A couple of weeks ago I decided to try cooking on stainless steel, so I can eventually just stop using non-stick-coated pans. I found a sturdy small Viking nonstick pan at Home Goods for a really good price. Since then, every day or so, I’ve been watching YouTube videos about how to fry an egg on a stainless steel pan.
Almost all of them direct you to use the Leidenfrost effect—pre-heat the pan until water beads up on the surface and doesn’t immediately evaporate. Then add a refined oil, like canola/rapeseed oil, and then add a room-temperature egg. Every single video shows how shortly after this, the egg cooks perfectly and automatically unsticks itself when it is ready to be flipped.
I’ve tried this probably a dozen times. Every time, the egg sticks to some extent or another and the white gets too crispy. The pan has to be scrubbed well afterwards.
Just now, I tried something different. I didn’t superheat the pan—I heated it just enough to make butter foam—very similar to how I would use a non-stick pan. The egg cooked just fine, never sticking, easily flipped.
So what’s the deal here? Is all this Leidenfrost stuff overrated? Should I just use my stainless steel pan like I have always used pans?