Are all stainless steel pans coated with nonstick? Can stainless steel saute or frying pans be distinguished by the quality of their nonstick coating?
I'm just afraid of accidentally buying a stainless steel pan that happens to lack, or to have shoddy, nonstick coatings.
I would go further than the other answers and even say that it is the opposite of your understanding:
The terms "non-stick pan" and "stainless steel pan" are mostly mutually exclusive in their usage. That is, when a cook speaks of a stainless steel pan, or a product description is titled as a stainless steel pan, this is usually taken to mean that the pan has no non-stick coating.
I am saying "mostly", because technically, they are not mutually exclusive, they are orthogonal. You can have a stainless steel pan with or without nonstick coating, and pans of another material with or without nonstick coating. This is why you can still see a product page which has the title of "nonstick pan" and somewhere in the description you will see the material listed as "stainless steel". But this is a minor detail, if you go shopping for a "stainless steel pan" you will almost certainly get only pans without a coating.
Pan materials and coatings can be a confusing topic, and if you have never experienced them live, you may not be able to recognize them from a picture. In your situation, it might be better to buy a pan offline, from a specialized store, and ask a salesperson to show you the different materials so you can start recognizing them. Just don't believe any claim the salesperson or the packaging makes about the durability of nonstick coatings, be it the teflon or the ceramic kind.
A non-stick coating is a specific chemical applied to the surface which makes it very hard for food to stick. When people refer to a 'stainless steel pan', that does not imply that it has a non-stick coating, and people would normally understand that to mean a plain stainless steel surface without non-stick coating.
Having said that, for many applications cooks prefer a pan without a non-stick coating. Non-stick coatings can be damaged by excessive heat or the use of metal implements such as spatulas or tongs. Because the food does not stick, it is harder to produce fond, which is the result of the food sticking to the base of the pan and browning. Most things that can be made in a non-stick pan can be made in a non- non-stick pan, possibly with more effort and technique required. Frying eggs is really the situation where a non-stick pan is at its most valuable.
If you are looking for a non-stick pan, you should read the label carefully and (as Stephie said), look for a (usually) dark, non-metallic surface.
No, not all stainless steel pans have a nonstick coating.
Your average pan with the silvery inside is simply stainless steel, not coated.
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Nonstick coatings are usually dark or black and have a specific, non-metallic surface.
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So if you go shopping, read the label and look at the product and the question should answer itself.
