Stainless Steel cook plate

[pjt]

I have this idea from way back that stainless steel is not the best for cooking on when used over a camp fire, if that is correct I wonder why that is? What is the collective thoughts out there?



Pete

[maggs]

It will work ok if you have the coals/fire well distributed under the plate. Stainless is a poor conductor of heat therefore if there are hot spots in the heat source there will also be hot spots on the plate and this is not ideal for cooking. Steel or cast iron is much better at heat distribution but it also rusts up nicely. Stainless pots and pans have a copper core laminated in between the stainless to act as a heat distributor to avoid this problem.

Steve

[BobL]

Conductivities in W/m.K
SS ~20
Al 250
Cu 400
Iron 60



Stainless pots and pans have a copper core laminated in between the stainless to act as a heat distributor to avoid this problem.

Not all SS are like this. Cheaper SS saucepans just rely on being thin but the ones I have in the shed for my metal bluing operations still seem to take ages to boil water.

Where SS does work well is on induction cooktops. Where conduction is not so critical as the metal itself is what heats up. The metal has to be magnetic so ally pans don't work. We recently bought an ally pan for our new induction cooktop and it has a stainless steel mesh embedded in the base.

BTW those induction cooktops are very fast.

[nrb]

We have a couple of SS plates on our BBQ
They work great and are very easy to clean,but as has been said the heat can be local over the fire or gas burners,not a problem as having cooler and hoter places can be an advantage in that you can move cooked stuff to a coolers spot while finishing of other food.
All in all works great for us.

[pjt]

Thanks for the replies, the conductivity value says a lot and that what might be out there in the folk lore that SS is not good for cooking on??

What I am experimenting with is a rocket thermal mass style fire, I have this piece of SS plate that I was thinking of putting above the fire instead of the bricks and then thinking, Can I cook on it?

Are there any issues with contamination? I don't know the grade of the SS and I doubt it's any sort of food grade?

With the conductivity being low compared to other metals does it behave more like an insulator? and just not transfer the heat, I spose that might be good if it's a really hot fire but not good if it's a cool fire, it's sounding a bit like maybe just try it out and see what it does....



Pete

[BobL]

Thanks for the replies, the conductivity value says a lot and that what might be out there in the folk lore that SS is not good for cooking on??
What I am experimenting with is a rocket thermal mass style fire, I have this piece of SS plate that I was thinking of putting above the fire instead of the bricks and then thinking, Can I cook on it?
Are there any issues with contamination? I don't know the grade of the SS and I doubt it's any sort of food grade?
With the conductivity being low compared to other metals does it behave more like an insulator? and just not transfer the heat, I spose that might be good if it's a really hot fire but not good if it's a cool fire, it's sounding a bit like maybe just try it out and see what it does....

SS is still firmly in the conductor camp,
Thermal Insulators have conductivities 10 to 1000 times lower than that of stainless.

You need to bear in mind that there are plenty of BBQs being sold with SS tops and stainless steel has become very popular in cookwear. Yes SS takes a bit longer to heat up and don't have quite the even temp distrib that steel topped BBQs do but they have the advantage of significantly reduced corrosion.

[pjt]

I chucked the SS on the fire today, it did heat up but bowed up a fair bit, uneven heating I think, the plate is a fair bit bigger than the fire, as it happens I have an old steel BBQ plate that was out in the garden gathering rust, I'll give it a de-rust and better still it is just the right size :)



Pete

[Robson Valley]

I run a s/s Jackson BBQ, originally intended for marine/boat use. I'll say it's slower to warm up than any of the other 16 gassers that I've owned with 4 of those still in service, two as smoker BBQ's.
The s/s grill rods in the Jackson have warped and corroded/rusted over the years.
A regular iron rod rack that rots out and is easier and far cheaper to replace works for me. Bolt cutters and the racks out of a junked stove is the way to go.