[HN Gopher] Cast iron leet
___________________________________________________________________
Cast iron leet
Author : tsujp
Score : 179 points
Date : 2022-08-13 10:55 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (erock.prose.sh)
(TXT) w3m dump (erock.prose.sh)
| ncmncm wrote:
| Nowadays you get a Magnalite pan you don't need to "season" or
| worry about it getting unseasoned.
| mgaunard wrote:
| Caring for cast iron or carbon steel is fairly difficult and not
| something most people actually want to do.
|
| In practice hard anodized aluminium is the best compromise for
| people that aren't cookware geeks.
| [deleted]
| paulcole wrote:
| > Caring for cast iron or carbon steel is fairly difficult
|
| When it comes to cast iron this is clearly false. In the US,
| there are thousands of cast iron pans still hanging around that
| were used for decades or generations by non-rich non-"cookware
| geeks" who _gasp_ used soap on their cast iron cookware and
| didn't treat their cast iron cookware as if it were a delicate
| snowflake. Instead they just cooked with it, cleaned it how
| they wanted to, and nothing went horribly wrong.
| graycat wrote:
| Yup, cast iron has all these advantages. Yup, I, too, have both
| 10" and 12" cast iron skillets.
|
| Yes, on _seasoning_ , as you explain, it's easy, natural, would
| be tough to avoid, is good to have and easy to maintain. The
| common complicated descriptions seem to be to make the authors
| look like they have some advanced, tricky expertise -- nope, it's
| all just dirt simple.
|
| If have a cover, then can also use the pair effectively as a
| stove top oven, e.g., for pizza, as in my
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32433275
|
| Stamped steel can be similarly good and is easier to work with
| for some things, e.g., flipping an egg or an omelet, because it
| is a lot lighter than cast iron and has sloping sides.
|
| For a pot, say, 6 quarts, stainless steel with a thick aluminum
| bottom bonded on the outside can also work well.
| lenkite wrote:
| Wow, >100k ratings on that simple pan with 92% 5+4 stars.
| mfgs wrote:
| I love my cast iron skillet, which must be at least 4 decades
| old. It's great for cooking with the only challenging task being
| scrambling eggs on low heat (for fluffier eggs), which can stick
| a little.
|
| I recently bought a new cast iron skillet and it just doesn't
| seem to be of the same quality, it's a lighter colour and doesn't
| seem to season as well. Are there different grades of cast iron,
| or are they just not made like they used to be?
| askvictor wrote:
| There's apparently something of a trade in antique cast iron; I
| don't have any, but I've heard it used to be smoother. But even
| in new stuff there are different qualities; my no-name cheapie
| is definitely rougher than my Victoria brand pans.
| jdougan wrote:
| New cast iron usually isn't finished as well. I have seen
| people take new cast iron to a machine shop and have the
| cooking surface smoothed down a bit.
| exabrial wrote:
| There are hundreds of cast iron pans at your local thrift store.
| No need to get one off Amazon
| K7PJP wrote:
| I haven't had any luck finding cast iron in thrift stores for
| years now. There's people scouring the stores for them. I've
| seen a couple of crappy 6 inch pans from the 90's and that's
| it. Any vintage ones get snapped up instantly.
| [deleted]
| jeffrallen wrote:
| I cook on my grandma's pan, and I can confirm, it outlasted the
| 20 or so pans I used growing up.
|
| Cast iron is forever.
| talkingtab wrote:
| Sorry to be skeptical, but are the links affiliate links? Added
| to that question is the question of the quality of the article.
| While I agree completely with the main point about using cast
| iron pans, I think the post glosses over some issues. To be clear
| I own two cast iron skillets and NO non-stick pans. But it ain't
| as easy as the post makes it. "Easy to clean" with a scrubbing
| net is misleading because it is only "easy" if you maintain a
| good seasoning patina. So research that _before_ you buy. And I
| would look at Lodge instead of Amazon brand and skip the net
| cleaner until you have the seasoning part down and decide you
| really need that.
|
| My number #1 accessory for cast iron is a Duxtop Induction
| Cooktop (one burner). If you can't find it yourself on Amazon I
| would skip the cast iron skillet and work on that skill first.
| <snark/>. Someone commented on the heat retention but I find that
| with an induction cooktop I get very good temperature control.
| Maybe its just me, but I just don't notice a problem and I am
| picky about my eggs.
|
| Another person commented on cast iron woks and I echo that. I
| found a flat bottom cast iron wok (and again you can probably
| find it yourself on Amazon) and it works very well with the
| induction cooktop. Probably better with a gas stove that blasts
| heat, but for me I can cook things (fried rice with eggs) that
| are much better than any other method I know of.
|
| Just my 2 cents and an apology if that is not an affiliate link.
| I am so used to seeing them and wondering if the review is
| affected by the profit that I now suspect everyone. I don't mind
| so much when people announce them.
| jimmaswell wrote:
| Why do people care about affiliate links? If someone benefits
| from me clicking on something then good for them so long as the
| price stays the same for me.
| layer8 wrote:
| Because it incentivizes to link to products from which the
| author can get the most revenue. When a link is an affiliate
| link, there is a greater likelyhood that the choice of
| product wasn't completely neutral with regard to that
| incentive.
| aqfamnzc wrote:
| For me, affiliate links can be an indicator that the author's
| motives may be more skewed toward convincing people to buy
| things than giving a fair representation of the products.
| However this isn't always the case obviously.
| happyopossum wrote:
| > Sorry to be skeptical, but are the links affiliate links?
|
| Err, why are you asking us that when you can simply look at the
| links yourself? (Since the very presence of your question could
| taint the author's post, I will tell you - they're not.
| Affiliate links contain a tag=xxxx parameter).
|
| Writing a multi-paragraph rant based on an easily debunked
| suspicion isn't a great idea.
| r1ch wrote:
| Amazon affiliate links contain a "tag" query parameter, these
| do not appear to be affiliate links.
| dataflow wrote:
| Tangent, but given all the recent discussions around PFAS and
| Teflon and metal toxicity and all that, does anyone know of _any_
| kind of cookware that we can consider to be "safe" for cooking
| _aside_ from cast iron? Or is that literally the only option
| left?
| korfuri wrote:
| Enameled cast iron should be safe.
|
| Earthenware pots are pretty specific but should be safe too.
| dataflow wrote:
| > Earthenware pots are pretty specific but should be safe
| too.
|
| Is their ceramic glaze safe? Or do you mean unglazed only?
| copperx wrote:
| Yes! I want to know whether stainless steel is considered just
| as safe.
|
| Also, now that air friers are all the rage and they all seem to
| have a non stick coating and they are heating said coating more
| than a skillet would, are they basically poisoning us?
| tekacs wrote:
| Nowadays it's also much easier than it used to be to buy smooth
| cast iron, which becomes extremely easy to cook even fairly
| sticky foods on after just a seasoning or two (e.g.
| https://fieldcompany.com/products/field-cast-iron-skillet).
|
| As sibling commenters have mentioned, smooth vs. rough does seem
| to make a difference.
|
| Source: I have cast iron like these and use it to comfortably
| cook eggs and food where sticking would be a problem all the
| time.
|
| Unlike several other commenters here, it absolutely hasn't seemed
| like a tool 'mostly for steaks'. In fact I cook most things in
| cast iron, carbon steel wok or finally fall back to stainless if
| neither is appropriate.
| sunaurus wrote:
| Your comment made me curious and I looked up what I paid for my
| skillet 10 years ago. I found the order confirmation e-mail, it
| was 12.99EUR - that's over a 10x difference. I'm sure that
| explains why my skillet had a rough surface, but still, the
| price difference seems crazy to me, considering how there are
| no quality issues at all with my skillet even after a decade of
| use.
| peatmoss wrote:
| I found an old cast iron pan at a second hand store that was
| antique (i.e. ground smooth). After cooking on the old one, I
| went out and bought some flap disks to stick on a drill and
| polish my modern lodge. It does work better. But not as good
| for eggs as carbon steel (which you also season, and has same
| durability advantages as cast iron)
| thfuran wrote:
| $150 for a cast iron pan is nuts.
| rob_c wrote:
| There is a reason this were done that way until the 60s/70s. In
| large part because nobody the everything away because it was
| cheap. Not all of the "moving forward" has been a good idea or
| actually beneficial. But yes some inventions such as the
| electronic typewriter demonstrably save multiple hours each week
| for people.
| taywrobel wrote:
| This does miss one huge drawback of cast iron for cooking some
| dishes - heat control. Cast iron retains heat like crazy and
| doesn't change quickly. Get that thing up to a searing
| temperature and it'll be 10-15 minutes before you can get an egg
| anywhere near it for example. A thinner steel pan will heat up
| and cool down much rapidly allowing for a lot more control.
|
| Luckily there's a fantastic non-nonstick option for that too; a
| carbon steel wok. Amazing tool that is frankly under-utilized in
| the western world.
|
| J. Kenji Lopez-Alt released a book this year that goes over how
| to use it in great engineering-focused detail for anyone wanting
| to give it a shot.
| martingoodson wrote:
| Carbon steel woks are useless for induction or electric jobs.
| The sides are so high that they don't get near to the heat and
| never season. Then they rust.
|
| I which I could find an alternative to non-stick woks. I've
| ordered a steel aluminium laminate. Maybe that will work.
| mgaunard wrote:
| If you don't have gas, you need to season in the oven.
| lowbloodsugar wrote:
| >Get that thing up to a searing temperature and it'll be 10-15
| minutes before you can get an egg anywhere near it for example.
|
| So, er, don't do that? Nice thing is, for that price, I can buy
| more than one pan!
|
| And unlike other pans I _can_ get it up to a searing
| temperature with enough heat storage that it actually sears.
|
| All that being said, yeah, nonstick pans for $80 that only last
| a year? Ok. They are worth it. So we have both. Yes and a wok.
| CarVac wrote:
| Another benefit of carbon steel woks is they come from the
| factory smooth.
