Why Food Sticks To The Pan And How To Avoid It

In this article, learn more about Why Food Sticks To The Pan And How To Avoid It. Every housewife faces the same problem - food sticks to the pan during cooking..

Every housewife faces the same problem - food sticks to the pan during cooking. And the solution, it would seem, is simple - to buy an expensive and high-quality non-stick pan. But even she is not able to help in some cases. Therefore, we have selected for you a few life hacks that will help you avoid trouble in the kitchen.

 

What's the matter

Why does food stick to the pan at all? No, it's not a lack of culinary talent or skill, but chemistry. During heating or cooking, the molecules on the surface of the food react with the molecules in the pan, which is what causes the food to stick.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the right pan for your taste:

If you don’t want to suffer with fried fish or vegetables, take a non-stick pan. But be sure to lubricate it with oil - at least a little, so that the life of the pan is long. Cast iron pans with their recesses often stick to different foods if you do not know how to prepare the pan for frying. Cast iron must be thoroughly heated, and then generously greased with oil - so that it gets into all the recesses and depressions on the surface of the pan.

 

Steel pans are suitable only for pros - almost everything sticks to their surface. The fact is that the steel pan needs to be heated evenly and set to the ideal temperature - only after that generously grease it with oil and start cooking. Otherwise, sticky food cannot be avoided.

What to do?

A universal way to avoid sticky food in a pan is to cook it in oil. Nothing new, you say. But the oil must be properly heated - so that it almost smokes, but does not boil. In this case, it will spread and protect the surface of the pan and food.

 

Keep in mind that all the food in the pan absorbs some of the heat, and the oil doesn't get as hot (hence, it doesn't coat the pan as well). That is why it is worth giving preference to a pan with a thick bottom - it keeps the temperature better. Do not fill the pan with food to the brim - it is better to fry the food in small portions. Then they will turn out more beautiful, and the likelihood of them sticking to the pan (and to each other) will decrease significantly. Before cooking, remove excess moisture from food - this can be done with a regular paper towel.

 

When cooking vegetables and meats, stir them regularly or shake the pan so that the oil is evenly distributed in the pan and the food does not have time to stick. If pancakes are stuck, grease the pan more abundantly with oil and heat it well; if cutlets stick, add a little water. If none of the above helps, use a win-win option: line the bottom of the pan with parchment. Simply cut out a circle the size of a frying pan, line the bottom with it, and proceed with regular frying in hot oil. Products will no longer stick, checked.