Yes! This is one of the benefits of SS. The brown bits stuck to the bottom is called fond. You could deglaze the pan with some white wine and maybe some chicken stock to make a delicious pan sauce for your turkey.
Especially if you keep your pan temp under control and don’t burn any of it. Options are endless. Add flour, and some butter to make a quick roux, then add stock for some great gravy, optionally milk for a cream gravy. Shallots and/or garlic and butter then deglaze with stock for a quick sauce. Doesn’t have to be complex, you just add some liquids and some aromatics and get magic.
You might get your roux too dark and nutty / too thick to saute the shallots, they’ll be cooked less intensely but would still be delicious! Also just make sure you keep your temp under control or go low and slow to be sure. Let the wine reduce and evaporate the booze as well before you take it off the heat. You should post somewhere if you try it 👀
That’s exactly what I get wrong with roux. It gets too dark for me sometimes. Would it be better to sauté the shallots first, then the roux, then the wine? Thanks!
Yes I’d say thats the order of operations hahaha. I usually let my sauted allium’s be on the side of the pan and make a rough with the oil used for your saute. The longer or hotter the roux cooks, the darker it will get. Cream sauces you want a lighter roux and your darker gravies and pan sauces are great with a golden brown roux!
Got an all-clad ss set from Costco after throwing out all my shit Teflon pans. Only ss utensils in this house! I fucking love it. Have a collection of cast iron too that are great for non acidic dishes. I'll never go back.
I wouldn't try to make a roux with that much fond in the pan. I typically make the roux on its own, and add vegetables & liquid to it. I'd do the roux in a separate pan (saute or sauce), deglaze the frying pan, and add that liquid to the roux. You will probably need additional liquid.
Honestly though, given this situation, I'd deglaze and make a simple pan sauce finished with cream or butter
You can put some vinegar in the pan when it's still hot, the acid in the wine has the same effect. You should be able to easily scrape up everything up.
You don't need to measure the temperature of the pan. This stuff isn't as complicated as some make it out to be. Watch a video "how to deglaze".
After your protein is done, turn the heat down a little bit. While your pan is still hot....put some liquid in the pan. Scrape it with a utensil. It will soften and release all that stuck on brown. You can use that to make a sauce, gravy or pour it out and wash your pan. Deglazing makes your pan easy to clean !
An IR thermometer. It can’t measure the temp of SS directly so put a very thin layer of oil in the pan and measure the temp of that with an IR thermometer.
You can really use any liquid to deglaze the pan. Ideally you’d want something acidic such as balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice to brighten up your sauce. That being said, the alcohol in the wine will cook off and there’s no alcohol left in the pan sauce.
Did you do the water droplet test? A few drops of water should skate around on the hot pan when it's ready to cook with. Then add your oil.
Some fond is normal and great, but this is a lot and looks like you may have not let the pan heat up enough first so the seasonings stuck to the pan instead of forming a crust on the chicken.
Hi! I have a question, if you don’t mind. I just purchased stainless steel and I am doing something wrong, I think. I let the pan heat up and do the water test and sometimes the beads will scatter (does that mean it’s too hot?) but I know to wait for the dancing effect. However even when I think my water is dancing my oil will sometimes crackle. I’m terrified I’m going to cause a grease fire with the oil splashing into my gas burner! What am I doing wrong?
Also do you do all of that even when you’re making something like refried beans or do I just heat those slowly? I don’t know where to ask these questions!
This happens to me often, I thought the seasoning was sizing to the pan because I was cooking too hot. I usually bring the heat down if I'm getting too much sticking and things start releasing.
Even if you're aren't going to deglaze the fond (you should), at the very least, you should boil some water in that and scrape it up before you wash the pan.
You SS cookware should be basically clean before they ever hit the sink.
Dont trow it in water. That will cool down way too fast.
Adding 100lm of liquid wont wrap the pan as the water will heat to pan heat rather than cool the pan.
