I see no need to own a cast iron pan

[Leo123]

Yes, this is what stupid people do. Instead of learning something they just automatically reject anything that doesn't suit their worldview. It couldn't be that cast iron doesn't distribute heat well, it must be that someone on a cooking forum makes fake pictures for giggles. You've also invented that they must be anti-skillet, your imagination knows no pounds when you must deal with challenges to your narrow world experience.

Heavy Metal: the Science of Cast Iron Cooking – Cooking Issues

cookingissues.com

The popular wisdom that cast iron cookware provides even heat is misleading. A cast iron skillet placed on a gas burner will develop distinct hot spots where the flame touches the pan. If you heat the center of a cast iron pan you will find that the heat travels slowly towards the pan’s edge, with a significant temperature gradient between the center and the edge. The pan will heat very unevenly, because cast iron is a relatively poor heat conductor compared to materials like aluminum and copper.

That's right, that author is also in on on the big conspiracy to lie about cast iron to poor toobfreak. Oooh look, more fake pictures, so many people out there making fake images to trick little toobfreak:

View attachment 848600

So paint cooks more uneven in cast iron. What's your point? I don't cook paint.

 

[toobfreak]

So paint cooks more uneven in cast iron. What's your point? I don't cook paint.

Who MODIFIES a cast iron skillet before conducting a test of one then intends to use the results from that in order to evaluate anything but a stoop like AvaMaria?!

 

[Concerned American]

that dude hilariously claiming ss can be burned beyond use is the same guy who claims its heating properties come from the thin stainless steel layer on the outside, as opposed to the much thicker aluminum core.

SS can be "burned" beyond reasonable use. If SS is over heated, it will deform--as will any pan other than cast iron. The copper cladding on Revereware and aluminum cladding on Farberware pans does aid in providing a more consistent heat across the bottom of the pan but if those pans are over heated, the SS base metal will deform and the cladding will separate from the pan. I know this from personal experience. BTW, SS is not a coating on a SS pan--it is the base metal. Just sayin'

 

[Leo123]

Who MODIFIES a cast iron skillet before conducting a test of one then intends to use the results from that in order to evaluate anything but a stoop like AvaMaria?!

Yeah and look at the first photo Ava put up that shows hotter at the center then the latest cooler at the center. Must have been the paint.

 

[toobfreak]

Yeah and look at the first photo Ava put up that shows hotter at the center then the latest cooler at the center. Must have been the paint.

I broke my iron skillet a couple years ago and this thread is prompting me to replace it now.

One that I'm considering is actually a well made but pricey french-made one that comes enameled, so, no seasoning ever required.

Also has a silicone insert you can guy to slip over the handle for direct handling.

https://www.lecreuset.com/signature-skillet/20182US.html

 

[AveMarica]

So, which is the real photo?

This:


View attachment 848608

Or this:
View attachment 848609

Both are real photos.

You guys are so invested in your mistaken beliefs that everything is a conspiracy.

 

[Leo123]

Both are real photos.

You guys are so invested in your mistaken beliefs that everything is a conspiracy.

No one mentioned conspiracy it’s more like your stupidity.

 

[toobfreak]

Both are real photos.

That each say the OPPOSITE thing about cast iron.

1. One shows the skillet white hot at the center and cool around the edge!
2. The other one shows the iron skillet ice cold at center and hot half way out to the edge.

Which one am I supposed to believe?

I actually have a Fluke IR gun that I can point at stuff and take temp readings of. I should set it up and actually measure a few skillets on my gas stove to show what bullshit this all is!

 

[AveMarica]

The only failure here is in your comprehension and arguments.

Says the guy who thought you measure the heating qualities of stainless steel cookware by looking up the specific heat of stainless steel.

Speaking about yourself? Dude, why do you insist on just digging yourself in deeper with these worthless photos which prove nothing because they all contain too many unspecified variables, trying to attack a skillet that all I'm saying is a useful choice many prefer to use for certain situations?

Pointing out the flaws in a certain type of cookware isn't "attacking" it, although this is exactly what I'm talking about with you being so emotionally invested in a pan that you feel it is being attacked and must defend it. Pathetic, much?

Good thing real cooks go buy ACTUAL COOKING EXPERIENCES and RESULTS and not looking a PICTURES in a magazine!

All the funnier that your second set of "scientific photos" DIRECTLY CONTRADICT that shown in your FIRST "scientific IR photo!"

The first set shows temperature variance on the pan's surface after 30 minutes. You hate it because you claimed cast iron distributes heat well and are embarrassed at being exposed for being so clueless. The second photos show how cast iron is cooler in the middle because of the burner, because cast iron doesn't distribute heat as well as stainless steel or copper cookware.

I'm going off experiences too, and another poster in here Muhammed noted the same thing where his cast iron didn't heat evenly. You want a real cook? Sean Brock, award winning chef and restaurant owner, who says he loves cast iron pans. From: THE SCIENCE OF CAST IRON

"That said, a lot of people think cast iron is a good conductor of heat, but it’s actually the opposite, meaning that the pan does not easily give away its heat, especially compared to other mediums such as copper and aluminum. Yes, and that’s definitely a myth that needs to be busted. I think a lot of people have that misunderstanding, myself included in the early days, based off the fact that cast iron can get really hot. That doesn’t mean it’s a good conductor of heat, that just means it can get really hot. And anything can get really hot with a fire underneath it. But a pan also isn’t judged based on its heat conductivity. It’s judged on how well it performs, and that performance is based off multiple properties."