| taywrobel wrote:
| True, but worth noting that they usually also come with
| machine oil on them. It's very important to correctly clean
| and season before first use, same as with cast iron.
| twawaaay wrote:
| Carbon steel wok is only viable on a powerful gas stove. Right
| now where I live there is a campaign to get rid of gas stoves.
| And the existing ones are far, far from being powerful enough
| to use wok properly.
| graycat wrote:
| Wok? Gas heat? Enough heat? Okay:
|
| (1) Off the kitchen, have a back porch, i.e., no roof, call
| it a _deck_.
|
| (2) Get an inexpensive, propane powered deep fat fryer turkey
| cooker.
|
| (3) Use the propane burner to heat a wok.
|
| Get plenty of heat!
|
| Did that! Cooked quarts of Moo Shi Pork (basically sauteed
| pork matchsticks with steamed, shredded cabbage and various
| flavorings) at a time. Worked great. Lost the setup in a
| move!
| mastazi wrote:
| I use carbon steel pans on a ceramic electric stovetop and
| they work perfectly. If you don't like Western style pans and
| you still want to use a wok, then you can get a wok where the
| centre is flat (many woks are built that way so it should't
| be too hard to find one), and it will work the same way as
| the pans I use.
| twawaaay wrote:
| There are multiple issues with flat bottomed wok.
|
| The point of the wok is that the liquid gathers in the
| centre of the wok leaving the sides with very little liquid
| on them which helps a lot with browning. You can also throw
| small amounts of relatively delicate ingredients (like
| garlic) that will get sauted in deep pool of oil in the
| centre and then you can add more ingredients and build your
| dish.
|
| With any flat bottom you give away some properties of the
| wok, depending on how large the flat part is.
|
| Another nice property of wok is that because of its dome
| shape it will not deform even at high temperature
| differentials. Any flat piece of steel subjected to high
| temperature differentials will deform over time.
| mastazi wrote:
| yes, I get what you mean about the pool of liquid in the
| centre, my wife is Asian and I've seen her using that
| technique before.
|
| You're right about pans getting warped, I have this issue
| from time to time with my carbon steel pans, luckily it
| is an easily fixable issue (using a sturdy rubber mallet
| on a pre-heated pan is my favourite method).
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| > where I live there is a campaign to get rid of gas stoves.
|
| I'd be very interested to hear from the serious home cooks on
| this issue, as well as the perspective of professional chefs.
| While I consider myself an advanced home cook, I've come to
| the conclusion that I'm not limited by going electric only -
| it's the heat, not the flame that matters for most of what I
| do.
|
| For those cases where I really do need flame (roasting
| peppers or something maybe?), I can always go outside to my
| grill.
|
| Again, would be very interested in other perspectives on
| this.
| mgaunard wrote:
| The main advantage of gas is that it heats up the pan from
| the sides as well, not just the bottom.
|
| Some might consider it inefficient and a waste of energy,
| but it makes seasoning pans much easier.
| allset_ wrote:
| > I can always go outside to my grill.
|
| That's a privilege a lot of people in cities don't have. I
| would love to have a gas cook top, but my building is
| electric only.
|
| Edit: I'm also in the "advanced home cook" category, not a
| pro.
| spfzero wrote:
| I've cooked on both, many years on each and I'm an every-
| day kind of cook. In my experience, gas is better. Heats up
| faster, reacts much faster to control input, and by looking
| at the flame under the pan I can adjust exactly, and
| quickly.
|
| I have not cooked on induction though, which might be a big
| improvement over the electric ranges I've used.
|
| Another thing about gas ranges that is purely mechanical,
| is that I can slide pans around to get them off the burner
| when I need things to cool down fast and I don't want to
| turn the flame completely off. I have come to really rely
| on this. The electric ranges I've used have a glass top and
| it will get scratched up if you slide the pan around.
| taywrobel wrote:
| I actually just moved to a house with an all-electric range.
| We use the wok too often for that, so grabbed a butane burner
| for ~$50 on Amazon. Can also find them at camping supply
| stores.
|
| The one we got is 15,000 BTU, which is frankly too much. You
| can find 10,000 or 12,000 BTU options for cheaper, and will
| probably get some more fine grained control out of it.
|
| The butane lasts for quite a while in it for wok use as well,
| since you're generally only cooking for a few minutes at a
| time.
| flycaliguy wrote:
| Happy to read this, I've been considering this exact
| arrangement lately. A bunch of things I've read say you
| need 15,000 if you want to get that carmilization on your
| stir fry's.
|
| I'm also very inspired by this video [1] which shows what
| appears to be a jet engine under a wok used by a master
| chef.
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/Zj8D5Z5S1D8
| graycat wrote:
| Yes, amazing.
|
| The restaurant looks REALLY nice. Singapore is starting
| to look really nice -- maybe I should visit?
|
| Sure, the chef is amazing. I'm surprised his wok does not
| have a long handle. So, he uses a towel as a pot holder
| when he holds the small handle on his wok.
|
| No joke he has a lot of heat. At one point he even has
| some of the oil in his wok flaming a little!
|
| He seems to have his wok heat source going 100% all the
| time. So, to pay for the fuel he cooks really fast, lots
| of dishes per hour, and has a cheap fuel source? Also, he
| needs to have some good exhaust air flow for his kitchen
| or soon will also _cook_ everyone in the kitchen and
| restaurant!
|
| For his heat source, looks like he has repurposed an old
| GE J79 jet engine, e.g., as used in
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-58_Hustler
| twawaaay wrote:
| You can get more powerful burner but you can also reduce
| your portions.
|
| I have a carbon steel wok on a typical (here) gas burner
| (~7k BTU). I can make single portion on it. It requires
| moving the food around the wok surface constantly to
| parts that had some time to get hot. Forget about
| throwing more than one portion into it, it will just
| start to boil. So the only time I get to use it is when
| my family is away or when I want to make something for
| myself at an odd hour but pretty much useless for a meal
| for my family.
| hackeraccount wrote:
| That bastard fuel.
| jen729w wrote:
| Similarly I have the cheapest BBQ I could find [0] and use
| both my CS wok and CI/CS pans almost exclusively on it.
| It's rare that I use the BBQ plates that came with it, it's
| basically an outdoor burner.
|
| Mostly so that my house doesn't stink. I can go hot hot hot
| just out the back door and not worry about the smoke.
|
| A standard gas bottle (refill ~AU$40) lasts about 8 months.
|
| [0]: https://www.bunnings.com.au/jumbuck-2-burner-hooded-
| bbq_p317...
| [deleted]
| wffurr wrote:
| Just use flat bottomed pans on an induction stove. Works
| great.
| twawaaay wrote:
| Carbon steel wok is far superior to any flat bottomed pan
| for certain types of dishes but you need skill to use it.
| mastazi wrote:
| I think that parent meant flat bottomed carbon steel
| pans.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| They work splendidly on wood-burning stoves, give it a try.
| If you don't have one of those a metal bucket with holes in
| the bottom-side (for air intake) and top-side also works very
| well, just feed it dry sticks through the air holes to keep
| it going. I regularly use a big carbon steel wok to make nasi
| goreng (fried rice), to deep fry fish and for similar things.
| f38zf5vdt wrote:
| Virtually every type of pan comes in carbon steel for
| affordable prices from cookware wholesalers. They've been life
| changing for me, especially combined with an induction cooker.
|
| Not to endorse any specific company, but a Thermalloy 8-inch
| pan is available for approximately $20 USD.
| smarks wrote:
| +1 for Kenji's book "The Wok". I use an inexpensive carbon
| steel, flat-bottomed wok on my regular old electric stove.
| Sure, a round-bottomed wok on a gas burner might work _better_
| but I can get good results on my setup.
| samatman wrote:
| High reserve heat is the reason to use cast iron. It's
| certainly possible to learn to do delicate things with cast
| iron and heat, just as (identical to in fact) it's possible to
| get the hang of this with resistive coil hobs.
|
| But it's fighting the tool. Unless one has a strong commitment
| to minimalism, or a kitchen/galley which demands it, one is
| better off having other skillets for that. Wrought iron, carbon
| steel, stainless, pick a couple you like.
|
| But to get that deep caramel crust on southern Johnny cake,
| you'll want cast iron. Fantastic for getting a deep even sear
| on a sous vide steak.
|
| The reserve heat should be your friend.
| mastazi wrote:
| > frankly under-utilized in the western world.
|
| they are not popular at home but, even in the western world,
| carbon steel pans are the most common type of pan used in
| restaurants, they are also known as Lyonnaise pans. Recently
| they are becoming more common and you can even buy them at
| Ikea: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vardagen-frying-pan-carbon-
| stee...
|
| Not only they (carbon steel pans and woks) are faster to heat
| and easier to control than cast iron, they are also lighter,
| and another advantage is that they have longer handles that
| don't heat up as much, which means you can grab them without
| using oven mitts or handle covers.
| perlgeek wrote:
| > You can't use dish soap on them because it'll destroy the
| seasoning
|
| I believed this before reading the article.
|
| Is it commonly accepted wisdom that this is bunk?
| askvictor wrote:
| I can't say if it's commonly accepted wisdom, but I personally
| use dish soap on my cast iron when I need to (i.e. if it's too
| greasy). I think this is confusion that stems from dishwasher
| powder, which you should definitely keep away from cast iron
| (actually, a little might be OK as long as you don't run it
| through the dishwasher; not sure, never tried).
| JshWright wrote:
| If (modern) dish soap washes your seasoning off, it wasn't
| seasoning, it was just grease and grime stuck to your pan.
|
| It is true that dish soap used to be much more aggressive, and
| those soaps can cause issues for pan seasoning (and also for
| your skin...), but those soaps haven't been sold (in any
| meaningful quantity) in decades.
| sunaurus wrote:
| I use dish soap to clean mine after every use, haven't had any
| issues.
| CarVac wrote:
| I've read that lye-based soap will attack the seasoning
| coating, but modern hand-safe dish soap will not.
| Errancer wrote:
| I heard that it used to be true but the chemicals in soap
| changed and now its safe to use, but I don't know enough to
| verify this.
