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The original was posted on /r/askculinary by /u/Nickislike on 2023-09-12 13:38:41.

I understand that in order to prevent food from sticking to my stainless steel, I need to heat the pan to (at least) the temperature required for the Leidenfrost effect. I’ve read online that this is because the pores in stainless steel will be fully closed at that point and then the food/oil won’t seep into the pores and the pores contract with oil contained in them. Or something like that.

But what if i want to cook at a temperature lower than the dancing-water-beads temperature? If i preheat the pan to the leidenfrost temperature, then lower it to low and begin cooking, will the pores not open up for food/oil to seep into? Or is my only option to deal with difficult cleanup?

Specifically, can i scramble eggs in a stainless steel pan without an excessive amount of butter and having to scrape the pan? Would i: preheat, lower temp, add butter, add egg mixture, scramble slowly with pan tilt? Or would i: preheat, add butter, lower temp, add egg mixture? Surely the second option would burn the butter, wouldn’t it?