Why would this be true?
Daniel
Can’t remember where I heard it – might have been Jeff Smith – but I’ve been following it ever since and it seems to hold. I don’t know the science behind it. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen instructions to the contrary in a recipe. YMMV, etc.
After reading the previous posts I decided to research the recommended procedure for heating up a skillet for cooking onions and other foods. The best reference I found was in the America’s Test Kitchen book The Best New Recipe regarding recommendations for pan-roasting:[ul]
[li]The best indicator of when the skillet is ready is using the oil itself as an indicator.[/li][li]Add the oil to the cold skillet and heat until the oil reaches its smoke point.[/li][li]Oils do not have the same smoke point. Extra virgin olive oil (and other unrefined oils) has a low smoke point and is therefore not a good oil to use for cooking (you should use regular olive oil). Refined oils, like canola, corn, vegetable have smoke points above 400-degrees. [/li][li]Using smoke point is only a good indicator for browning and searing in a small amount of oil. Smoking oil is simply too hot for pan frying or deep frying.[/li][li]Use an exhaust fan when cooking this way.[/li][/ul]
While their recommendations are specifically geared toward pan roasting they also go on to recommend the same procedure of pouring cold oil into a cold skillet and then applying heat. They claim to have conducted multiple tests regarding the taste of the differnet ways of heating up and preparing the oil/pan for cooking and the above is their recommendations.
It’s also possible that some confusion regarding methodologies arises because of the recommendations made, over the years, by the cookware manufacturers who warn that discoloration may occur when heating a skillet or pot with nothing in it. I seem to recall a host of similar cautions particularly being made for non-stick cookware over the years.
I hope this helps or at leasts provides further fuel for debate!
I certainly first heard the “hot pan, cold oil” etc. shtik from the Frug.
The Chris Kimball “Test Kitchen” stuff sounds OK for roasting – common-sense advice. Speaking as someone who owns and has read at least 4+ years of his magazine, “Cook’s Illustrated,” while I agree with the principle of their tests, I find the resulting recommendations and recipes to not be trustworthy. It is, however, one of the best food resources available, especially for a semi-serious home cook interested in expanding his or her repertoire. The “best” techniques also tend to vary from year to year, as in their several recommendations for preparing cheesecakes. There is, however, a 2004 recipe for preparing thinnish pork rib chops which begins cooking in a cold pan + cold oil which is a nice idea that works well for me.
For me, I don’t think it matters a great deal at what temperature the oil begins and the pan ends, for frying onions. An idiot-proof technique for me might include a large cast-iron skillet, preheated. Although iron is a poor conductor, it just seems more forgiving of mistakes when frying up some onions or such, for some reason. Combine with a wooden spatula or a silicone spatula and you’ve really got to work very hard to fail at preparing simple vegetables. A thin pan of any sort will guarantee failure, IMO, which may be the reason the OP failed to cook onions in the first place.
Heres the reasoning behind the hot pan, cold oil thing. Food doesn’t stick to a pan because the proteins on the bottom coagulate and caremelise immediately upon hitting the hot oil and form a protective layer before it touches the metal. If the oil temperature is too low, the protein will hit the pan first and coagutate on that causing sticky food. Thus, the likelyhood of food sticking decreases as oil temperature increases. However, taking oil past the smoke point introduces bitter and acrid components which are undesirable.
Thus, the ideal saute should be done with the oil being kept exactly 1 degree below the smokepoint at all times. Lets say your oil smokes at 400F and your food is at 80F. using the hot oil approach, you heat the pan and the oil until both are at 399F then you add the 80F food. The oil then drops down to, say 250F due to the cold food and slowly rises again to 399F. This is disaterous becaust 250F is below the boiling point of water so your actually stewing your food and not sauteing. Under the cold oil approach, you first heat the pan up to, say 700F. Then you rapidly add a small amount of oil, wait till the oil just heats up to 399F in a few seconds, at which point your pan might be 680F and then add the 80F food. The food will be cooling down the oil but the pan will be simultaneously be heating up the oil. If you do this right, you can keep the oil at a fairly stable temperature around 350F. However, such an approach requires considerably more skill from the chef as there are quite a few factors to take into account of and all must be juggled correctly. This might be why the CI chefs advocate the hot oil approach since it’s much more foolproof for the average chef and should produce still decent results if done correctly.
