I see no need to own a cast iron pan

[toobfreak]

I've only had one go rancid on me and they smell rank when it happens.

If that happens, you are not seasoning properly. You need to remove the seasoning and redo it. Maybe the oil you used was rancid itself, not cleaned well, or maybe you used the wrong oil. Properly seasoned cast iron, the seasoning actually becomes CARBONIZED into the iron through a process of polymerization.

WHAT I RECOMMEND:

1. Start with a new, clean skillet (even if it comes preseasoned) or remove all old seasoning.
2. Washing the skillet well.
3. Set over racks two apart in center with aluminum foil on the lower rack.
4. Dry skillet in oven at 200° for 20 minutes to assure iron is dry to the molecular level. Let cool just enough that you can handle it. This opens the iron.
5. Coat the skillet all over inside and out with grapeseed oil. This is cheap and a good thing to have in the kitchen anyway. Wipe it down lightly with a paper towel to assure the coating is thin.
6. Place on top rack upside down and bake at 400° for an hour.
7. Take out, let cool a bit, repeat two more times.

You will have the best seasoned non-stick skillet of your life.

 

[toobfreak]

I'd never ask for help from someone with that much gear who still doesn't understand the thermal properties of different cooking materials.

I've never known even a master chef who needed to know the "thermal properties" of their cookware as far as the material science was concerned. They are a CHEF, not a lab technician. Instead, they are focused on the COOKING QUALITIES of it. Once again calling BULLSHIT to everything you post here.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

If that happens, you are not seasoning properly. You need to remove the seasoning and redo it. Maybe the oil you used was rancid itself, not cleaned well, or maybe you used the wrong oil. Properly seasoned cast iron, the seasoning actually becomes CARBONIZED into the iron through a process of polymerization.

WHAT I RECOMMEND:

1. Start with a new, clean skillet (even if it comes preseasoned) or remove all old seasoning.
2. Washing the skillet well.
3. Set over racks two apart in center with aluminum foil on the lower rack.
4. Dry skillet in oven at 200° for 20 minutes to assure iron is dry to the molecular level. Let cool just enough that you can handle it. This opens the iron.
5. Coat the skillet all over inside and out with grapeseed oil. This is cheap and a good thing to have in the kitchen anyway. Wipe it down lightly with a paper towel to assure the coating is thin.
6. Place on top rack upside down and bake at 400° for an hour.
7. Take out, let cool a bit, repeat two more times.

You will have the best seasoned non-stick skillet of your life.

I think he was referring to trying to season a non stick pan.
Which of course you cant season.

 

[Concerned American]

I think he was referring to trying to season a non stick pan.
Which of course you cant season.

Nope, I was talking about cast iron--who would season a non stick pan?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Nope, I was talking about cast iron--who would season a non stick pan?

My bad.
I confused your post with Hashevs.

 

[Tunafish]

I use carbon steel pans exclusively. Lighter than cast iron.

 

[AveMarica]

I've never known even a master chef who needed to know the "thermal properties" of their cookware as far as the material science was concerned. They are a CHEF, not a lab technician. Instead, they are focused on the COOKING QUALITIES of it. Once again calling BULLSHIT to everything you post here.

You've never known a master chef, period. Could have skipped the rest of your post where you're pretending a cook doesn't need to know how their cookware performs.

 

[AveMarica]

I have an antique cast iron griddle that covers half my stove over two burners and I have yet to ever experience any problem nor difference in how it cooks regardless of where food is placed.

You aren't observant and can't cook, which is why you're looking so foolish in this thread.

None of your fantasy bloviation nor attempts to insult me matter here; they only serve to demonstrate how weak your argument really is and what a jerk you really are. I've yet to see you present any actual data on COOKING with a cast skillet! Even your stupid sites with IR pictures fail to provide any comparisons with other material types.

IR pictures showing the difference in temperatures across a cast iron skillet surface after 30 minutes is indeed data that sinks your entire argument, which is why you deny, dismiss, backtrack, insult, and contradict yourself constantly in here. You're fragile and you hate being wrong.

If iron was such bad cookware as you claim

I never said cast iron was bad cookware, I said it doesn't heat evenly. Third time attacking this particular strawman, you can keep trying to invent this opinion for me and I'll call you out on it every time.

Cast iron cookware is a booming business.

Irrelevant to the discussion, it neither proves that I need one nor that cast iron heats evenly.

Cast iron is popular because it is cheap, easy to maintain, durable, versatile, cooks well and easy to clean. Only a mental defective clown-show like you would try to deny that or claim otherwise.

I've never denied any of that, Captain Strawman. Pointing out the flaws isn't saying it doesn't cook well, how stupid can you be?

 

[AveMarica]

Topic is cast iron. Not answering questions with questions.

These aren't mutually exclusive.

Shallow people do that. Now run along troll, this thread has run its course.

Yet you're still taking time out of your day to respond, and you're too stupid to even be on topic.

 

[toobfreak]

You've never known a master chef, period.

Nothing to do with cast iron cookware as usual, but, I know YOU are not one! Once again unable to back up your own insane idiotic claims, so right back to deflecting by trying to discredit the Messenger. And failing.

 

[AveMarica]

Surely you've heard of Le Creuset....
They some of the best pans you can buy.

Of course I have, and yes indeed they make outstanding cookware.

Perhaps if you bought a good quality cast iron pan rather than a cheap one.

No, I don't think buying a better quality cast iron pan will change the fundamental physical properties of cast iron, nor will it make someone who buys a bunch of toys into someone who understands physics.

 

[AveMarica]

Nothing to do with cast iron cookware as usual, but, I know YOU are not one! Once again unable to back up your own insane idiotic claims, so right back to deflecting by trying to discredit the Messenger. And failing.