| AndrewVos wrote:
| Yeah it is.
|
| I always use dish soap, and it will definitely take off any oil
| that hasn't been polymerised.
|
| I think the people who believe this (and use cast iron)
| probably haven't seasoned it hot enough or have scraped off the
| seasoning close enough to the metal.
| isanengineer wrote:
| I agree overall, but there are a lot of misconceptions about cast
| iron that can give it a learning curve.
|
| The post glossed over this, but it is certainly possible to
| damage your seasoning, especially if something you're cooking
| sticks to the pan. However, this doesn't mean you need to do some
| day-long "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole
| thing and baking it in the oven. Just clean the pan, put some oil
| in it, put it on the burner, and rub the oil in with a balled up
| paper towel until it gets hot. Do this after you cook until you
| build up a good seasoning and then stop. If your seasoning gets
| damaged for any reason, just rub some oil into it after you cook
| until it's good again.
|
| The key for me was learning to care for carbon steel woks. It's
| basically the same as cast iron, but there's a lot less
| misinformation and internet superstition out there.
| randallsquared wrote:
| > _this doesn 't mean you need to do some day-long
| "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole thing
| and baking it in the oven._
|
| Unless you want everything you cook in the cast iron pan to
| smell like what was burned in it for weeks, you really do. Or,
| hear me out: buy a new cast iron. The seasoning process is
| really onerous, but the manufacturer does it in bulk, and a new
| cast iron is typically cheaper than a quality nonstick pan. The
| incredible inconvenience of re-seasoning has made me want to
| never do it again after a few attempts over the last dozen
| years in various apartments. Nope.
| martingoodson wrote:
| I think you're doing it wrong. It's very easy to renew the
| seasoning and it doesn't retain smells.
| randallsquared wrote:
| It's definitely possible I'm doing it wrong. There are so
| many reasonable-sounding articles I've read over the years
| about smoke points and food-safe flaxseed oil and
| temperatures and ventilation so you can season for H hours
| for each seasoning coat...
|
| When everything is working, cast iron seems great: quick
| brush off, slight bit of oil to rub in while it's still
| warm, done. When a spot of rust appears, or large spots on
| the interior become matte while the rest is shiny (or the
| reverse), or you're using it as a dutch oven and burn a
| steak, well, that's when the nightmare begins. After
| several weekends of attempting to get that smell out and
| get it re-seasoned, I gave up, left it in the leave/take
| area of my then building, and bought a new one. But I
| haven't used that one much, because I know it's only a
| matter of time until something happens and I am faced with
| the whole process again.
| martingoodson wrote:
| If my seasoning is getting a bit thin I just smear on
| some oil in a thin layer and heat at high temperature for
| about 3 minutes and that's it. I never have any rust
| spots because I always dry it after use.
|
| I don't find it very high maintenance at all.
| sva_ wrote:
| I wonder what people are doing to their nonstick pans that they
| need to throw them out every year?
|
| I've been using the same two nonstick pans for years now and
| can't say I have that problem (I only use wood/plastic on them).
|
| I'm still concerned about the chemicals used though.
| mirker wrote:
| Teflon vaporizes at >500F (and perhaps below). Leaving the pan
| on high without food in it will approach that quickly.
| sva_ wrote:
| I think this might be it. I usually cook at medium
| temperatures, wherever possible, as it seems healthier.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Simple tip for temp control: know the smoke point of your
| oil. Olive oil for example is in the range of 375-400F. So
| if you use it in a nonstick pan and see it smoking (not
| steaming) you know to pull back the temps a bit.
| jitl wrote:
| I'm still on my first $30 Teflon skillet, been using it for 5
| years. I only cook medium heat or below, which is still enough
| to do the tofu frying.
| asciimov wrote:
| Poor craftsmanship is likely the biggest culprit, followed by
| thermal shocks, putting the pans in the dishwasher, and not
| following care instructions.
|
| I went through half a dozen non-stick pans over a 5 year period
| that all had their coatings fail. After having expensive brands
| with lifetime warranties fail on me due to poor build quality,
| I swore off of them and went with hard anodized and haven't had
| an issue since.
| perlgeek wrote:
| > I wonder what people are doing to their nonstick pans that
| they need to throw them out every year?
|
| I had a very high-quality non-stick skillet, only used
| wood/plastic utensils, and the non-stick coating started coming
| off after about three years (of pretty heavy use).
|
| I plan to have it refurbished, there are (at least in Germany)
| services where they sand-blast your skillet and apply a new
| coating. Seems wasteful to throw away the entire skillet for
| that.
| bratwurst3000 wrote:
| Thank you for than information. Living in germany and didnt
| know that.
| perlgeek wrote:
| FYI https://lotteweber-grillpfanne.de/pfanne-erneuern/ is
| the service I plan to use; haven't yet though.
| theobeers wrote:
| I love cooking with cast iron and have built up a decent
| collection over the years. More recently, I've also gotten into
| carbon steel cookware.
|
| However... I always keep one nonstick pan in the kitchen, and it
| sees a fair bit of use. My practice is to buy something cheap,
| since I've found that the nonstick coating will last only so
| long, even on an expensive pan. By not spending much, I avoid
| feeling upset when it's time for a replacement. (My current one
| came from IKEA, for about 15 EUR. I expect to get a year out of
| it.)
| moogly wrote:
| I used to be a cast iron fanboy. Seasoning, polymerization, yadda
| yadda and all that jazz.
|
| Then I got an induction stove. I now consider cast iron to be
| overrated.
|
| The heat retention makes an induction stove pretty pointless
| (apart from the energy efficiency I suppose) with cast iron.
|
| I'm getting old and my wrists aren't as good as they used to be,
| so slinging around cast iron pans and pots really hurts after a
| while.
|
| I bought various sizes of Tefal Hard Titanium+ pans and I really
| like the weight, ease of cleaning, but most of all the heat
| reactivity.
|
| Might look into carbon steel, but I'm a bit wary of how it's
| going to be to clean.
| dwohnitmok wrote:
| > Might look into carbon steel, but I'm a bit wary of how it's
| going to be to clean.
|
| If you have experience maintaining cast iron, the process is
| the same for carbon steel, both when it comes to cleaning and
| seasoning. They're very similar. I basically just treat carbon
| steel as a thinner and lighter version of cast iron (and the
| thinness changes certain attributes such as heat retention)
| throwaway892238 wrote:
| Anodized aluminum is non-stick, non-reactive, lightweight, can be
| cleaned as normal, requires no seasoning, is scratch-resistant,
| and heats very quickly.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| Aluminum, even anodized, will definitely stick to food. Most
| anodized pots are treated with a teflon nonstick interior
| though and its color is very similar to the grey color of the
| anodization.
|
| You do have to be careful about scratching anodized stuff too.
| The anodization will scratch and flake off if hit with hard
| material like steel. But again it's usually not anodized
| material directly in contact with the cooking surface since
| they put nonstick there.
| [deleted]
| throwaway892238 wrote:
| Looks like you're right; they used to not add coatings back
| in the day, but now they all seem to have them, even if they
| don't point it out in the product details.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| Yeah aluminum is still great, it's actually a lot better
| than cast iron for heat distribution. Thick aluminum stuff
| in particular is amazing in my experience. I have an
| anodized aluminum sauce pan that is a perfect rice cooking
| pot--it heats up and boils water super fast, retains heat
| well, and nonstick interior is great for rice. Still looks
| as nice and clean as the day I bought it 15 years ago too.
| mritun wrote:
| We have the same 12" cast iron skillet and every word is true.
|
| Sometimes people mention rust and it's true as well. We washed it
| many times in dishwasher and it'd rust. But then scrape it with a
| scraper, oil it and heat it until oil polymerizes - voila you've
| your pan good as new.
|
| Oh and if you need to cook tomatoes, get enameled cast iron
| skillet - you're not going to go back ever to non-stick.
| JohnHaugeland wrote:
| > These are all demonstrably false. Once a pan is seasoned,
| there's not much you can do to mess up the seasoning -- in my
| experience.
|
| Having destroyed the seasoning on a great many cast irons, this
| is a remarkable sentence to me.
| tunatrout wrote:
| Cast Iron is great, but it's not a one-size-fits all solution.
| Take it from Atari designer Greg Easter:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=378eeKE-KxM
| mberning wrote:
| I have used cast iron and carbon steel for a while. They have
| their uses and I generally prefer them, but a nonstick pan is
| essential in many circumstances. Just watch Jacques Pepin make a
| French style omelette. He used a non stick pan. Who is going to
| disagree with that man.
| westcort wrote:
| Tupperware MicroPro with the eterna coating has been great for
| me. I can make a roast in 20 minutes, lasagna from scratch in 15
| minutes, etc. The coating is a lot more durable than conventional
| coatings and there is no indoor air pollution, like with my gas
| stove. The technology is better than the old way of cooking. It
| is so much more convenient, in fact, that I wonder if there was a
| campaign against microwave cooking by the petrochemical industry.
| happyopossum wrote:
| > I can make a roast in 20 minutes
|
| No. No you cannot. You can cook a cut of meat commonly called a
| 'roast', but you sure as heck aren't actually getting all of
| the culinary results of roasting.
| westcort wrote:
| You are mistaken! Here is the proof:
| https://locserendipity.com/MicroPro.html
| [deleted]
| raverbashing wrote:
| (about non-stick)
|
| > you have to use soft plastic utensils or else it'll scratch the
| coating
|
| Yes, and? Don't use metal utensils
|
| Yes, the coating wears off eventually, but if you're careful it
| goes a long way
|
| I wouldn't stand using a cast iron pan for everyday use.
| k__ wrote:
| I had this issue with non-stick pans too.
|
| But since that ceramic coating came out a few years ago, I bought
| one and didn't need a replacement since.
| IshKebab wrote:
| Yeah same. Different league from old teflon ones.
| coryrc wrote:
| Most claiming to be ceramic just mean there is ceramic under
| the teflon coating.
