All-Clad Factory Seconds: 3-Quart Saute Pan w/ Lid / D3 Stainless Expired

How do you keep things from sticking? All my old non stick cookware is like 20 yrs old and needs replacing. I've always avoided stainless because things tend to stick to it.

How do you keep things from sticking? All my old non stick cookware is like 20 yrs old and needs replacing. I've always avoided stainless because things tend to stick to it.

There are 3 reasons why food sticks in a stainless steel pan:
1) Improper heating of the pan
2) Not using enough fat
3) Putting cold food in the pan

1. Heat up the dry pan over Medium heat until the pan is hot.
You can tell if the pan is hot enough by flinging a few drops of water off your fingertips into the pan.
If the water dances around the pan in little balls, it's at the right temperature. (The Liedenfrost effect)
If the water slowly boils away, heat the pan more.
If the water explodes on contact, turn the heat down and let the pan cool a little.

2. Add your fat to the pan. Use enough cooking oil (extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, etc).
If adding butter, you will need to use either lower heat, or clarified butter (ghee).
Swirl the oil around the pan once and let the oil come up to temperature.
You can tell the oil is at the right temperature if it starts shimmering or barely smoking.
If it starts smoking, you've gone too hot - wipe out the pan and start again.

3. Put your room-temperature food in the pan. Cold food will make it stick. You want it to start sizzling right away, that puts a very thin layer of steam under the food essentially lifting it up off the surface of the pan. Resist the urge to move the food around! Let it sit it one place and it will release itself when it's ready. (You can poke at it a little to see if it's ready to release). Flip and cook the other side the same way.

P.S. Once you take the food out of the pan, deglaze it with some water or wine or something. Those "burned on" spots are the tasty bits.

Hope that helps!

If I try to do this with ground beef it always sticks to the bottom and those stick bits wind up burning.

If I try to do this with ground beef it always sticks to the bottom and those stick bits wind up burning.

badress is well intentioned (and correct for many situations), but his advice oversimplifies things. As I said above, check out some instructional videos. Sometimes starting with a cold pan can be great. And remember that sticking isn't always bad, that what's sticking now may release if you give it a few more minutes, and that what appears to be burning can actually be the foundation of a very flavorful dish. Cooking on stainless is just different.

I made a killer chicken/rice dish this week in an All-Clad saute pan, starting with 4 large chicken thighs skin-side down in a cold pan with no oil or butter at all. They stuck like hell, and intuition might say to abort and save the chicken. If I tried to move them, it would have been a disastrous mess. But I knew to just leave them for as long as it took for them to release on their own, which probably took 10 minutes. Now the skin was crackling and the rendered fat was in the pan, ready to cook the aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, carrot). Then the same on the other side. Then the aromatics. Then the rice. And now the bottom of the pan is nearly black again. But I add some wine and some stock, and with a little stirring, everything loosens up, and I cover it and put it in the oven (can't do that with nonstick), and out comes an incredibly delicious one-pot meal, and it slides right out of the shiny pan. Nothing sticking to the bottom. No scrubbing required.

As I said above, maybe this isn't for you, but this is how experienced cooks make delicious food. You can't do these things in a non-stick coated pan. But you do have to learn, and probably make some mistakes along the way. I'm still learning, and I've been cooking on stainless for decades.

Are stainless and D3 stainless different? If yes what the difference?

D3= 3 ply
D5 = 5 ply

The more plying the more heat retention. I generally like copper core with my stainless, but it depends on your use.

It's really more about weight than about counting plies.

Fun fact: Different manufacturers count plies differently. All-Clad D3 has 5 plies, if you count the way some other manufacturers do. It's all in the sticky FAQ thread linked above.

It's really more about weight than about counting plies.

Fun fact: Different manufacturers count plies differently. All-Clad D3 has 5 plies, if you count the way some other manufacturers do. It's all in the sticky FAQ thread linked above.

Thanks and I do understand the actual differences between construction mechanisms. Wondering why all clad names some items as D3 stainless and some as just stainless steel. Someone else in this thread commented that it's just a difference in description and that all clad doesn't make pans and pots that are just stainless steel and not at least 3-ply

badress is well intentioned (and correct for many situations), but his advice oversimplifies things. As I said above, check out some instructional videos. Sometimes starting with a cold pan can be great. And remember that sticking isn't always bad, that what's sticking now may release if you give it a few more minutes, and that what appears to be burning can actually be the foundation of a very flavorful dish. Cooking on stainless is just different.

I made a killer chicken/rice dish this week in an All-Clad saute pan, starting with 4 large chicken thighs skin-side down in a cold pan with no oil or butter at all. They stuck like hell, and intuition might say to abort and save the chicken. If I tried to move them, it would have been a disastrous mess. But I knew to just leave them for as long as it took for them to release on their own, which probably took 10 minutes. Now the skin was crackling and the rendered fat was in the pan, ready to cook the aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, carrot). Then the same on the other side. Then the aromatics. Then the rice. And now the bottom of the pan is nearly black again. But I add some wine and some stock, and with a little stirring, everything loosens up, and I cover it and put it in the oven (can't do that with nonstick), and out comes an incredibly delicious one-pot meal, and it slides right out of the shiny pan. Nothing sticking to the bottom. No scrubbing required.

As I said above, maybe this isn't for you, but this is how experienced cooks make delicious food. You can't do these things in a non-stick coated pan. But you do have to learn, and probably make some mistakes along the way. I'm still learning, and I've been cooking on stainless for decades.