# Cooks: why "hot pan/cold oil"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167 "2009-02-24T04:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/1 "2009-02-24T04:58:34Z")
I’ve always heard that it’s “technically” correct, when sauteing, to heat the pan, then put the oil in, rather than heating the oil along with the pan. Why is this? I must confess to ignorance on the reason for this. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/2 "2009-02-24T05:03:02Z")
The saying I know is “Hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick.” So that’s the why, but I don’t know the physics/chemistry behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Peste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Doctor\_Peste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Peste)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/3 "2009-02-24T05:10:47Z")
“This mantra is repeated by many people as the best way to prevent food from sticking to the pan when sautéing or stir frying. The idea is that you heat up the pan first then add the cold oil and almost immediately add the food. This works of course, so it is not a myth in that it is untrue. It is, however, false to think that this is the only or the best way to prevent sticking. What you really want is “hot pan, hot oil” and that’s what you are actually getting because the cold oil heats up almost instantly when added to the hot pan. You’ll get the same results if you heat the oil along with the pan rather than adding the oil at the last minute. In fact some cooks prefer this technique because the appearance of the oil in the pan can give you some indication of when the pan has reached the proper temperature.” [http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm](http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm) However, I will say that in my own (very lmited, broke-slacker-college-student) experience, doing otherwise often resulted in lots of hot, smoky, stinking, carcinogenic oil on my old stovetop. Your mileage may vary. According to the above, it doesn’t really matter anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/4 "2009-02-24T05:17:48Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > The saying I know is “Hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick.” That’s how Jeff Smith used to say it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/5 "2009-02-24T05:27:00Z")
I found this, but it’s speculation: > [@](#): > > … I have an idea, but fair warning, it is total speculation. Here goes: > > First, this saying originated back before DuPont’s Teflon ™, when the key to non-sticking was a good “seasoned” pan. As anyone who owns an old cast iron griddle or a (non-DuPont’s Teflon ™) wok know, a seasoned pan has a nice coating of oil more or less cooked onto the surface. Those lipids in the oil have both hydrophobic (water-repelling) and hydrophilic (water-“loving”) parts to them. I wonder if the hydrophilic parts of the pan do not get into the act while the pan is stored. Perhaps they attract water molecules from the environment. Now, when you heat the pan, those water molecules are driven off, and then you add the oil. But, perhaps if you add the oil to the cold pan, those water molecules remain trapped with the seasoning coating on the pan, even as the oil heats. Now if you add food, maybe (lots of maybes here) the hydrophilic parts of the food molecules are attracted to the moisture trapped in the layer at the bottom… Maybe they even become covalently bonded to them at the proteins in the food heat up and denature. That would result in sticking. Is anyone buying this? I would be interested to know what you think of this theory. > > PS. I see from your address that you are in a chemistry department. One might be able to test this idea by rinsing a cold, stored pan with a dehydrating agent, such as 100% ethanol, and then adding oil to the cold pan. > > \ > > Paul Mahoney, PhD ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Peste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Doctor\_Peste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Peste)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/6 "2009-02-24T05:43:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I found this, but it’s speculation: … hm. There’s a good chance that the bulb I need to operate my Vis-Spec won’t be in tomorrow, giving me several hours in a laboratory. During which I’ll be bored. Now all I need is some cooking oil, a buttload of pans, and some co-workers who can keep a secret. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/7 "2009-02-24T07:45:36Z")
I have tried heating the pan with the oil, and measuring the temp to see if is hot, and in my experience, food is much more likely to stick. It is also safer to use the hot pan cold oil. For one thing, you can determine the temperature of the hot dry pan by drizzling water in it. The water should skitter if it is hot enough, that is hot enough to cause flash vaporization. When you have the oil in first, drizzling water result in hot oil spatter, yet flash vaporization is what you want to check for. You want your oil to be hot enough to turn the water in your food to steam. This pushes the oil out, so your food is less greasy too. The secret of frying is to keep the oil hot enough to cause this steaming from within yet cool enough that it cooks the food evenly and does not catch fire. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/8 "2009-02-24T14:58:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > That’s how Jeff Smith used to say it. Ah yes, I could not for the life of me remember where I’d heard it that way. Too bad about the scandals and all; I really enjoyed his show. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/9 "2009-02-24T15:03:28Z")
