Cooking eggs in Stainless Steel

[herr_oberst]

I bought a nice set of Cuisinart SS pots n pans a while back, very good quality, very thick bases, great reviews from the interwebs.

. . . Problem is, every time I try to cook an egg, it sticks badly to the bottom.

I've tried butter, (salted and unsalted), canola, pam, margarine, various heats, organic eggs, and still the same results.

Can anybody advise me? I'm not much of a cook, but like most bachelors, I can cook breakfast, cheese sandwiches and stir fry and I've never had this issue before. (but I've only used teflon before)

My stove is electric. Is there an optimum temp. that is advisable to cook eggs in SS?
( I have an infrared thermometer. )

[TechnoViking]

Eggs are tough. I have a non-stick skillet that I use for one thing: eggs.

The only way I've seen eggs cooked well in a non-non-stick surface is to use an insane amount of oil. Like the eggs literally float in oil and then you use a paper towel to dry them off when done.

[peppy]

pork fat (bacon or sausage drippings). In a 10" pan you only need about 2 tablespoons.

Low to medium heat...a little less than half way.

[TechnoViking]

This reminds me of a camping trip I took years ago with a buddy and his dad, and his dad's Korean War buddies. So "Shortie", is a Korean war vet, and the camp cook. He fries up a couple pounds of bacon, takes it out of the grease (must have been an inch of grease in the pan) and then he proceeds to crack a couple dozen eggs into the grease and then stirs it all together. Scrambled eggs

[vash]

buy one <10" stainless fry pan for eggs..get it at a restaurant supply store and it will cost you around $20..

over easy eggs in SS is next to impossible. the real strength of SS is to sear and create a fond, for some tasty pan sauce..this makes it bad for eggs. it is supposed to stick alittle.

[osidak]

if you just went SS then you have to learn to cook at a lower setting than you are used to. For eggs on my electric flat top I never go past 4 on the heat dial and usually with eggs it will be around 3.5

I use the all-clad pans with copper bottoms - will typically use veggy oil

also need to make sure the surface of the pan is good and clean so the egg has nothing to grab onto

I rarely break a yolk on a sunny side up egg or even an over easy one

[vash]

but the entire JOY of cooking an egg over easy, is to flip it spatula free..

i am 50/50..so far. i am a heavy handed knuckle dragger...with eggs.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by vash

the real strength of SS is to sear and create a fond, for some tasty pan sauce..this makes it bad for eggs. it is supposed to stick alittle.

Funny you should say that, I found it out without knowing the terms, when I sear meat in the SS, the leavings that I use for gravy or whatever are very easy to liquify and cook with., even if they initially stick to the pan. Huh, who knew that was part of the process?

Thanks to all of you. I was thinking I was even less a cook than I really am.

[K. Roman]

Here is what my GF says who fries eggs on a SS all of the time. Coat pan with butter, let butter turn brown and make sure the bubbles subside. Then turn to low, like 3 or 4 and then drop the egg over the butter. She also said you must be sure you are using an extremely clean pan surface.

Try it again.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Get a cast iron skillet!

[jyl]

Eggs stick because they are high protein and liquid/soft. Meat is also high protein so it sticks, but then after it burns a bit (“browning”) you can pull on the meat and the browned part releases from the pan. Eggs are overdone by the time they brown, and isn’t strong enough for you to release the browned part by pulling on the rest.

Stainless steel is a pretty “sticky” surface, that is one of its strengths because food gets browned and leaves fond (browned stuck bits) on the pan that you then deglaze for a pan sauce. But that’s not so helpful for eggs.

Still, you can cook eggs just fine on stainless steel. I routinely make omelettes, fried eggs, and scrambled eggs in stainless steel pans (All-Clad and Sur La Table). Here’s how:

1. Use oil. You do not need a lot of oil, just enough to coat the whole pan bottom, smear it around w/ spatula if needed. Butter, lard, bacon grease, it all works too.
2. Use lower heat. For omelettes I use a medium-low flame, for fried eggs a fair bit under medium flame.
3. Have your pan not just clean, but also polished and slick. About 2X year, I buff the inside of my SS pans with a buffing disk and metal polish. You don’t need a mirror finish, just have it feel glassy to your fingers - but the mirror finish is cool. Then use only silicone or wood utensils. If your pans are brushed finish inside, this will help.

Or, just buy a cheap non-stick pan for eggs.

[M.D. Holloway]

Pour in enough olive oil to have an 1/8 inch pool in the pan - cook the eggs that way. The eggs will taste amazing and they wont stick.

[Dottore]

Herr Oberst!

I hate to say this here, but Cuisinart only makes crap. It was a fine French family-owned brand when I was a child, but since they've gone public and moved all their production to China etc.—they have become known only for ueber-crap. "ober-crap" if you like. I know of no serious cook who would even consider buying a Cusinart product. Seriously. They have become the Yugo of kitchen ware.

That said, I would always cook eggs on cast-iron or a coated pan in any case. Get a large coated Vollrath pan for example. These things will only cost you $20—and they'll last forever—but you actually have to go to a restaurant supply store to buy them (which you should be doing anyway because these places are much cheaper and better than ordinary cookware shops).

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by jyl

For omelettes I use a medium-low flame,.

I'm sorry jyl, but I have to correct you here.

I spent 2 months of my miss-spent youth at Cordon Bleu in Paris, and one thing they do drum into you is that omelets must be cooked at the highest possible heat. In fact the French will not cook an omelet on an electric stove. It must be gas. At the highest setting. Searing hot pan, and for less than a minute. That is the only way (assuming you are doing everything else right) you will get a light and fluffy texture instead of something that tastes like a large used condom.

Next time you're at a 4 or 5 star hotel watch the guys who make these to order at the breakfast buffet. Searing hot pan on a gas flame—and that omelette is in there only for seconds.

PS: Oh yes, and never add milk to an omlet!

PPS: And never beat it to death!

[The Gaijin]

Just don't like those coatings..

I prefer gobs of Irish butter. (Grass fed.)

Eggs = good stuff.

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

Get a cast iron skillet!

this

[vash]

dottore..

french omelettes are the best..i had a french lady (buddy's mom) teach me her omelettes..fluffy, simple. i can still make them. working the eggs, letting the curds develop.

my stove sucks..it is basically on and off. my high is pretty much everyones med. i suspect.

to this day, i still love an omelette (usually tomato or avocado) served next to a green salad..glass of wine for dinner.

[jyl]

Try Rose Restaurant Supply, at 2nd and Clay SE I think (?), the back room has all the cookware stuff. There's another restaurant supply place right next door too.

[gtc]

There is a Vollrath carbon steel pan that I have been unable to find. It is the perfect size for a single fried egg. The pan is maybe 6" in diameter from rim to rim, and they are used at a Spanish restaurant here in Seattle to make the best fried eggs I have ever eaten.

I went to Goodwill a few weeks ago and picked up some very nice coated pans for ~$3 each. The kind of stuff that would be high-end at macy's... not the best in the world, but very good for a $20 investment. I also walked away with a 69 cent Henckel... that made my day.

[kach22i]

Cast Iron........good for everything.