they might as well have been new.

I had to give up my cast iron a few years back, which made me very sad, but I couldn't cook anything with them unless DH was home to pick up the blasted pan for me. My favorite pieces were my Dutch oven, the great big "chicken-fryin' pan" as one of my Southern friends called it, the flat griddle (best grilled cheese sandwiches ever), and a 12" skillet with lovely smooth sloped sides that made wonderful cornbread and Yorkshire pudding. Oh, and I had two ancient muffin pans which made the most glorious popovers. Popovers are one of my favorite things, but muffin tins and modern popover pans tend to be too thin to get hot enough for a good "pop". At least I gave them to a fellow foodgeek who would take care of them.

All-Clad makes a stainless steel wok but I don't have one. My horrible glass-topped electric stove (I hate it hate it hate it hate it hate it) doesn't produce enough heat to bother with a wok so we gave ours away to a friend who actually cooks on the same iron wood-fired stove his great-grandmother cooked on. He fires it up blasting hot, takes one of the lids off and drops the wok right inside. I preferred the woks with a smallish flat bottom and the single rolled-metal handle rather than the ring and two little loop handles.

When you cook with stainless steel pans, a few tricks will help keep your food from sticking. First, take your food out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 15 or 20 minutes. Then heat the pan well on a low to medium heat before adding oil. If the rim of the pan is hot to your touch it's usually hot enough to add your oil. Once the oil is hot add your food. Let the food cook without touching it until it develops a brown crust. Once the crust developes you'll see it's much easier to turn it over as the food won't stick.

I still prefer to cook eggs in a non stick pan, but just about everything else is done in stainless steel with very little sticking.

Wow, thankyou everyone for the information and for the cooking lessons :>)

Yes, very interesting and useful info!

So glad this came up. I know teflon isn't good for you but lately I've been having happy thoughts of throwing out the stainless pots and pans after trying to cook in them. It left me saying,"There has to be a better way!!!!"

Now I know. :)

Really enjoyed this thread & all the info - thanks everyone.

Cooking with Teflon only becomes an issue if you use high heat.

I should mention....frying in olive oil is NOT a good idea. At high temps it has a lower smoke point,it can also be asorbed by foods that you want to have a crisp crust. I only use olive oil for eating....dipping....etc. Canola oil is better for frying an egg or potatos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion of cooking with olive oil....

frying in olive oil is NOT a good idea

Not good for deep frying, but great for sauteing and roasting veggies. I use olive oil and peanut oil, but don't deep fry anything.

Interesting to hear the different tips, especially the one from the culinary school. I really find that interesting because my method of making eggs in a stainless frying pan is exactly the opposite, and my eggs always come out awesome! I heat the oil in the pan till it's really hot. Then I dump in my scrambled eggs and stir it around a little bit. They don't stick at all and to me, they are really good.

One thing I can say is if you are browning meat, you don't lift it up right away but wait and it will release on it's own.

I love cooking on stainless and don't use anything else.