So how do you more successfully hot oil saute? Well, you could increase the amount of oil, this would increase the thermal inertia but lead to more greasy food unless you drain it. You could buy more expensive pans. Pans with significant amounts of copper or aluminium (the thin copper sheet on most copper pans doesn’t count) hold heat much better than stainless steel which leads to less of a temperature drop. You could buy heavier pans. Cast iron is very good for sauteing because it can hold an absurd amount of heat, similarly heavy SS or copper pans are better than light ones for the same reason. You could use a bigger burner. A bigger burner helps with recovery time once you add the food in. One trick is to start the pan on medium until you see wisps of smoke, then add the food and immediately crank it up to high, then, once you again see wisps of smoke, to drop the burner back down to medium-high so the oil doesn’t burn. But this requires more skill than the generic hot-oil method which keeps the heat constant. Finally, you could cook less food at a time, in other words, cook in batches. This minimises the temperature drop from the food. This is probably the most practical approach for most people but I find it a major pain in the ass.
In summary, the hot oil approach can be used successfully and is far easier to do than the cold oil approach but you must keep in mind that you will never duplicate the cold oil approach done by an experienced chef if you use the hot oil approach. In most cases, if you follow the appropriate steps, the results can be very close, but there are some dishes which are simply impossible under the cold oil approach.
Oh, and for free, general knowledge on how to cook, I reccomend you read through the absurdly good eCGI course of eGullet. I’ve not yet found a single paper based cookbook that goes into as much detail on stovetop cookware or stock making or knife skills as the eCGI classes and it’s absolutely astounding that such a thing could have been produced purely by voulenteers. And the best part is, if you have a question, no matter how stupid, you can ask it yourself in the Q&A and the author or some other expert will likely get back to you. In fact, if you have a stupid question, it’s likely already been asked by someone else.
I highly, highly reccomend the eCGI to anybody who loves to cook, amateur or 3 star michelin chef.
… eCGI courses …
Bolding added for emphasis!
First of all - “caramelization is the name given to to the chemical reactions that occur whan any sugar is heated to the point that its molecules begin to break apart.” as stated by Harold McGee in his book On Food and Cooking.
Secondly - the boiling point of water at one atmosphere pressure (14.696 psi or 29.92 inches of mercury) is 212-degrees F.
Third point - how does one know when you have reached exactly 399-degrees? If your pan is at 700-degrees then you are going to heat the oil to 700 degress or at least you will try before it all vaporizes. The distinction between 399 and 400 degress (in your analogy) is so minute as to be indistinguishable. The process of heat transfer for most modern pots and pans will reach an equilibrium between the temperature of the pan and the food and that is why you have knobs on the burners. The process you are trying to describe is the one that I was describing regarding pan roasting where you control the flame temeperature to the smoking point and provide the most rapid cooking of the food.
Fourth point - the issue with the metals used is not the temperature drop experienced when adding food ( there is nothing you can really do about that per se) but rather the issue is the degree to which the metal and the pan evenly distributes and conducts heat. The beauty of modern metals is that the walls of a saute pan will be just as hot as the bottom.
one more thing I will second is get a couple of quality knives.
I have one straight edge and one serrated edge knife and with just those 2 I can get by absolutely fine. dull knives are a pain in the ass to work with and are indeed more dangerous to the chef than a sharp knife due to slippage and the extra effort required to cut difficult stuff.
get a slow cooker/crockpot and try some easy recipies, possibly the most forgiving way for a new cook to start out.
a rice cooker is sweet as well, easy to use/clean and much easier than using a pot/timer.
some nonstick pans and servingwear, I refuse to go back to plain cast iron or normal metal pans, clean up is about 90980870987098% easier with nonstick.
look for things you use alot of. Costco sells peeled garlic in big ass plastic jars you can refridgerate or freeze and have fresh garlic (yeah frozen whatever) on hand instead of the hassel of peeling and sepparating all the time. they also have sundried tomatoes in olive oil in a large jar that refridgerates nicely.
forgive the errors, I am a bit hung over here.
