Cooking For Engineers

[Christine]

Hi. I hope you guys can help. When I had an anodized aluminum pan, I could see when the anodized coating was wearing off and I knew I was cooking on aluminum with no protection. Now I have a pan that's layered stainless steel/ aluminum and I've realized that if the stainless steel layer wears down, I won't be able to see it! How can I tell it the surface is worn down to the aluminum anywhere?

[Michael Chu]

The stainless steel on your pan isn't a thin layer only a few molecules thick - it's actually a sheet of steel bonded to the aluminum (assuming you're using a clad pan). For example, on an All-Clad Stainless pot, the interior stainless steel is supposed to be 0.38mm thick - it's doubtful you'll ever be able to rub through that. Even if the steel pits (due to rust, salting, prolonged exposure to acids), it is unlikely to penetrate the entire layer.