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Kitchen Drill

Two Pans, One Lesson

Sear the same chicken in stainless and in nonstick, then make a two-minute pan sauce in each. Taste exactly why fond needs the right pan.

25 minAbout $5Beginner October 18, 2026
Line drawing of the drill laid out: a stainless skillet and a nonstick skillet, a plate of two chicken thighs, a pitcher of stock, small dishes of salt, oil, and shallot, two bowls taped 1 and 2, a pat of butter, half a lemon, a wooden spoon, two tasting spoons, masking tape, and a marker

What you need

The drill

  1. 1

    Pat both thighs dry and season them with a pinch of salt on each side. Label the bowls with tape: Stainless and Nonstick.

  2. 2

    Heat 1 tablespoon oil in each skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay one thigh in each pan and leave them alone until deeply browned underneath, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until they read 175°F, 5 to 7 minutes more. Move them to a plate.

  3. 3

    Before you do anything else, look at both pans. Take a picture. The stainless pan should have a brown crust stuck to the bottom. The nonstick pan should be almost clean.

  4. 4

    Pour off all but about 1 teaspoon of fat from each pan. Turn the heat to medium and add half the shallot to each. Stir for about a minute, until softened.

  5. 5

    Pour 1/4 cup stock into each pan. Scrape the bottom hard with the wooden spoon and simmer until reduced by about half, 2 to 3 minutes.

  6. 6

    Take both pans off the heat. Swirl 1 tablespoon cold butter into each until glossy, add a squeeze of lemon, and pour each sauce into its labeled bowl.

  7. 7

    Taste each sauce on its own, then with a bite of chicken. Sip water in between.

What to notice

The pans, before the sauce. That brown crust in the stainless pan is the fond. The nonstick pan barely has any, because nothing sticks to it, which is the entire point of nonstick and also exactly why it can’t do this job.

The sauces. Same shallot, same stock, same butter, same lemon. The stainless sauce tastes deep, roasty, and savory, like it simmered for an hour. The nonstick sauce tastes like warm, lemony butter. Nice, but thin. The only ingredient that changed was the one you made for free while cooking the chicken.

The chicken. The two thighs probably look and taste pretty similar. That’s the sneaky part: nonstick will brown your food just fine. It just won’t hand you a sauce afterward.

Level up

  • Brown versus black. Sear a third piece in the stainless pan and let the fond go past brown to black before you deglaze. Taste the sauce. It’s bitter, and no amount of butter fixes it. Now you know where the line is.
  • Change the liquid. Make the stainless sauce again with white wine, cider, or a spoonful of mustard whisked into the stock. Same method, different sauce every night.
  • Make it dinner. Double the stainless version and pour it over both thighs. You just made a restaurant pan sauce in five minutes.