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Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2008-08-02, 15:37

Quote:
Originally Posted by Windswept View Post
If I remember correctly, the most expensive Costco pan set is heavy stainless steel. I'd love to buy the set and see what it's like to cook with stainless that heavy, as opposed to 'normal-weight' stainless pots and pans. I'll bet there's a big difference. Wonder if skillets made with that heavy stainless steel still 'stick', or not.
They do. It has to do with the material's molecular arrangement. Stainless is very 'rough' at that level, and offers all sorts of places for complex molecules to bond, ie, stick. It also is fairly reactive at cooking temps, so you end up with food actually bonding to the metal. The heavier the pan, the better the heat retention and distribution, but it doesn't alter the stickiness of the surface.

Now, that being said, you will sometimes have less sticking occur with a thicker pan simply because the chemical actions of browning meat, for instance, have a chance to happen more rapidly in a pan with better heat capacity. The meat doesn't cool the pan as fast, so it hits, sears, and then releases, all fairly quickly. But, this will happen with a thicker pan of any decent material, so a thick anodAl pan will still stick less than a thick stainless pan.
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