Despite not having a coating, there are still steps you need to take to ensure a long life for your Stainless Steel (SS) cookware. Each brand will come with their own care information booklet so it’s best to follow their instructions, but here’s a few simple rules to follow!
You can find Scanpan’s SS care instructions below:
Cleaning:
– Wash with hot soapy water before your first use
– Don’t use harsh metal scourers when cleaning your SS, even though it doesn’t have a coating, it can still cut into the surface! Metal scourers leave tiny scratches in the surface of your cookware, creating more areas for food and food residue to stick.
– To prevent warping, make sure that the pan is completely cool before exposing to cold water. A sharp temperature change can cause the metal to warp out of shape.
– SS cookware is mostly dishwasher safe (brand dependant), however, it is ALWAYS recommended to handwash your cookware to ensure the longest possible life.
– Make sure you’re cookware is completely dry before storing, this prevents the formation of rust spots.
– For optimum performance, make sure all foot fat and residue are removed from the cookware.
– As the name suggests, stainless steel is stain’less’ not stain’proof’, so to remove any unwanted food stains use a good quality stainless steel cleaner, or a paste using 2tbs of bi-carb soda and a dash of water.
General Use:
– Make sure that you avoid putting your SS on excessive high heat. Try to keep it on moderate heat at the most.
– Never cut food on the stainless steel cookware.
– When storing your SS cookware, if stacking something on top use paper towel or felt pads to place in between to protect your cooking surface.
Gas Cooktop:
– Always make sure that the flame doesn’t extend up the sides of the cookware. This could potentially damage the sides of the cookware, as well as the handles.
Induction and Electric Cooktop:
– Before use, make sure the stovetop and the base of the cookware is clean. Otherwise, permanent marks can be left on the base of the cookware.
Other Tips:
– To reduce the amount of sticking on your SS cookware, try to avoid moving around the food. This will let the food brown and create a crust, that can then be moved without much residue being left behind.
– After a couple of uses, you might notice a bluish brown sheen appear on the surface of you cookware. This is what’s called ‘heat tint’. It’s completely normal for your SS, and it doesn’t affect the performance at all. It’s simply a result from the pan being heated too quickly. It can be removed using a bi-carb soda slurry (2tbs bi-card mixed with a dash of water to form a paste) and a gentle cleaning cloth.
