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Copper Pan Seasoniing??

 
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:10 pm    Post subject: Copper Pan Seasoniing?? Reply with quote

Hi, new here, hope this is not a crazy question.

What is the best metal to build up a nonstick oil surface on?

I have had nothing but trouble on my old carbon steel crepe pan. I am thinking that I may just grind the surface smooth to see if that makes a difference.

I cannot find a pure copper fry pan, they are all coated with stainless steel or tin or even ceramic. So I am wondering if hammered copper is so “sticky” that it could hold an oil seasoning very well. Better than cast iron?

And why are woks traditionally burned until they turn a metal blue before the first use, yet other steel pans are not heat treated like this?
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jawnn



Joined: 08 Jan 2018
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just watched a video about cooking green onions to use the acid to react with stainless steel to help it be nonstick. Is that a real thing?
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
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Location: central PA

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

there are more blogger invented ways to do things than things to do.
few work at anything.

classically cast iron "seasons" best. carbon steel will also season but not to the same thickness of coating.

you don't need to "season" stainless steel pans. the "trick" to making them stick as little as possible is getting them properly pre-heated to a very hot temperature.

putting stuff - proteins are the worst offenders - in a not-hot-enough stainless pan allows the water and protein to cook together into glue.

with a thin layer of oil on the pan, swirled around, heat the pan to the point when the meat/fish/etc goes in the pan it sizzles. the sizzle is water turning to steam. the skin/crust/whatever then quickly cooks to crisps and the food "releases" from the pan. put it in, leave it alone until when you shake the pan it "breaks free" and slides around just from the jostling the pan.

delicate stuff like fish and scallops - pat the skin/surface dry immediately before putting them in the pan. I like to drizzle/smear around a bit of oil on the fish skin after patting it dry.

how hot is hot? I heat it up until the olive oil is actually just starting to smoke. this drives a lot of people up the wall - but it works. steaks and scallops, I use safflower oil - it gets hotter before it smokes....

and I frequently use cast iron in the same fashion.

uncoated pure copper pans are used primarily in confectionery / sugar arts. copper is quite reactive metal for "normal" use - that's why it is tinned / silvered / nickel coated or stainless clad on the interior.

you'll find lots of discussion on the pebbly / sandpaper rough surface of cast iron. in my experience the old smooth finished cast iron is significantly better.
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jawnn



Joined: 08 Jan 2018
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so the video I watched, with the onions, was just a way of getting the pan hot enough......

If acid has nothing to do with eggs not sticking.

I suspect that burning a Wok before use has no effect on the steel other than cleaning it. Like maybe removing oil used in lathing the steel. So this could work on the DeBuyer wax covered pans?
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
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Location: central PA

PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

if onions were in a pan I heated for a 'hot sear' they'd be burnt.
for eggs a hot, but lower temp would do - perhaps that was the point - using a browned/burnt/? onion as a temperature indicator?
difficult to say without knowing anything about the 'video'

any wax coating on any pan you want to cook in should be removed. and high temp is one way to do that.

"seasoning" a steel or cast iron pan is creating a thin layer of burnt on carbon - the carbon is the non-stick bit. you will find thousands a bloggers with millions of 'magic methods' to accomplish this. the most straight forward to simply to cook fatty meats in the pan until it gets non-stick. it does not take long time - perhaps 6-10 times. fatty meats is problematic for the vegetarian/vegan crowd..... flax seed is often the recommended oil/fat.
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jawnn



Joined: 08 Jan 2018
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ok this is the video, you may have to cut and paste to the browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBqCpPuerjI
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

meh. if you search around a bit, you'll find similar claims for potatoes, yellow onion stuck-on-a-fork and a couple other :vegetable rubs:

she sautes the cut green stems in 30 ml of vegetable oil. now - onions have an oil in them. you can buy the extract from various mystical health sites. so the theory goes the saute drives out the essential onion oil which mixes with the vegetable oil and is then poured off and wiped out but leaves a non-stick coating..... hint: you can do this without green onions. just heat up the pan and swirl some oil around then dump it and wipe it out.

followed by a lot more olive oil into a hot pan then the beaten eggs. I would not call the result an omelet. more like 'heap-o-scrambled-eggs' but that's beside the point.

couple of thoughts - the pan she mentions is aluminum with a stainless steel interior. now-a-days that's an unusual combination. Aluminum is next best after copper for fast&even heat distribution - so no hot spots.

'onions have an acid or an oxide that actually reacts to the metal . . .' interesting bit of mystery theory non-science....

'the steel mixes the with acid, the stuff that makes you cry, .....' if you look up what it is about onions that creates tears, this one goes right down the drain....

as for 'old Chinese trick' - the history of stainless steel pretty much rules out ancient tricks.... I suspect somebody told her " do the onions first and stuff doesn't stick after that " and it's been spun into urban legend.

the saute, etc, ensures the pan is thoroughly pre-heated and heat saturated. people who cannot take time for the pan to pre-heat generally spend more time scrubbing afterwards than the time need to do the pre-heat right. but that's just them.

the amount of oil used to cook the eggs is sufficient to keep anything from sticking - you can prove that at home.

bottom line - nice story, no real science to it - as the dear cook mentions - it's all about heat control.
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jawnn



Joined: 08 Jan 2018
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ya, I think she is trying to sell something...like her youtube channel...
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