Totally. No need for a full set of cutlery. I use a cheap Tramontina stainless steel 10" chef’s knife (basically disposable – I have three more in my pantry just like it, at well under $10 per knife. they respond well to honing, however), a large, heavy, cheap cleaver, and a paring knife for everything.
Thanks for the clean-up job on the otherwise informative post by Shalmanese, Waterman. Certainly, no, professional chefs cannot heat oil to within 1 degree F of accuracy, no better than a home cook.
However, Shalmanese was perfectly correct in that certain pans or pots retain heat better than others. The reason people like me still use cast iron skillets, very heavy stainless steel pans with or without copper or aluminum cores or components, and heavy, deep skillets like woks or Le Creuset-style dutch ovens, is that they retain heat extremely well. If conductivity were the only important property of a pan, then no one would bother with the thermal mass of a material like, say, cast iron, since it’s such a comparatively poor conductor of heat.
eGCI +1000. Great series, great Q&A sessions, great forum. Every single course I’ve seen has been a winner, with high-quality pictures, intelligent (if sometimes arguable) commentary, and responsive, courteous lecturers willing to respond to comments and questions from the peanut gallery. The founders of the forum also are laudable models for how to operate and moderate a forum on a topic which attracts more than its share of zealots, politicians, ignorati, and khakhomim.
What you are pointing out is correct but there are two different issues regarding the materials used for making pots/pans. I prefer to use a sandwiched stainless steel/aluminum pots and pans because after many years of cooking on other materials I find the ability to evenly distribute heat very important. The other advantage regarding metal pots/pans over non-stick is that it is virtually impossible to deglaze a non stick pan.
The second point, as you have observed, is that cast iron, while very slow to heat up, retains the heat exceptionally well without necessarily evenly distributing the heat. This is the principle reason for why cast iron skillets have stayed on the market as long as they have.
However for many of the dishes that I prepare, cast iron would not be a good choice since I am looking for the ability, for example, to rapidly bring something to a boil and then instantaneoulsy lower the temperature to a slow simmer. I can’t do that with cast iron as it would most likely continue to boil.
I guess in the long run that it comes down to the types of cooking that you’re most likely to be doing and what best suits that style. That’s why they offer the choices that are out there.
And the maillard reaction is given to a similar albeit completely distinct process when sugar and protein is heated up together and form a completely different set of chemical compounds. Under the common vernacular, both are called caremelisation/browning but they involve different chemical pathways. Just FYI.
Next time, I will stop being so courteous to Americans and use the measurement systems God intended ;).
I was demonstrating an idealised condition. In reality, you would never get it that close but the principle is the same. Oil takes time to reach equilibrium with the pan. Hence, the need to put the food in almost immediately after the oil so it has no chance to go above 400F. Heavy, copper or cast iron pans can often contain a significant amount of latent heat within them. It is this property you are exploiting with cold oil sauteing. In fact, ignore the oil completely, it’s not relevant to the equation heatwise, it’s purely there for lubrication. Take a good, heavy pot and put it on your burner for 10 minutes. Then, take it completely off the burner and sear a couple of steaks in it. The residual heat should be good for at least one steak if not two. I know because I’ve done it in situations where I couldn’t sear steak indoors.
Different metals have different specific heat capacities. which affect how much of a temperature drop they experience for the addition of a given amount of food.
I was specifically talking about a saute and the difference between the hot oil and cold oil method. Evenness, though important, is probably not as important as heat retention in this case since saute items move around the pan regularly. But evenness is a nice bonus as well. Check out Understanding Stovetop Cookware from eCGI for more info.
Get The Joy of Cooking and The New Basics Cookbook. Wouldn’t hurt to pick up The Victory Garden Cookbook and a Betty Crocker.
