Stephanie - if this is just about not using nonstick cookware, I would highly suggest getting a cast iron griddle. I have only ever made pancakes on a cast iron griddle (just like my mom :) Making pancakes on anything else would just be wierd to me.

Just make sure you season the griddle, but then it will work great for eggs and pancakes.

The only thing I use a nonstick pan for at this point is crepes.

I finally got the trick to fried eggs in an all-clad pan. First, use a very small one, just big enough to hold your eggs - this keeps the oil/butter from spreading around too much and you'll keep enough under the eggs so they don't adhere to the pan. Second, the pan has to be hot! Third, don't fear the fat - you need enough to surround the eggs. About a 1-tbs pat of butter works for me. I cook them on one side, loosen with a flexible silicone spatula, then flip them with a quick flick of the wrist. Perfect fried eggs, no sticking!

I second the cast iron route. Mine is about 20 yrs old and nothin' sticks to that baby!

Also, just for pancakes on a all-clad pan, I would recommend coconut oil over butter.

A trick I learned while cooking overseas is to season a stainless steel skillet with salt and oil. Just rub salt around on the pan for a while with a paper towel and I don't know how but it smooths it out and we were able to cook eggs (and anything else) every time with absolutely no sticking. You have to do it about 3 times at first and reseason every once in a while but it works!

Hot pan, HOT PAN. Stainless steel has to be preheated with alittle oil or butter or spray, whatever you use. Then nothing will stick. I switched to stainless steel and cast iron 3 yrs ago due to worries about toxins in non stick cookware and love them. I also have copper bottum stainless steel which helps evenly heat the pan.

I also recommend cast iron. Stainless is great for a lot of things, but it's not the perfect medium for non-stick frying.

I just made scrambled eggs in a stainless steel pan. Normally we use our cast iron but I had started out to make something else and changed my mind. The pan was already hot and so was the oil, so I just went for it. I was sure they would stick, but they didn't, and clean-up was easy. It had to be the hot pan/hot fat combination, and possibly also the fact that there was more oil in the pan than I would normally use for eggs.

I don't own a non-stick pan. I make eggs and pancakes and everything in my stainless pans. To echo what everyone is saying:
Fat, fat, fat. Lots of oil. If you're going to cook in stainless, you're going to have to just accept that it will have to be nearly deep-fried for it to come off the pan :)
Heat! Give the pan a lot of time to warm up before you put the oil in. Sometimes I spritz the pan with trader joe's olive oil nonstick spray when it's cold, and the coat it with oil once it is very hot.
Patience. The food will release once it's good and ready. Any sooner and you will have shards sticking to the bottom of the pan.

I have a mixture of stainless steel and cast iron, and I usually cook my eggs in my smaller stainless steel pan. Like someone else mentioned, use the smallest size that will contain your eggs. I use a medium high heat (on an electric stove, usually a 6/9 or so) and I use either a dollap of oil, or a good spraying of an olive oil mister. Don't even bother trying to use SS if you aren't using enough oil/butter as a lubricant - it just becomes an icky mess. i'm going to have to defer to others on the pancakes though; my boyfriend isn't a fan so I rarely ever cook them and haven't really mastered them.

Honestly, I just flat out dislike doing pancakes and eggs in stainless steel. Why bother when a nonstick can do that with so much less effort. When I did though, I never got stickage by just keeping the temp low (medium-low) and a good bit of butter or cooking spray. Be patient with them.

I've never owned non-stick cookware and have only ever used stainless steel for all of my cooking. I also try to cook with less fat because of my heart disease in my family. I'm not sure I understand what the problem is or why anyone would have to use copious amounts of fat akin to a deep fry. I have never had a problem with things sticking.

I have a stainless steel skillet that I make crepes in, without using any fat to cook with.

The trick IS to season it. Your pan won't be beautiful and shiny, but it will certainly be non-stick. I can make crepes in it without having any issues of sticking, I just need to wipe it down with a TINY bit of butter before cooking (wiping once will enable me to cook a whole batch without adding more fat) Treat it like cast iron, don't wash it with soap.

I use a combination of PAM (no-stick spray) and butter for my pancakes.

I agree with anirtak and other posters, the same tips apply to stainless that apply to cast iron:

* the pan should be seasoned (for stainless just the cooking surface)
* don't clean with soap or abrasives
* heat pan to cooking temperature before adding fat

Stainless looks all shiny and can be washed in the dishwasher, but food will stick if you do so. Cast iron can't be put in the dishwasher, but is far cheaper to acquire (and yes, somewhat heavier).

But isn't cast iron just cooler? It's the pan that would be smoking cigarettes out behind the gym while stainless is googling answers to the extra credit math problems.

echoing opk, salt is a good trick. learned this in cooking school many years ago for making crepes in regular skillets.

pan must be hot, then add some oil, and a teaspoon or so of salt. rub the oily salt around the bottom with a paper towel and remove the excess salt before cooking. generally speaking for most cookware, it helps if the pan is quite hot *before* you put the oil in.

and if you can help it, never scour the pan again. it won't be shiny, but it will cook better.

Cast-iron pan FTW!!

I always use the stainless steel pan for eggs and pancakes. A little Pam for grilling or butter and it's no problem. You may need to re apply the butter after a few batches of pancakes.

We do scour our pans from time to time with baking soda to get them really shiny, so that might work the way that the other commenter's salt trick does...

One of the tricks to cooking fantastic scrambled eggs is to keep stirring them over low heat. For that matter, over easy and fried eggs benefit greatly from a gentle heat as well. All this talk about a screaming hot pan makes me very nervous for the finished state of these eggs. While I agree that a generous application of fat can be useful in mitigating sticking, I must side with the nonstick or cast-iron pan proponents for a more dependable low-heat cooking option.

At work on my giant stainless griddle, I use low heat and lots of fat for sunny/over-whatever eggs. They don't pick up the fat so much as float on it. Scrambled I use the same lower heat, a little less fat and constantly keep the eggs moving. Pancakes also need a low-ish heat but very little fat. You don't want them flash cooking before you're done pouring them out.

I don't get the hot hot pans for eggs at all. You cannot make a perfect sunny, basted, or over easy egg ("no fringe on the skirt") with a hot hot pan. Hell, I'll ice my grill down a bit in the area I'm cooking the eggs to be sure. Generally, though, even bacon cooks better at low heat so there is not much reason to jack the temp up.

I can knock out 10 orders of bacon, eggs, and a shortstack in a few minutes (my grill is large enough to do it all at once but you get the point). Heat is not going to save you enough time to make the risk of over cooking worth it.

I just cooked pancakes in my AllClad stainless steel this morning with no problem of sticking, but the pancake browns on the outsides before the inside is fully cooked. I'm cooking between Medium Low and Medium and I do let the pan heat up all the way, then put my Pam spray in, wait a minute and then pour the batter in. No sticking and lokos beautiful, but have a mushy center... any tips???