Why it sticks
At a microscopic level a metal pan is rough, full of pits and scratches. Proteins in food form chemical bonds with the metal surface and settle into those pits, and pulling the food away tears it.
Hot oil fills the pits and forms a barrier. Heat matters as much as the oil, though: a cold pan lets food settle into contact before the oil can do anything, and the proteins bond before a crust forms.
The other half is patience. A protein-rich food — fish, chicken skin, steak — bonds to the pan at first and then releases itself as the surface dehydrates and a crust forms. Try to move it before that and it tears; wait, and it lifts freely. Almost every stuck fish fillet was moved too soon.
The order that works
- Heat the empty pan first, until it is genuinely hot. A drop of water should skitter and evaporate rather than sitting and bubbling.
- Now add the oil, and let it heat until it shimmers and flows thinly. Adding oil to a cold pan and heating them together works less well — the oil sits in the pits rather than being pushed across them.
- Dry the food thoroughly. Wet food steams, and a steaming surface will not form the crust that releases it.
- Lay the food in away from you and leave it completely alone.
- Wait. Test by nudging one edge gently after a minute or two — if it resists, it is not ready; if it lifts, it is.
- Turn once. Repeated turning is how food sticks and tears.
Which pan for what
- Eggs and pancakes
- Non-stick, always. There is no benefit to proving a point here.
- Fish with skin
- Heavy stainless or well-seasoned cast iron, very hot. Skin-side down, pressed flat for the first few seconds so it does not curl.
- Steak and chops
- Cast iron or heavy stainless. Non-stick cannot take the heat and gives no fond.
- Anything you want a pan sauce from
- Never non-stick. The sticking is the sauce — see deglazing.
- Delicate things like scallops
- Heavy stainless, hot, dry, and left alone.
- Sticky sugary sauces
- Heavy base, lower heat, and stir. Nothing stops sugar catching except attention.
Seasoning and looking after a pan
- Cast iron and carbon steel build a natural non-stick layer through seasoning: a very thin film of oil heated past its smoke point, repeated. The film polymerises into a hard, slick coating.
- Wipe on the thinnest possible film — the commonest mistake is too much oil, which goes sticky rather than hard.
- Cook fatty things in a new pan early on. Bacon and chips season a pan beautifully.
- Do not soak them, do not put them in a dishwasher, and dry them immediately on the hob.
- Acidic foods — tomato, wine, lemon — strip seasoning. Use stainless for those.
- Stainless steel cannot be seasoned in the same way, but it does develop a smoother surface with use, and the heat-then-oil method works well on it.
Common questions
My fish always sticks. What am I doing wrong?
Almost certainly moving it too early, or a wet skin, or a pan that was not hot enough. In that order.
Does the water-droplet test really work?
Yes. Below temperature, a drop spreads and boils. At the right temperature it forms a ball and skitters across the surface.
Can I fix a pan that everything sticks to?
Scrub off the built-up residue, then re-season if it is cast iron or carbon steel. Discoloured but smooth stainless is fine.
Is oil or butter better?
Oil for high heat, because butter burns. Add butter at the end for flavour.
Try this next
- Frying pan materials
- Pan-frying the technique
- How to choose cookware buying the right pan
- Deglazing when sticking is the point