Yep, nothing to do with cast iron yet you are the one who keeps trying to imply being a master chef makes cast iron heat evenly. Hint = it doesn't, you subnormal.

Funny the self proclaimed chef who disparages watching videos but says they follow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

 

[toobfreak]

You aren't observant and can't cook,

I'm observant enough to see that you are a liar, a charlatan, and a fraud, and what would you know about my cooking! More proof what a totally silly ass you are.

IR pictures---

Don't mean a fuck in a real kitchen. IR photos are designed to exaggerate the smallest of differences in order to display the subtlest of differences, meaningless to any good chef.

I never said cast iron was bad cookware

You've spent 150 posts over the past week trying to discredit it and its users!
Now you try to backtrack trying to save face after being proven wrong 100 times by at least 5 different people here while no one sides with you.

Drop dead.

 

[toobfreak]

Yep, nothing to do with cast iron yet you are the one who keeps trying to imply being a master chef makes cast iron heat evenly.

TOTAL: BULLSHIT as usual. I'm no special cook, just not a bad cook, competent, and cast iron has a very interesting and useful place that deserves a look at and place in most every kitchen, that is all. But certainly not as the SOLE cookware. NO cookware does the best job in all situations.

Cast iron is basic, but perhaps that is its most useful charm--- it is like an army tank that while not pretty, can hold up to most any use and deliver where other cookware would fall on its face while excelling in interesting ways. As such, the smart chef learns to incorporate it for its advantages rather then ignore it.

 

[AveMarica]

TOTAL: BULLSHIT as usual. I'm no special cook

Yet there you were trying to bolster your feeble arguments by demanding to know if others are trained chefs.

Don't sell yourself short though, you're definitely special. Just in a difference way, involving a short bus.

Cast iron is basic, but perhaps that is its most useful charm--- it is like an army tank that while not pretty, can hold up to most any use and deliver where other cookware would fall on its face while excelling in interesting ways. As such, the smart chef learns to incorporate it for its advantages rather then ignore it.

Yet nobody has been able to provide a reason why someone with stainless steel cookware should learn to incorporate it.

 

[AveMarica]

I'm observant enough to see that you are a liar, a charlatan, and a fraud, and what would you know about my cooking! More proof what a totally silly ass you are.

Yes that is all easy to type, but remember you're the one who embarrassed themselves in this thread claiming cast iron cooks evenly with no hot spots.

Don't mean a fuck in a real kitchen. IR photos are designed to exaggerate the smallest of differences in order to display the subtlest of differences, meaningless to any good chef.

The IR camera just showed the temperature variance of over 140 degrees from middle of pan to edge. That isn't a small difference, and it certainly isn't meaningless, although that is funny coming from the clown who recommended stir frying everything to take advantage of the uneven heating that he previously claimed didn't exist.

You've spent 150 posts over the past week trying to discredit it and its users!

False. I have been discrediting the notion that owning one is useful if you have stainless steel, and your hilariously asinine claims that it heats evenly without hot spots. You keep trying to spin that into me saying cast iron is bad, but it isn't working.

while no one sides with you

Ahh again the argument of a person incapable of proving their point "everyone agrees with me". What you have is the same 3-4 ignorant cast iron fans who bought into the same common myth about cast iron heating evenly. You know who knows what they are talking about in here?

Muhammed:
"I have no idea why people say cast iron frying pans heat evenly. They heat very unevenly due to the laws of physics. Just how unevenly? I just did an experiment to find out with real numbers. I greased down my 12 inch cast iron pan with a light coat of clarified butter and heated it until I noticed that it was smoking. Then I took some readings with my infrared thermometer. It was just 361 degrees on the cooking surface close to the edge and 548 degrees in the middle. That's a 187 degree difference."

What is more likely, that another poster is in on the conspiracy or that he is actually telling the truth and directly contradicting both your claims about cast iron heating evenly and the repeated attempts to win an argument by saying everyone agrees with you. Muhammed's observations are a lot closer to the IR images that you keep trying to dismiss. You fail. Often.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Of course I have, and yes indeed they make outstanding cookware.


No, I don't think buying a better quality cast iron pan will change the fundamental physical properties of cast iron, nor will it make someone who buys a bunch of toys into someone who understands physics.

A more consistent thickness means even heat.

Just so ya know Le Creuset is cast iron.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Of course I have, and yes indeed they make outstanding cookware.


No, I don't think buying a better quality cast iron pan will change the fundamental physical properties of cast iron, nor will it make someone who buys a bunch of toys into someone who understands physics.

So I guess you didnt know that Le Creuset is a cast iron pan/pot.
I have 6 or 7 pieces of Le Creuset and I love their cooking characteristics.

 

[miketx]

It seems cast iron has had a resurgence in popularity and some folks are borderline cult-like over it, but I've yet to have anyone give me a good reason to own one instead of stainless steel. They are heavy (I like to flip food), take longer to heat up, aren't responsive, react with acidic ingredients, and you can't just soak the pan to clean later since it will rust out. I don't get the appeal.

You can have mine when you pry it from my evenly cooked cold dead hands!

 

[toobfreak]

Yet there you were trying to bolster your feeble arguments by demanding to know if others are trained chefs.

What argument was feeble? And what is wrong with being trained and skilled in an area you claim expertise in?

Don't sell yourself short though, you're definitely special.

Definitely can't say the same about you. You are as common as a penny.

Just in a difference way, involving a short bus.

Whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

Yet nobody has been able to provide a reason why someone with stainless steel cookware should learn to incorporate it.

Also done so about 50 times including links to professional articles, so basically, you're still an idiot talking out of your ass.