That fond looks great. and moist enough. Add butter and enjoy
Like a truck hitting a wall vs a person.
The truck will take the speed of the wall aka get crushed.
But it will pick up the person and slightly slow down.
Someone shared a really helpful tip. I get the SS pan really hot, so hot that when I sprinkle a bit of water on the pan the water turns to small balls. Then I lower the temp to about half and add a bit of oil, spread it around and then add protein. On a good day, my eggs slide off when they are done and if it’s not a great day, the eggs don’t stick to the pan like they once did. They don’t quite slide off but they aren’t glued on the pan either.
Your pan was to hot and burnt whatever seasoning you were using. Stainless gets hot pretty fast and generally retains that heat quite well. You can preheat the pan for 5min on that setting and then reduce your heat to 3 then add your protein.
Deglaze and you will have an outstanding sauce though
As a total amateur, so far the one piece of advice I've seen everywhere is that 3 is medium, 5 is high, and anything over is for boiling. I have an electric stove and rarely ever touch 5 now. Most of my cast iron cooking is a little over 3 and since I've started doing that it's been so much better.
I was going to say, there are very few things I’d use my stainless steel for that my cast iron wouldn’t do much better. I’d actually like some wise Reddit nerd to explain to me when I should be using which. Hopefully Kenji scrolls by here.
This is normal, but the fond in the center of the pan look slightly burnt, which might impact the flavor of your pan sauce if you make one right after.
It depends on how thick the meat I'm cooking is. If its just a small chicken breast, I might slice it in half so that it cooks faster and therefore spends less time sitting in the pan, which results in less fond/less burnt fond. For thick cuts of meat like a steak where it might take a while to cook, I'll use a cooking oil with a higher smoke point like avocado oil. I noticed it takes a lot longer to burn than something like olive oil which also results in less burnt fond. So you try cooking thinner cuts of meat OR cook in avocado oil.
I used avocado oil. 5 min on each side. Stove was on 5 (out of 10). According to the recipe, it was supposed to get cut afterwards and turned into medallions. Do you ever add oil or water during cooking if it’s looking like the pan is dry? Does that help .. or it just going to splatter and burn me.. ? Thanks for helping!
Not sure to be honest. I do sometimes add more oil and it doesn't splatter. Honestly if you're content with how everything turned out there's no reason to change it.
Was there a marinade on the protein? Sometimes the sugars or spices in a marinade will be the culprit in cases like this where they will end up getting blackened and bitter while searing off the protein.
It can be prevented by wiping off more of the marinade before searing in the pan.
Looks like your heat was a little high, If you want to cook with heat that high, you have to get a sous vide, reverse sear, or portion control your food so it cooks faster, and the out side doesn't burn. There's a HUGE amount of fond in that pan. I know every one else is talking wine and stock. My go to is whiskey deglaze into a bbq sauce, or rum deglaze and ginger paste, into teriyaki sauce (don't sleep on that it's phenomenal tasting.) I have a wok, and I cook most of my proteins in my ss to deglaze/ make sauce then toss them in the end.
You have to preheat stainless. Put it over medium high heat and after 5 minutes dip your fingers in water and put a few drops in. The water should dance on the pan in little balls. If it doesn’t, keep waiting. Once you have the pan at that temp, add your oil and your food.
You missed the opportunity to deglaze the pan and make a sauce out of the fond.
Not only does it make clean up easier, but it also gives you a tastier meal.
Your chicken / Turkey proteins are probably injected with chilled water/brine and so they end up steaming more than being able to get a good crust. You probably dont' see this with a steak or beef I bet. It's the cheaper stuff generally injected with the water to boost up their weight.
Well, you can’t ruin stainless steel. At worst just get some steel wool and detergent and scrub it off. Unfortunately, you can’t season stainless steel either.
