Cooking For Engineers

[Andrew]

About a month ago, I bought a Cuisinart 12" Chef's Classic Skillet. Everything is fine and dandy...it heats up well and evenly. Problem is, it's such a pain to clean! Most everything I've cooked has involved some deglazing (with vinegar, etc). Often times I have to use 4-5x the suggested amount of oil so as to counter the meats from "glueing" onto the cooking surface. After washing with a dobie pad and some soap I can usually remove the bits that stick. However, the cooking surface still loses it's luster or has hints of brown stain to it. I've tried Bon Ami (once for at least 5 minutes) with little success....but I still find it frustrating because it is a great pan otherwise. Thanks for any responses.

[Pickles]

try seasoning the pan.

also, put the oil into the pan After it has come to temp, use a slightly lower temp and let the meat unstick its self.

[Michael Chu]

I'm not sure if I'd recommend seasoning a stainless steel pan. Stainless steel surfaces work best when spic and span clean. As pickles says, try using lower heat and enough oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. This may be a bit more than the recipe calls for because your skillet is quite large, but it shouldn't be 4x as much. Probably 2 Tbs. is enough to coat. Allow the meat to sit until it releases itself (times vary for different cuts of meat, but that means about 5-6 minutes for a steak), adjust the heat to accomodate. The meat should release cleanly with a little brown stuff on the pan that just rubs right off.

For cleaning, if you don't wash your pans immediately (which is easiest), then pour in about 1/2-in. water and boil for a minute or two before you wash it. That will loosen everything up again. Barkeeper's Friend is an excellent abrasive to use to bring the pan back to near original finish.

[Pickles]

OH, I had no idea it was stainless steel... Ignore my comment about seasoning!