To me, someone who celebrates a bit more of the spectrum than most: Metal hot. Make food hot.
Non-stick means easier cleanup, but my wife seems to think cast-iron is necessary for certain things (searing a prime rib roast, for example.).
After I figure those out, then I gotta figure out gas vs. electric vs. induction vs infrared…
It lasts forever, you wont scrape whatever “non-stick coating” they use off. If you want a pan that will outlive your grandchildren and is permanently non-stick once it’s seasoned, for most things a cast iron is perfect. If you have that, some pots of various sizes, and a wok, youre set.
I prefer induction or infrared stovetop. We dont need to burn more gas.
Imo, the main advantage to cast iron vs literally everything else is how you can abuse it as long as the one rule you follow is to clean it after use.
Teflon and other nonstick coatings are too easily damaged by things like scrubbing pads or metal utensils.
Cast iron don’t give a single fuck.
Teflon will eventually flake off even if babied. The problem is thermal stress between the aluminum and Teflon. Repeated heating and cooling will eventually cause it to fail.
You can absolutely scrape the seasoning off a cast iron pan through aggressive use of metal utensils, but you can also re-season it by applying a little cooking oil and getting it hot for an hour or so.
You also don’t have to worry about getting Teflon flu if you overheat the pan. The worst thing that can happen is that you ruin your pan, not that you poison yourself.
The reason cast iron is useful for searing a big cut of meat is that it has a reasonably high specific heat capacity (less than aluminum, more than copper, similar to steel) combined with considerably more mass than typical cookware made of other materials. It takes longer for the meat to cool the pan, so more heat transfers into the outer surface of the meat.
Cleanup of properly seasoned cast iron should be about as easy as non-stick pans because the seasoning (polymerized cooking oil) is, in fact a non-stick surface. Contrary to popular belief, it’s fine to use soap on it, but aggressive abrasives can strip the seasoning. Fortunately, that’s not hard to fix.
Induction gives you the speed and control of gas, without the exhaust gases. Induction is more efficient than infrared, because you’re heating the pan directly. The cooktop only gets hot from the pan resting on it.
Get induction, it’s by far the best!
This is a HUGE “Yes, but.”
Entering adulthood, I got cheap run of the mill non stick pans, they work until they dont.
Then we tried cast iron. Gotta oil it, cure it, and don’t use soap to wash it. Some extra work, but it worked great.
Now, I’m rocking stainless steel. Less work than the cast iron, but you need to preheat the pan before you put anything in it. If you do this, it’s just as nonstick as the others, and it’s a lot lighter and easier than the iron, and I think they are less expensive than cast iron, but I haven’t compared in a very long time.
FYI, you can wash cast iron with soap.
Not using soap is a hold over from when soaps were more caustic (e.g. lye soap).
FYI, you can wash cast iron with soap.
Only if you re-season it afterwards. Otherwise it starts to rust because the seasoning is what protects it from oxidation
Really not. See the lye comments.
I generally wash with dish soap and a chainmail scrubber, then dry with a paper towel. If I remember I might spread a tiny amount of oil.
Yeah I could do better but the point is I’ve done almost nothing to care for them in years.
Pure iron oxidizes without the high carbon content to make it stainless and will absolutely rust if you don’t at least oil it after washing with soap, but seasoning it properly definitely makes a difference in how it cooks.
I own 4 different size/shape cast iron and I speak from experience. Any decent dish soap will still strip the oils that are acting as a barrier to the open air and oxidation, doesn’t have to be lye-based
Cast iron is extremely forgiving of improper treatment. And even if it eventually rusts, you can fix it. I’ve been using cast iron as my primary skillets since pandemic. I know I don’t treat them like I should, but they’re not yet rusted, still have an easy to clean surface that food doesn’t stick to. I’ll probably have to reseason eventually but if that’s not until I’d normally have to replace non-stick, I’m way ahead without putting in any extra work
Edit: sure, standard three cast iron skillets, and cast iron Dutch oven. I also have a set of stainless pans, and some induction ready non-stick for company
It only oxidizes when water can reach the iron. If you have a good seasoning on it, mild dish soap can’t lift it off, and water can’t reach the iron.
Making sure it’s completely dry (I dry mine with heat on the stove) and adding a thin layer of oil is a good idea too. There are often parts of the pan that aren’t well seasoned. On mine, it’s the part that touches the stove that’s most likely to rust.
Stainless steel is made with chromium, not carbon.
Carbon steel makes good knives, but will definitely rust.
If your seasoning rinses off with mild soap and water, you might want to try some different seasoning methods. That might mean using a different oil, different temperature, longer heat time for the seasoning, etc. Or you might want to season it with thinner layers of oil multiple times in a row.
Thanks for the tip. I saw many people saying both sides, so I figured I’d just avoid soap and not find out for myself.
Yea that’s the part that keeps me from cast iron.
Not being able to wash it normally just sounds weird and nasty to me.