Watch Good Eats and maybe How to Boil Water ( I haven’t watched it in years, so I can’t vouch for it nowadays.)
In case nobody has mentioned it yet: what you probably want to do with your onions is sweat them, which is to cook at a medium to medium-low heat until limp and clear. To sauté is to cook at higher heat, such that the onions jump in the pan and brown a bit.
Eat things you’ve never eaten. Learn how to make them. I started seriously learning how to cook when it became apparent how much I loved to eat good food, and wanted to duplicate my experiences at home.
First of all you didn’t say a word about the Maillard reaction and secondly the Maillard is a completely different process from caramelization. If you want something other than my opinion then read McGee’s discussion of the topic in On Food and Cooking
WTF are you talking about - are you perhaps using the Australian preference for degrees Kelvin or maybe Rankine? Whether you want to use degress C or F makes no difference because in either case the boiling point is less than 250-degrees F.
Again I would suggest that you consult a dictionary or some other reference before throwing out terms. FYI - **Latent heat ** is the heat associated with causing a substance to undergo a phase change and has absolutely nothing to do with a pot sitting on a stove unless you melt the pot. Secondly, you and everyone else is dealing with the practical not the theoretical in describing a process where someone must differentiate between 1 degree F going from 399 to 400 degrees without the use of thermometer. Sorry the residual heat associated with my cookware will last me about 20-30 seconds at best and certainly not enough to sear the meat. As an absolutely simple example, when you put pasta into a pot of boiling water that is on the stove does your “latent heat” keep the water boiling? No - the water will cease to boil unless you have suddenly and quickly raised the heat source to overcome the true definition of “latent heat” that you previously mentioned. It takes 180 BTU’s per pound of liquid water to raise its temperature from 32 degrees to 212 (as a liquid) but it takes (at atmospheric pressure) approximately 1000 BTU’s to change the water at 212-degrees as liquid to 212-degrees as steam.
It’s not the pan that is of concern, it’s the food or water (or oil). Since the pan is still exposed to the flame and the heat transfer through the pan is relatively unchanged because of the high specific heat capacities, it is the food or more commonly the water, which typically has very low specific heat capacity compared to the pan.
The points made in your link discuss the same items I discussed. See the above posts.
I agree totally and shared the same sense of revelation concerning learning to cook along with a profound sense of cheapness (if I can do it at home then I don’t have to pay for it in some restaurant). What I enjoy about eating out and having a good meal is trying things that I can’t make at home (for example, wood fired oven for making pizza) due to limited access to ingredients or to equipment.
1.) Yet another vote for Good Eats! (I can’t count the number of people I’ve gotten hooked on AB!)
2.) Yet another vote for the silicone spatula
3.) Do add a bit of oil to pasta water, but not for coating; it helps prevent foaming. (Rinsing with too much cold water will keep the sauce from sticking, tho)
4.) I don’t know what your recipies are calling for, but maybe you’re having trouble (possible from poorly written recipies) getting a sweat. Generally speaking, I think “sweat” when I want translucent and “sautee” when I want brown.
Sweat: medium heat (heat pan, then oil, then add stuff) and salted. The salt should help draw out the liquid, which will help prevent browning. Generally used when trying to “meld” flavors like combinations of onions, garlic, celery, leeks, etc. If you see brown, stir more and turn down the heat.
Sautee: medium-high heat (same order). NO salt. You are trying to get browny goodness, here. Generally used when you want specific flavors; you know this when directions call to sautee one ingredient, then remove it from the pan (sauteed onions and mushrooms on burgers, yum!)
(No, IANA chef; these are my best recollections from watching way too many Good Eats episodes.)
5.) If oil splatter is an issue, go get yourself a splatter gaurd. 10-15$ will get you a nice, big handled circle of metal mesh to cover your pan. Prevents most oil from jumping out, but still allows steam to leave. You don’t know me, but I own one. Don’t cook gnomes without it! 