| treffer wrote:
| Well, I was a huge fan of ceramic ones but found that they also
| wear off. Still better than non-stick pans, but not perfect.
| Might be that newer ones are better but I already switched to
| cast iron by now.
|
| Right now my main pan is from a Kickstarter campaign (Stur).
| Plus a sticky metal one where that's enought.
| gnramires wrote:
| The cook Adam Ragusea has fantastic evidence-based opinions on
| his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGR-pyLHz1s
| tristor wrote:
| I'm not going to claim that cast iron is the best at everything,
| it isn't. That said, most of the people who dislike cast iron do
| so because they don't actually know how to use it. Anyone who is
| an accomplished cook learns that there are different techniques
| appropriate to different tools, and cookware is just a kind of
| tool in the kitchen. You should use different techniques with
| cast iron than you use for stainless steel than you use for non-
| stick than you use for copper, simply put. There are a number of
| commenters in this larger thread that are describing issues with
| cast iron that are directly caused by using the wrong techniques.
|
| One of the great things about the Internet though is that there
| is truly a wealth of information out there to learn these things.
| I was an okay cook before the pandemic, but I spent most of my
| free time during lockdown learning how to cook and even found an
| online culinary school I could take classes through. It made a
| massive massive difference both in the quality of my output and
| the level of frustration I experienced during the process. I went
| from dreading cooking to really enjoying it as a form of zen.
|
| If you use the right techniques to match your tools, everything
| starts to come together easily.
| bratwurst3000 wrote:
| Sorry but I cant sign this. Stainless steel with and without
| enforced bottom is the way to go.
|
| I have also cast iron and I polished and seasoned the living shit
| out of it and it still sticks omelette. For delicate things like
| eggs I use an non stick pan from tefal for 10EUR that I buy new
| every 2 years..... why not? It works way better than stainless
| and way way way better than cast iron.
|
| The only advantage of cast iron is heat retention but this is
| solved with reinforced stainless steel.
|
| Btw copper is for sauces and marmelade ... got them too....
|
| Here some other downsides of cast iron...
|
| You have to maintain it realy well with regular seasoning and
| cleaning. You cant clean it with a ironsponge. Acid stuff will
| atack it. And du you realy want whatever this seasoning is in
| your food? That stuff has to be polychained burned oil. And Iron
| is one of the most agresive free radicals that you can pump in
| your bloodstream ;)
|
| Ps: I am french so I am a complette ashole if its about cooking
| travisby wrote:
| Do you use the ironsponge on stainless steel? I assume you mean
| something like steel wool?
|
| My biggest "pro" for cast iron is that it's incredibly easy to
| clean without worrying about ruining the pan. Our stainless
| steel pan gets scratched if I look at it wrong, even using the
| rough side of the sponge. Not sure if we just have the wrong
| pan, or worry about scratches more than we should?
|
| For our cast iron I use chainmail if there's every anything
| stuck on hard. For the stainless steel I feel a lot more out of
| luck! Metal utensils, soap, rough side of the sponge, I'm never
| worried about it!
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| I haven't seen a whole lot said in the thread below about ceramic
| coatings. While I like and use cast iron and stainless steel in
| my kitchen, I've been very pleasantly surprised by some of the
| "non-commercial" grade ceramic pans I've encountered recently.
| Especially for those times when I just want to fry an egg and I'm
| not doing souffle or omelets, there's a lot to be said for
| reaching for a generic ceramic pan. Conducts heat uniformly,
| doesn't stick, cleans up beautifully, and as far as I can tell
| doesn't contain any kind of harmful chemicals. For a beginning
| cook in particular, I'd really recommend this path over some of
| these other options that take a bit more effort in both cooking
| and clean / care.
| hcarvalhoalves wrote:
| In my country (Brazil), it is traditional to cook in cast iron.
| There are pans, pots, skillets... everything you can think of.
| It's also cheaper than steel, ceramic, etc. Funny to see people
| elsewhere "rediscovering" these products.
|
| The one I have is like this (around $ 20 USD):
|
| https://www.apaneladeferro.com.br/frigideira-de-ferro-fundid...
|
| I cook everything on it: steak, fish, eggs, sauteed tomatoes,
| etc.
|
| > They are easy to clean ( with one of these)
|
| I never have to clean it with anything, just wash ;)
|
| If you have to scrape, either you burned the food or it wasn't
| seasoned. You don't need to do anything special to season, just
| cook everything on it and don't scrape clean.
| PragmaticPulp wrote:
| > Funny to see people elsewhere "rediscovering" these products.
|
| It's funny for us Americans to watch our fellow Americans go
| through their "cast iron is amazing" phase. Cast iron is
| actually very common here as well, but many young people start
| with a cheap nonstick pan and only later discover that there is
| a range of cookware options available.
|
| In reality, an experienced cook will use a variety of cookware
| for different tasks. Having cast iron, non-stick, stainless
| steel, and enameled cookware available is very common.
|
| I appreciate cast iron, but this trend of worshipping it as the
| _one true cookware_ is funny. Good nonstick pans are amazing
| when used properly and replaced when they wear out.
| hcarvalhoalves wrote:
| I actually only have cast iron and inox steel cookware. I
| inherited some Teflon ("non-stick") ones that I don't see the
| use for, and will dispose of after learning it's toxic. I can
| cook eggs and omelette just fine without those.
|
| https://amp.dw.com/en/pfas-forever-toxins-teflon/a-57756695
| [deleted]
| lowbloodsugar wrote:
| Got to remember that westerners have been sold on the entire
| product cycle of every day chores. Wash your hair everyday -
| lather, rinse, _repeat_. Yes! Hey we could increase our profits
| 100%? WTF how?? We just tell them to do it _twice_! Lol.
|
| Cooking food? Buy a spray to oil it! Buy a nonstick pan that will
| last a year. Buy dishwashing soap! And cool washing up brushes
| that dispense the soap! It's not clean unless you scrubbed it
| back down to the state it arrived in! Keep buying those products!
|
| It's too much work to _clean_ an iron skillet! Well you don't
| clean it: you just wipe it. What??? No you must clean it! Dawn
| says so!
|
| Etc
| randallsquared wrote:
| Cast iron is easier to deal with if you have an outdoor or
| really-well-ventilated oven for re-seasoning, which you'll have
| to do from time to time, in my experience. It's actually far, far
| easier to just get a new pre-seasoned cast iron pan (I also
| bought Lodge, as the fine article's author did), but if you're
| going to buy a new pan every year anyway, suddenly nonstick
| doesn't seem like a bad deal.
| peatmoss wrote:
| I have just started a business recycling peoples' cast iron.
| Please ship me your offcasts, and I'll sure that they are re-
| seasoned and re-released into the wild.
|
| Jokes aside, you can buy some flax oil, wipe it on thin, and
| let the pan sit a few months and the oils will polymerize on
| their own in a few months. Or, you can buy a naturally pre-
| polymerized boiled linseed oil (flax oil that has been heated--
| just make sure you get one without chemical dryers like Tried &
| True brand) and it'll polymerize on its own in a few days.
| Likely it'll still smoke a little bit when you cook.
|
| But you could also get a cheap hotplate and take it outside if
| you're really worried about the smoke. You don't need to use
| the oven method, just use a very, very thin coating of oil,
| bring it up to temp slowly and hold it there. Cast iron is a
| decent heat conductor, so you can get good coverage.
|
| People get way too obsessive about seasoning cast iron, like
| it's magic to get a good seasoning and a horror if the
| seasoning gets stripped away. It's not. Badly damaged seasoning
| is like 10 minutes inconvenience.
| coryrc wrote:
| Don't use flax. Just use canola and fry things.
| jb1991 wrote:
| I've been using a lodge for eight years, the same one, and I've
| never once put it in the oven. Still works beautifully,
| occasionally a full scrub clean and just do a bit of oil coat
| on the stove.
| thebetatester wrote:
| Part of the "will outlive us" is not buying a new one every
| year. I know I've been trying to reduce the waste I produce
| lately and going with cast iron pans has been a part of that
| plan. Buying one every year instead of taking the 1 minute to
| wipe it with oil and then throwing it in your oven for an hour
| is laziness. If you don't like the smell and you have an
| outdoor grill (preferably one where you can set a temperature)
| it's pretty easy to season your skillets in one of those and
| let the wind deal with the smell of polymerizing oil.
|
| There's been a lot of discussion in the cast iron fanatic
| circles about how terrible Lodge's pre-seasoning is and how
| it's better to build up your own. I own one Lodge and two other
| brands and I've noticed the other two I seasoned myself are
| basically as good as Teflon and the Lodge (which admittedly
| hasn't seen as much cooking) sticks like it doesn't have any
| seasoning at all. YMMV I guess but I feel like it's worth
| putting in the effort to season yourself and keep up the
| seasoning.
| randallsquared wrote:
| One hour. Haha.
|
| There are a dozen mutually exclusive methods for seasoning
| cast iron. I've never found one that works as well or as
| simply as advertised. In a 1bd apartment, the seasoning
| process will make it difficult to breathe for nearly the full
| process unless you have incredible ventilation. Stripping the
| previous seasoning after burning something (only once, but it
| mentally scarred me, as you might be able to tell from the
| ranting... ;)) is incredibly difficult. So much steel wool.
| So much elbow grease. That was the final time for me, and I
| gave up after several weekends without being able to get the
| burnt odor to go away. There is a limit to how many hours I'm
| willing to invest in cookware, and it was not much higher
| than ten. You are welcome to call me lazy over it. :)
| gorgoiler wrote:
| I read somewhere that iron and steel expand at a microscopic
| level, when heated, such that you can fill these small holes up
| with oil and get a non stick cooking surface.
|
| Whenever I've washed up an iron pan I always put it back on the
| heat with some oil. You can literally see the water bubbling out
| of the surface as the pan gets hot and the water boils off.
| happyopossum wrote:
| > You can literally see the water bubbling out of the surface
| as the pan gets hot and the water boils off.
|
| That's not what's happening - there are no 'microscopic' gaps
| that water is getting in to, iron is too dense for that.
