Hey y’all. The GF loves French toast, and I’m pretty good at making it. Only problem is my roommates stole my only nonstick pan when I moved out. I’m going to attempt making it using my stainless steel pan, any tips? Or am I looking at a disaster here?
Stainless steel pans are fine, cast iron is easier to use, but you can do what you need to do wit SS. Learning to cook without Teflon is important. PFAS is poison that cannot be broken down and persists in the environment forever.
Tips:
Heat the pan and your cooking fat up before putting food in. It should be hotter than cooking temp, but not burning your cooking fat (no smoke)
Butter tastes better but oil is easier to work with. Use oil if you are not used to cooking in this pan. Use butter on your plate for taste.
Let the pan temp recover for 30s or so before putting additional pieces into the pan.
Don’t try to move things right away. Don’t touch it until it is ready to flip. Lots of foods will “release” when they have browned a little
Don’t be afraid to add some more cooking fat between batches.
Preheat the pan before adding the oil/butter
We cook French toast in our stainless pan all the time. Just make sure the pan is blistering hot before you put anything in (as you should always do with stainless) and at worst you’ll need a little elbow grease to clean the pan afterwards. And if it all goes pear-shaped, bar keepers friend.
Make sure the pan is hot and there is fat in the pan and don’t move the toast until a crust has formed.
Stuff sticks more in a cold pan. As the pan heats the metal expands, any tiny pits in the pan get filled in with slightly expanded metal, any remaining spots are filled in with oil/butter. If you let the food sit longer it’ll release easier. Honestly, if you are sticking try waiting 30s, normally that will help.
lots of butter my dude
As many have already said, using the proper amount of cooking fat will solve this issue and is much more healthy that then toxic chemicals present in non-stick pans. Count yourself lucky that it was stolen, you shouldn’t use them under any circumstances.
Related to french toast however, making it in a waffle iron is a damn good time.
Aren’t most waffle irons Teflon coated?
I hate cleaning them so I stopped using them, but every one I’ve ever used had non stick heat plates.
yeah, but you’re not constantly bashing them with a spatula or other cooking tool during use so there is much less chance of damaging the coating, which is the main issue with nonstick pans (that and being overheated).
Get a cast iron pan.
Or carbon steel if you have the money and struggle with the weight of cast iron. I still have one non stick pan, but find carbon steel works very well for pancakes french toast and crepes.
