/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.20066598]

I have decided to ditch my old non stick pan, should I get stainless steel or cast iron? Which one do you use?

[Anonymous No.20066603]

I have both stainless steel and cast iron in my kitchen. Don't have any non-stick though (unless you count enamel cast-iron).

[Anonymous No.20066604]

>>20066598
i use both. depends on whether or not my cast iron is dirty

[Anonymous No.20066609]

>>20066604
Clean after/while you cook slob. Cast iron takes like 15 seconds to clean while it's hot. Let stuff congeal and rot the seasoning, maybe not.

[Anonymous No.20066611]

>>20066609
don't tell me what to do you tranny

[Anonymous No.20066650]

>>20066598
both. hard searing meat is better in cast iron but stainless is better at most other types of cooking. even teflon has it's place when it comes to low temp cooking like egg. as with everything in life, there is never one thing that does every job best. you need the right tool for the right job.

[Anonymous No.20066654]

Get a good stainless and a cheap lodge

[Anonymous No.20066675]

>>20066654
counter point. get a good stainless and get a le crueset cast iron pan so you get all the benefits vast iron without any of the downsides.

[Anonymous No.20066679]

>>20066650
I still have a non stick pan but I want to get something for meat

[Anonymous No.20066681]

>>20066609
Cleaning reduces my meal enjoyment by solid 30%

[Anonymous No.20066682]

>>20066675
I would get their dutch oven as an addition if you can splurge because you can't really go to searing temperatures without fucking up the enamel

[Anonymous No.20066690]

>>20066598
You don't need to do one or the other, but if you choose to, I'd suggest stainless - you'll probably find it more versatile.

[Anonymous No.20066699]

>>20066690
I know but I don't want to spend on both at once

[Anonymous No.20066703]

>>20066679
get a cheap lodge cast iron if money is an issue. if you have cash to spend then spring for an enameled le crueset cast iron pan. for stainless, look at demeyere or allclad frying pans depending one where you are in the world. buy piece buy piece as you find the need. cookware is like tools, you won't know what you need until you need it which is when you go buy it. buy factory seconds whenever possible.

[Anonymous No.20066706]

>>20066598
> clicking on this thread because I thought it was a webm
OP you have disappointed once again

[Anonymous No.20066716]

>>20066682
>because you can't really go to searing temperatures without fucking up the enamel
that's a total myth. you just need to put the pan over medium heat and allow it to heat up thoroughly. there is no need to have your stove on high heat when searing with cast iron. medium heat is fine so long as you allow the pan to actually come to temp which take much longer than with stainless because of cast irons poor heat spread.

[Anonymous No.20066784]

>>20066598
cast iron is pointless when you have a thick stainsteel pan and a versatile carbon steel as a "non stick" option. one pan is not enough to cook properly

[Anonymous No.20066813]

>>20066598
carbon steel

[Anonymous No.20066829]

>>20066703
tools are not buy when you need it. tools are buy if you think you can use it to speed up your project.

[Anonymous No.20066879]

>>20066716
I just got one and its accruing spots on it that are kind of matte looking? Sploches where its dull or maybe oily looking. What am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous No.20066952]

>>20066879
>What am I doing wrong?
Nothing. Just like any normal pan, the enameled pan will accrue polymerized oils on its surface. It's nothing to worry about and if you really want, you can scrub it off with a sponge.

[Anonymous No.20067349]

I don't want to make new thread to ask stupid question, but do you need to season stainless steel pans? Surface is smopther than cast iron, so I assume you don't?
Problem with cast iron - cooking anything acidic with it fucks up my seasoning...

[Anonymous No.20067356]

>>20066598
>Which one do you use?
I don't want Alzheimer's so I use iron.

[Anonymous No.20067369]

>>20066784
This. If I were replacing a nonstick I would get carbon steel. I have stainless, cast iron, and carbon steel. Stainless only gets used when simmering or deglazing. Cast iron never gets used at all. Carbon steel gets daily use.

