Food & Drink

The chef’s secret to keeping food from sticking to your stainless steel pan

Nicole Keramos
Jul 31, 2024
The expert method received widespread acclaim from amateur chefs who were frustrated with losing all their hard-earned culinary creations to a sticky pan. Source: Getty Images.

We’ve all faced this frustrating situation during our cooking endeavours: we prepare a delicious meal, only to find the majority of it sticking to the pan.

Not only does this ruin the pan, but it also leaves our meal incomplete and disappointing.

Fortunately, TikTok chef Alex Baka has come to the rescue with a simple solution to this culinary dilemma and it all comes down to temperature.

In a TikTok video, the chef revealed that the secret to preventing food from sticking is to ensure your pan is at the right temperature before adding any ingredients.

“It’s about even temperature,” he says.

“When you first hear this you probably think this means to blast your stove top on max heat for 2 minutes, but that’s not the case. Too hot and we can’t cook anything.”

Baka explained that you can check your pan is heated correctly by spritzing water over the pan’s surface.

“The way you know your pan is hot enough to not stick is when you throw some water at it and the beads slide around with no resistance,” he said.

“When the water is too hot, the water will just explode. When the water is not hot enough, it just fizzles.”

@chefbaka If you don’t like stainless steel, it’s probably because you’re using it wrong! #food #cooking #trythis #stainlesssteel #eatthis #recipe #cooking #cookinghacks #cookingtricks #kitchentips #eggs #delicious #foodie #foodtok ♬ love nwantinti (ah ah ah) – CKay

The expert method received widespread acclaim from amateur chefs who were frustrated with losing all their hard-earned culinary creations to a sticky pan.

“This was so informative & easy to understand. I’m gonna try this tomorrow,” one wrote.

“I actually threw my stainless steel pan out. My son, saw your post, got the pan and heated it up, did the water trick. He now cooks all his food in the stainless pan. I’m yet to try it!”

“Thanks for this info I honestly never knew this,” commented another.

“This was actually so helpful, thanks man.”

Baka isn’t the only one ensuring our kitchenware stays in tip-top shape.

Previously a Brisbane mum took the internet by storm after she revealed how she removes those stubborn built-up stains from the bottom of cooking pots in minutes.

Taking to Instagram, creative stylist Liz Amaya shared a video detailing her easy hack and the best part, you only need two ingredients from your kitchen cupboard!

To get started, Liz sprinkles a thin layer of table salt on the bottom of the pot. She then adds a tablespoon of white vinegar and rubs vigorously with a sponge for several minutes before rinsing under the tap. Liz then polishes it with a clean cloth and — voila — the cooking pot looks as good as new!

Liz’s post received a slew of praise from followers, with one writing, “I’ll have to try this when I get home.”

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