Often when I cook steaks inside, I end up with this burnt on sauce that won’t come off with any grit of scrubber sponge. And yet… my fingernail scrapes it right off. Are there any cleaning tools made of synthetic fingernail? Because there should be.
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I've had Hexclad pans in the past. @marchdoe.bsky.social's technique will work. Get the pan smoking hot, then add a 1/4 cup water. It'll boil rapidly and then you can scrape that stuff off with a wooden spatula. Hexclad will eventually wear out BTW. I just replaced mine with non-stick from All-Clad.
Yea my hexclad (probably from 2020 or 2021) was starting to have the non-stick coating peel off. Between that and their lawsuit around having PFAS I replaced it with a ceramic pan
This is called deglazing, which is the traditional method for building a pan sauce, post-sear.
You should not get a nonstick pan smoking hot at any point bc PTFE vaporizes at a little over 500F. Put the water in first and it'll limit the surface temp to 212-ish which is safe for PTFE.
I add some water, get it ripping hot until the water has evaporated, then the left over bits flake right off with a sponge or other kitchen cleaning aide. I’m not sure about hexclad though, I have regular stainless.
Also, can’t be prescriptive here because all the variables.
That said, I used to get this all the time with non-stick or stainless cookware. Once I got cast iron _and_ changed technique to match, I never end up with burnt on bits.
1. You can drop your heat a bit.
2. Add water, wine, or stock, bring to a boil, scrape with a wood spoon/silicone spatula. (Deglazing)
3. Reduce til it coats the back of a spoon. Season and add a tbsp or 2 of butter.
The other posted advice is helpful, but perhaps a slightly different method might work as well. This is my preferred way of cooking steak on a pan and I’ve never had issues with a burnt-on sauce. Maybe give this a go? https://youtu.be/nhOV89EQtJs?si=-zR0696g-B7WHPSk
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Just go lightly to not take off the non stick.
You should not get a nonstick pan smoking hot at any point bc PTFE vaporizes at a little over 500F. Put the water in first and it'll limit the surface temp to 212-ish which is safe for PTFE.
Best method is knowing your oil's smoke point (should be in that range). Get there, then drop the steak, then cut the heat a bit.
Steak, corn bread, Dutch baby, shakshuka, and so much more are all 100% better from cast iron.
Same thing happens with cast iron.
Also, can’t be prescriptive here because all the variables.
That said, I used to get this all the time with non-stick or stainless cookware. Once I got cast iron _and_ changed technique to match, I never end up with burnt on bits.
(Starts collecting fingernail clippings)
1. You can drop your heat a bit.
2. Add water, wine, or stock, bring to a boil, scrape with a wood spoon/silicone spatula. (Deglazing)
3. Reduce til it coats the back of a spoon. Season and add a tbsp or 2 of butter.
Now it's clean and you have pan sauce.
5 kids - I did a zillion dishes before I found that.
Great item.
Also, non stick and aluminum are poison.
Stainless and cast iron. Period.