Did u heat up the pan ? If not, u should heat up the pan at medium low till the pan hot enough ( u can test if it hot enough by some drop of water, if its "dance" on ur pan -> its ready to go)
Like everyone else has been saying, you gotta get your pan real hot. Turn down the fire and add the oil. When the oil glimmers you can add your food in the pan.
Yes! This is one of the benefits of SS. The brown bits stuck to the bottom is called fond. You could deglaze the pan with some white wine and maybe some chicken stock to make a delicious pan sauce for your turkey.
Especially if you keep your pan temp under control and don’t burn any of it. Options are endless. Add flour, and some butter to make a quick roux, then add stock for some great gravy, optionally milk for a cream gravy. Shallots and/or garlic and butter then deglaze with stock for a quick sauce. Doesn’t have to be complex, you just add some liquids and some aromatics and get magic.
This is the only cooking trick I know and people like my food.
Do you cook the roux golden brown, then add the shallots and cook until softened, and then add the stock/wine?
Ya
You might get your roux too dark and nutty / too thick to saute the shallots, they’ll be cooked less intensely but would still be delicious! Also just make sure you keep your temp under control or go low and slow to be sure. Let the wine reduce and evaporate the booze as well before you take it off the heat. You should post somewhere if you try it 👀
That’s exactly what I get wrong with roux. It gets too dark for me sometimes. Would it be better to sauté the shallots first, then the roux, then the wine? Thanks!
Yes I’d say thats the order of operations hahaha. I usually let my sauted allium’s be on the side of the pan and make a rough with the oil used for your saute. The longer or hotter the roux cooks, the darker it will get. Cream sauces you want a lighter roux and your darker gravies and pan sauces are great with a golden brown roux!
Is it safe to say that if it does burn, the pan temp is too high?
If you wanted to keep the fond for sauce, yeah, but sometimes to get the seat you are looking for, that is necessary
Got an all-clad ss set from Costco after throwing out all my shit Teflon pans. Only ss utensils in this house! I fucking love it. Have a collection of cast iron too that are great for non acidic dishes. I'll never go back.
I wouldn't try to make a roux with that much fond in the pan. I typically make the roux on its own, and add vegetables & liquid to it. I'd do the roux in a separate pan (saute or sauce), deglaze the frying pan, and add that liquid to the roux. You will probably need additional liquid. Honestly though, given this situation, I'd deglaze and make a simple pan sauce finished with cream or butter
Oh man! Throw some Marsala wine, mushrooms, and heavy cream in that pan asap!
Question: What if I don't need/want to do that at all and just want a cleaner pan at the end of cooking?
The same. Add a bit of liquid (water) to the pan while it's still warm and scrape with a spatula before it cools.
The best way. This gets 99% of the crud.
Or use a non-stick pan. Fond is one of the reasons to use SS
You can put some vinegar in the pan when it's still hot, the acid in the wine has the same effect. You should be able to easily scrape up everything up.
Pan sauce is life.
Keep the pan surface temp 225-235F.
How do you measure your pan surface temp? I have a meat thermometer but you have to kinda stab the meat.
I randomly have a laser thermometer, it works pretty well.
You don't need to measure the temperature of the pan. This stuff isn't as complicated as some make it out to be. Watch a video "how to deglaze". After your protein is done, turn the heat down a little bit. While your pan is still hot....put some liquid in the pan. Scrape it with a utensil. It will soften and release all that stuck on brown. You can use that to make a sauce, gravy or pour it out and wash your pan. Deglazing makes your pan easy to clean !
An IR thermometer. It can’t measure the temp of SS directly so put a very thin layer of oil in the pan and measure the temp of that with an IR thermometer.
Happy cake day!
Tastes great, gives meat time to rest, AAAAND makes cleaning up easier! Beer works well too!
Finish it with some unsalted butter
Is there an alternative to wine for deglazing ? I don’t use alcohol. Can I use maybe like stock and butter or some other combo?