Yes, he's talking about tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum in this forum, who just keep insisting cast iron is a conducts heat well and any photo showing otherwise is part of some vast conspiracy. Lean something, instead of digging in for pride's sake and looking even more stupid.

 

[AveMarica]

That each say the OPPOSITE thing about cast iron.

1. One shows the skillet white hot at the center and cool around the edge!
2. The other one shows the iron skillet ice cold at center and hot half way out to the edge.

Which one am I supposed to believe?

I actually have a Fluke IR gun that I can point at stuff and take temp readings of. I should set it up and actually measure a few skillets on my gas stove to show what bullshit this all is!

Different burners. An electric burner applies heat across the bottom of the pan in a circle, induction or gas heats in a ring.

It is kind of funny you couldn't figure that out.

 

[Concerned American]

I actually have a Fluke IR gun

That was a spendy camera. I was trained to use one about ten years ago, but I suspect the science is the same.

 

[AveMarica]

Who MODIFIES a cast iron skillet before conducting a test of one then intends to use the results from that in order to evaluate anything but a stoop like AvaMaria?!

So paint cooks more uneven in cast iron. What's your point? I don't cook paint.

To get more accurate results without reflections with the IR.

 

[AveMarica]

Yeah and look at the first photo Ava put up that shows hotter at the center then the latest cooler at the center. Must have been the paint.

Different types of burners. I know you two are doing everything you can to avoid admitting you were incorrect about cast iron heating evenly, but use your head man.

 

[AveMarica]

I broke my iron skillet a couple years ago and this thread is prompting me to replace it now.

You should make some cornbread when you get a new one.

One that I'm considering is actually a well made but pricey french-made one that comes enameled, so, no seasoning ever required.

Staub or Le Creuset cost a lot but supposedly they can last decades, whereas the cheaper brands the enamel often chips.

Sometimes you see them on sale, or stumble across them in thrift stores. I like Staub better, they have a new lighter weight line plus with black interior you can't see discolorations.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

A useless reply from someone who is so emotionally tied to a vessel material they are denying the laws of physics hoping to convince others they have magic cast iron that heats evenly.

Here you go, IR image of cast iron pan 30 minutes of heating on the stove, 140 degree difference between center and edge.

View attachment 848487

How can it be hotter in the middle when there's no flame in the middle?

 

[toobfreak]

It is kind of funny you couldn't figure that out.

Everybody here figured out long ago that you are an idiot. Maybe in both cases, what the people really needed was a decent stove?

Ever occur to you that if iron skillets do vary a bit across their bottoms, that besides from maintaining their heat and changing temp slowly over time that this might be a GOOD THING Ace?

As you cook, you stir things around so that food gets to take turns on higher and lower heat. And like any good cook, much like a wok, you can move food around as it cooks so that more cooked stuff is held at the edges while other stuff catches up and continues to cook?

Of course not because you think and cook statically according to a set formula like a short-order cook, not a creative skilled chef.

 

[AveMarica]

Everybody here figured out long ago that you are an idiot.

Everyone? I just saw someone say you were this way in the tube amp forum, thinking you know a lot when you know nothing. It wouldn't surprise me.

Ever occur to you that if iron skillets do vary a bit across their bottoms, that besides from maintaining their heat and changing temp slowly over time that this might be a GOOD THING Ace?

Maintaining heat is an advantage, uneven heating where you have to rotate a pan or preheat in an oven is a disadvantage.

As you cook, you stir things around so that food gets to take turns on higher and lower heat. And like any good cook, much like a wok, you can move food around as it cooks so that more cooked stuff is held at the edges while other stuff catches up and continues to cook?

More rationalizing, everything isn't a stir fry and it is a lot easier if you can put something on a pan to cook evenly then flip it. Have fun stirring your steak, pork chop, or grilled cheese sandwich.

Of course not because you think and cook statically according to a set formula like a short-order cook, not a creative skilled chef.

This isn't true, you're just trying to support your rationalizing away the flaws of cast iron. We LOVE how it doesn't cook evenly! We can put our T-bone steak on the side with less heat just like when making stir fry. Hah I love it.

 

[AveMarica]

How can it be hotter in the middle when there's no flame in the middle?

There is a black cooler hole in the middle of the cast iron pan when it is on ring heat burner like gas or induction, because cast iron doesn't distribute heat well.

Pros and Cons of Different Types of Cookware

A guide for metal cookware buyers; the pros and cons of different types of cookware.

stargazercastiron.com

"Contrary to popular belief, cast iron is not great at distributing heat."

- That quote is from the website above that sells cast iron skillets, worth noting since earlier the village idiot (tm) was dismissing anything that didn't suit his world view as someone selling stainless steel cookware.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

You haven't, because you don't know what evidence even means apparently.

I showed you a perfectly cooked pan of cornbread and the bottom was consistently colored all across the bottom.
So how do you explain that?
Or did you miss the pic?

So you dont have to inconvenience yourself....

Show me where the the cool or hotspot is on this cornbread.
It comes out like this every single time I make it.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

There is a black cooler hole in the middle of the cast iron pan when it is on ring heat burner like gas or induction.

Uhhh .....
I only cook with gas and there's no flame in the middle,yet the pan temp is even.