• immutable@lemm.ee
    1031·
    11 days ago

    I bought a $20 cast iron pan at target, I season it like once a year. I just wash it and make sure to dry it, I’m sure this is against the rules. Seems to work fine for me though. I wouldn’t say it’s nonstick but it’s mostly fine.

    A $20 Teflon pan would be flaking and unusable, so for $20 it’s a good deal.

    • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
      39·
      11 days ago

      I bought those cheap marble coated pan, now entering 2 years of frequent use, other than tiny bit of degraded non-stick capability, it works just fine, didn’t even chip. I bought an expensive teflon once, it only last around half year before it start chipping. Teflon is just bottom tier coating now.

      I also own a cheap cast iron skillet, cook with it frequently, wash with soap and only heat dry it, didn’t even bother with seasoning after washing, it now has a nice, smooth patina on it that mostly non-stick. I genuinely don’t get why people always baby a cast iron, it’s a hilux, not a cybertruck.

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
      212·
      11 days ago

      I have a cast iron griddle that I use once a year at my mom’s house. I leave it in the outdoor grill when I’m done using it and don’t even clean it. The next time I go to use the grill, I take out the cast iron griddle and just leave it out in the elements and it rusts like crazy.

      Then, the day I’m ready to use it again, I scour the shit out of it, heat it up to 500-600°, throw some oil on it like a greased up whore, and get the lowest quality seasoning on it.

      Then I use it to grill some ears of corn so they don’t turn black from the soot of all the wood I burn to heat the outdoor grill. Once the corn is done cooking, I close off the grill and tell the cast iron griddle to go fuck itself.

    • ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
      72·
      11 days ago

      It’s fine and good to wash cast iron - particularly if you had something corrosive in there. Don’t do it in the dishwasher (change in heat can be bad for it - same reason not to machine wash kitchen knives).

      People who say washing your pan will remove the seasoning have not properly seasoned their pans or see food residue washing out and think it is the polymerized oils bonded to the metal that are washing out. If that’s the case, they are washing way too aggressively.

      • 0ops@lemm.ee
        6·
        11 days ago

        There used to be some truth to the advise of not washing cast iron because those old-fashioned soaps had lye that could break down the seasoning. So I guess if you like to use boutique soaps you should be mindful if they contain lye. But if you’re just using dawn dish soap like probably 90% of everybody, go to town, you’re not going to remove seasoning with dish soap

  • Virkkunen@fedia.io
    74·
    11 days ago

    Don’t these pans last like generations, being passed down? I doubt your grandma and her grandma were bothering to apply 8 coats of flaxseed oil and heating it up to 1000 degrees and the pans would still perform as expected for ages

    • lol_idk@lemmy.ml
      38·
      11 days ago

      I’ve been using the cast iron pan handed down to me for like 30 years. It skipped a generation and went straight from my grandmother to me. I don’t know exactly how old it is though

        • lol_idk@lemmy.ml
          2·
          10 days ago

          If you know basic math, it was probably purchased before 1996 based on my original comment. It was also very well used when she gave it to me.

          • ch00f@lemmy.world
            4·
            10 days ago

            Sorry. Just trying to make a joke a grandmothers’ expense. My grandma had several artifacts that she claimed were ancient and/or hand crafted that were definitely not.

            We were 3/4 of the way through mounting her hand painted collectible plates when we found two that were 100% identical.

    • ngwoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      34·
      11 days ago

      Has anyone outside of a commercial kitchen ever actually destroyed a stainless steel pan though

      • Lumisal@lemmy.world
        181·
        11 days ago

        Yes.

        Apparently you can’t hear up tortillas in them without it forever getting scorch marks. I suppose only thing I haven’t tried is using a machine sander on it to try to remove it.

        • mle@feddit.org
          11·
          11 days ago

          Are those scorch marks an issue beyond aesthetics though? (Genuinely curious, not judging)

        • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          6·
          11 days ago

          Barkeepers friend (powdered metal and glass polish/cleaner, typically comes in a cannister) will get that off with a little bit of elbow grease.

