Damaged stainless steel pan?

[nyc_dave]

Hello all..

New here to forums... got a "newbie" question...

How can you tell if a stainless steel frying pan has been damaged due to med to med-high heat/ and burnt food/oil?

Are there any key signs to look for? Warping? Extreme discoloration... etc..

Any help would be appreciated, as it's a beautiful pan, and I would hate to have ruined it due to a few minutes of unfortuante, but unavoidbale neglect.

Thanks,
-Dave

[SushiGaijin]

hi.

stainless pans will stain (yellowish, in my experience) when exposed to very high heat.

However, you cannot damage those pans under normal cooking temperatures, only stain them. I would even go so far as to recommend saving a few dollars by buying stained steel pans instead of NIB.

E

[cheflayne]

Bartender's Friend, available at grocery stores by other powders such as Bon Ami, Comet, etc. works good for removing temperature stains.

[nyc_dave]

Thanks for the replys... much appreciated.

-Dave

[panini]

Hold on guys. Stainless steel pans are notorious for hot spots when overheated. Once you get a hot spot, you never get rid of it, It will always burn in the same spot.
On better stainless, the manufacturer will laminate or clad the pan with aluminum or copper for a more even heat distribution. Some will even take the clad up the sides. Theremay also be other alloids used, but Ireally don't know that. maybenickel?
NYC_Dave.
Do you know if your pan is clad.? The bottom will usually be thicker looking.
You will know if you have damaged it, if it keeps burning in the same place.
I don't know how to test otherwise. Maybe boil water in it. Maybe the hot spot if you even have one will bubble first. That is just a guess though.
I hope this has not happen. If this is an expensive pan then it is probably clad.
HTH
no intention of offending anyone. I have first hand knowlege of this.
pan

[nyc_dave]

Thanks, Panini.

Hot spots were what I was worried about... but it is a "good" pan; an All Clad Copper Core.

I didn't think it'd be damaged from the abusive usage I exposed it to, but wanted to be sure...

I was thinking instead of water, perhaps something like a crepe at low temp would work to see if it was still cooking evenly...

will give it a shot...

Thanks again.

[Suzanne]

Oh, man, I have abused my All-Clads to the point where if they were my children, they'd be in foster homes.

But in spite the warnings AC gives on their flyers, those pans are built to last forever in spite of terrible treatment. I've burnt stuff onto them, left them too long over too high heat -- but as long as the bonding holds, the pans keep working just fine. And given the conditions under which they are manufactured, I don't worry that the bonding will give way.

[nyc_dave]

Great to know.. thx!

[panini]

Like Suzanne, I can't even remember how old my all clad are. They still look new.
You don't have to worry or test. Although I think the crepe idea is far better than water.
Sorry for any confussion. I was given a set of cheaper stainless by a vendor for xmas. The crew has already trashed them, and I left them there for personal use
Dave, you're right about "it's a beautiful pan" You'll have a full set before long.
Pan

[scott123]

Best way to find a hot spot (either in a pan or in the oven) is to sprinkle a thin even layering of sugar over the bottom and watching where it burns.

[MarkV]

I echo Suzanne's and Panini's sentiments.

All my cookware is All Clad and it stands up to all sorts of use. I use Barkeeper's friend in conjunction with brillo, (against the manufacturer's reccomendation), but it cleans whatever burnt on crud I can produce with no problems in function.

Mark

[skilletlicker]

Originally posted by cheflayne
Bartender's Friend, available at grocery stores by other powders such as Bon Ami, Comet, etc. works good for removing temperature stains.

I recently broke down and bought some All Clad pieces. My grocery store didn't stock Bartender's Friend powder, which All Clad recommends, so I bought Bon Ami, which didn't work well at all. Had to scrub way to hard and long and even then it didn't completely get rid of the heat discoloration. I was afraid to use Comet for fear of damaging the pans. I regretted buying the stainless pieces until the Bartender's Friend purchased online was delivered. It seems to work well and easily. It still takes more time and effort to clean the stainless than to clean my old nonstick pots and pans. To keep pristine it seems you have to wash once to get the gunk off, then scrub with powder, then wash again to get the powder off.
If anybody knows an easier way please share it.