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Cast iron leet

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Re: Cast iron leet

#211

Post by sportslife »

novok wrote: post #195
horsawlarway wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 stain…

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…

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.

Re: Cast iron leet

#212

Post by chihuahua »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #191

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 res…

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.

Re: Cast iron leet

#214

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

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.

Re: Cast iron leet

#215

Post by chihuahua »

teddyh wrote: post #203
shadycuz wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I have really stubborn stuck items to my cast iron. I boil salt in it.

What stovetop can reach 1465 °C (2669 °F)?

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).

Re: Cast iron leet

#216

Post by azinman2 »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #214

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.

In my experience regular seasoned cast iron works better than enameled for eggs. I use my enameled for sauces.

Re: Cast iron leet

#217

Post by jefftk »

ronyeh wrote: post #151
jstx1 wrote: post #31

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…

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'l…

> I've seen Chef Jacques Pépin 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.

Re: Cast iron leet

#218

Post by robocat »

willismichael wrote: post #74
sneak wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just polymerized cooking oil. There is worse stuff in tap water.

Well, it's that and iron. If I understand correctly, cat iron cookware is sometimes recommended for people who are anemic.

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/

Re: Cast iron leet

#219

Post by dataflow »

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?

Re: Cast iron leet

#220

Post by SoapSeller »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #191

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 res…

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.

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