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When cooking oil doesn't spread well, how do I fix that without spray or spill? How often do I need to reapply oil? Which oils catch fire?

Is safe to heat any types of dinner plates on the burner?

How do I heat the pan to a certain temperature?

Cascabel
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Muhammad
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  • Are you asking about a dinner plate, if a plate you might use to eat off is safe on a burner? – Jolenealaska May 14 '14 at 03:17
  • Yes which plates can go on burner? – Muhammad May 14 '14 at 03:22
  • Most can't. Anything that's porcelain or ceramic or Pyrex will break, possibly dangerously and violently. The rest of your question deals mostly with different kinds of oils and their smoke points. I'll address those points in an answer. – Jolenealaska May 14 '14 at 03:26
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    You're asking a lot of different things at once here. It'd really be best to post a separate question for separate things - maybe one about oil, one about pan temperature (unless you mean oil temperature for deep-frying, as part of the oil questions), and one about using other things like plates on the stove. Either way, if you can explain more what you're trying to do it'll really help. – Cascabel May 14 '14 at 06:20
  • I agree: this is not one question, these are five questions. Not even the ones about oil have anything in common. We don't have a function which would allow us to split your questions automatically. I am putting it on hold now, once you have split it (just ask new questions and copy paste the parts of this one in them), we will reopen. – rumtscho May 14 '14 at 10:32

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Different oils burn at different temperatures. I'm guessing that you don't have a thermometer that will measure the heat of your pan (that's a pretty specialized item that most cooks don't have), so just know which oils you use have low smoke points, and which have high. Here's a good chart concerning smoke points, and here is a good answer about guaging the heat of the pan Cooking on the stove: what is "too hot" for a pan?. Deep frying (with a couple of centemeters of oil in the pan or more) is different. For that you should use a thermometer if you can. Most deep frying is done at 350F (175C). Choose an oil with a smoke point well above that. If you don't have a thermometer, drop a small piece of whatever you're frying into the oil, and look for it to start to brown right away, without threatening to burn.

You can tell when your oil is getting to it's maximum safe and tasty temperature when it just starts to smoke a tiny bit. That tiny bit is OK, just don't go any further. Ideally, you should start with all the oil that you will need, so you don't have to add more. An exception to that is if you're frying in batches. If you need to add oil, give it time to get as hot as for your last batch.

Any oil can catch fire if it gets too hot. If that happens, usually the best way to put out a grease fire is to get a lid on the pan to deprive it of oxygen. Kitchens should also have a fire extinguisher (B type, or ABC or AB type). NEVER use water to put out a grease fire.

Finally, the easiest way to spread oil is usually to tip and swirl the pan. If the oil isn't hugely hot, you can also use a paper towel to spread it.

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Jolenealaska
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