I find that food does stick more to a stainless steel than to a non-stick coated pan or a seasoned cast-iron pan.

Sometimes, this is actually desired. The stuck-on, browned bits are ''fond''. Hard to get fond with a non-stick pan.

To minimize sticking, try:
- Some lubrication (oil, butter, fat). This can be in the pan, or on the meat. If you're used to cooking with non-stick, you might not be using enough lube.
- Less heat (only if you are getting oil scorching onto the steel when using really high heat)
- Let meat sit undisturbed far awhile before moving it around. When meat is placed in a hot steel pan, it sticks right away, then as it browns, it releases.
- Deglaze with water, stock, or wine then scrape w/ a wooden utensil. This is the usual process for dissolving the fond into a pan sauce.
- When done, get the pan into water right away, let it soak before trying to scrub.

If the pan surface is rough, due to scraping w/ metal utensils, scouring w/ abrasive pads, or simply manufactured that way, it may tend to stick more. I polish my pans with a drill + buffing pad and metal polish, a couple times a year. I like the slick, almost mirror-like finish. That's just being obsessive.

I tend to use cast iron when I'm searing with high heat, and use steel for general cooking. I recently got some Le Creuset enameled iron pans, and have been liking those too. I hsve one non-stick pan for a specialized use (crepes).

That's funny, LOL, because I have hard anodized Calphalon and love it, I stepped "up" from very vintage Revere Ware, stainless with copper bottoms.

I'm not a huge fan of stainless either, but I don't use nonstick at all because as Steve points out, the nonstick finish degrades too quickly.

My favorite, truthfully, is plain old cast iron.

Annie

What are you using stainless to cook?
I like a heavy weight aluminum non stick pan for eggs and general sauteeing...I use stainless, clad for a stock pot and sauce pans....and for hamburgers, steaks pork chops etc...I use old black cast iron....and for long slow cooking I have the Le Cruset pots.
Linda c

Oh yeah, johnliu is absolutely right about fond. It adds flavor to everything, and creates another depth of flavor in most dishes as long as you deglaze the pan to take advantage of it. I used to cook in SS all the time, but didn't actually like it as well because the heat wasn't as even. Now I cook with a SS lined copper skillet just for the fond, for the best of both worlds. Most of my copper is tin-lined, as it tends to be a little more non-stick, but then tin requires a lower heat. Stainless Steel has its rightful place on top of the stove. I wouldn't ever consider leaving all that ''stuck-on'' flavor behind, and usually deglaze with a couple Tablespoons of chicken broth, water, milk or cream. Most dishes can benefit from a dribble of extra sauce!

I wouldn't use SOS pads on my stainless pans. I know they're not meant to scratch, but they do.

If I get a bit of discoloration I use one of those sponges with the scrubby pad on it and a bit of Bon Ami cleanser. It works fine (especially if the pan is soaked a bit, as Johnliu said), the Bon Ami (Old Dutch is another good one) doesn't scratch and also isn't loaded with a sickly scent.

I like different pans for different things. Cast iron for anything I want a bit of brown crust on, like meats or fishes and some pan-cooked breads. LOVE my cast iron skillet for baking biscuits in. Stainless is great for simmering and saute. I use the non-stick less and less, but it is helpful for cooking delicate things like eggs or crepes without having to drench them in butter or oil.

You are cleaning it wrong. I have never had to soak a pan ever.
This is how to clean it:
After cooking, leave it on the stove until ready to clean. If the pan is still hot, add some hot tap water, if it's cooled down, cold is fine. You don't want to warp the pan.

Bring to a boil and scrape up everything with a rubber spatula or whisk. I use metal utensils on my pans and they do cause surface scratching. My choice.

Carry over to the sink and pour out the water and under the faucet clean with hot water ( have the water hot in the tap), dish soap and a scrubby sponge. The pan will clean perfectly each time with a plastic scrubby sponge. I use the sponges that have plastic scrubby on one side and sponge on the other.

This only takes a minute or two, not laborious at all, just different than the usual method of cleaning pans.

I use stainless for boiling pasta and steaming veggies. Aluminum for sauteing (sp?), and non-stick for eggs etc. Different foods, different utensils.