I’ve absorbed McGee through the pores of my skin already. Sorry about that, it was posted when I just woke up and I don’t know why I wanted to point out the difference between malliard and caremalisation.
I always get 272 and 212 mixed up. One being the amount below 0C which is absolute zero and one being the boiling point of water in F. I thought I would be helpful to Ameridopers by makign my example use Farenheit measures but I see I shouldn’t have bothered. :smack:
duh, yes specific heat. I actually used specific heat later on so that was clearly what I was talking about. I need to think before I post next time. But residual heat most certainly lasts for far longer than 30 seconds. Put a cast iron pan on a burner for 10 minutes on high. Then turn off the burner and don’t touch the pan. Come back in 5 minutes and put a drop of water in the pan to get a demonstration of residual heat. Whether it’s 399F or 350F, the numbers don’t really matter. My point was that having a very hot pan creates a large thermal mass which minimises the temperature drop associated with dumping in a load of cold food which leads to a more successful saute. The numbers were used purely for demonstrative purposes.
Actually, food has a relatively high specific heat compared to the pan since it’s mostly water.
Actually I should have been more precise in my terminology as the concept that I was trying to point out was heat capacity. **Heat capacity ** is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a body (substance or mixture) by one degree. **Specific heat ** is the ratio of the **heat capacity ** of a body to the **heat capacity ** of an equal mass of water. Heat capacity is defined mathematically as:
C = dq/dT (where dq is the heat added to produce a temperature change of dT)
I also did some further looking and found the following data regarding the smoke point of commonly used cooking oils:
Specific Heat
Commodity (BTU/lb/F)
Apples, summer 0.87
Apples, fall 0.87
Asparagus 0.94
Beans, butter 0.73
Beans, string 0.91
Beets, topped 0.90
Blueberries 0.86
Brambles 0.87
Broccoli 0.92
Cabbage 0.94
Cantaloupes 0.94
Cucumbers 0.97
Grapes 0.86
Green Onions 0.91
Leafy Greens 0.90
Okra 0.92
Peaches 0.91
Peas, garden 0.79
Peas, field 0.73
Peppers 0.94
Potatoes 0.84
Squash 0.95
Strawberries 0.92
Sweet Corn 0.79
Tomatoes, mature gr. 0.94
Tomatoes, ripening 0.95
Turnips 0.93
Watermelons 0.94
I accidently hit the submit button - sorry! Here is the complete post!
Actually I should have been more precise in my terminology as the concept that I was trying to point out was heat capacity. **Heat capacity ** is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a body (substance or mixture) by one degree. **Specific heat ** is the ratio of the **heat capacity ** of a body to the **heat capacity ** of an equal mass of water. Heat capacity is defined mathematically as:
C = dq/dT (where dq is the heat added to produce a temperature change of dT)
The specific heat of extra virgin olive oil is 0.47 BTU/pound-F and for water it is 1.00 BTU/pound-F.
I also did some further looking and found the following data regarding the smoke point of commonly used cooking oils (all temperatures are in degrees F):
Grapeseed 485
Avocado 480
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 420
Sesame 410
Canola 400
Macadamia 385
Also listed below are some specific heats of common foods, which you will note are slightly less than water:
Specific Heat
Food (BTU/lb/F)
Apples, summer 0.87
Apples, fall 0.87
Asparagus 0.94
Beans, butter 0.73
Beans, string 0.91
Beets, topped 0.90
Blueberries 0.86
Brambles 0.87
Broccoli 0.92
Cabbage 0.94
Cantaloupes 0.94
Cucumbers 0.97
Grapes 0.86
Green Onions 0.91
Leafy Greens 0.90
Okra 0.92
Peaches 0.91
Peas, garden 0.79
Peas, field 0.73
Peppers 0.94
Potatoes 0.84
Squash 0.95
Strawberries 0.92
Sweet Corn 0.79
Tomatoes, mature gr. 0.94
Tomatoes, ripening 0.95
Turnips 0.93
Watermelons 0.94
BTU/lb/F? I’m way too tired to try and figure out how to convert that :P. Do you have any figures for metals?