Feb. 24, 2025
Many inventions come about by accident. The stainless steel utensils you use in the kitchen and the stainless steel knife you use to cut a slice of pizza are examples of this. Stainless steel became known back in during WWI. It was the accidental discovery of a metallurgist named Harry Brearley's attempts to create a stronger alloy for gun barrels. He experimented with many metals including steel and chromium and discovered that alloys with a high chromium content were very resistant to corrosion. Of course, it was used for armaments and more but the first patent Brearley filed using this new metal was for cutlery.
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In India, stainless steel kitchen utensils were first used in the southern states and Gujarat where tamarind is a common ingredient for many recipes. Why ' because stainless steel does not corrode when exposed to such acidic elements. Stainless steel got its name because of this property ' no matter what was applied to it, the metal did not seem to stain. Back then it was available in limited supply and there are many stories about people importing heavy-duty stainless steel cooking utensils. Today, India is the second-largest steel producer in the world. The Salem steel plant can produce 1,80,000 tonnes of steel each year! Once turned into cutlery, plates, glasses and cooking vessels, you can buy Salem stainless steel utensils online or in your neighbourhood kitchenware store.
Using stainless steel utensils in the kitchen offers many benefits.
Firstly, the metal alloy does not react to acids and alkalis and hence will not influence the flavour of your food. For example, if you cook anything with tomatoes, lemon or curd in a copper or brass vessel, the dish may have a strange taste because the ingredients oxidize the metal. With stainless steel, there is no such risk. Now you know why copper cooking vessels are lined with stainless steel!
Stainless steel is also hard and durable. It can withstand high temperatures and cold temperatures with ease. Even if a stainless-steel glass falls from a height, there's minimal risk of it breaking. If it's thrown with a lot of force, the vessel may dent at the most. This makes it safe for everyone to use including young children.
Thirdly, stainless steel is cost-effective. Sure, there are many grades of stainless steel and as the thickness increases, so does the price point. However, once you've bought a stainless steel pot, it's likely to last you for decades. So, in the long run, it is one of the cheapest types of kitchen utensils.
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Today stainless steel is slowly making a comeback in Indian kitchens. For a while there, we were enamored by the low prices of plastic and the glitz of bone china. But plastic as we now know is bad for the environment and for us. Similarly, vessels made from glass and bone china are expensive and fragile. We're relying more on our roots now and the demand for stainless steel kitchen utensils has seen a sharp spike. People are buying stainless steel utensils not only for their own kitchens but also as gifts for weddings and housewarming parties.
Related article: Top 7 Reasons to Use Stainless Steel Utensils
Let's take a look at 5 useful stainless steel utensils
Indian cooking uses many different whole and ground masalas. Every region has its own mix but there are some basic masalas you're to find in every kitchen ' cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, chili powder, coriander powder, salt' These spices form the base for most of our dishes and hence must be easily accessible. That's why you need a masala box. A stainless steel masala box has smaller individual compartments within a larger container. This keeps all the base masalas accessible in a single box and yet separated from each other. When you start cooking, you don't need to take out multiple jars- all you need is to pull out your masala box. A masala box with a transparent lid is ideal as it allows you to see the spices available.
Check out the Coconut Masala Box
Irrespective of the vegetable you're cooking, you must wash it thoroughly before taking it to the chopping board. You need to wash off not just the dust and dirt that may have settled on the vegetable skin but also traces of colour etc that may have been added to make it look more appealing. A stainless steel colander is ideal for this. The dust and dirt are washed away and drains through the holes while your vegetables and fruits stay contained in the colander so they can dry. Colanders can also be used to rinse rice and pulses before they are cooked as well as drain cooked pasta and noodles.
Check out the Coconut Stainless Steel Colander
Water may not always be mentioned on the ingredient list but you can't cook without it. Neither can you enjoy a meal without a glass of water. So, when you're equipping your kitchen, make sure you include a jug in your stainless steel kitchen utensils online shopping list. Jugs are available in many different sizes and shapes. For the kitchen, a 1.5-liter jug is ideal. It holds enough water for your needs and is easy to lift. Choose a design you like so that your jug can move from the kitchen counter to the dining table whenever needed.
