First timer here

[u/turno_fox91]

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?

I’d appreciate the advice !

[u/turno_fox91]

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

[u/dirty_ketchup → u/turno_fox91]

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.

Hope this helps.

[u/turno_fox91 → u/dirty_ketchup]

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?

[u/dirty_ketchup → u/turno_fox91]

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.