The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

Here are some common metals, along with their
properties:
Stainless steel is very easy to maintain—as its name
implies, it won’t rust or pit, no matter how much you
mistreat it. But it also is an extremely poor heat conductor.
What this means is that heat will not travel rapidly through
it. Stainless steel pans tend to develop distinct hot and cold
spots that match the heat pattern of your burners. This can
lead to uneven cooking, resulting in, for example, an omelet
that’s burned in some spots and still raw in others.
How do you gauge the heat distribution performance of a
pan? The easiest way is to spread a thin layer of sugar
evenly over the bottom, then heat it over a burner. The
pattern in which the sugar melts will indicate the pan’s hot
and cold spots. A great pan will melt sugar very evenly.
Aluminum is a far better conductor of heat—one of the
best, in fact. It’s also a very inexpensive material. Why
aren’t all pans made of aluminum, you might ask? Well,
there are two problems. It’s not very dense, which means
that despite its high-heat capacity, you’d need a pan that’s a
ridiculously unwieldy thickness for it to retain a reasonable
amount of heat. Furthermore, it discolors and pits if exposed
to acidic ingredients: wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, etc.
Anodized aluminum has been treated to give it a ceramic-
like finish that is reasonably nonstick, as well as resistant to
acid. This is the ideal metal for cooking foods that don’t
require an extraordinarily high level of heat. You wouldn’t
want to sear a steak in an anodized aluminum pan, but
nothing is better for cooking an omelet.
Copper is even more conductive than aluminum. It’s also