Hi Vina,

We use oven cleaner to clean our pans at Rouxbe. Simply spray them in a well-ventilated area. We often put them in a garbage bag and let them soak over night. Once scrubbed and washed, they come out nice and shiny. However, a pan with stains on it means you've put it to good use, which is a good sign. A good stainless steel pan will last a lifetime, even if it discolors. There is a bit more information on this forum thread. Hope this helps!

Corn starch and a little water and distilled white vinegar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes after you apply it over the pan and then simply wash/rinse off.

I've decided to buy a stainless steel pan and visited couple of local hardware stores. (I live in Finland) As, I've learned they sell only all kinds of non-stick pans or cast iron pans. For some reason I don't seem to find stainless steel pans in hardware stores.
Do you have and ideas where can I buy good quality stainless steel pans in Europe?

I would suggest that you either ask your local kitchen store (if there is one) or else phone your favorite local restaurant and ask them where they buy theirs. There must be a restaurant supply store in Finland and most often they sell to the public.

Other than that you could always order them online. Here is a link to some stainless steel cookware on Amazon.

Thank you for your reply.
I have another question. When buying a frying pan what size I should pick? I have and electric stove (as in Finland no gas stove is used. It has 4 iron circles on top. Should I match the size of the bottom of the frying pan with the biggest iron circle on top? Or the frying pan can be bigger regardless of the stove iron circle sizes?

The size you buy depends on what the pans are being used for and how many people you normally cook for. This is why most people have more than one fry pan - ranging in size from quite small to quite a bit bigger. So to answer your question, no you do not have to buy them to "fit" the ring on the stove top.

Great questions and even greater answers.
I've learned a lot just by reading what everyone's saying and my pan frying skills have already improved.

Mike

So I use grapeseed oil for high heat cooking, but noticed that your recipe for Warm Salad Niçoise with Salmon called for cooking in olive oil. It says to heat to medium high heat which I did but the oil did smoke a bit. I went ahead and used the olive oil as I figured there was a reason for it. I guess my question is this: are there times that olive oil should be used for pan frying due to the flavor? Or should I just go ahead and substitute grapeseed oil whenever I will be cooking on medium high heat? And then add olive oil at the end for flavor if needed?

In the Mediterranean they cook with olive oil because it's abundant, and traditionally any dish from the very south Mediterranean will always have oil. But that's a cultural thing. You can definitely control which oil you wish to use. Your question is actually brilliantly answered by yourself, Rylla. And that's the beauty of having a good idea how ingredients work, you can substitute to your liking without compromising flavor, even if traditionally it goes outside the box.

When my pan is heated to the 'mercury' ball stage and I add butter, the butter tends to smoke / burn, but if I add the butter before this point, eggs tend to stick in the pan. I prefer cooking eggs w/ butter over oils. How do you guys deal with this?

Basically it could be the heat, the pan and or a combination of both. I suggest watch some of the lessons on How to Cook Eggs, in particular Part 1. this will answer all of these questions for you and then some. Cheers!

Hi Rouxbe team. I hope you are all enjoying your holidays. So I have two questions. First, is it better to use a non-stick skillet (as opposed to stainless steel or cast iron) to fry breaded proteins, or should the breading not make a difference? I was noticing that the crust was burning before the chicken was cooked. Second, I am having a hard time pan-frying the second batch. They always burn before they're cooked through. Do I need to do anything to the oil, sucs, or heat? Thanks for all your great help.

Hi Robert,

When frying breaded foods, for the best and even results, they should be shallow-fried. Shallow-fried means that when the food is placed in the pan, the oil will rise half-way up the food. This means you're using a lot more oil in comparison to pan frying.

Like you experienced, pan frying with a thin layer of oil will likely burn the breading before the food is cooked through. If you use enough oil, the food will be cooked through and the breading nice and golden. Frying in the proper amount of oil will also help to prevent any bits from burning and remaining in the oil, so second batches aren't usually a problem. If there are any burnt bits, you'll be able to scoop them out before adding the second batch.

Hope this helps.

Here are two recipes where we bread and shallow fry chicken Chicken Parmigiana and Southern Fried Chipotle Chicken

Is there any way to lower the calorie count of doing this? I *love* the deglazing - but I am trying to shrink the size of my waste.

I cooked chicken breast with a sherry deglazing that was beautiful and delicious. I am curious if I can shave down the calorie count on it though.

Though I have to be honest - since I started working on the lessons the *quality* of my food has gone up. But we are eating *less* - I suppose because I am plating it and not really cooking any "extra."