And two the whole having to season your pan… God damn I’ve got a million things to worry about and barely time to make food, I don’t have time to be giving a hot oil massage to my pans…
I got started when I inherited my grandmothers Le Creuset dutch oven. She purchased it in the 1950s and it’s still going strong…
Then I found they had an outlet store near me…
Non-Stick, no matter what brand, will need to be replaced every 3-5 years. So, yes, enameled cast iron is more expensive, but when you compare 1 set of cast iron to 15 to 25 sets of non-stick… yeah…
Cast iron also retains heat better than non-stick, carbon or stainless steel, aluminum or copper.
But it is HEAVY AS SHIT. You aren’t hand flipping pancakes in cast iron.
Depends on what you’re doing. Yes, it’s better for most things where you’ll need to sear.
Carbon steel frying pans good as well.
For me, cast iron are by far my most used pans. You know how flannel starts out sort of awful but gets better and better as it gets older? That’s cast iron. Starts out sticky PITA but over time becomes satisfying satiny nonstick surface. I’ve always used them a lot so that’s how my cooking style evolved.
We also have one steel pan we call the Stick pan, sometimes you want food to stick so you can deglaze. My kids use it for potsticker dumplings, and they like it also because it’s lighter, cast iron is heavy. And of course a rice and pasta pot, those are steel.
I don’t buy “nonstick” pans, they don’t last and I’m not convinced they are safe.
I like carbon steel, mainly for two reasons
- Heats up insanely fast
- Super easy to clean
Hell yeah. Carbon steel pans are great. Gonna get a carbon steel wok soon and then home deep frying is gonna be a breeze.
Yeah I went from cast iron to carbon steel. So easy to clean and non stick. Seasoning it was so easy. All I did was cook onions and garlic with oil a few times.
Cast iron is great if you use it a lot. It does take a little more work to maintain because after you clean it it’s best if you dry it and coat it with a thin layer of oil, but you don’t have to if you use it all the time. Mine is non stick enough to fry an egg with no oil, so it’s better than my old ass Teflon pans in that sense, but probably not as good as a new Teflon pan
Your wife sounds smart, listen to heerrrrrr.
Also I don’t know, but since hearing about non-stick pans leaking cancer into your food (if you scrape them with a fork, etc), I just like to use a normal pan.
I bought an carbon steel pan about 5 years ago, best pan ever! Highly recommend 😊
Everything has it’s pros and cons. There is no ‘better’. A stocked kitchen will have variety of different cookware types, a professional kitchen will have more than one heat type as well. most people for whatever reason, only use one cookware type and convince themselves it’s the ‘best’, but that isn’t true at all. i’ve taken professional cooking classes and they use every type of cookware and tell you to but certain types for certain styles/dishes.
choose your heat source first, then your cookware. non-ferrous cookware won’t work on induction stoves.
personally i have non stick, stainless steel, cast iron, and ceramic. i don’t bother with carbon steel because i don’t do high heat cooking that works best with it. i have a couple of basic alloy stock pots too, because they are lighter.
Thin hot pan get cold fast when big meat on it.
Thick hot pan get cold slower when big meat on it.
Thick pan good for make big meat hot fast.
Thin pan good for make thin meat hot or thick meat hot slow.
We were told that the teflon coating is “inert”, implying it’s harmless. But, now we have microplastics in every cell in our body, of which, teflon is one. I’m not sure that chemically inert equals harmless.
Cast iron is great once you learn to cook with it. Food does stick sometimes, even in a “seasoned” pan. But, it’s not a big deal. Also, you can clean and polish it with power tools, if you need to. It’s virtually indestructible.
Induction stoves? You WILL break the glass, and the glass is expensive to replace. If I got electric, I’d go with an old-school coiled heating element type, literally buy an old, used stove, because new appliances are crap construction quality. You can get them refurbished, and they’re easy to fix if anything goes wrong–very simple machines.
If you choose gas, you NEED good ventilation, a hood that vents to the outside. At least, you need to open a window while you’re burning the gas.
The best argument against Teflon has absolutely nothing to do with cooking with it and everything to do with how it’s manufactured. The chemicals used for manufacturing are incredibly bad for every part of the environment, have been proven over and over to cause cancer and are impossible to contain. Of course there are good arguments against using it for pans as well, but nobody ever listens to those, I’ve tried.
Sadly, metal hot make food hot is not the only factor. It’s also the speed and responsiveness of the pan. If you have the money, look into 3-ply pans, stainless bottom (for induction, but works with everything), aluminum interior (for eveness of heat throughout the pan) and stainless interior/cooking surface. I’ve had some of my pans for 40 years and they look brand new. They’re just as easy to clean as non-stick, if you use wooden utensils for a quick scrape before cleaning. All-clad is probably the best brand, I bought some recently, and they are just as good as the old ones I have, very rare these days. They can be found on eBay and craigslist used, and the used are just as good (have a few of those as well).
I love my cast iron pans, especially for searing and tortillas, but for sauces and risottos, 3-ply is a great option. It’s really about the responsiveness.
Last thing, ceramisised cast-iron (like Le Creuset) is terrific for deep frying.