[Anonymous No.20067402]

>>20067356
Steel causes alzheimer ? Aluminium for sure, but stainless steel ? Sauce me bro.

[Anonymous No.20067407]

>>20067402
>Aluminium for sure
Not even aluminum, that was a faulty study.

[Anonymous No.20067430]

>>20067407
>aluminum
Aluminium

[Anonymous No.20067437]

>>20066609
>Cast iron takes like 15 seconds to clean while it's hot.
I'm literally getting my first unenameled cast iron skillet and pot next week. What is the best way to clean them? I bought like a chain mail scrubbing pad ahead of time but I'm not sure I should be using that all the time on the cast iron.

[Anonymous No.20067442]

>>20067430
nah son it's Aluminum. Also while you are at it, knock off the superfluous U's in words, and start pronouncing the letter R at the end of words.

[Anonymous No.20067447]

>>20067442
>nah son
Shut up daddy, you're wrong

[Anonymous No.20067469]

>>20066598
Carbon steel

[Anonymous No.20067477]

>>20067437
>remove food from pan
>put pan under sink
>pour some water in, hot or cold doesn't really matter, don't need much
>if you fried something extremely greasy, add a drop of detergent
>give it a pass with the dish brush, if lotsa stuck gunk use the rough side of a sponge/scrub daddy/chainmail if you really fucked up
>proper rinse to get detergents and gunk off
>put back on still warm stove to dry
if you wanna baby it in the beginning, give it a thin coat of oil before storing. personally i've never bothered and mine are doing great

[Anonymous No.20067485]

I like having both. If I'm just cooking or searing meat, I go with cast iron, if I'm going to be deglazing the pan after the meat to make a sauce or something, I usually go with stainless.

[Anonymous No.20067489]

>>20066598
Just get both

[Anonymous No.20067493]

>>20067477
Thanks anon. I've also heard some people use kosher salt to scrub away stuff? Is that more for a harder job? That your easy method doesn't handle? I'm assuming I need to give the cast iron a bit longer to get up to temp before cooking with it compared to say a stainless steel pan.

[Anonymous No.20067499]

>>20067437
Let it cool down a bit and use a little boiling water, scrape anything off it with a wooden spatula, pour out and then heat to dry it.
That works for me except for a few times when I used far too much heat when I wasnt used to it.

[Anonymous No.20067511]

>>20067499
Do you ever find that smells or flavors stick to the pan when you clean it like this?

[Anonymous No.20067516]

>>20067493
>use kosher salt to scrub away stuff? Is that more for a harder job
Any big coarse salt is supposedly abrasive enough to get food off but gentle enough to not mess with the seasoning, but usually you can just scrub/scrape off anything with a brush or wooden spatula.
>I'm assuming I need to give the cast iron a bit longer to get up to temp before cooking with it compared to say a stainless steel pan.
The thicker it is the longer it takes, cast iron is usually very thick, so yes.
>>20067511
So far, no.
I think salt is also good for absorbing any smells or flavours so if you have that issue you could try that.

[Anonymous No.20067531]

dont fall for the cultist aspect of cast iron. I use soap in mine all the time and scrub it however the fuck i want. You can remove rust very easily too.

I like them because they get really fucking hot and i can put them in a grill or oven

[Anonymous No.20067555]

>>20067531
>I use soap in mine all the time and scrub it however the fuck i want.
>You can remove rust very easily too.
Wont get rusty if you dont use soap.

[Anonymous No.20067723]

>>20067516
Thanks for the help anon.

[Anonymous No.20067743]

>>20066598
Cast iron broh

[Anonymous No.20067824]

Get both. There are situations for where one is better than the other .

[Anonymous No.20067838]

Get a cast iron glazed ceramic pan.

[Anonymous No.20067877]

Carbon steel.