| jacknews wrote:
| Can you do a classic french style omelette in one? Like this:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10etP1p2bU
| hcarvalhoalves wrote:
| I'm able to do in mine, although the texture is better if I do
| on stainless steel. Still, I'm able to make it without sticking
| and correct colour.
|
| (It's important to let it get to right temperature first, which
| takes longer for cast iron, and should be slowly to get even
| heat)
| peatmoss wrote:
| Yes, easily. But I prefer carbon steel for this.
| jstanley wrote:
| > I can really scrape food off the pan without worrying about
| chipping the paint.
|
| But if you had non-stick pans you wouldn't need to scrape food
| off them.
| teekert wrote:
| I also don't use teflon and have been buying these (and some
| plate steel pans): [0]
|
| [0]: https://www.greenpan.nl/ (sorry Dutch website, but if you
| search for greenpan on amazon you will also find these pans)
| runnerup wrote:
| GreenPan falls under the "ceramic" nonstick category. When I
| looked into this category 2-3 years ago most of the pans had
| Teflon or other fluorinated compounds (Teflon-like) as the
| final coating on top.
|
| I've seen greenpans perform about the same in terms of non-
| stickiness and durability as regular nonstick pans.
|
| In light of https://www.leafscore.com/eco-friendly-kitchen-
| products/why-... and my own personal experiences I am _deeply_
| skeptical of "ceramic" nonstick being any safer than typical
| PFOA-free but PFAS-containing nonstick pans.
|
| In fact I suspect (and 2-3 years ago confirmed) that most
| "ceramic" nonstick pans are still coated in teflon like
| materials. Possibly GreenPan isn't, but they also won't tell
| you what they ARE coated with...so I'm pretty sure they know
| they're doing something dirty.
| coryrc wrote:
| Yup, the secret is they say "hard anodized" -- the pans are
| made of aluminum, it's anodized underneath the teflon. Still
| toxic.
|
| AFAICT there are a few that truly don't have teflon, but most
| will lie
| teekert wrote:
| Thanx for this reply, til. I really wonder what their tech
| is, one of my fav pans is a greenpan and it can get very hot
| with no issues and has been surviving my dishwasher for 2
| years now. But this does smell fishy indeed.
| tech_bro_3000 wrote:
| This doesn't really pass a cost/benefit analysis, compared to
| cooking tools like microwaves.
|
| With modern microwave-fridges, I can place my food in and leave
| it chilled out until it's ready to cook. A simple tap of the app
| starts it cooking for me and it's ready as soon as I open my
| apartment door.
|
| This plus my regular, drone-delivered meal replacement shakes
| mean I never have to waste time worrying about skillets or
| whatever ancient tech this guy is rambling about.
| f0e4c2f7 wrote:
| Fine to buy on Amazon but you can also find them at your local
| hardware store hanging off a rack very cheap.
| AndrewVos wrote:
| I love my cast iron pan, but I also love having some carbon steel
| pans around.
|
| DeBuyer carbon steel pans are the same price as Lodge cast iron
| and are much lighter and better for certain tasks. The handle is
| a lot longer too, which makes it more fun to use than cast iron.
| vptr wrote:
| Totally agree with what you said about non-stick pans. Sounds
| like a total scam. I myself did not go with cast iron skillet
| (only for some outdoor/bbq stuff). But I switched to stainless
| steal pan from demeyere like 10 years ago. It's still like new
| and made thousands of meals. Now i'm in a (slow) process of
| converting all my equipment to stainless steel from demeyer,
| quality is just that good. Buy for life.
| is_true wrote:
| I bought a professional non-stick (teflon) pan and I use it with
| a metal fork a couple of days a week for almost 3 years now and
| it's good as new. Just don't stab it.
|
| It was still cheaper than a cast iron pan and the amount of time
| I save cooking is enormous.
| cercatrova wrote:
| prose.sh really is quite interesting, a ssh-based blogging
| service. I was looking for something like this after reading more
| about astro.build, since in a way, prose is even more minimalist
| in that I don't even need to set up my own site, just my markdown
| files.
| igetspam wrote:
| I'm quite surprised this is the first comment about the site
| itself. I know it's off topic but I find the setup to be more
| interesting than yet another discussion about pans.
| cercatrova wrote:
| It has been covered before on HN [0], as well as a similar
| product called BearBlog [1], although that requires a signup
| which Prose does not require, which puts Prose above BearBlog
| for me. God forbid you ever lose your ssh keys however...
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32128013
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32127363
| resters wrote:
| I love cast iron and generally prefer it. But I have had great
| results with all clad nonstick pans when I use only avocado oil
| in them. Olive oil will quickly ruin the non stick coating.
| jstx1 wrote:
| In general I find that cast iron is very overrated.
|
| > Here's a list of myths about cast iron skillets: (...) You
| can't cook with acidic foods (e.g. tomatoes) because it'll
| destroy the seasoning
|
| You might not destroy the seasoning but you will get metallic
| tastes in your food. I don't get why anyone would pick cast iron
| over stainless steel for an acidic sauce that needs to be cooked
| for a longer period of time.
|
| Also not mentioned downside of cast iron - you need to dry it
| perfectly every time or it rusts very easily.
|
| Stainless steel has better heat retention and distribution,
| doesn't react with acidic foods, is easier to clean, and never
| rusts. Nonstick pans are better at being nonstick than cast iron.
| So cast iron ends up being second best for most use cases but the
| cult around it is certainly strong. (And I admit that they do
| kind of look cool).
|
| Cast iron = the Python of cooking pans.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| You don't need to perfectly dry a seasoned pan.
|
| I also don't taste metalic notes in my food and that includes
| doing stuff like shakshuka right in the pan.
|
| Stainless multi-clad isn't really a replacement for cast iron.
| They're different tools. Same goes for nonsticks, which are
| great for some things but not high heat (and yes every product
| that claims otherwise is lying to you).
|
| Cast iron and carbon steel are close alternatives, where the
| tradeoff is between weight and thermal capacity.
|
| People shouldn't mythologize cast iron, both in cultish
| enthusiasm, or exaggerating its flaws.
| brudgers wrote:
| What works _for me._
|
| I don't use cast iron for boiling, simmering, and otherwise
| cooking liquids. It's a frying pan for frying.
|
| I use stainless steel sauce pans, pots, etc. for liquids.
|
| I clean the cast iron while it is hot. A lot of food comes off
| without water, only a little water is required to remove the
| rest, and the cast iron is mostly self drying. Since I usually
| use electric burners, I can stick it back on its burner to dry
| with the burner's residual heat. [1] This is also a reasonable
| time to oil it.
|
| If something is really stuck, for example if I didn't clean the
| pan when hot, I heat the pan again and clean it when hot.
|
| Cleaning stainless steel when it is hot is another algorithm
| that works on my machine.
|
| There's certainly ritual and habit around my use of cast iron
| but I am not saying _you_ should use cast iron. Particularly
| since I _enjoy_ the process of using cast iron and you don 't.
|
| [1]: on my portable butane stove, I will reignite the flame and
| reheat the pan if necessary.
| shadycuz wrote:
| When I have really stubborn stuck items to my cast iron. I
| boil salt in it.
| teddyh wrote:
| What stovetop can reach 1465 degC (2669 degF)?
| chihuahua wrote:
| Maybe GP's mention of "boiling salt" does not refer to
| "table salt" but salt in the more general chemical sense.
| Perhaps they use Ethylammonium nitrate with a boiling
| point of 240 C (464 F).
| copperx wrote:
| Can you find that at a grocery store?
| lostlogin wrote:
| Boiling water with salt in it works well, and seems
| likely to be what OP means. Even boiling water works
| great.
|
| I suspect a degree of sarcasm just wooshed over me.
| teddyh wrote:
| It wasn't sarcasm, per se, it was just a joke.
| frazbin wrote:
| metallic taste == nutritionally available iron. Also rust is
| trivial. We once put our cast iron through an oven clean cycle
| by accident. It rusted all to hell, turned solid orange, but
| re-seasoning returned it to better-than-ever condition.
|
| Eating a meal always implies eating your cookware and
| packaging. I don't want to eat chromium and friends, or PFAS.
| Non-stick is gonna get banned eventually, mark my words.
| eternityforest wrote:
| What's the latest science on whether more iron is a good
| thing?
|
| If a person is already near optimal iron levels, could cast
| iron push them over into just a bit unhealthy territory?
| Maybe not enough that people complain, but what would a
| sensitive study show?
| honkycat wrote:
| Wow I haven't read such a confidently wrong post in a while.
|
| > You might not destroy the seasoning but you will get metallic
| tastes in your food.
|
| I cook sauce in mine and it doesn't taste metallic.
|
| > Also not mentioned downside of cast iron - you need to dry it
| perfectly every time or it rusts very easily.
|
| Absolute horse apples. I treat my pan like garbage and give it
| a wipe ONCE and it never rusts.
|
| It is fine preferring one type of pan over another but you are
| saying patently untrue things here.
| thechao wrote:
| I aspire to treat my cast iron like garbage; my wife says
| what I do is a _crime_. One of my griddles I found buried in
| the yard. Cast iron is the bomb.
| twiss wrote:
| Re. your analogy, aren't they more like the C of cooking pans?
| Hard to use right, easy to make mistakes, etc. The initial even
| matches :)
| noninc wrote:
| Ha :) Though cast iron pans are not a tool, that no one ever
| managed to succeed entirely.
| Swenrekcah wrote:
| A downside of non-stick pans are the unknown side effects of
| the non-stick substance used, though.
| gruez wrote:
| https://www.fda.gov/food/chemical-contaminants-
| food/question...
|
| >Some PFAS are approved for use in the manufacture of non-
| stick cookware coatings. These coatings are made of molecules
| that are polymerized (i.e., joined together to form large
| molecules) and applied to the cookware through a heating
| process that tightly binds the polymer coating to the
| cookware. Studies show that this coating contains a
| negligible amount of PFAS capable of migrating to food
| southerntofu wrote:
| I can't access the page from tor, but i'd be interested in
| seeing those studies. Do they account for extreme heat
| applied, or for mechanical harm to the coating? These two
| scenarios are mostly inevitable over the lifespan of a non-
| stick pan, and they're typically blamed for being the cause
| of the actual food poisoning.
