Dancing on Heat

Every home cook has experienced the frustration of a beautiful piece of meat instantly sticking to a stainless steel pan, tearing apart and ruining dinner. The instinct is to blame the pan or a lack of oil. However, the secret to a flawless, non-stick sear on raw steel isn't grease-it is a fascinating quirk of thermodynamics known as the Leidenfrost Effect. When a pan reaches a specific, critica...