Use a chainmail scrubber to clean it with some hot water. Don't go at it hard; just enough to get any residual solid bits off.

[Anonymous No.20067881]

>>20067369
This man knows.

Carbon steel for most applications, stainless as he said and for anything acidic.

I used to use cast iron exclusively but it takes too long to heat up right for day to day stuff. Still, it can be a pleasure to use, and if I make something going from the stove to the oven or just the oven I like my cast iron.

[Anonymous No.20067893]

>>20067493
>>20067516
The reason people use salt specifically is because it's an abrasive that doesn't dissolve in oil. I don't know if it's not abrasive enough to preserve your seasoning, though. It probably does scratch the seasoning. Non-metallic crystals can sometimes be many levels of Rockwell harder than metal, so I wouldn't count on your seasoning (much softer than metal) coming out unscathed. However, it really doesn't matter. Seasoning isn't something you have to baby. It's mainly there to insulate your food from the reactive flavor of the metal and the metal from the corrosive nature of your food.

>>20067511
>Do you ever find that smells or flavors stick to the pan when you clean it like this?
>>20067516
>I think salt is also good for absorbing any smells or flavours so if you have that issue you could try that.
This is kind of a problem exclusive to bumpy cast iron. They can be very hard to fully clean with all the little peaks and valleys, so you'll get food stuck in the little valleys. The best strategy I've come up with to deal with this kind of thing is, after you cook in it, use a chain mail scrubber to get all the loose food scum off the pan, then do a round of seasoning in the oven (high heat oil, applied very thin to a preheated pan, bake at 450-500F, upside-down, for 1 hour). What oven seasoning will eventually accomplish is to just fill in the valleys with the burnt food, seal that shit up with additional layers of seasoning, and give you a smoother cooking surface on top that you'll be able to get clean more easily without getting food stuck to it. Cooking bacon every morning for a few weeks is an easy way to scum up the cooking surface quickly. You'll need to do many rounds of oven seasoning to get this type of seasoning to be pretty durable, but it will still overall be accelerating the process.

[Anonymous No.20067897]

>>20066598
>>>steel
>Dishwasher safe
>better heat spread/conductivity because of aluminum layers
>>iron
>more mass and heat capacity
Probably both, I'd get 3:1 ratio of steel to iron pans.

[Anonymous No.20067936]

>>20067893
Having to season something in the oven for an hour after each time you cook with it is extremely offputting.

Just get smooth cast iron or go for carbon steel.
>cook: put to high heat and add sufficient oil, then let oil come down to the right temp before you add food in
>clean without soap
>wipe dry with a clean paper towel
>add a tiny amount of oil to the dry pan and coat the thinnest layer of oil you can with a separate clean paper towel
>repeat
That's all there is to it. If you go and cook something acidic in it and visibly strip the seasoning, you may need to actually re-season, but day to day maintenance should be minimal.

[Anonymous No.20067966]

>>20067936
>Having to season something in the oven for an hour after each time you cook with it is extremely offputting.
You don't have to. However, cooking it in the oven will kill the odor for sure. The main problem here is cheaping out on the pan. As they say, "the cheap man buys twice." A cheap pan will require extra work to make it good.

The better option, as you point out, is just buy a good pan to begin with. Stargazer is probably the best new option in this category to balance build quality against price, or just get any of dozens of gently used vintage pans for around $30-40 on ebay that can be used and abused, and will not accumulate odor from having a ton of food stuck to the cooking surface. Lodge 3-notch, Wagner (Sidney, O), Griswold (small block logo) and BSR Red Mountain (or BSR Century, but make sure it has a smooth surface, since some came bumpy) are your best bets for an affordable #8 (10 inch). Most carbon steel, though, is heavy enough that you can get as good of a sear with it as cast iron, and it comes smooth from the factory.

[Anonymous No.20068889]

>>20066598
Lodge cast iron is an absolute no brainer purchase. Getting a new pan seasoned is a little bit of work, though. Preseasoned pans need to be stripped and reseasoned because the factory seasoning flakes off easily.