I've been cooking with stainless steel cookware since I was a kid. My parents bought a set of Saladmaster Cookware in 1967, and my brother is using their set today. Hubby and I bought our set in 1975 after we "ate" two sets of non-stick cookware we got as wedding presents. So if I can lay claim to one thing about quality stainless steel cookware, you only need to purchase it ONCE.

I clean the interior after each use with Bar Keepers Friend or Cameo (stainless steel cleaners), but not the polished sides.

If there is stuck-on gunk, I will add water to the pan and let it sit and use a spatula to loosen anything. If necessary, I'll use a stainless steel scrubbing pad on the interior surface. Occasionally a shot of Dawn Direct Foam will make quick work of anything that is stuck.

-Grainlady

Since I have always used SS pans I usually don't have a problem. But I have at times spent to much time on the computer and blackened pans. Some H2O & cascade with vent on bring to boil and then let it simmer usually cleans it. Barkeepers friend does wonders on anything left.
Lowspark get the empty pan hot first, then add the oil and let it get hot, then add the meat. Also in a good quality pan you probably will not need to use as high heat as you might have used on thinner pans.

Thanks for your replies.

Does the food taste any better out of a $200 stainless sautee pan than it does out of a $25 nonstick pan? I don't think so.
That's what I'm wondering.

Nonstick finishes do tend to degrade fairly quickly
Ya, so after 30+ years of cooking on nonstick pans, I know that. And I'm perfectly OK with that. They last as long as they last and then I just replace them.

So is the fact that they last forever the main advantage?

If you're used to cooking with non-stick, you might not be using enough lube.
In fact, I ended up adding too much lube! After cooking last night, there was extra oil in the pan, clearly due to me overlubing in hopes things wouldn't stick. Ick.

I guess I should try the deglazing with wine or stock next time. Maybe that will help. Last night I sauteed onions in there. Maybe I had the heat too high? I drizzled olive oil, threw in the onions and some soy sauce, and before I knew it, the pan was black. I'm figuring the soy sauce aggravated it but I know it woulda turned black anyway. I did scrape up as much as I could with a wooden spoon, but honestly it was just too much work.

So I went ahead and added some more oil (which I would not have done in a non stick) and threw in my marinated chicken strips. Yup, before I could get those suckers fully cooked, the pan was black again.

I've tried everything to clean that pan when it gets like this. Soaking, scrubbing with barkeepers friend, etc. SOS pads take the least effort, albeit still a lot of effort!

So, deglazing is one thing I need to try. Boiling water while scraping as bumblebeez suggests is another. I guess essentially those are both the same thing, huh?

I use stainless for boiling pasta and steaming veggies.
I think I'm just using it for the wrong stuff. I do have a large stainless stock pot which I used specifically for large batches of chicken soup and I've never had a problem cleaning IT.

Again, I'm baffled as to the advantage as far as how it cooks.

OH! And (thanks to this forum) I have acquired a couple of cast iron pans, one which I love for grilling hamburgers. And I use a le creuset dutch oven for slow cooking. So, I AM trying to branch out from my cretin ways!!

get the empty pan hot first, then add the oil and let it get hot, then add the meat. Also in a good quality pan you probably will not need to use as high heat as you might have used on thinner pans.

Two things I did not know. I will try that next time. I only cook with that pan when enough time has passed that I've forgotten the trouble I went to cleaning it! LOL However, now with all your hints, I'm going to try to use it sooner rather than later!

Sounds to me like you're running too hot if it's constantly turning black.

Advantage? Browns much better. After years and years on quality nonstick I bought an all clad skillet and my equivalent nonstick barely sees use. Cleanup- rare that a soak during dinner doesn't loosen things up enough to come off with a blue pad. BKF to polish when needed.

Sometimes I get the pan all black too, searing peppers and onions til dark for instance. Or eggs are bad. But I don't always deglaze for a sauce and boiling water will clean it up like new.
I have never tried bar keepers friend but I really need to try some for some other stuff.

lowspark: ''Maybe I had the heat too high? I drizzled olive oil, threw in the onions and some soy sauce, and before I knew it, the pan was black. I'm figuring the soy sauce aggravated it but I know it woulda turned black anyway. I did scrape up as much as I could with a wooden spoon, but honestly it was just too much work. So I went ahead and added some more oil (which I would not have done in a non stick) and threw in my marinated chicken strips. Yup, before I could get those suckers fully cooked, the pan was black again.''

