Chef's simple water hack stops meat from sticking to pan: 'This is what you want'

A chef has shared his easy, no-fuss hack to ensure that meat will not stick to your pan while cooking – all it takes is a few drops of water.

TikTok's Chef Mike, who runs Detroit 75 Kitchen in Michigan, USA, let viewers in on his little secret for checking if a pan is hot enough to sear meat on.

"First, use a little water," he said, dumping a little bit into the hot stainless steel pan. The water started evaporating in one spot, which Mike says is an indicator of it not being ready.

Watch the video above.

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Instead, he insists on waiting until the pan is hot enough so that when water hits it, it will branch off into little beads that dance across the pan.

"This is what you want. When you start moving around like this, like mercury. Ready to go," he said.

He also warned people trying it, "You have to be careful. That's why you use water to test it, not oil. If you use oil to test it and the pan is too hot, you get yourself a f--king mess," he said.

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After getting the pan hot enough, Mike demonstrated with a piece of chicken, which seared beautifully without leaving residue in the actual pan.

"This will work on any pan," he said. "You can use any meat that you want."

In the comments, people were blown away by the simple hack.

"This is why my stainless pans stick then!" said one enlightened commenter.

"This is actually a good tip for beginners," added another.

One person expressed reservations about adding oil to the mix.

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"I'm always nervous to add oil after it's that hot," they said, to which Mike replies, "We get it, but for stainless steel, getting it above about 200° [F] (93.3° C) is how it becomes nonstick."

"A high smoke point oil like avocado is best!" he also added.