[Anonymous No.20068897]

>>20067966
Some 60 grit sandpaper for a few minutes smoothed out my lodge pan nicely

[Anonymous No.20068898]

>>20068889
If it flakes off, it's not seasoning.

[Anonymous No.20068966]

You should have 1 of everything. But if you had to buy 1, I'd say cast iron because it is so cheap.

[Anonymous No.20068969]

>>20066598
Why did they photoshop the same steak into both pans?

[Anonymous No.20068972]

>>20068969
Why are you asking here and not emailing Insider Reviews?

[Anonymous No.20069020]

>run pan under hot water
>scrub pan with a scourer sponge until there's nothing left on it
>dry and put it away
cast iron maintenance is an overblown problem. just use it often and the seasoning will build up over time.

[Anonymous No.20070327]

>>20067442
I think you mean superflos

[Anonymous No.20070349]

>>20066598
I use both. SS typically if I want to make a pan sauce. Cast iron is sort of like
>I want to grill it, but I don't want to clean the grill afterwards because I'm being a lazy asshole

[Anonymous No.20070361]

>>20067838
that's just stainless with more steps

[Anonymous No.20070376]

>>20066598
I have both because I'm not an unemployed minimalist

[Anonymous No.20070389]

>>20067489
Don't recommend lodge carbon steel, I've got one and they're dogshit, they make fine cast iron but the fact that they refuse to put in any amount of effort to finishing the pans to a decent standard really fucks up the carbon steel experience.

[Anonymous No.20070394]

>>20068898
Yeah their factory seasoning is a fucking joke

[Anonymous No.20070419]

>>20070361
the main benefit is how thick the material is. it can hold on to heat better after placing cold food on to it like steak.

[Anonymous No.20071160]

>>20066598
I have seen some cast iron pans and griddles at my store but they had a ridged surface, are those getting or should I only get ones with smooth surface?

[Anonymous No.20071377]

>>20067447
Alumunuminium.

[Anonymous No.20071432]

>>20071377
ohh my word!

[Anonymous No.20071566]

>>20071160
Sand them down, it's totally worth it

[Anonymous No.20071577]

>>20071566
>Sand them down
I really don't think that's so easy

[Anonymous No.20071581]

>>20071577
That's a grill pan you dolt.

[Anonymous No.20071600]

>>20071581
It's still made of cast iron
So are those grill pans worth getting or should I buy smooth ones?

[Anonymous No.20071608]

>>20066598
Stainless steel. It's a no brainer honestly. You can do whatever you want with it, even throw it in the dishwasher.
Cast iron is just a pain.

[Anonymous No.20071610]

>>20071600
The grill pans are worthless

[Anonymous No.20071626]

>>20071610
Why

[Anonymous No.20071627]

>>20071600
I think grill pans like those are just for people who want grill marks on their food. Regular flat bottom Pam's are much more useful.

[Anonymous No.20071629]

>>20068898
>>20070394
What do you guys put in your seasoning. Balsamic vinegar? Olive oil? Lemon? Salt and pepper? Mustard or not?

[Anonymous No.20071641]

>>20071629
Any oil is fine, just use something with higher smoke point

[Anonymous No.20071646]

>>20071626
They're a meme pan who's only purpose is to put fake grill marks on food which is an inherently worse way of searing meat than a flat pan. It appeals to idiots that actually believe the grill is the best way to cook things.

[Anonymous No.20071650]

>>20071646
Alright, I never used these anyway

[Anonymous No.20071660]

>>20071626
Because you're just gonna get a shitty sear on the grill marks and the rest is going to be undercooked

[Anonymous No.20071673]

>>20071646
There might be a slight difference in that the channels separate whatever you are grilling from any oil, fat or drippings. But other than the grill marks I think that would just make it take longer to cook.