| perlgeek wrote:
| I might be concerned about teflon and similar non-stick
| coatings, but not really about ceramics. Humanity has been
| using ceramics for ages, and we haven't found any adverse
| affects yet.
| [deleted]
| frazbin wrote:
| Just make sure it's PFAS free and not just PF(X) free for
| some X; 3M is hell bent on getting this shit into your
| system
| frazbin wrote:
| e.g. some of the 'copper coated' stuff that is 'PFOA'
| free
| copperx wrote:
| It's the same idiocy we have to endure with BPA-free
| plastics.
| bch wrote:
| > Humanity has been using ceramics for ages, and we haven't
| found any adverse affects yet.
|
| Ceramic glazes have been problematic [0].
|
| [0] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/08/5638088
| 79/ca...
| amluto wrote:
| > Humanity has been using ceramics for ages, and we haven't
| found any adverse affects yet.
|
| Porous ceramics can easily breed bacteria, good and bad.
| And _glazes_ on ceramics can contain all kinds of
| delightful compounds that can leach out. You certainly
| don't want to eat or breathe unfired glaze.
|
| As for ceramic nonstick cookware, I'm not convinced that
| such a thing exists. I think that "ceramic" coatings are
| actually sol-gel, and I can't find a straight answer as to
| what is in them. They do advertise that they are
| fluoropolymer-free, and they seem to be stable to rather
| higher temperatures than PTFE.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Yeah, the downside is whatever that stuff is, it
| obviously doesn't bond as hard as PTFE, because every
| ceramic nonstick pan I've seen degrades even faster.
| eutectic wrote:
| Teflon is inert unless you really overheat it.
| sgt101 wrote:
| It's not the teflon that is my concern, it's what they have
| used to get the teflon to stick to the pan.
|
| read this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX#Pollution
| eutectic wrote:
| Pans themselves don't contain significant levels of PFAs,
| but I agree about the environmental issues.
| brudgers wrote:
| The 'f' in 'teflon' is the F from the periodic table.
|
| Florine is remarkably not inert.
|
| Teflon is a relatively stable Florine compound.
|
| But as you say, it can destabilize when the pan is used
| within a few sigma of ideal cooking temperature.
| eutectic wrote:
| Reactive elements make stable compounds. e.g. sodium +
| chlorine -> sodium chloride.
| ta988 wrote:
| There is no FL in periodic table. And Teflon is not as
| stable as believed.
| novok wrote:
| He said 'F', not 'FL'. It is on the periodic table:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine
| rich_sasha wrote:
| > Cast iron = the Python of cooking pans.
|
| Python is a top choice for a number of applications..?
| ta988 wrote:
| Python is the best second choice for everything.
| myko wrote:
| I like Python a lot but this does resonate
|
| Swiss army knife of languages
| rich_sasha wrote:
| Data science, ML at least it is the uncontested #1. R and
| Julia are making strides but are second or third fiddle.
|
| Webpage programming with Django, _you_ might not like it
| (?) but for many people it 's the top choice.
| jstx1 wrote:
| Python's being 2nd best for everything is kind of a meme
| that's been around for a while, not necessarily a
| rigorous evaluation of Python's viability for all
| possible use cases. And this is a thread about pans. :)
| bayindirh wrote:
| However, for ML and Data Science, it's just an
| abstraction layer for C/C++/FORTRAN code.
|
| All underlying stuff is implemented in !Python.
| spaceman_2020 wrote:
| Most serious chefs use stainless steel. Triply steel is so
| beautiful and sturdy. My parents have been using their pan
| since before I was even born.
| evolve2k wrote:
| My friend is a chef and looking after their pans properly
| also involves wiping them down with oil before storage, not
| sure I'm up for that level of pro maintenance.
| jitl wrote:
| It takes 2 seconds to wipe the inside of a pan with an oily
| cloth
| arcticbull wrote:
| Or spray it down with Pam or something.
| smarks wrote:
| I'd recommend against using spray oils such as Pam
| because they include lecithin, I think so that the oil
| coats surfaces more easily. Eventually lecithin will
| build up and make the cooking surface less effective. You
| can scrub it off with detergent but it's kind of a pain.
|
| I'd recommend putting just a little oil on a paper towel
| and spreading a very thin coat across the surface. Only
| takes a few moments.
| krzyk wrote:
| But oil goes bad after some time (I think the proper term
| is oil goes rancid).
|
| I stopped using my pans that required oil because of
| that.
| xyzzyz wrote:
| I guess if you cook once every few months, that might be
| a concern.
| bsder wrote:
| The real problem I have is that modern cast iron pans are
| extremely rough. Old cast iron pans are extremely smooth, by
| contrast.
|
| I suspect that accounts for a lot of the variance that people
| experience using cast iron.
| ronyeh wrote:
| Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses. I have tried
| them all, including pans with aluminum cores but steel outer
| layers.
|
| Cast iron is great for searing or for fried eggs or buttery
| scrambles.
|
| I love my car on steel Matfer fry pan and try to use it as
| often as possible.
|
| But for acidic or long simmering brown sauces that'll stick and
| tear off my seasoning, I'll probably teach for stainless steel.
| Afterward I'll scrape it down and it's good as new.
|
| Nonstick has its purpose. One that I rediscovered recently is
| very low fat pan frying. Even though all my steel/iron pans are
| well seasoned, I still need more butter or
| avocado/grapeseed/coconut/etc oil when compared to cooking on a
| Teflon pan. If you are trying to cut calories, you'll need to
| count the additional cooking oil that goes into your carbon
| steel or cast iron dishes.
|
| Yes, I am aware of the benefits of good fats in my diet. But
| sometimes you want to track or reduce total kcal consumption,
| e.g., if you are a weightlifter but aren't currently bulking.
| Reducing fat intake is the easiest lever, since you want to
| keep protein intake high, and want to limit carbs.
|
| So yeah. Use the tool you enjoy using. I've seen Chef Jacques
| Pepin beat an omelette in a Teflon pan with a metal utensil, so
| who am I to judge???
|
| Non-stick : JavaScript / Python
|
| Cast Iron : C
|
| Carbon Steel : Go
|
| Stainless Steel : Java
| southerntofu wrote:
| Too bad the Rust pan has not been invented yet, with zero-
| cost abstraction enabling lightweight non-stick cooking on
| bare metal ;)
| bch wrote:
| With the right (lack of) attention, cast iron can evolve to
| rust. After enough time, you'll never cook with it and have
| things stick (you'll also simply never cook with it).
| jefftk wrote:
| _> I 've seen Chef Jacques Pepin beat an omelette in a Teflon
| pan with a metal utensil, so who am I to judge?_
|
| Lots of people do it who should know better. That's going to
| damage the coating, shortening the lifespan of the pan, and
| putting little bits of Teflon into your food.
| xyzzyz wrote:
| > That's going to damage the coating, shortening the
| lifespan of the pan, and putting little bits of Teflon into
| your food.
|
| Out of the concerns above, pieces of Teflon in your food is
| fortunately not a huge concern: Teflon is not toxic in the
| slightest. It works as nonstick because it doesn't really
| react with anything, and that means it won't react with
| your body either. It is a common material in various
| medical equipment like implants, frequently used as
| catheter lining.
|
| Now, if you heat it to 500 degrees or more, it starts
| decomposing, and the resulting chemicals are toxic. So,
| don't broil in nonstick (but slow braising in oven is
| fine).
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| So another interesting thing about nonstick pans: if you
| brown things in them, the fond sticks to the food, not the
| pan. Now obviously you can't get a super hard sear on teflon,
| but you can brown things, and I find it can give more control
| on delicate stuff like fish.
|
| Also re oil, a great tip is to oil the food not the pan along
| with using nonstick too.
|
| Oh, on that famous Pepin video (which is the one that taught
| me how to nail the texture), consider that Pepin probably has
| 100 pans a month sent to his agent/pobox unsolicited. He'd
| don't give a crap about that pan lol.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| The seasoning has no problems with acidic foods, you do not get
| a metallic taste units you leave the food in the pan overnight.
| Once seasoned it does not rust easily but even if it does this
| is not a problem, just clean it with some cooking oil and use
| it and the rust is gone. Clean it while warm and it'll dry by
| itself. Use some fat and your food won't stick - you need fat
| anyway. No problems with overheating plastic pans giving of
| noxious substances, no need to buy new cookware every other
| year. Cast iron doesn't warp like carbon steel does either, it
| stays flat and as such works better on old-style cast iron
| resistive electric cookers.
|
| Source: my own experience using cast iron cookware for the last
| 30+ years, cooking on induction first, a wood-burning stove for
| the last 20 years.
| SeanLuke wrote:
| > The seasoning has no problems with acidic foods, you do not
| get a metallic taste units you leave the food in the pan
| overnight.
|
| Epicurious's taste tests indicate that the proper figure is
| 30 minutes.
| arcticbull wrote:
| This also aligns with my experience, especially with
| tomatoes.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| This is not my experience, it probably depends on the
| resilience of the seasoning. I use these things every day
| with either olive oil or butter so the seasoning get a
| reworking nearly every day - I have 4 different skillets in
| regular use so there tends to be a day or 2, 3 between each
| use per item. It takes a night in the scullery for that
| irony taste to develop.
|
| That said I don't mind the fact that some iron makes its
| way into our food. I mainly cook vegetarian/pescetarian
| because my wife does not want to eat meat ever since she
| saw some practice in a slaughterhouse at age 16. This means
| it is harder to make sure our food contains enough iron.
| One of the ways of achieving that is to use cast iron
| cookware when cooking acidic foods. The longer the food is
| in the pan, the more iron makes its way into it. Eventually
| this leaves that metallic taste but that takes quite a
| while in a well-seasoned pan.
| WheatM wrote:
| twobitshifter wrote:
| For sauces I would suggest an enameled cast iron pot that won't
| rust and can handle acids.
| copperx wrote:
| What are such enamels made of? Are they risk free?