If the soy sauce burned/scorched, that would make the pan black. Same with the marinade, depending on what it was. So could have been too much heat. What kind of pan is it, by the way?

At the end of the day, use the pan that works for your style of cooking (and cleaning). If fond or browning is less important than no oil and no cleanup, then stainless steel may simply be the wrong choice. With steel, even if you do everything just so, there will still be some oil and/or some cleanup.

Yes, it's easy to burn stuff in an SS pan, and too much heat is usually the culprit. Try turning the heat no more than medium, and when you're done cooking, a little water in the hot pan will deglaze the stuff on the bottom. (If you have a dog and don't want to use it for a sauce, your dog will love it as long as it's not black!) If I need really high heat because I'm doing an Asian dish, I typically use cast iron.

Good tip about the hot pan, then adding oil until it shimmers (just a few seconds if the pan is hot), and adding the food. I agree that Barkeepers Friend is the best cleaner for SS.

May, overcooked sugars turn a pan black fast - onions have a lot of sugar, soy sauce has it, etc. Turn down the heat. If your stainless isn't copper-lined, then it will have hot spots. SS is not a good heat conductor, that's why copper coating is popular. But SS is non-reactive, unlike aluminum or copper, and very durable.

I have not read the whole thread:

1. Non-stick can last a long long time. Two things will kill it quickly; over heating and abuses.

2. There is nothing wrong to cook in a blackened st. steel cookware.

3. You can use 'Easy-Off" or drain cleaner to clean st. steel.

dcarch

I've had the same set of heavy bottom stainless steel for at least 25 years. You have the heat way too high.

I use non-stick almost exclusively for sauteeing, but the stainless steel makes a MUCH prettier sauteed chicken breast, etc.

I think I blackened the stainless steel skillet a few times in the beginning but they clean easily and they all still look brand new.

They have large, cheap non-stick lidded skillets at Walmart and Costco. Love those. Throw out when scratched. They are that cheap. $20 maybe.

I've never blackened anything in many years and never had to use anything more than a scrubby sponge to clean them. But I also haven't used a DW in all that time so I'm used to scrubbing lol!

My heavy stainless steel Revereware was a wedding gift 50 years ago and I've always loved it. At that time Reverware was top of the line and mine is heavier than the ones with copper bottoms. Plus it was easier to keep clean...not as pretty maybe, but no scouring the copper bottoms either. Mine did not include a skillet/fry pan but I have cast iron for that. I do have some non stick now but not saucepans.

I let dried beans cook ALL day, to the charcoal stage, in my 4 qt. saucepan when I was at work early on in marriage and later let beans burn in it again. The bottom is a little "bowed" but I still use it. Oh the aroma of burned pinto beans wafted through the house, into my closets, everywhere....I almost gagged when I opened the door. Dang, I had forgotten about that.

Another thing - when you first turn on the burner, turn it to the heat you want to cook on. In other words, don't turn it to "10" if you want to cook at "5". I have Calphalon SS now, used to have Calphalon hard-anodized and like them both.

That said, I overfilled my pressure cooker with lentil soup last night and burned the buh-gee-zus out of the bottom of the pan, before I realized that it was probably not going to come up to pressure and turned it down. The cooker cleaned up beautifully with Bon Ami!

lowspark in addition to good SS pans lasting many people think it is healthier to cook in SS. I happen to but I still keep one non stick for eggs and I do use cast iron too.

If your stainless steel is thin and not the kind with a thick base, even medium heat will tend to cook too hot and scorch.

Sounds to me like you're running too hot if it's constantly turning black.

Advantage? Browns much better. After years and years on quality nonstick I bought an all clad skillet and my equivalent nonstick barely sees use. Cleanup- rare that a soak during dinner doesn't loosen things up enough to come off with a blue pad. BKF to polish when needed.

I don't own a non stick pan. Never really occurred to me to get one. I use stainless steel pans and cast iron. The exterior sides of my stainless are pretty "seasoned", but I only cook on the inside, which is clean, and the pans are stored in a cabinet.
Jo

OK, the pan I have is "Simply Calphalon" and it has a fairly thick base. I didn't measure it, but somewhere between 1/8 & 1/4 inch thick.