I’ve not had a problem with either method resulting in sticking. The sensible answer to this is that if you put oil in a pan, turn on the burner, and then become distracted, you could have a kitchen fire (my wife is my cite, on more than one occasion). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/10 "2009-02-24T15:31:41Z")
> [@lee](#): > > When you have the oil in first, drizzling water result in hot oil spatter, yet flash vaporization is what you want to check for. You want your oil to be hot enough to turn the water in your food to steam. When I put oil in a cold pan and heat it with the pan, I don’t put any water in to see if it will sizzle. I look for the oil doing the slight “shimmer” on the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/11 "2009-02-24T15:55:50Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > When I put oil in a cold pan and heat it with the pan, I don’t put any water in to see if it will sizzle. I look for the oil doing the slight “shimmer” on the surface. Yup. The convective “oil dance”. This is what I use as well. Thanks for the answers, guys! So it’s not as cut and dried as I would have believed, eh? Also, wait a sec. Cooking oil doesn’t have a hydrophilic end, does it? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/12 "2009-02-24T17:08:32Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Ah yes, I could not for the life of me remember where I’d heard it that way. Too bad about the scandals and all; I really enjoyed his show. Donn’t really care about the Jeff Smith scandals, what I objected to was the seriously sloppy fact checking on a number of his books. I gave up on the “3 Ancient Cuisines” one after I found over 300 factoids that were incorrect. As a hoot I sent the list to his publisher, with information on primary and secondary documentation information and a suggestion that they needed a new research assistant. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/13 "2009-02-24T17:10:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’ve not had a problem with either method resulting in sticking. Yes, but you use nonstick cookware, don’t you? (Or was it someone else who said sauces made in nonstick were just as good and you weren’t giving up your nonstick pans? I’m not stalking you, I swear!) Stickiness aside, hot pan, cold oil is how I avoid burning my oil. If the pan’s hot, the oil goes in and heats just as much as it needs to before I add the next ingredient. If I put the oil in the cold pan, it often overheats (and smokes, as **Doctor Peste** discovered) before I’m actually ready for it. Overheated oil has more trans fats, so it’s less healthy, and it tastes weird. That’s not, if you’ll pardon the copyright infringement, good eats. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/14 "2009-02-24T17:28:33Z")
Shirley Corriher explains why it is best to heat your pan, then add the oil, then heat it as well before adding food. Something about the pores of the metal closing up when it is heated, or some such. I’ll try and dig up my copy of Cookwise, or see if McGee has anything to say on the subject. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Overheated oil has more trans fats, so it’s less healthy, and it tastes weird. That’s not, if you’ll pardon the copyright infringement, good eats. I think that’s a myth, but I don’t know for sure. [Here](http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/howtransform.html) is an article on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/15 "2009-02-24T17:41:27Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I think that’s a myth, but I don’t know for sure. > > [Here](http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/howtransform.html) is an article on the subject. :smack: No, it’s me being an idiot and mixing up my terms from Nutrition class. I meant free radicals, not trans fats. Thanks for that link, though, it’s a very good article! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/16 "2009-02-24T17:53:55Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > :smack: No, it’s me being an idiot and mixing up my terms from Nutrition class. I meant free radicals, not trans fats. Thanks for that link, though, it’s a very good article! I thought James Bond killed all the free radicals? And yes, I love my nonstick stuff. ::glares agressively at WhyNot:: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/17 "2009-02-24T17:58:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > ::glares agressively at WhyNot:: Eh, I don’t worry. With my properly cared for and used stainless steel pans, not even your aggressive glares stick to me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Carson\_O\_Genic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Carson\_O\_Genic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carson_O_Genic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-why-hot-pan-cold-oil/487167/18 "2009-02-24T19:13:27Z")
I’d venture this highlights the adage, “heat oil to point of fragrance” prior to food addition whether the pan is or isn’t hot initially.