Took me 5 years to figure out I was overheating my pan oil

Watched a line cook at a diner in Cleveland drop eggs into cold oil and they came out perfect every time. I always waited for that smoke wisp, anyone else learn a basic technique totally backwards?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_flores463d ago

Man, that reminds me of my buddy who spent years burning garlic before learning you gotta add it after the onions are almost done. Simple stuff can mess you up for way too long.

elizabeth4383d ago

That's exactly the kind of dumb simple thing that takes forever to figure out because nobody tells you. Once you learn it though, it's like second nature and you can't imagine doing it wrong. Onions need that head start to get soft and translucent while garlic turns bitter fast if it sits in the heat too long. Small timing details make or break a dish, but you just gotta burn it enough times before it sticks.

tessa3943d ago

You gotta consider altitude too. Up in Colorado, water boils at a lower temp so oil behaves totally different than at sea level. Took me moving from Denver to Texas to realize my eggs weren't garbage, the air pressure was just messing with everything. Same pan, same oil, different state, completely different results. That Cleveland line cook probably learned in a climate that matched his kitchen, but if he moved to the mountains he'd be starting over too.