French Omelette in Stainless Steel?

A few weeks ago Chef Mara showed that a French Omelette can easily be made in carbon steel. This week I challenge her to make a French Omelette in stainless steel! She's sceptical!

[mauritious]

Look at her, just casually making a french omelette with a fork! 🥺 and here I am struggling with my silicon spatulas! Such a legend!

[diamond-gxqg]

I just bought my first stainless 4 piece set. The clad bottoms on these babies are like 3/8 inch thick. It has been a learning curve but so far im impressed with the cuisine art. Still sparkling clean as well.

[mifinkelstein]

Adequate heat (medium) and enough fat allow 3 ply to perform as well as carbon steel. Just made a 3 egg omelette using a 3 ply 10” All-Clad.
Omelette practically jumped outta the pan while rolling it.

[shigemorif]

This was fun. It reminds me of the Jacques Pepin video where he vigorously stirs the eggs for the "smallest possible curds" said in the wonderful french accent. lol. It did kind of look like the hole in the SS omelette was from a bit of sticking, but not sure. But it's definitely interesting to see it actually work in the SS pan.

[colewiebe]

I have the very same de Buyer 9 1//2" Omelette pan, which I bought from you at Cook Culture. As demonstrated, it works great. I often cook French omelettes with stainless steel too, following Christine Cushing's YouTube video about 4 years back; heating it right up (hot enough to produce the Leidenfrost effect), and agitating the pan vigorously as the eggs set up. Like Christine, I get no sticking at all. I am using an older All-Clad 8" d3 pan for my 3 egg omelettes though. As Christine mentions, the pan must be in pristiine condition to prevent sticking, and I polish the bottom regularly with Bar Keepers Friend. She also seasons hers with some green onions, but I don't. I'm sure the Demeyere Proline 7-ply is lovely though.

[BlueGorillaInTheMist]

What was the exact preheating/ seasoning process with the stainless steel to achieve the non-stick?

[colleen]

The first omelette came out very nicely but the second one literally jumped out of the pan! 🤣

[chrisyoung]

I get those results in a 3 ply Ninja SS pan. It's really more about temperature management than it is about how many plys. Don't put proteins in a cold pan and you will be fine.

[rstumbaugh]

Jed!!!! Very very impressive!!! I have carbon steel, 2 matfers, an 8 and a 10”, love love love them, I have tri ply stainless, it works ok, great for some things, not so much for others. I may venture into the realm of 5-7 ply stainless, thanks to the education I got here, today!

Well done, thank you for helping and educating so many, good on you my friend!!

[dbkfrogkaty]

To answer your original question which pan is better, clearly carbon steel is better for a French omelette. First off, the French developed this style of omelette and it was done using a carbon steel pan (if history holds). For me with a carbon steel is pan heat is easier to control. They are much more responsive to changes. Like when you lift the pan from the heat, it will cool quicker. Another thing to keep in mind in these times of high inflation is cost. The carbon steel pan is $75 (US) the Demeyere $230 (US). Both pans will last a lifetime. Don't know for sure but my guess is the carbon steel pan is lighter(?). I have an old All-Clad 10" pan (before they were called D3) but I never tried cooking fried eggs in it. May have to give it a try. I like these cooking videos Jed. Very informative and educational.

[ssoozee]

I’ve had an expensive stainless steel set since I got married 30 years ago. Everything has always stuck to each pan without fail. I’m so excited to try them out with your suggestions. Yay! And you’re no amateur, you’re awesome.

[christiencabaniss]

I make a perfectly nonstick omelet in my All Clad D3 skillet every morning. The difference between how she made the two omelettes may be her problem? In the stainless she just used butter and didn't allow the water to cook off. On the second omelette she wet the pan with cooking oil THEN she added butter. I do the same with my D3 and have the same results she got from the carbon steel.

[PatrickN.]

Wow. She really is a good chef! You can tell she has done thousands of omelets in her career.

Saving this one to learn from! She used just a tiny fork to flip/ roll it!

[tomcan]

All Clad D7 line is my favorite. Hard to find now since it’s been discontinued for 5 years but the best. Every pan in that series is 7 ply from top to bottom where other than the saucer and skillet the Atlantis line isn’t on the sides. All clad D7 is top in class

[Soushi]

I have a total of 10 Demeyere pans in my collection, mostly Atlantis line and few Pro line pieces, and I can confidently say they will last my entire life. If you are looking for 'buy it for life' cookware and want to invest in it, they are the holy grail. They stay beautiful, bright and shiny wash after wash in the dishwasher, whereas the All-Clad has those weird two ''buttons'' inside the pan where dirt can stuck between and over time getting stained. 

It's a joy to see them on my cooktop every single day when I cook.

[lohengrinzadieclausell]

Awesome video very informative. The chef makes a beauty of an omelet!

[eriknystrom]

I have used my carbon steel pan for more than 3 years to make my breakfast French omelette almost every day, probably more than 1000 omelettes. This pan I only used for omelettes and the results are almost always perfect. After seeing this video I decided to check my IKEA stainless steel pan ( 24 cm diameter). Perfect result, the omelette didn’t stick at all, I could fold the omelette without any tools, just flipping the pan. I used 60 % of max heat on an induction stove (also IKEA) . I will probably continue using the stainless steel pan for omelettes in the future. By the way, I got rid of my pans with nonstick coatings. For steaks I use cast iron.

[IsomPhilips]

Works just as well with an all clad 3ply as long as you get the pan to the right temperature

[edwardcollins]

Seldom have any problems with my Zwilling Aurora pans, they're basically the same as the Industry 5 but with riveted handles. I'm using a cheap coil stove too. The secret seems to be starting with a clean pan, a quick pre-seasoning with a thin film of oil on medium heat then taking it off, lowering the heat a bit, then addind a little butter. Works like a charm.

[naturesway]

The chef skipped a step. You don't need a million layers if you heat the stainless pan first before you add the fat (I use butter or ghee). You will get no sticking.