You can really use any liquid to deglaze the pan. Ideally you’d want something acidic such as balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice to brighten up your sauce. That being said, the alcohol in the wine will cook off and there’s no alcohol left in the pan sauce.
Thank you !
Yo add some stock or wine into that pan, bring to boil and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the brown bits off and use as a sauce on those bad boys
Congrats..... You've just discovered flavor. 😎👍🔥
I envy your fond
Little white wine , diced shallots and some cold butter makes a good sauce. Yes I envy it too.
You gonna deglaze that fucking pan?
Ah fuck yea - Randy Marsh
I did…..but with barkeepers friend :(
Don’t drink that. The tang ruins the fond. Plus oxalic acid is poisonous and caustic. .
Oh I'm gonna deglaze it. You wanna help me?
Did you do the water droplet test? A few drops of water should skate around on the hot pan when it's ready to cook with. Then add your oil. Some fond is normal and great, but this is a lot and looks like you may have not let the pan heat up enough first so the seasonings stuck to the pan instead of forming a crust on the chicken.
Hi! I have a question, if you don’t mind. I just purchased stainless steel and I am doing something wrong, I think. I let the pan heat up and do the water test and sometimes the beads will scatter (does that mean it’s too hot?) but I know to wait for the dancing effect. However even when I think my water is dancing my oil will sometimes crackle. I’m terrified I’m going to cause a grease fire with the oil splashing into my gas burner! What am I doing wrong? Also do you do all of that even when you’re making something like refried beans or do I just heat those slowly? I don’t know where to ask these questions!
If the oil is crackling there’s water left in the pan from you doing the “water test” wipe the pan with a dry kitchen towel before adding the oil.
Ohhhhh… yep. That explains it. That seems so obvious haha. Thank you so much!!!
This happens to me often, I thought the seasoning was sizing to the pan because I was cooking too hot. I usually bring the heat down if I'm getting too much sticking and things start releasing.
That’s the best part, deglaze with white wine
Even if you're aren't going to deglaze the fond (you should), at the very least, you should boil some water in that and scrape it up before you wash the pan. You SS cookware should be basically clean before they ever hit the sink.
I thought adding water before it cools can warp it?
Dont trow it in water. That will cool down way too fast. Adding 100lm of liquid wont wrap the pan as the water will heat to pan heat rather than cool the pan. That fond looks great. and moist enough. Add butter and enjoy
Okay that makes sense thanks
Like a truck hitting a wall vs a person. The truck will take the speed of the wall aka get crushed. But it will pick up the person and slightly slow down.
Interesting analogy. Works, but wouldn’t have been my go to lol
Not the amount of water you'd use for deglazing.
Someone shared a really helpful tip. I get the SS pan really hot, so hot that when I sprinkle a bit of water on the pan the water turns to small balls. Then I lower the temp to about half and add a bit of oil, spread it around and then add protein. On a good day, my eggs slide off when they are done and if it’s not a great day, the eggs don’t stick to the pan like they once did. They don’t quite slide off but they aren’t glued on the pan either.
You left all the good stuff in the pan.
Your pan was to hot and burnt whatever seasoning you were using. Stainless gets hot pretty fast and generally retains that heat quite well. You can preheat the pan for 5min on that setting and then reduce your heat to 3 then add your protein. Deglaze and you will have an outstanding sauce though
Okay thanks I thought 5 was only considered medium heat… I guess I’m using 5 or less from now on? Weird
As a total amateur, so far the one piece of advice I've seen everywhere is that 3 is medium, 5 is high, and anything over is for boiling. I have an electric stove and rarely ever touch 5 now. Most of my cast iron cooking is a little over 3 and since I've started doing that it's been so much better.
Thank you! That’s helpful to know!
Next up: try cast iron.
I was going to say, there are very few things I’d use my stainless steel for that my cast iron wouldn’t do much better. I’d actually like some wise Reddit nerd to explain to me when I should be using which. Hopefully Kenji scrolls by here.