          Half the pans I’ve bought i got at a thrift store for like a buck because people thought they ruined them with a little bit of scorching., and I’ve gotten some nice stuff.

          • Lumisal@lemmy.world
            4·
            11 days ago

            Unfortunately haven’t found that cheaply available in Finland. I know about it too. It’s the only thing I haven’t tried other than straight up sanding it

            • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              7·
              11 days ago

              There’s probably a local equivalent; looks like the primary “ingredient” is Oxalic Acid so a cleaner containing that would probably work just as well

            • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
              4·
              11 days ago

              So the legend of bar keepers friend is that it was invented after someone boiled a bunch of rhubarb greens and noticed it cleaned the pan. I reckon any green high in oxalic acid (the main ingredient in BKF) should do similarly enough to the actual product to let you know if it might work.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
      16·
      11 days ago

      BerlingerHaus uses some kind of artifical stone instead of teflon. I’ve only got a grill pan so far but it’s easier to use and to clean than teflon. Surely wherever you are has something similiar?

          • Ageroth@reddthat.com
            6·
            11 days ago

            We found a used older one, used it just about daily for a couple years before my dumb ass left it in an oven that was too hot (some old ones only got to like 400F apparently) and caused a bunch of cracks. We messaged le cruset and after sending them some pictures and a sob story they sent us a brand new one.

            Doesn’t need to be a new one or le cruset, enameled cast iron is just nice generally in my experience

          • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
            4·
            11 days ago

            I got a $30 enameled cast iron 6-quart Dutch oven at a post-Christmas sale. It wasn’t Le creuset, but it was a kitchenaid, which was over $100 at its original price. I also got a crockpot brand one, which was under $40 at its standard price, and they both lasted over a decade, until I moved across an ocean (afaik, my former neighbor is still very happily using them and my old kitchen aid stand mixer).

            • Krauerking@lemy.lol
              3·
              11 days ago

              Ahh enameled cast iron. The forgotten brother of the glory that is cast iron. The truest form of slow cooking but still limited to softer utensils. I got a cheap one too and the sucker still is perfect enough for a roast.

      • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
        5·
        11 days ago

        some kind of artifical stone

        Ceramic - similar to glass in that it’s made by melting sand (tiny stones)

        My pans are ceramic, they’re great nonstick pans. Usually any patina of burn-on is easy to clean off with some barkeeper’s friend. Everything else comes off in cooking. Still wouldn’t use metal utensils on it though as at the end of the day it is still just a coating and scraping it will degrade my pan. But they’re still like new a couple years after buying them and they’re very aesthetically pleasing pans to boot. And no pfas to my knowledge.

        One of them is an aldi find, safe in the oven up to 450°

        The other one is just a t-fal frying pan with a plastic handle. So not oven safe at all.

    • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      11 days ago

      While oil is necessary, It’s more about how you preheat it and your technique, rather than how you oil it; no amount of oil is going to save you from over crowding a cold pan.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
        7·
        11 days ago

        Yep, the old hot pan cold oil technique you use with a traditional woks works well with cast iron, carbon steel, and stainless steel.

        You basically get the pan as hot as you can, coat with enough to cover the pan with a thin layer of oil, and heat until smoking. Dump out your hot oil and add your cold oil and then your ingredients. If you get good at hot pan cold oil you can make just about anything nonstick.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          8·
          11 days ago

          I’ve always just used the bead test where you drop a drop of water in a dry pan and if it beads up and rolls around, instead of just sizzles, then the pan is hot enough to add oil (although this also works if it’s too hot, but I have a good sense of how long it takes to get to this temp, so I’m usually testing just before and just after it hits this temp). Then when the oil is shimmering, this is the time to add food.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          11 days ago

          I have no idea but those aren’t stainless steel pans. Like if you are using Teflon you don’t want to preheat. Every pan type is used differently.

