Hey y’all. The GF loves French toast, and I’m pretty good at making it. Only problem is my roommates stole my only nonstick pan when I moved out. I’m going to attempt making it using my stainless steel pan, any tips? Or am I looking at a disaster here?
Stainless steel pans are fine, cast iron is easier to use, but you can do what you need to do wit SS. Learning to cook without Teflon is important. PFAS is poison that cannot be broken down and persists in the environment forever.
Tips:
Heat the pan and your cooking fat up before putting food in. It should be hotter than cooking temp, but not burning your cooking fat (no smoke)
Butter tastes better but oil is easier to work with. Use oil if you are not used to cooking in this pan. Use butter on your plate for taste.
Let the pan temp recover for 30s or so before putting additional pieces into the pan.
Don’t try to move things right away. Don’t touch it until it is ready to flip. Lots of foods will “release” when they have browned a little
Don’t be afraid to add some more cooking fat between batches.
Preheat the pan before adding the oil/butter
We cook French toast in our stainless pan all the time. Just make sure the pan is blistering hot before you put anything in (as you should always do with stainless) and at worst you’ll need a little elbow grease to clean the pan afterwards. And if it all goes pear-shaped, bar keepers friend.
Please don’t use bar keepers friend on stainless steel pans, it will just deteriorate the surface and make things stick worse next time. Just put some water in the pan and set it back on heat to simmer, most of the cooked on stuff will just flake away as the water boils. Following up with a rinse with cool water and a scrub (made for gentle work on non-stick surfaces) should take care of the rest. A little discoloration will not ruin the pan. Stainless pans work better when seasoned just like cast iron.
I don’t know, I’ve been using bar keepers friend on my stainless for 13 years now (when needed) and they are fine? The pans look amazing after and they’re used every day in the home.
I don’t find any deterioration and love that I’m a scotchbrite and bar keepers friend away from new looking pans whenever I want. I’ll take a decade plus and going strong over Teflon for 6 months ten times out of ten.
Yeah like unless you’ve got the worlds most expensive pans I’m pretty sure a bit of cleaning powder isn’t going to be the end of the world.
I clean our (mid range) pans a few times a year with bar keepers friend without any issues.
Make sure the pan is hot and there is fat in the pan and don’t move the toast until a crust has formed.
Stuff sticks more in a cold pan. As the pan heats the metal expands, any tiny pits in the pan get filled in with slightly expanded metal, any remaining spots are filled in with oil/butter. If you let the food sit longer it’ll release easier. Honestly, if you are sticking try waiting 30s, normally that will help.
I did not expect such solid cooking advice from a commander of the imperial guard.
As many have already said, using the proper amount of cooking fat will solve this issue and is much more healthy that then toxic chemicals present in non-stick pans. Count yourself lucky that it was stolen, you shouldn’t use them under any circumstances.
Related to french toast however, making it in a waffle iron is a damn good time.
Aren’t most waffle irons Teflon coated?
I hate cleaning them so I stopped using them, but every one I’ve ever used had non stick heat plates.
yeah, but you’re not constantly bashing them with a spatula or other cooking tool during use so there is much less chance of damaging the coating, which is the main issue with nonstick pans (that and being overheated).
lots of butter my dude
Get a cast iron pan.
Or carbon steel if you have the money and struggle with the weight of cast iron. I still have one non stick pan, but find carbon steel works very well for pancakes french toast and crepes.
