A mundane subject but one that may lead to a divorce:
Since I was a young lass I’ve scrubbed the outside of my cooking pots and pans whenever I use them. I have (had) 10-year old pans that were shiny on the outside and bottom and without burned on grease and carbon. This based on a professional chef’s comment that keeping the outside of the pans clean is more important than the inside when it comes to even heat distribution on the cooking surface.
My husband disagrees and never bothers to clean the outside of the pans, beyond a perfunctonary dip into soapy water while washing the inside. After 6 months every one of my pans (especially the frying pans) has an unmovable shellac of burned grease that makes me want to hit him on the head with them until I need to replace them.
So am I working on being the next Martha Stewart or am I right? Does the cleanliness of the outside of the pan affect the quality of the cooking job?
Don’t know the answer, but I was wondering about this, too. I only rinse the outsides of pans, unless something has spilled down the sides, but haven’t noticed any shellac o’ grease.
I don’t think it is going to make much difference as far as heat distribution but that’s no reason not to keep them clean. Or would you let him pee on the living room floor if it did not have adverse consequences? I keep the outside of my pots and pans clean just as clean and bright as the inside. I do that mostly by not cooking.
If your pans are not made of aluminum, consider using some oven cleaner to remove any buildup on their exterior. I do this with my Le Creuset enamel pots and it works just fine.
I’ve heard it said that a nice black exterior assists in heat absorption and even cooking. However, I believe that the construction of your pan itself has more to do with the issue.
If you coat the outside of the pot/pan evenly in soot, wouldn’t you still get an even heat distribution? Besides, if 1/10 mm of carbon going to affect the pot that much?
Anyway, professional chefs are evil geniuses who enjoy torturing kitchenhands and other lackies.
Intuitively, the answer to the question “does the cleanliness of the bottom of the pan affect the quality of the cooking job” is “not to any noticeable extent”. The very thin layer of insulation you might get from grease isn’t going to mean much when placed on an open flame or hot burner. The bottom of the pan is metal which is a very good conductor of heat, so you’re not likely to see any hot spots. Any minimal effects would be completely indetectable compared with the heat capacity of whatever it was that you were cooking.
You might even create an argument that the insulation on the bottom of the pan helps cook things faster by insulating the sides of the pan from heat loss.
However, if you’re not satisfied with an intuitive answer, you could try an experiment. Clean one pan thoroughly, leave another identical pan covered with varnish. Place them on the burners without looking to see which is which. Cook identical foods. See if you notice any difference.
Caveat – I think scrubbing the bottom of something that’s going to be placed on an oxidizing heat source is just an utter waste of time unless you hang your pots and pans on a rack for the world to see. And I think hanging pots and pans on a rack for the world to see is silly because it means you have to scrub the bottoms of your pans.
So this is just an aesthetic preference. Like making the beds in the morning.
I personally love the smell of burnt on funk when I’m cooking with dirty pans. And, if you have an electric stove you have the joy of getting ook on the burner itself!
And, of course, if your husband dings or scratches a pan, you won’t be able to see this serious flaw under all that grease.
I say, stop feeding your husband until he cleans up his act and your pans.