Cooking with Abbio: Stainless

Abbio cookware is designed for cooks of all skill levels, but we understand cooking with stainless steel can be intimidating. We’re here to help make things a little easier for you.

Start with low or medium heat

Abbio cookware is tri-ply, which means it has an aluminum layer sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel. Aluminum is a really good conductor of heat, and stainless (the part you touch) is extremely durable and doesn't react with your food. See our “Why Tri-Ply?” post if you want to get into the nitty gritty details of how we designed Abbio cookware.

In any case, you've likely spent your life cooking with disposable aluminum or ceramic coated cookware, and you're probably used to using high heat to get the sear you want on your chicken breast.

High heat no more. Thanks to the construction of our cookware, we recommend starting with low or medium heat. You Abbio pans distribute heat evenly throughout the pan, and you will rarely need the highest setting. In fact, too much heat and you might burn your food.

Water test

Use the water-drop test to know when your pan is hot enough for oil. When you start to feel heat radiate off the pan (don't touch it!), sprinkle in a few droplets of water. You want them to combine together and dance around the pan. If they don't form into balls, your pan is not hot enough. If the droplets break into hundreds of tiny balls, your pan is too hot and will burn your food.

We’re also big proponents of cooking with butter . When the pan is warm, rub a small spoonful of butter on the inside of it. When you see the butter start to bubble, you know it's ready. If the butter starts to brown, turn down the heat.

Add some oil

A little bit of oil or fat will help keep food from sticking to your stainless pan. Add it after your pan is already warm and be ready to go with your next ingredient. It will only take a few seconds for the oil to come to temperature. Look for it to shimmer in the pan - if it starts to smoke, then the pan is too hot.

Your pan will tell you when your food is ready

If you're cooking meat (e.g. chicken breast)  in your Abbio stainless, get ready for some food science magic. When you first put the chicken in the pan, it will immediately stick. Don't fight it. Let it sit. As the chicken develops a crust, it will naturally release and you'll know when your chicken is ready to flip.

See our Recipes for inspiration about what to cook in your Abbio stainless.