I've come to the following conclusions:
1. Lower the heat
2. Use it for browning but not when adding anything sugary to the meat.
3. Get the empty pan hot first, then add the oil and let it get hot, then add the meat.
4. Add wine to deglaze.

I'm gonna try it!

Right on with #3. I think it was Martin Yan on "Yan Can Cook" who always said "Hot Oil, Food No Stick".

And start with room-temperature meat, not straight from the fridge.

My main fry pan is a Simply Calphalon pan. I love that pan!
I bought mine at TJMaxx. I've been looking for more there in the line.

Lowspark, nonstick pans can spoil your culinary skills so far as knowing how and what kind of pans tend to stick. A thinner SS pan overheats faster and tends to stick more. Also, if you are using veg. oils in SS they stick much faster and easier. I learned this the hard way when I first started cooking. I started with copper bottom Revereware, they didn't make nonstick in those days unless you knew how to cure your cast iron which I thought was ugly and in those days you were considered a slob if your cookware looked like you even used it. I noticed that when I fried eggs in the bacon grease or butter they didn't stick at all. I always browned my meat in the cast iron because it didn't stick and everyone expected those pans to be "ugly" and used. I avoided using them for my tomatoey recipes, my usual, which didn't hurt the SS at all and they always cleaned up super easy. I found that Barkeepers cleaner left them shiny without much effort. I use plastic scrubbies, dish cloths and scrapers for hard burns, hate steel wool. SS shines up really nice. It was the copper bottom that caused me to replace them about 20 years later. Can't believe I kept them that long. I find that SS pans that have an inner layer of aluminum heat up faster and more evenly and only burn when you try to fry soy sauce, LOL. Hope you solve your problem.

I have one cheapo non stick sauce pot , got at the grocery store that is sitting outside I use for scooping out pet food.
My FAV skillet for over easy eggs is the no 3 Griswold! Other than that I have SS enamelware or enamel cast iron.
Some of the SS is my mothers Faberware, as well as the retro flower powered green enamelware.
For pots I have to say I love the enamelware or cast enamel the best.

I bought an expense set of stainless steel cookware before I was married. 38 years later and I'm still cooking with it. I use medium heat, and always heat up my pan before I add any fat. It has always been easy to clean with just soaking a little in hot soapy water. I agree that high heat is the cause of the extra labor with your clean up.

I switched to SS about 2 years ago, although I did keep a couple of my old non stick skillets/saute pans for sticky things like eggs. I also have a small enameled cast iron dutch oven and a cast iron frying pan.

I love cooking in SS. Didn't know it was called "fond" but you don't get that in non-stick.

The thing that worried me about the non-stick was that some of the non-stick coating was scratched or worn off. Where did that go? Did we consume it in the food that was cooked in those pans?

Clean up of my SS is a breeze. Even if something is stuck on really good, a short soak followed up by a quick scrub wit Bon Ami or Barkeepers Friend and the pan looks like new!

Linda

I have some hard anodized Calphalon that I like, I use the big wide chili pot for jam and it works like a charm. I dont have traditional nonstick, I'm not careful enough. I have a 36 year old cast iron skillet that I use for eggs and it's as slick as Teflon. I have some stainless steel saucepans that I use, but I invariably reach for those old seasoned cast iron skillets for anything that I want to saute or brown.

Like Jude and terrapots, I started with RevereWare back when it was top of the line cookware, my Mother bought me one piece per year for my birthday/Christmas gift. It was the copper bottomed stuff. My girls never liked it, they turned the heat on high and burned everything, even grilled cheese sandwiches.

I learned quickly to keep the heat turned down and I never had any trouble scrubbing them up with a Brillo pad.

Annie

Bear in mind that stainless is a horrible conductor. Decent cookware that is made of stainless has to have something else in the bottom (usually aluminum or copper). The amount of copper on Revere ware is negligible and probably doesn't affect the cooking performance much.

Stainless steel's one virtue is that it doesn't rust. (Oh, and you can put it in the dishwasher.) On all other accounts it's pretty sad. Now sometime you don't need high performance--if all you're doing is boiling water for pasta, it's sort of overkill to use a $200 All Clad pot to do it in. (Although, if you have one, go ahead and use it.)

For more info than any sane person needs to know about cookware materials, check out the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: understanding stovetop cookware