    • DJDarren@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      14·
      11 days ago

      My sauce pans are stainless and are The Shit. Had them four years now and they’re still in good order.

      My frying pan is cast iron and is The Shit. Had it a year and it’s still as good as when I bought, and I use it every day.

      I will never go back to flaky non-stick bullshit.

    • Chef_Boyardee@lemm.ee
      3·
      11 days ago

      Been rocking stainless for about 15 years. No issues. I have no prob searing pork chops without any sticking.

      • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone
        3·
        11 days ago

        I always thought non-stick was better for egg, but actually I’ve been cooking eggs on stainless steel without them sticking for quite a while now.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          10 days ago

          Yup, it works fine, and I’ve had much better luck than cast iron. On the other hand, maybe I’m not seasoning properly. On the other other hand, stainless steel doesn’t require seasoning.

  • thawed_caveman@lemmy.world
    403·
    11 days ago

    it’s so much better than stainless

    debatable but i think so

    it takes a little maintenance

    everything needs maintenance in the sense that you have to clean it. jokes aside, the only maintenance it needs is to burn oil in it if the seasoning got a little damaged for any reason

    can’t cook anything tomato based

    you can, it’s not great but won’t ruin it

    eight coats of oil you have to burn onto it before you can use it

    that’s not true, all cast iron pans come pre-seasoned from the factory

    you can cook fried eggs and steak

    that is true

    even after seasoning it everything will still stick to the pan

    not really, it’s pretty non-stick

    to clean it you gotta heat it up then dry salt scrub then re-season

    not really, you only need to do that if the seasoning got damaged

    if water ever touches it the entire thing will disintegrate

    that’s not true, you’d have to leave it in water for days to get it to rust

    things that aren’t mentioned: you gotta use it regularly otherwise it gets sticky; you can use metal tools like knives and spatulas directly in the pan that would demolish any teflon; the seasoning is more resilient than people think, you can even wash it with dish soap; the seasoning actually gets stronger when you fry fatty things in it (grilled cheese, steaks, eggs, sausages); it’s very simple, durable, rustic, old technology, and incredibly cheaper than skillets of a similar quality (excluding cheap teflon pans); you can unrust it in your garage and even weld it back together if it breaks, which is sick as hell.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
      3·
      11 days ago

      I’m with you 100%.

      I’ll add that I rarely use my cast iron in the kitchen, preferring to use it on camping trips or the grill. Why? The sheer heft of the thing could accidentally cause my glass cooktop some trouble. For those occasions, I reach for my well-seasoned carbon steel pans: much lighter with most of the same non-stick situation as the iron skillet.

      • thawed_caveman@lemmy.world
        5·
        11 days ago

        I don’t know your glass cooktop, but i’d be shocked if the weight of a cast iron was enough to damage it. Does this mean you also wouldn’t put a cooking pot full of water on it? Mine had no problem, didn’t even get scratched which i was worried it might.

        That said i do think cast irons can be too heavy for some people, especially when it’s full

        • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
          3·
          11 days ago

          Here’s the thing: I’m a klutz, and do not always watch my hands (damn ADHD). So this whole thread is semi-rational at best. Still, I’m certain that I’m the guy that would drop it one or more inches onto the cooktop by accident. I honestly don’t know how resilient these things are, but I’m not about to find out.

          That said, I looked up some numbers for weights and well, it’s really not too different from a full pasta pot. I may just have to work up the courage. Thanks.

          • thawed_caveman@lemmy.world
            2·
            11 days ago

            Yeah i believe you can break a cast iron, it will snap instead of bend, but i have no idea how hard you’d have to drop it. It also probably would damage the glass

      • SSJMarx@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        11 days ago

        glass cooktop

        This is one gripe I have with my own cast iron, is that it marks up my glass cooktop when I use it. I can return the top to pristine condition by scrubbing it with steel wool, so it’s not permanently damaging it, but it’s kind of annoying to me that you can see which one of the burners I use way more often than the others because its discolored in a cast iron-sized circle.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      you can unrust it in your garage

      You can very easily de-rust cast iron cookware with Ospho which is basically phosphoric acid (Loctite naval jelly available at Lowe’s is the same stuff in gelled form, which is a bit grosser). Obviously you have to rinse it really well afterwards, but it’s a hell of a lot easier than trying to physically remove the rust.

