LPT: Letting a pan heat up before adding oil is a complete waste of time

By far the biggest mistake I see people make when cooking is letting a pan sit over heat for several minutes to heat up before adding oil. I see this in countless cooking videos, recipes and even my own family members do this. The reason this is dumb is that the addition of oil, or any other liquid, instantly drops the temperature of the pan and cools it below 100°C (212°F). You spend all this time letting the pan heat up to 200°C+ (400°F+), and then the second you add oil, the temperature instantly drops down to 130°C-150°C (260°F - 300°F). This is known as heat transfer.<br><br>Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy from a body of higher temperature to a body at lower temperature. In essence, the heat from the pan is transferred to the oil. This cools down the pan, and then it takes several minutes for it to heat back up to a temperature where you can properly sear meat. This means that the time you spend waiting for your pan to heat up is completely useless, and you can achieve the same level of heat in half the time if you just add oil right away. I hate seeing so many people waste their time doing this and I hope this tip saves you time in the long run.<br><br>**tl;dr**: Letting a pan heat up before adding oil is a waste of time. The addition of oil instantly cools down the pan, so you can achieve the same level of heat in half the time by adding oil right away<br><br>**EDIT**: The amount of people in the comments that think you cannot heat oil is insane. Yes, you can heat oil. What you cannot do is heat oil above its smoke point. Just use a neutral oil with a high smoke point like Avocado oil, Canola oil, Sunflower oil, or Peanut oil. I honestly cannot believe there are so many people that think you aren't allowed to heat oil when cooking and that adding any oil instantly sets off your fire alarm. This is basic cooking.