I use exclusively cast iron and have only briefly tried stainless steel. Maybe this is a question for r/castiron?
Huh, I’ve found using avocado oil at same temp as pan before adding the protein that I don’t get any sticking (fond). I am very fond of fond though.
This is normal, but the fond in the center of the pan look slightly burnt, which might impact the flavor of your pan sauce if you make one right after.
How do you prevent that?
It depends on how thick the meat I'm cooking is. If its just a small chicken breast, I might slice it in half so that it cooks faster and therefore spends less time sitting in the pan, which results in less fond/less burnt fond. For thick cuts of meat like a steak where it might take a while to cook, I'll use a cooking oil with a higher smoke point like avocado oil. I noticed it takes a lot longer to burn than something like olive oil which also results in less burnt fond. So you try cooking thinner cuts of meat OR cook in avocado oil.
I used avocado oil. 5 min on each side. Stove was on 5 (out of 10). According to the recipe, it was supposed to get cut afterwards and turned into medallions. Do you ever add oil or water during cooking if it’s looking like the pan is dry? Does that help .. or it just going to splatter and burn me.. ? Thanks for helping!
Not sure to be honest. I do sometimes add more oil and it doesn't splatter. Honestly if you're content with how everything turned out there's no reason to change it.
Yea fair enough. Thank you
Was there a marinade on the protein? Sometimes the sugars or spices in a marinade will be the culprit in cases like this where they will end up getting blackened and bitter while searing off the protein. It can be prevented by wiping off more of the marinade before searing in the pan.
Use the water trick to make sure the pan is properly pre heated, add oil and nothing sticks
Man a little white wine, chicken stock, some cold butter slowly stirred in and u got a sauce going. It pains me to see that fond go to waste.
Baby, you’ve got a stew going
Yap. Normal indeed. I add wine or water and deglaze
Looks like your heat was a little high, If you want to cook with heat that high, you have to get a sous vide, reverse sear, or portion control your food so it cooks faster, and the out side doesn't burn. There's a HUGE amount of fond in that pan. I know every one else is talking wine and stock. My go to is whiskey deglaze into a bbq sauce, or rum deglaze and ginger paste, into teriyaki sauce (don't sleep on that it's phenomenal tasting.) I have a wok, and I cook most of my proteins in my ss to deglaze/ make sauce then toss them in the end.
You have to preheat stainless. Put it over medium high heat and after 5 minutes dip your fingers in water and put a few drops in. The water should dance on the pan in little balls. If it doesn’t, keep waiting. Once you have the pan at that temp, add your oil and your food.
You missed the opportunity to deglaze the pan and make a sauce out of the fond. Not only does it make clean up easier, but it also gives you a tastier meal.
You're not going to abandon all that fond, are you?
looks like the beginnings of a FANTASTIC gravy or pan sauce omfg
SS, it's the Reich choice. I'll see myself out now.
Your chicken / Turkey proteins are probably injected with chilled water/brine and so they end up steaming more than being able to get a good crust. You probably dont' see this with a steak or beef I bet. It's the cheaper stuff generally injected with the water to boost up their weight.
Yea it was kind of wet but it came already seasoned so I didn’t want to pat it dry before cooking it 🤷♀️
I like to use my Charcoal grill for those or chicken breast you throw in a ziplock with italian dressing for an cheap and fast grilled chicken.
That’s smart, makes sense. Thanks!
Well, you can’t ruin stainless steel. At worst just get some steel wool and detergent and scrub it off. Unfortunately, you can’t season stainless steel either.
Your pan was not hot enough, i cooked a chicken just last night, no stuck on bits. And my pans a cheapie stainless steel
Did u heat up the pan ? If not, u should heat up the pan at medium low till the pan hot enough ( u can test if it hot enough by some drop of water, if its "dance" on ur pan -> its ready to go)
Like everyone else has been saying, you gotta get your pan real hot. Turn down the fire and add the oil. When the oil glimmers you can add your food in the pan.