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
    351·
    11 days ago

    My biggest gripe with Teflon, after the whole PFAS problem, is that you have to baby it. I never was able to find a plastic spatula that worked well for any application. At worst, some are so darn floppy it’s like trying to flip an fried egg with another fried egg. Not to mention, the leading edge would eventually melt and deform sending plastic shreds everywhere over time.

    The things you can do cooking-wise with metal tooling just get you more control and better results. Any pan/pot that lets you do that is going to help your overall cooking experience. Plus, even if you don’t go carbon steel or iron - say, stainless or even glass - de-glazing the pan with some water and heat from the range can make short work of cleaning.

    One last point to this rant: your favorite cooking shows are lying to you softly. Your cookware are tools - they’re gonna get fucked up. Used things eventually get scratched, stained, singed, dented, and that’s okay; I promise you they’re not unsanitary because they’re in this state. Those stainless pans with mirror-perfect surfaces, or carbon steel skillets with that pristine golden hue, they’re new; you usually see new product on camera thanks to sponsors and the general optics of the thing. Teflon pans hold out this false promise of pristine cook surfaces that just aren’t realistic. And in practice, even those awful things do not go the distance. So yeah, reject modernity and all that. You’ll be okay.

      • microphone900@lemmy.ml
        8·
        11 days ago

        Right! I use silicone spatulas because I like the slight bit of flop it has, but there are options besides pan scratching metal and really crappy, pan saving plastic spatulas.

  • TimewornTraveler@lemm.eeEnglish
    31·
    11 days ago

    lol look there’s one main benefit of cast iron: it holds heat really well. it is not easier to use or maintain than steel, but if you want something that holds a lot of heat, look no further

      • ngwoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        251·
        11 days ago

        Stainless steel is unreactive and is leeching less into your food than cast iron, if that’s your main concern. We already know that burned things are a carcinogen so why wouldn’t that include burned polymerized vegetable oil?

        • Wrufieotnak@feddit.org
          16·
          11 days ago

          I think they mean Teflon coating. While Teflon itself is not carcinogenic, the chemicals used in its production are in the PFAS group and not so healthy. The question is then if those chemicals are sufficiently removed in the end.

            • ch00f@lemmy.world
              2·
              11 days ago

              Can you find a source that provides any scale for how much over the recommended daily 8-28mg (men vs. women) is required to cause long-term concerns? All I can find online is for acute iron poisoning which is usually when a kid wolfs down a bottle of supplements.

              If you’re curious, Wikipedia says iron poisoning happens at around 20-60mg/kg or 1.8-5.4g for a 90kg (200 pound) person. That’s like 3/4 of an M&M’s worth of pure easily digestible iron which is a shitload.

              I’ve never heard anyone talk about any negative health impact of cooking with iron (which people have been doing for literally thousands of years), so I’m curious.

    • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
      16·
      11 days ago

      The one reason professional chefs don’t use it is because it doesn’t disperse the heat evenly tho

      • 9point6@lemmy.world
        15·
        11 days ago

        If you need even heat distribution, copper pans are the way to go

        And they definitely need more babying than cast iron IMO, cast iron pans will take any and all abuse, then you can just clean & season them again and your pan is good as new

        If you get cooper too hot, use the wrong utensils or are generally not treating it with kid gloves, it’s gonna end up ruined after a few years, especially if it’s a tin lined one

          • 9point6@lemmy.world
            3·
            11 days ago

            Oh yeah, compared to a bare copper pan, for sure

            There are some modern ones that are lined with stainless steel though and they don’t have as much of an issue with high temperatures

  • thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world
    31·
    11 days ago

    In all seriousness my cast iron never looses its seasoning and is the best non stick I have in my house. I refuse to go back to PFSA

    • ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
      25·
      11 days ago

      People have weird ideas about seasoning. It is literally oil polymerized and bonded to the metal with high heat; but people act like it just rubs off. You can scrape seasoning off, but it’s hard. I need steel wool to do it.