Check out the Coconut J4 Brezza Jug
A cup of good filter coffee is the ideal way to finish a meal. So, when you're shopping for Salem stainless steel utensils online, don't forget the coffee filter. This is available in many sizes with varying capacities. A coffee filter is designed in two halves. Coffee powder is placed in the top half and boiling hot water is poured over it. The coffee flavour infuses with the water and slowly drips down into the bottom compartment. Now, you can use this coffee decoction to make a cup of black coffee or mix it with milk to make a traditional filter coffee.
Check out the Coconut Stainless Steel South Indian Style Coffee Filter
Once you're done cooking and enjoying your meal, it's time to wash all the utensils. Even if a dish was used just to boil rice, you need to wash it before it gets put away. Before they can go into the cupboards or drawers, you also need to dry the dishes. Else, it could attract insects. Ideally, you should have a dish drainer beside your sink. This is essentially a large basket made from wire mesh. The dishes are placed upside down in this basket and the water remaining on them drips away and dries.
This dish drainer by Coconut has an added tray at the bottom and handles. The handles make it easy to move from one side of the kitchen to the other and the tray collects water so your kitchen counter stays clean and dry.
Check out Coconut Dish Drainer
Stainless steel utensils are the best choice for every Indian kitchen. Crafted from an alloy that will not react to anything and can stand the test of time, stainless steel utensils, look good, are extremely versatile and last for years. Today, you can buy stainless steel utensils online just as easily as you would in a market. Browse through the Coconut range of cookware and crockery and pick designs that reflect your style. There's something for people who love the classics as well as designs that show off a more modern style.
Which stainless steel utensil is best?
If you look inside your kitchen cupboard or open your cutlery drawer, there's a good chance you already have a great deal of stainless steel in your kitchen. A lot of it might be years or decades old, and still looking about the same as when you bought it.
Not only is this metal exceedingly strong, it shrugs off all sorts of everyday corrosion that would rust other metals in no time. But what makes stainless steel different from iron? And how can you unlock its full cooking potential? If you're curious about this long-lasting everyday alloy, read on - we're about to take a deep dive into why we love it.
Sturdy, rust-free and hygienic. Much better than a plastic washing up bowl.
Stainless steel is strong - really strong - but its main benefit comes from its excellent resistance to corrosion. Other metals, such as iron or copper, are prone to rusting when exposed to moisture and air. This is why iron pans need to be seasoned. A stainless steel bottle, on the other hand, can carry water 24/7 without even becoming tarnished.
Like many metals, stainless steel is strong and conducts heat. Combine this with being unreactive and easy to clean, and you have a material that can lend itself to all sorts of uses - especially when it comes to food, where heat and moisture often take their toll.
Stainless steel makes sturdy, low-maintenance cookware, shiny cutlery and hygienic worktops. Plus, lots of common plastic items (food containers, pegs, washing up bowls, bottles) fare far better when made of stainless steel. Whereas plastic has a tendency to stain, crack and harbor smells, stainless steel can remain unchanged for a lifetime.
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The exact composition of stainless steel can vary, but it always contains chromium.
Stainless steel is an iron alloy, meaning other elements have been added to the iron to give it specific properties. Whilst the recipe can change, chromium is the consistent ingredient that makes stainless steel so useful. It's the secret to its excellent rust resistance.
Want to get a little technical? The chromium protects the metal by forming a microscopically thin layer of chromium oxide on the surface. The chromium oxide is inert, preventing corrosion from spreading throughout the metal. The layer is even self-healing if scratched.
18/10 is the best grade of stainless steel you can get - this cutlery could last a lifetime of use and beyond.
You might have noticed that a lot of the stainless steel products we sell are described as '18/10' stainless steel, or occasionally '18/0'. These numbers, which you'll most often see referenced with cutlery and cookware, refer to the quantities of chromium and nickel in the stainless steel.
When it comes to kitchenware, 18/10 is the best stainless steel you can get. It contains 18% chromium and 10% nickel. As well as having excellent corrosion resistance from the chromium content, the addition of nickel further enhances rust resistance, heat resistance, weight and shine.
