Pan Frying (go back »)

Pan frying
there are many types of dry heat cooking methods. This lesson focuses on pan frying. Pan frying is one of the common methods of day-to-day cooking. Yet knowing how to use the pan is often overlooked or miss understood. The goal of pan frying is cooked all the way through without overcooking while forming a delicious golden craft. However if the pan heat or oil is not handled properly it can resolve in food burned or stuck to the pan.
In this review I will tell you how to properly heat the pan. How and when asked the oil ingredients and how to control the heat. When cooking anything in the pan your success will depend on knowing how to control these few key principles.

There are varieties of different kinds of pans for pan frying all the which have pros and cons. In this review we are going to focus on steinless frying pan. Stainless frying pan are preferred in most of the professional kitchens. Because they are durable lightweight, easy to clean and they are great for making pan sauces. The biggest difficulty people have when cooking in a pan is the food often sticks.

Sticking is caused by not properly heating the pan. And it often happens with food that contains low fat such as skinless chicken and fish. So the first step for successfully frying pan cooking is to properly heat it. This should be done over medium or medium high heat so it heats gradually and evenly.

As the metal sheets molecules begin to expand and move into all directions. This movement causes the pause in the middle to open and close. For example if you put peppers into the frying pan and heat up the peppercorns begin to move radically. This radical move means that at this stage frying pan is not hot enough. If food dropped onto the surface of the frying pan on this stage opening and closing pores will bite the surface of the food. This will cause the food to stick and even tear.

When the metal reaches high enough temperature the movement of the pause subsite. Which will prevent the food from sticking. You can see that by shaking the pan if it is meat it will not stick. Nor does it speak when you try to flip it. Also note nice and even color i it has, which is exactly what you want. It's really that simple. Properly heated pan will make all the frying enjoy full.

A simple of water test experiment can show if the frying pan is in the right temperature before adding the oil. As the pan and heat up add a spoon of water every 15 seconds. As you can see if the pan is cold water will not do anything. But as the pan heats up the water will start steam and eventually evaporate and bubble. As it continues to seek it will steam and bubble even quicker. Soon the bubbles will start evaporate as soon as the water touches the pan.
When the water is added it starts to disperse. As the pan is near to property water starts perform the bubbles almost like the military balls on the surfers. If there are still many small balls wipe the pan dry, wait a few more seconds and try again.

When the pan is in the proper temperature the the Mercury like ball will fall almost immediately with no or very few other small balls of water. This will mean that pan is ready for the oil. Sticking will not occur because like the Mercury ball for food will glide along the surfers off the pan. If the water spreads immediately this is the indicator that pan is too hot. Allow the pan to cool slightly and continue with a water test until you reach the Mercury like ball stage. As soon as you reach this stage your pan is on the perfect temperature to proceed. However the pan will overheat very quickly so it is essential that you are ready with the oil and the food.

The second step to preparing pan for cooking is to add oil. It is important to use oil with the highest smoking point meaning that the oil can tolerate high heat of at least 450 Fahrenheit. After the water test don't be tempted to wait for the water to evaporate as the pan will quickly overheat. Wipe the pan dry as any water will cost the hot oil flatter. To prevent your pan from overheating it is best to lower slightly the heat before adding any order. A common misconception with cooking on a stainless pan is that you need to use a lot of oil to stop the food from sticking. But this is not true. Once the pan is properly heated you need only enough oil to lightly coat the pan. When you tilt it there should be no more than a spoon full of oil that pools on the side. When you add oil it should start to shimmer and create lines similar to the lakes found on the on the glass of wine.
Next look for small wisps of smoke. As soon as you see the first wisp of smoke this indicates the perfect temperature and the footer should be added immediately. If the oil smokes immediately or if it smokes too much the pan is too hot. Quickly remove the pan from the heat source and pour the oil into the ball. Let the pen color bit off the heat and wipe clean with paper towel. This is necessary as the oil has been damaged due to overheating. So it is best to start over. So remember the oil should shimmer, formlakes and as soon as you see smoke this will indicate that pan and oil are incorrect temperature.

The next step is to immediately add the food before the pan gets any hotter. When 10 frying there are only a few things to remember when adding food to the pan. First, the ingredients should be properly prepared. This means the food should be dry, wet or moist food will steam in the pan and not form desired crust and flavor. This is also when frozen or near cold food don't cook properly as they have too much moisture as they cook. They also rapidly bring the temperature of the pan down, which prolongs the cooking time and also prevents the food cooking properly and evenly.
The second thing to learn is not overcrowd the pan. If you add too many ingredients into the pan this will rapidly bring the temperature down, this will cause the food to stick boil or steam and prevent it caramelizing evenly. Also because the pan temperature has been lowered it will prevent the other side from caramelizing. This is why pan frying is done in patches. Finally went adding ingredients into the hot pan they should always place away from you to prevent splattering. They should also placed presentation site down as the first side gets the best color. Make sure to arrange the food in a single layer for maximum surface contact. This allows the ingredients to a brown caramelize properly and also leaves enough room in between for any moisture to evaporate.


Learning to control pan temperature is key when the pan frying. The goal is to cook food through to create crispy golden color without burning or overcooking the food. An important thing to keep in mind when pan frying is the thickness of the ingredient. Generally the thicker or bigger ingredient takes longer period of time to cook. This is why many thicker ingredients are first pan fried to form a nice crispy and then they are placed into oven to finish. This allows surrounding heat to cook all sides. Thinner or smaller ingredients should be cooked quicker over higher heat. Therefore they could be cooked entirely pan frying. Another thing to keep in mind is controlling and adjusting the heat when frying cooking. Higher heat will burn the food quickly before it is cooked through. High heat will also borrow those desired seaks and pan juices which otherwise could be turned into great souce. Lower heat will prevent the food from coloring nicely which also results in less seaks. Low heat will also make a longer cooking time which can potentially toughen or overcooked the food. So how do you know when to adjust the heat. The main indicator and experience cook users must use is to listen to sizzling sound which is the sound of the food moisture and steam reacting with the pan and hot oil. an intense sizzling sound high heat and fast browning this is generally the type of heat used in restaurants when cooks are rarely experienced and needed to cook things quickly. For the home cook a gently sizzling sound is generally more desirable. As this indicates more gradual browning in the cooking of the food. The little or no sizzling sound means the pan and boil are not hot enough a very little or no browning will take place. In this case the heat will need to be turned up.

A very loud popping and sizzling with smoke means the pan is too hot and the food is maybe burning instead of browning. In this case you would need either lower the heat or even better remove the pan from the heat. So listen to the sizzle and keep in mind fact experienced chef will continuously vary the heat as they cook. So if the recipe says high heat don't take it literally. Trust your instincts and listen and watch for those valuable keys of cooking. Ask yourself is this a good sizzle? He is the food getting nice and even color craft? By paying attention to the slight changes sound and color you quickly learn when to adjust the heat and how to maintain the ideal temperature.

When pan frying you generally need to make sure that the first side which is presentation side gets the first crispy, color before flipping it to another side. With a properly heated pan many ingredients will slide along the oil very easily as soon as they are added to the pan. With the smaller ingredients of this may take a couple of minutes. As always when pan frying meats be sure to rest them before serving.
Now you can see that stainless steel pans are not that difficult to use as long as you use them properly. And one of the main advantages of pan frying in a stainless steel pan is that it leaves behind delicious caramelized bits or souks which can be used to create quick and delicious souce. This is why it is important to take care from the beginning to the end when pan frying. So remember to keep the pan properly and then add the oil. Once the oil shimmers at your ingredients and listen to those key caters and sounds to obtain a beautiful golden crafts.