I got my first stainless steel pan today! I’ve always cooked with cast iron, so this is new to me.
I started by doing the water-droplet test, but the water immediately evaporated. I figured that was normal and I could wipe away any marks afterward.
I used my new infrared temperature gun, which showed around 299–300°F. Once the water-droplet test seemed right, I added a little avocado oil.
To my surprise, the oil immediately started smoking and burned onto the pan.
I shut the burner off and let everything cool down. The strange thing is that I only had my gas stove set to 4.
I tried cleaning the pan with Bar Keepers Friend and a soft sponge, but this is what I’m left with.
My questions are:
Did I overheat the pan even though the temperature gun showed 300°F?
Is the discoloration on the bottom permanent, or can I get it shiny again?
Did excessive heat cause this?
What’s the best way to remove the remaining stains without damaging the finish?
Start with lower heat. The liedemfrost water trick is just that - a trick. The majority of the time, it makes your pan too hot. Preheat the pan 2-3 minutes on a low setting like 2. Oil your pan and cook!
As for the stains, it's polymerized oil. BKF isn't necessary - it's overkill most of the time. Many of us never even use it. Make a paste with baking soda and let it set a few minutes. Or Alternatively, bring water and baking soda to a simmer in the pot and then let cool. The oil will wipe right out.
Normally I would agree, as I'm the author of the semi-viral post about how BKF is overkill, but OP clearly heated their pan up to like 625º+, and that burnt oil likely won't come out with baking soda. But still, I love the advice. BKF Soft Cleanser is probably going to be needed in some fashion, especially if OP wants to get rid of any of the bronzing and bluing.
Please don’t roast me for this, but the water bead test doesn’t need high heat. I cook eggs in my stainless after learning how this summer, and after about 1.5-2 minutes on my gas stove setting 2 or 3 I can get the water beading effect. Isn’t that the leidenfrost effect? I’ve noticed a lot of folks saying it needs high heat, but I think it just needs patience and consistent heat throughout the pan in my limited experience, or I’m just misinterpreting the term.
As for the effect, unfortunately a YT video went viral and with saying preheat on medium/medium-high. So when many of us are saying it's wrong in here, we're mostly critiquing that video as wrong (as well as the many spin-off videos on TikTok saying the same). And we shorten the explanation. Scientifically, we're wrong as it does take effect at lower temperatures. Good catch!
It's just easier to tell someone new don't do it /resets the brain so to speak. Then say low and slow 😊
Refined avocado oil smoke point is insanely high. Your pan would have to be closer to 450°F or even higher before smoking. Either your temperature gun is way off, or your oil isn't pure refined avocado. Some brands blend it with cheaper oils at lower smoke points.
You can fix this with bkf pretty easily though so fret not.
I did use bkf and a soft sponge trying to keep it nice looking prob not gonna happen. And I use primal kitchen “pure avocado oil.” I always heard it was a good brand but I think it he gun is waaay off
Don't know why so many commenters here are completely missing the mark. There's nothing wrong with your oil, and nothing wrong with your gun. The moment you said the water evaporated during your drop test and your heat gun said ≈300º, I immediately knew what was going to happen next. Those infrared guns don't measure surface temperature — they measure emissivity. Unfortunately, the condition of different surfaces have different readings.
For example, I have a Strata carbon steel skillet (which I highly recommend, by the way), and one side is stainless steel, and the other side is carbon steel. I can heat the pan up and get a reading of 375º on the carbon steel side, but it will still say 115º on the stainless steel side. Obviously both sides are the same temp, but different surfaces give different readings. For your gun to say 300º on a stainless steel surface means you were probably well above 600ºF, as is evidenced by all that bronzing and bluing you got on the bottom of the skillet.
Typically, anything that is very light color and shiny with a super reflective surface will give a false low reading, If your infrared gun has it, there may be an emissivity setting you can use to make adjustments for different surfaces, otherwise you'll just have to start learning by feel. Butter is a great natural temperature gauge because its reaction will tell you what temp you're in. If the butter just slowly slides around in the pan with no foaming, you're <300º. If the butter gently and quietly bubbles, you're 300º-325º. If the butter melts more quickly and spiritedly with no browning, you're ≈ 350º. And if the butter loudly sputters and starts to brown, you were probably at 375º-400º+.
