topic Re: Stainless steel baking dish question in Kitchen

Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:30:08 GMT

I bought a loaf pan to bake bread in thought I would try that for a change.

Made a one lb. meat loaf in it, put in bread crumbs, couple of eggs, onion the usual stuff. Bake at 350

For some reason that thing liked to had never got done usually takes 70 min. I had it in there for 2 hrs. and it wasn't as done as I like them to be

Is SS not good for oven baking? I always used pyrex glass loaf pan and meatloaf would be done in tad over an hr. This thing still didn't look like it was done enough and wanted to fall apart. Maybe 1 egg instead of 2?

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

millieshops — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:40:32 GMT

Hope someone has an answer. My metal meatloaf pans are aluminum - one bright and one dark. But now that I think about it, I don't believe I've ever had a stainless steel oven pan.

As for your recipe - I don't think that's the problem although I pretty much always use just one egg, one piece of bread and whatever else I want to add for each pound of meat.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

DoneTryin — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:44:30 GMT

I don't know about SS loaf pans for meatloaf. I get best results by shaping the loaf with my hands & baking it on a sheet pan or cookie sheet. Seems like loaf pans just steam the meat rather than baking it.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

millieshops — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:47:51 GMT

@Done Tryin --- My favorite meatloaf pan has a sieved insert so that the loaf sits up out of the fat.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

athenian — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:55:05 GMT

I think stainless steel doesn't conduct heat very well. My copper pans are stainless lined, but the copper does the work. Like you, I bake meatloaf in pyrex.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

nomless — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:55:06 GMT

I don't think the stainless steel pan is the problem. Was the oven temp set correctly? Is the oven reaching the temperature you set it to? (Use an oven thermometer to verify that it is.)

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 22:56:04 GMT

yeah, I thought I should had used just one egg too. I used walmart bread crumbs. Before I had always used pyrex glass loaf pan. I lined the pan with alum foil too. Maybe the foil , one to many eggs, and SS maybe kept it from getting done. Shouldn't take 2 hrs. for one , 1lb. of hamburger for a couple of people to get done. Dang thing wanted to fall apart.

I've been cooking for 100 yrs. still plenty to learn I guess. Put in refrig to make it solid we'll eat Sun. I guess.

Live and learn

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:01:37 GMT

I cooked it at 350' then when hubbo started hollering "when are we eating around here anyway" LOL I turned it up to 400. If his food isn't done he starts bellowing like a bear. LOL

I had just made choc chips cookies before at 350 and it worked fine.

Hope next time I bake bread instead of 20-25 min. it doesn't take hr to bake one loaf of bread after a preheated oven of 400 !

I'll throw that loaf pan out. LOL

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

proudlyfromNJ — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:01:55 GMT

@SharkE I always used to use a tin loaf pan, then a glass one. I now do what another poster mentioned. I form it freestyle on a broiler pan so grease drips down. Much better.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

nomless — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:02:40 GMT

@SharkE wrote:
yeah, I thought I should had used just one egg too. I used walmart bread crumbs. Before I had always used pyrex glass loaf pan. I lined the pan with alum foil too. Maybe the foil , one to many eggs, and SS maybe kept it from getting done. Shouldn't take 2 hrs. for one , 1lb. of hamburger for a couple of people to get done. Dang thing wanted to fall apart.

I've been cooking for 100 yrs. still plenty to learn I guess. Put in refrig to make it solid we'll eat Sun. I guess.

Live and learn

Only one pound of meat? It sounds like an oven temp issue.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

proudlyfromNJ — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:03:20 GMT

I think it must be the pan that is the problem.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:08:20 GMT

what is it good for , then, I wonder? It's a bread loaf pan. Bought it on vacation couple of days ago because it was so shiny and dishwasher safe.

Think I outsmarted myself. LOL Course, glass, is dishwasher safe, too.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

KYToby — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:17:56 GMT

Stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat, and most stainless pans do not have the thermal mass to hold onto heat and transfer it.

Because of these issues, good stainless cookware has aluminum or copper cores (e.g. All-Clad). Other poor conductors of heat are glass and cast iron, but these substances have significant thermal mass which hold onto heat and then tranfer to the items being cooked. Alas, stainless does not.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

3suwm5 — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:23:48 GMT

My engineers in the family say glass or ceramic would work better. Thus your success with the pyrex pan.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 23:33:12 GMT

Yikes ! my new purchase isn't worth a toot !

wahhhhhhhhhhhhh

ROFL

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

hopi — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 04:06:51 GMT

When cooking with my stainless steel pots in the oven everything cooks quicker and comes out better than with my ceramics. That is really odd about the meatloaf taking so long. I do like meat cooked well done so an hour for meatloaf seems like a normal time. That being said I cook 2 meatloafs in one pan that is usuallly over 3 pounds.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

DoneTryin — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 14:50:26 GMT

@SharkE@You could use it for chilled dishes, like gelain molds (not necessarily Jello), or desserts.

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

DoneTryin — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 14:55:29 GMT

@millieshops

@millieshops wrote:
@Done Tryin --- My favorite meatloaf pan has a sieved insert so that the loaf sits up out of the fat.

I used to use one of those but the freeform method works better in that it allows the air/heat to circulate around 3 sides of the loaf. If I set it on a rack on a sheet pan, the fat will drip down, too. It's really all about personal preference, though, isn't it?

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

novamc1 — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 15:30:15 GMT

@SharkE

I have a stainless steel biscuit pan (meaning a round shallow pan with handles on each side). I retired that pan to the back of a cabinet somewhere a long time ago, after discovering that virtually any other material--glass, aluminum, ceramic, cast iron-- does better in the oven than stainless steel.

I don't know whether the type of metal caused your poor results, but I'd put a little money on the bet.

Stainless on a stove works fine, but I think that for baking, it just doesn't hold and conduct heat evenly as well as most other materials do.

Better luck the next time! I like meatloaf but never make it anymore....DH isn't a big fan, preferring instead to cook ground beef plain on the grill. B-O-R-I-N-G...........

Re: Stainless steel baking dish question

SharkE — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 20:54:03 GMT

just so dang purdy ! LOL

I'm like a crow..................LOL