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Ceramics, pretty basic stuff similar to what we use for
| plates and such. You wouldn't want to eat the pigments in
| large quantities, but there's zero safety concern from
| enameled cast iron and the like. They're as inert as it
| gets.
| horsawlarway wrote:
| Personally - I find carbonsteel pans are basically my favorite
| ever.
|
| Slightly heftier than stainless and much easier to season. I
| have a set of stainless (relatively nice triple clad Cuisinart)
| and I still much prefer the carbon steel pans.
|
| It's essentially what cast iron pans would be if we had better
| manufacturing techniques, and they work really well.
|
| Backing up though - I would 100% take cast iron over just
| stainless (in every situation except a professional kitchen)
| and there's not much that would entice me to buy a non-stick
| pan, basically ever, at this point. The only thing they do ok
| is eggs, and a tiny egg pan in cast iron does basically the
| same without ever needing to be replaced (or giving me liver
| cancer).
|
| Cast iron isn't hard to use, is indestructible, has a very low
| chance of poisoning me (and handily helps provide iron in my
| diet), and just makes things brown like nothing else I've used
| - nothing will make hash browns or a grilled cheese sandwich
| like cast iron.
|
| Plus it's dirt cheap (less cheap is carbon steel, but again -
| very nice).
|
| What's not to like?
| novok wrote:
| We used cast iron for quite a while. It wasn't that non stick
| for things like eggs, was way more annoying to clean properly
| and get all the cooking residue of food that got stuck on the
| pan, and was too heavy and after months of use never really
| developed that 'seasoning'. And we babied it a lot, with
| special brushes, avoided acidic foods and lots of soap in
| cleaning it. It was annoying. So eventually I just got the
| triple clad cuisinart you had and I find the stainless steel
| way nicer and easier to clean.
| sportslife wrote:
| Pans need to be actively seasoned, they won't develop it on
| their own.
|
| You cover the pan with a fat, overheat it, and the fat
| polymerizes : https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-
| cast-iron-pans-ski...
|
| Heck, I've done it on aluminum pans and eggs are fine, just
| like old-school breakfast spots and their griddles.
| xeromal wrote:
| Agree with the browning. My favorite brussel sprouts are made
| in a cast iron. They become perfectly crispy.
| dontlaugh wrote:
| Agreed. I use carbon steel for eggs and similar, they retain
| seasoning much better than stainless steel.
|
| I also use cast iron for other things though. They have
| different strengths.
| weaksauce wrote:
| > What's not to like?
|
| It's heavy. The handle gets really hot.
|
| my 12" stainless pan is hefty but not heavy. the smaller cast
| iron 10" or 11" is about twice the weight. I use it to cook
| just about everything. I think once the coating on my nice
| 12" non-stick pan goes off I'd probably get a carbon steel
| one (if it does... you can prevent most of it by not cooking
| things too hot and i mainly use it for hashbrowns on about
| medium.)
| mhb wrote:
| > What's not to like?
|
| All true, but if you're steelmanning it, you really need to
| mention the weight. Also it doesn't conduct heat well.
| arcticbull wrote:
| > Also not mentioned downside of cast iron - you need to dry it
| perfectly every time or it rusts very easily.
|
| I mean, yeah, you have to use tools the way they're meant to be
| used for them to be effective. But dry isn't the goal really,
| just leave a thin coat of oil on it and it'll never rust.
|
| They're cheap, rock-solid, non-stick (and you're welcome to use
| metal tools against them) - and if you abuse them enough, you
| can just re-season them in a couple of hours and they'll be
| back in factory condition.
|
| I personally have a few pieces of stainless cookware and a cast
| iron skillet. I use the skillet for probably 75% of my cooking.
| Its ability to retain heat is lovely. I can't really order
| steak at restaurants anymore because I can do it at home for
| half the price with a beautiful crust and sear, perfect mid-
| rare inside. Once you grease it up and heat it up, nothing will
| stick to it. You can cook at high temp, brown things, sear
| things, finish them in the oven - all with a natural non-stick
| finish. Cleanup just involves at most a scrub down with sea
| salt and a little water, and a thin coat of oil.
|
| You could still cook acidic food acidic food on it if for a
| short period of time if you've got a good season - and not too
| acidic - but no, it's not the tool for every job.
|
| Getting the skillet was definitely a step change for my
| cooking. It's pretty hard to beat a 10.25" Lodge skillet for
| $20, delivered, from Amazon.
| waynesonfire wrote:
| > you need to dry it perfectly every time or it rusts very
| easily.
|
| I just put a little evo on a paper towel and apply it all over
| the pan.
| twoodfin wrote:
| I have a Lodge skillet I've been using and seasoning for a
| decade+ with a simple technique: After use, rinse, lightly
| scrub, with water and a little dish soap (basically what
| comes out of one squeeze of a sponge). Towel dry, apply a
| thin layer of canola oil over the cooking surface with a
| paper towel. Throw on medium heat over the stove for ~5
| minutes. Done.
|
| I can pour maple syrup over salmon at high heat in that pan
| and it doesn't stick. Not something you can do with
| stainless.
| arcticbull wrote:
| Personally instead of using soap as part of the seasoning
| process, I pour a bunch of Morton sea salt into the pan and
| a little bit of water, and abrade it that way with a
| sponge. It also has the benefit of creating a lovely matte
| finish at the end of the seasoning process. I've also found
| the seasoning process works better at each iteration this
| way.
|
| It's also how I clean the pans if I have to.
| UpstandingUser wrote:
| Cast iron's real strength is the huge amount thermal mass and
| the relatively low rate of heat transmission. You preheat it,
| throw whatever you're cooking in it and the residual heat alone
| will brown it perfectly, even a huge slab of meat. It holds
| tons of energy and releases it relatively slowly. Steel pans
| will sometimes have all the heat sucked out of them before
| you're done searing (lower thermal mass, higher transmission)
| and it doesn't come out right, especially if you have a low
| output stovetop because it can't keep up with the cooking and
| maintain proper temperature.
|
| Cast iron is kind of the opposite of a wok, which is made so
| you get about as close as you can to cooking with the flame and
| no residual heat from the cooking vessel. Note that woks are
| designed to be cooked on crazy output stoves that you don't
| really see in Western homes. This allows you to sear with much
| more control of the thermal transmission at the cost of a
| blazing hot kitchen and a hefty gas bill.
| SergeAx wrote:
| I thought about challenging you with writing a thermal energy
| transfer equation, but will stop at writing two constants:
| heat capacity of cast iron vs stainless steel: 540 vs 500
| J/(Kg*degC). So just buy a stainless steel cookware 7.5%
| heavier than cast iron - and you are all set.
| renlo wrote:
| Aren't cast iron skillets usually made heavier though? Ie,
| sure heat capacity is similar per kg but if one is almost
| always 2-3x heavier than the other then it's going to
| retain more heat
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| But see, noting that banal fact would get in the way of
| their very impressive nerd sniping...
|
| That said, if you do a lot of baking a nice thick sheet
| of steel is definitely the tool.
| timecube wrote:
| Good luck finding a stainless steel pan that even weighs as
| much as a cast iron, let alone more.
| balfirevic wrote:
| I think it's just that cast iron pans usually come heavier.
| My relatively heavy 28 cm stainless steel pan (Ikea
| Sensuell) is 1.7 kg, while my 29 cm cast iron is 3.1 kg.
|
| I wish there were heavier and affordable stainless steel
| pans for searing, as I can just chuck those in the
| dishwasher.
| sunaurus wrote:
| What really impressed me with cast iron skillets is how they
| actually get better with use. I bought my first cast iron skillet
| 10 years ago, originally it came with a relatively rough cooking
| surface. This meant that it was still somewhat sticky even after
| seasoning it. But now, 10 years later, the cooking surface has
| worn to a completely smooth state through constant use, it's very
| easy to cook anything on it without sticking.
| [deleted]
| sooheon wrote:
| Your family definitely are not at risk of anemia!
| jaredhallen wrote:
| When I got my 12" Lodge a number of years ago, I just hit the
| cooking surface with a flapper wheel on the angle grinder. It
| only took a few moments and turned out super smooth. I love
| that pan. Still use it every day, probably 10 years later.
| jlkuester7 wrote:
| My grandmother has some cast iron pans (one of which came from
| her mother) that are so smooth to the touch that it is hard to
| believe they are the same material as the gritty Lodge pans at
| the store. This is what I love most about these pans! It
| completely flips the script on our disposable culture and gives
| you something that just keeps improving as the decades go by!
| dmitriid wrote:
| Doesn't this also mean you ingest all that wonderfully
| scraped material?
| sneak wrote:
| It's just polymerized cooking oil.
|
| There is worse stuff in tap water.
| willismichael wrote:
| Well, it's that and iron. If I understand correctly, cat
| iron cookware is sometimes recommended for people who are
| anemic.
| robocat wrote:
| I would be interested to measure what impurities are in
| cast iron cookware: I presume they use the cheapest
| recycled iron possible?
|
| https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9287087/
| jdougan wrote:
| In the old days, they finished the pan interiors more than
| they do now. I've known people who buy a modern cast iron pan
| and have a machine shop smooth out the cooking surface.
| na85 wrote:
| I just used an orbital sander on mine. It does scrambled
| eggs no probt.
| moistly wrote:
| I find that the eggs get sucked into the motor, gumming
| it up beyond repair. It's better to use a drill with an
| abrasive disc.
| na85 wrote:
| I use gluten free cast iron orbital sander for maximum
| smug.
| smarks wrote:
| It's no good unless it's organic.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Yup, it's this. Lodge pans are good for the price but part
| of that price is they skip the polishing, so the surface is
| basically just what comes out of the sand cast.