Make sure to pour the fat off before you deglaze, this would make it quite calorie-wise. You can also deglaze with things like chicken stock if you like.

Also keep in mind that if you are cooking "real" food at home you are already on the right path to eating better. Happy Cooking!

I have always wondered what type of vegetable(s) Vegetable oil comes from and it appears that it is Soybean oil. What type of oil is it considered? It seems to be neutral flavored and doesn't seem to have a low smoke point. Is it a suitable substitute for Grapeseed oil. BTW I think this site is very impressive and think you guys are doing a GREAT job, I am really getting a lot out of it. Thank you. DJ

You are correct that apparently a high percentage of vegetable oil comes from soybeans; however, vegetable oils come from various plant sources and can consist of different blends of oils (which can be both good and bad).

For more information see this post on Chowhound and another article talking about good and bad fats. Also here is more info from Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of different opinions out there that seem to change with the wind, so it's best to do your own research and choose what works for you. We generally prefer to use grapeseed oil for frying over soybean or other blends of vegetable oils. Hope this helps.

I was wondering if you could recommend a pan sauce or two for pan frying fish fillets. I tried making a muinerre sauce with some tilapia fillets and it was way too greasy, perhaps the butter did not brown enough? I was trying not to burn it under the impression it would become bitter. I also tried another tilapia fillet,this one fried in an aluminum fry pan as opposed to nonstick with the first. I geglazed the sucs with some white wine, reduced it, added some chicken broth, reduced again,took off heat, swirled in some butter, squeeze of lemon and some pepper. Wasn't bad but not great. BTW both times I dredged the fillets in flour, didn't really have a problem with the fillets sticking in aluminum pan. Thank you.

The list of sauces that you can make are endless. You sound like you were on the right track, but just keep in mind that you will not develop many sucs when pan frying fish. I would keep experimenting. Also you might find it helpful to watch (and practice) the Pan Sauce Lesson and the Pan Frying Lesson. Also the Beurre Blanc Lesson would be very helpful, as these sauces are typically served with fish.

Here is another thread that also talks a bit more about this.

This Cilantro Vinaigrette also happens to go very nicely with tilapia. Hope this helps!

I have tried to do this twice with chicken and I am having troubling results, the first one I was cooking whole breasts and I was having problems getting them done in the center. I ended up burning all the sucs. The salt and pepper seems to make the sucs burn easier.

The second time I was trying the quick chicken with tomato compote. Even though I had cut my chicken into medallions I was still having trouble cooking them through. It is really frustrating since I don't want to be cutting into my meat all the time to check if it is done. I tried using a instant read thermometer but when I try to use that it always ends up over done. I have used several different thermometers. Should I be cutting them in half length ways to prevent this and only use visual signs that the chicken is done?

Hi Justin,

Few suggestions. First make sure that you season the chicken (meat) before adding it to the pan. I am sure that you are doing this but just wanted to check because loose salt and pepper in the pan can burn.

Secondly, it sounds like your pan is simply too hot. You should be able to cook an entire chicken breast, thick cut of steak, etc. all the way through without burning. So once you get the pan to the right temperature and add the meat, turn it right down to low / med low. You should only hear a slight sizzle sound during the cooking process after the you first put the meat in the pan. If you are on an electric stove, you might even have to take the pan off the heat for 30 seconds to a minute to let the pan cool a little as electric burners do not cool off that quick.

Thirdly, protecting the sucs, particular if you want to make a pan sauce is important. If the pan is really dry (e.g. not much oil), it will burn much easier so feel free to add a bit more oil if the surface is too dry.

Note: thin cuts of meat will cook a lot faster than thicker cuts of meat so you can often leave the heat a bit higher. In fact, if you want a nice brown color, you will need to keep it higher. But thicker cuts will be in contact with the surface of the pan for a longer period of time, giving them more time to brown.

Try this and let us know how it goes. Practice makes perfect. Trust your instincts. There is a bit of art to this buy once you begin to read the indicators, you can adjust heat and cooking times much easier (e.g. burning, go lower. not browning, turn it up.)
Joe

Is there any consequences for adding oil when you already have a protein product in the pan? If it is drying up.

Better to add a bit of oil while pan frying than to let the sucs burn. Just don't over do it - trust your instincts and you will be fine. Cheers!

What if you want to fry something in butter in a stainless steel pan? When should you add the butter/how hot should the pan be?

Lately I've been trying to fry up sliced apples/pierogies in butter (since I prefer the butter flavor to oil), but whenever I try it in a stainless steel pan the food always sticks.