Cheaper 18/0 stainless steel, which contains 18% chromium but no nickel, is still highly rust resistant - you can put 18/0 cutlery in a dishwasher without worrying. However, it could corrode in acidic environments, it might lose its shine more quickly, and it's bendier than 18/10.
This heavy-bottomed saucepan has an aluminum core inside the stainless steel.
For all its benefits, stainless steel is not a very efficient conductor of heat. This is why the best stainless steel cookware has a 'tri-ply' construction, meaning a more conductive metal is sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel.
This conductive middle layer is usually aluminum, though copper is occasionally used too. These metals provide faster, more even heating by helping it spread rapidly throughout the pan. The tri-ply layering tends to only be present in the base of a pan, but a 'fully clad' tri-ply pan will have the core going up the pan walls as well.
Professional chefs favor stainless steel over non-stick for frying - and it's not just because they're tougher.
Most people use their stainless steel pans for boiling and stewing - which they're perfect for. But many home cooks don't realize that they're great for frying and searing too. The thing is, if you're used to non-stick pans, frying on stainless steel takes a little getting used to.
The secret to frying on stainless steel is to preheat your pan thoroughly. If you put food straight into a cold, or even warm pan, it will stick to the surface as it cooks. This is because the little 'pores' in the metal open up as it heats, and will latch onto your food if they aren't nice and hot.
How do you know if your pan is hot enough? Try throwing a droplet of water on the pan. If it sits there, too cold. If it bubbles and steams, still too cold. If it forms a bubble of water that rolls and dances around the pan, it's time to add your oil! Wait for it to smoke a little before adding your food. Don't touch it until it's thoroughly browned, and it will come away easily.
Preheating can take several minutes, and this might all sound like a bit of a hassle. Why not just use a non-stick? It's because if you want a crisp, golden crust on your food, stainless steel does a much better job of this. Plus, the 'fond' - the sticky golden bits you scrape up to make delicious sauces - don't form on non-stick (because, well, nothing sticks).
Stainless steel is tough and low-maintenance - no seasoning or special cleaners required.
Stainless steel is generally pretty low-maintenance - if anything does stick to your cookware, you can soak it overnight without worrying about rust, and it can handle steel wool as well (though it can get scratched). Stainless steel tends to be dishwasher safe, too.
If you have an item with a very shiny surface, you could polish it with a stainless steel polish. However, this is purely cosmetic - skipping this shouldn't affect the function of your product. Generally, a regular sponge and washing up liquid is all you need to clean stainless steel.
They look very different - but both are highly versatile, great for searing food, and they'll last a lifetime.
If you're weighing up stainless steel pots and pans against iron (such as Rosle wrought iron or Skeppshult cast iron), there are a few differences you should be aware of - but they're more similar than you might expect.
Seasoning
The main difference between stainless steel and cast iron is that iron needs to be seasoned. This process of cooking on layers of oil protects the iron from corrosion. Iron pans need to be dried carefully (to prevent rust spots) and washed gently (to protect the seasoning layer). Stainless steel, on the other hand, needs no protection from rust, and is very low maintenance.
However, seasoned iron has the benefit of becoming non-stick - and it improves with use. It's not as non-stick as Teflon, but good enough to fry an egg in. Stainless steel is more 'sticky', so you need to take care to thoroughly preheat and oil the pan to prevent sticking. Even then, eggs are a gamble.
Heat
To prevent sticking and to achieve a good sear when frying, both cast iron and stainless steel pans should be thoroughly preheated before you add your food. Tri-ply stainless steel heats up faster and more evenly than cast iron, and it's also more responsive - meaning if you turn the heat off, your pan will cool down relatively fast.
Cast iron is slower to heat than tri-ply stainless steel, and it heats less evenly. However, it holds heat for a long time, and also radiates that heat out. This makes it great for cooking things all the way through, like potatoes and chicken - but it's less responsive to temperature changes.
Versatility
Acidic foods, such as slow-cooked tomato sauces and wine, can react with cast iron pans and damage the seasoning. Stainless steel, however, can handle these foods without a problem. Both stainless steel and cast iron can go from stovetop to oven, so long as the handles are made of metal. This is ideal for searing food and then finishing it off in the oven.
Both types of pan have their strengths. That's why we always keep both in our kitchen. Want to learn more about cast iron? Read all about this material here.
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