— Roy L. Cox

I wanted to remind Roy before we show this great video, which will explain many many things, you do want to make certain that your pan, which we hope is stainless steel, is cleaned very well, because sometimes you have food film from another dish that you may have made, and it wasn't cleaned properly, so it creates another layer between your food and the pan. So that's one important thing. And we're going to talk about using the mercury ball test, which is the best way to know that your pan has reached the ultimate heat to help guide your assignment. So we're going to take a look at the really good video. It's one minute and 17 seconds long. So let's jump into that. As the pan heats up, we'll add about an eighth of a teaspoon of water every 10 to 15 seconds. As you can see, if the pan is cold, the water won't do anything. But as the pan heats up, the water will start to steam and then eventually bubble. As it continues to heat, it will steam and bubble even quicker. Soon the bubbles will start to evaporate as soon as the water hits the pan. Eventually, when the water is added, it starts to evaporate and disperse into smaller beads of water. As the pan nears the proper temperature, it will start to form a ball, almost like a mercury ball that floats on the surface. If there are still many smaller balls, wipe the pan dry, wait a few more seconds and try again. When the pan is at the proper temperature, the mercury-like ball will form almost immediately with no or very few other smaller balls of water. If the water spurts immediately and disperses quickly like this, this is an indicator that the pan is too hot. Allow the pan to cool slightly and then continue with the water test until you reach the mercury ball stage. As soon as you reach this stage, your pan is at the perfect temperature to proceed. This is one of the main reasons why mise en place is so important when cooking. Well, I hope that you enjoyed the video. You can go to our website if you want to watch it again to study it a little bit more. But that is sort of the cornerstone of learning how to heat a pan for any dish. And for anyone who is cooking oil-free, that assignment will help you achieve perfectly sauteed oil-free mushrooms, and many of you may remember that assignment, which is one of my favorites. So hope you enjoyed the video. You can catch it on our website and share it with a friend if you want. And if you're hoping to move away from using less oil in what you make, the video is a really, really good thing to watch and understand.