Why A Chef Rubs Onions On New Stainless Steel Pans

When you're first learning culinary terms, you'll quickly realize that "seasoning" doesn't always mean just salt and pepper. Seasoning cookware like cast iron pans, for instance, is a process involving oil and heat, not the items you have in your spice cabinet. While the technique does give food a better texture, one chef reaches for onions when seasoning his stainless steel cookware.

We spoke with chef Marc Forgione, a winner on "The Next Iron Chef" and restaurateur who recently participated in the launch of Red Barn Creamery Butter, who preps his new stainless steel cookware with allium. "Whenever I get a new pan or grill or anything like that, I season it with an onion," says Forgione. The science isn't clear on how exactly this phenomenon works (though it likely has something to do with the way that the natural sugars and mild acids interact with the heat and cooking oils), but Indians have practiced the method for years to give pans a non-stick surface before making dosas. Of course, it works for any other dish, too!

The technique is simple. Similarly to seasoning a cast iron pan, Forgione's method involves oil and heat. After cutting the onion in half, the chef rubs a dab of oil on top before taking it to the pan. "Put it in the cold pan, turn the heat on, and then you just let the onion coat the pan," he says, comparing it to onion oil. Forgione primarily relies on the trick to give the pan some added flavor.

Forgione doesn't limit the onions to just new steel pans. To him, the veggies christen practically all his new cookware. "When something's brand new, if you get a brand-new shirt, usually you wash it first," he explains. In Forgione's case, the kitchen's equivalent of a brand-new shirt is cast iron ware and grills, as well. "That just gives it a little bit of flavoring," he adds.

The chef's steps for prepping his grill grates are similar to the steel pan process. "I rub it on while it's warming up," he states. "And then I'll just leave it on there and cook with it." Using the vegetable prior to cooking for the first time isn't the only occasion where you can pull out the onion, though. Rubbing an onion on your grill grates after cooking can also help both with cleaning all the gunk that has gotten stuck there and with seasoning the bars for future grilling sessions.

For Forgione, that means rubbing an onion on the grill "every time" — an essential tip for cleaning your grill. As for his kitchen pans, however, he doesn't re-season stainless steel as frequently. "You can do it once a week," he notes, with the stipulation that, ultimately, it "depends on how much you use [the pan]."