I think Anne Burrell lied to me. She said fish will always stick to a stainless pan. This is true. No matter how well I lubricate my pan, my fish will always adhere like cement. She also said that the pan will release the fish "when it's ready." Maybe meaning it will eventually become unstuck when the fish is done cooking? Well, I've tried that, and it never works. No matter how long I wait, it never becomes unstuck. Most recently I gave it as much time as I could. When I finally chiseled it off the pan, tearing it apart in the process, I saw that it was starting to burn on that side. I've started going back to non-stick until I get this figured out.
Are there any tips? Am I heating the pan wrong? Does it help to slide the fish around a bit after putting it in the pan?
Best Answer
I used to have this fish sticking problem in my Aluminum wok.
The solution (accidentally discovered) was to put the fish in the wok only after the oil is hot enough.
Que: How do you decide whether the oil is hot enough?
Ans: Drop one Yellow Mustard Seed in the oil. If it cracks immediately then your oil is hot enough for the fish to be dropped in. If not, then you may like to wait for few more minutes and try the same with another mustard seed.
Yellow Mustard Seeds start cracking in very hot oil only as opposed to Cumin seeds which do turn brown in non-so-hot oil too.