|
| The old griswald pans are prized by bargain hunters because
| of their near glass like smoothness. I dated someone that
| had a huge collection she'd found via craigslist and the
| like. Cooking with the smaller pans was really fun.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| One thing I've recently discovered with my cast iron pan (now 20
| years old!) is cooking pan pizza at home with it. I follow the
| America's Test Kitchen recipe here and it comes out unbelievably
| good, just like Pizza Hut from the 80s:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-srfPL5CWZs
|
| It's super trendy to obsess over getting the hottest pizza oven--
| something that gets up to 800 degrees, etc--so you can get super
| authentic restaurant pizza at home. That's great and a fun hobby
| for some folks I'm sure, but a cast iron pan with a long
| overnight fermentation of the dough is a game-changer for from
| scratch pizza for me.
| SoapSeller wrote:
| You can also do neopolitan-style pizza in cast iron(and oven):
| https://www.seriouseats.com/hacker-free-neapolitan-pizza-for...
|
| We have a Ooni(koda 16) and I'll occasionally do the cast iron
| one. Using basically the same recipe. It's very similar but
| different, we like both.
| chihuahua wrote:
| I've had the same experience. It's really a game-changer. Start
| the pizza in the cast iron pan on the stovetop first, then move
| it to the oven. You can get such a good crust that's any shade
| of brown you want.
| jhatax wrote:
| Great idea that I will incorporate into my pizza-making
| process.
|
| Here are two methods that I used to get the crust to brown:
| a) Pre-topping: Prep just the crust by putting the pan into
| the oven for 5-minutes as the temp rises from 400 to
| 500-degrees. Top the crust with sauce, cheese, and toppings
| post the prep stage.
|
| b) Post-baking: Once the pan is out of the oven, I put the
| hot pan on the stove for a few minutes if the crust needs
| some more cooking.
|
| For what it's worth, I use Kenji's recipe for pan pizza [1].
| I prefer his method of measuring ingredients using grams vs.
| other units of measure (teaspoons, cups) that I tend to get
| wrong.
|
| 1. https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe
| tclancy wrote:
| Cast iron pans are fine if you like them. Cast iron people are a
| cult to be avoided.
| rmetzler wrote:
| During the pandemic I learned how to make great Neapolitan style
| pizza in a normal kitchen oven. To get great pizza you usually
| need very high heat (~500deg / ~930degF) so the pizza cooks very
| fast and gets cross and soft at the same time. If you use less
| heat the cooking will take longer and the longer you have it in
| the oven the more dryer it gets.
|
| So you need either a pizza stone or cast iron pan to transfer a
| lot of heat fast. I bought a skillet since it costs the same, I
| have more control over the pizza making process (e.g. browning
| the bottom on the stove before putting it in the oven), and can
| use it for steaks and such.
| hef19898 wrote:
| You cab get your oven to 500 degrees C?? I need one like that,
| not for cooking but for heat treatment of blades at home!
| fulafel wrote:
| I read it as saying you don't need 500C if you have a pizza
| stone or cast iron pan for transferring heat fast. So use a
| object that has a significant heat capacity to buffer heat,
| and you don't need the oven to be as hot. (Stone has higher
| heat capacity per unit mass than iron, but large cast iron
| pans are heavier than typical pizza stones, so the two
| objects probably have similar heat capacities.)
| chihuahua wrote:
| There's also baking steels, made specifically for this
| purpose.
| askvictor wrote:
| Pyrolytic ovens can get up around that temperature in their
| cleaning cycle, but you'd need to defeat the locking
| mechanism.
| leobg wrote:
| If you use the grill function and put in a cast iron pan, the
| pan will heat up to those levels even if your oven normally
| just goes up to, say, 250 degrees Celsius.
| samus wrote:
| The ones in pizzerias presumably can
| dgemm wrote:
| Pizza steels are very popular for that reason.
| layer8 wrote:
| Regarding non-stick pans, the AMT pans [0] are great, which use a
| ceramic coating. I bought my first one in 2015, and it hasn't
| degraded since, despite regular use.
|
| [0] https://bestpan.com/
| mastax wrote:
| I like using cast iron pans for searing meat since they have a
| large thermal mass and you can get them ripping hot without
| damaging them. Being able to put them in the oven is also nice
| for meat and such. I also use them on the grill sometimes e.g.
| for making fajita veggies without smoking up the house.
|
| I often want to de-glaze the pan after cooking the meat to make a
| pan sauce. I have had issues sometimes if the sauce is too acidic
| the seasoning starts flaking up.
|
| I don't understand how people cook eggs in cast iron. I have an
| antique cast-iron pan with the smooth surface and a pretty good
| seasoning but it's not even as nonstick as my crappy old ceramic
| non-stick pans. I do like my eggs to be very soft and delicate
| but maybe its okay for crispy fried eggs.
|
| Overall I think it's worth having one since they're cheap, even
| though they're only really great at a few things.
| wussboy wrote:
| You have to add fat (butter or oil etc.) but if you do, it's
| very easy to get eggs to slide around
| nicexe wrote:
| Cast iron is far from perfect.
|
| I use it for steaks because they are hard to sear in other
| cookware. The cleanup and seasoning processes make cast iron hard
| to use for anything else. I plan to get a ceramic one (with iron
| core) but even if it solves the seasoning process and the cleanup
| process, it isn't the best to sear steaks in it.
|
| My point is that each tool has its use and in this specific case,
| cast iron is not the tool for everything.
| f38zf5vdt wrote:
| I went from teflon to ceramic to cast iron to steel ("carbon
| steel"). You still have to season it, but it's a lot lighter
| than cast iron and things stick less. The price point is
| roughly the same. Searing with gas or induction is
| straightforward.
| jlkuester7 wrote:
| The price point of carbon steel pans is about the same as
| cast iron? My first exposure to carbon steel was a link
| someone posted out here on HN and the linked pans were $100's
| (compared to cast iron which are $10's). Maybe I just looked
| at a very expensive sample..
| f38zf5vdt wrote:
| They are very affordable, but you need to order from
| somewhere that wholesales to restaurants.
|
| https://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-
| equipment/pa...
|
| These pans are pre-seasoned and ready for use.
| peatmoss wrote:
| Side benefit, you get an ergonomic pan. I was gifted a
| couple a couple of carbon steel egg pans when a friend of
| a friend closed a restaurant, and I was like, "ah these
| are pans that need to be comfortable through a shift, not
| look shiny at Crate & Barrel for amateurs."
|
| I feel like carbon steel is the biggest secret that
| people outside the restaurant biz are oblivious to. I
| have cast iron, but my carbon steel gets used much, much
| more.
| LBJsPNS wrote:
| I am going to assume your pans have never been properly
| seasoned if you have trouble cleaning them after cooking a
| steak.
| AndrewVos wrote:
| Either that or its not being heated enough before applying
| the oil or steak
| askvictor wrote:
| Everything is about compromises. Once seasoned, you don't need
| to re-season if you follow certain rules. Clean up is pretty
| easy IMHO; even a little detergent is fine, and you can soak
| for a couple of hours (just not overnight). Ceramic will
| apparently wear through the coating eventually. With cast iron
| you can re-coat (i.e. season), while ceramic you can't. I use
| cast iron pans for almost everything, the rest is in a
| stainless steel pan.
| jitl wrote:
| I season my Neoflam "ceramic" pans. Different (lower temp)
| process than for carbon steel or cast iron, but similarly
| improves/restores the non-stick coating.
| throwaway892238 wrote:
| > they are hard to sear in other cookware
|
| To sear steak in any pan (not Teflon):
|
| Pat steak dry with paper towel. Brush with thin layer of high-
| heat oil. Season with coarse salt & fresh cracked pepper. Heat
| any pan (except Teflon) until Leidenfrost effect occurs. Put
| steak on pan, wait about 1 minute per 3 oz. Afterward, gently
| nudge steak with tongs; if it moves freely it's ready to flip,
| if not leave it on longer. Higher heat will result in more
| intense charring/crust, but will accelerate the process (will
| not have a significant effect on cooking of inner meat). After
| you flip, either reduce the heat halfway through cooking (won't
| work with cast iron) or plan to remove meat about 3/4 way
| through cook time. Remove to cutting board and rest 10 minutes
| [per lb]. Serve.
|
| A dry surface + oil + very hot pan + wait until there's a crust
| is the secret to never getting the steak stuck. The oil ensures
| uniform heating and good heat transfer which will result in a
| more uniform crust and less sticking. You can go without oil
| but it can still stick if the steak wasn't dry enough or your
| pan wasn't hot enough or the surface is scratched. You could
| use butter but it'll burn.
| robocat wrote:
| Preheating the steak to bathwater warm has worked wonders for
| me - especially for medium-rare very thick steaks. Preheat
| using microwave, or induction pan on 1, or rack above the
| BBQ, or whatever.
| jstx1 wrote:
| > I use it for steaks because they are hard to sear in other
| cookware.
|
| Stainless steel is perfect for searing. Easier to maintain than
| cast iron too.
| sgt101 wrote:
| I find it sticks like glue and then I end up pulling of the
| seared coat and leaving the tasty bits burned on to the pan.
|
| A well seasoned cast iron pan lets me move the steak or
| burger round and build up a nice coat on it.
| jstx1 wrote:
| It happens if you try to flip things too early. Once you
| have a seared crust, it's easy to release.
| karaterobot wrote:
| Cast iron is fine, but it has been talked about to death on the
| internet.
| guestbest wrote:
| I use copper
| [deleted]
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| Does anyone know how well enameled cast iron works for eggs? I've
| seasoned my cast iron and I wasn't able to get it to be efficient
| with eggs. But maybe the enameled ones would work.
|
| Personally I'm not really that worried about PFAS uptake from
| non-sticks for my one non-stick meal per day, but it'd still be
| interesting to know the most efficient way to do things outside
| of non-stick.
| azinman2 wrote:
| In my experience regular seasoned cast iron works better than
| enameled for eggs. I use my enameled for sauces.
| exabrial wrote:
| Season with flax seed oil. People try olive oil and think
| seasoning doesn't work.
|
| The 'unhealthier' the oil, the better it will season!
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-08-13 23:00 UTC)