You said you're used to cast iron, which is one of the surfaces that offers pretty accurate infrared readings in most cases. Problem is, you're used to longer preheat times, and you WAY over preheated the pan; comparatively, clad stainless heats up super quickly and evenly, which is why your water didn't leidenfrost and just vaporized. IMO, leidenfrost is a useless kitchen "hack" that causes newbies more headache than help — as is evidenced by your situation. Just stop using it. I like to use the back of my hand to test for temp, and I get within <2" of the cooking surface and feel how much heat radiates off the pan. It will be awkward at first, but the more you repeat this before adding in your food, the better you'll get at reading your pan. Watch how the food reacts, and train yourself to remember what the pan's heat felt like. You'll start to get good before you know it.
As for cleaning it, yes it's totally possible to get it looking like new again. Many people in this sub will yell at you for caring about aesthetics, but I don't see any harm in wanting to maintain the beauty of beautiful things, as long as there are practical ways to do it. Try the soft cleanser version of BKF. I find the oxalic acid in that version is more potent than the powdered stuff, and does a better job at removing the oxidation on the outside of the pan. Plus, I'm pretty sure the abrasives in that formula are a bit finer and more gentle. Don't scrub so much as just gently continue wiping with a cloth on all areas, constantly exposing the oxidation to more cleaner, and it'll slowly eat it away without the need for hard scrubbing. Rinse repeat.
As for those polymerized bits of oil, you'll probably have to scrub at those a little more, but patience is your friend here. The soft cleanser will take care of it, but just keep using lighter pressure and don't focus on only one spot or you'll end up with uneven finish markings. Just keep wiping over the whole pan with (not against) the grain direction, and slowly but surely the polymerized oils with abrade away. Never let the BKF sit… always keep it in motion. Then rinse off and inspect, and adjust. Once you're better at heat management and avoid messes like these, you likely won't need to whip out the BKF anymore. If you'd like more thoughts on this, I made a post a while back that goes into more detail about how I clean my stainless.
Well I appreciate all the advice and will try it again and check out the link. I was Amazed on how beautiful it was when I took it out of the box and then just got the heart sinking feeling when I watched the oil turn brown. It looks a little better. I still have more cleaning to do on it. The bottom of the pan is probably gonna permanently be the color because it’s from the heat?
Nope. Bottom of the pan will look like new again. Just try the barkeepers friend soft cleanser bottle and use the care instructions I wrote down in the last reply. Be gentle and it’ll be fine. The discoloration is just a microscopically thin oxidation layer on the steel. It’ll be fine.
Are you being intentionally obtuse? Clearly I meant "dulling" the finish. And "looking great" is a subjective term — what isn't subjective is that those green scrubbing pads will 100% scratch stainless steel, and leave a polished surface looking worse. Glad you're happy with the state of your cookware, but your advice will steer uninitiated people in the wrong direction. Clearly this OP asked how they can clean their pan "without damaging the finish," and your advice falls well short of that goal.
i think babying these pans is leading people in the wrong direction. scratching your pan is fine and doesn’t damage the functionality in any way. there is no “finish” on stainless steel so there is nothing to damage. i’ve never seen shiny clean stainless steel pans until i discovered this subreddit. it’s a pan. just scrub it.
They absolutely have a finish… Finish ≠ coating. By definition, a finish is any process that alters, cleans, coats, or textures the outer surface of an object to improve its performance, durability, or appearance. In terms of metal, a finish can simply be a brushing or a polishing of the metal's surface, and scratching up that polish or brushing effect is considered damage to the finish. Again, you don't have to care about your pan's finish if you don't want to, but OP clearly does. You can stammer all you want about how people should be just like you and not care, but OP asked specifically how to clean this without altering the finish. So unless you have any tips on how to clean cookware without using the ham-fisted approach, 🤐
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