      I think these people complaining aren’t really seasoning their pans - just using dirty pans (i.e. the oil hasn’t fully polymerized).

      • exasperation@lemm.eeEnglish
        21·
        11 days ago

        Different types of oils form different polymerized surfaces, too. Related to the greentext, some people came up with the idea of flaxseed as the best oil for seasoning cast iron based on some theorycrafting about chemistry at a high school level, and it turned out that flaxseed oil seasoning chips and flakes really, really easily.

        So there are a bunch of people out there doing it wrong and complaining that it’s too fussy.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
          4·
          11 days ago

          How about olive oil? Does it work and make anything you cook smell/taste more delicious?

          Also, I’ve heard some mention that cast iron pans can infuse your food with more iron, but wouldn’t the seasoning block that? Or do iron ions move through the seasoning over time?

          • Dabundis@lemmy.world
            5·
            11 days ago

            It’s pretty likely that the temperature needed to polymerize the oil would destroy whatever compounds are responsible for making olive oil taste and smell the way it does. Plus, if done well, seasoning creates a permanent bond between the polymer and the metal, so you probably wouldn’t get anything to come out of the seasoning into the food.

            As for adding iron to the food, you might be thinking of acidic foods causing iron to leech out into the food. If the seasoning is “perfect” then this might not happen, but any weakspots in the seasoning can allow acids to corrode the pan if they’re left there long enough. Common advice you’ll find is to avoid cooking acidic food for long periods of time (e.g., simmering tomato sauce for several hours)

            • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
              2·
              11 days ago

              As for adding iron to the food, you might be thinking of acidic foods causing iron to leech out into the food.

              No there are actual cast iron trinkets you can cook with to fortify your food with iron. I can’t answer if that same effect would work through seasoning though.

          • Krauerking@lemy.lol
            4·
            11 days ago

            Grapeseed oil.

            Cheap at big box stores. Incredibly high smoke point. Dirt cheap.

            Use that for first couple layers and after that honestly whatever oil or fat you want to use or have. I re-up my pans with everything from Crisco to just cheap “vegetable” oil (rapeseed or soy usually) and even duck fat from after making other dishes.

            Don’t expect any to necessarily be more delicious but sometimes you get different flavors from what sorta burns in. You supposedly might get some iron passing through but it’s actually kinda a necessary mineral like volcanic ash.

            • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
              2·
              11 days ago

              Yeah, to clarify, I was asking about the iron because I understood it to be a generally good thing but then questioned whether it really was an advantage of cast iron pans at all.

              Though for the grapeseed oil having a ridiculously high smoke point, wouldn’t adding a final layer of something else mean that that will have the relevant smoke point?

          • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
            4·
            11 days ago

            Olive oil works well for seasoning, idk about taste though. You burn all that stuff away and what’s left is bonded to the pan so there’s not much room for flavor to transfer.

          • RBWells@lemmy.world
            3·
            11 days ago

            I use whatever is on the counter usually, but lard (homemade), bacon fat (clarified) and avocado oil are the usual and seem the best when doing the high heat seasoning. I just get the pan hot after cleaning it, with a very thin layer of oil (wiped as thin as possible) and keep wiping oil in there awhile with a paper towel, take it off the heat and occasionally wipe it with the paper towel to spread it evenly.

            Pancakes also work as pan rehab. The long low heat works to get them smooth again. I use butter for that, which leads me to believe that any fat is probably fine.

          • Nyxon@lemmy.world
            3·
            11 days ago

            Avocado oil is what I use. It has the highest smoke point of the readily available cooking oils, is supposedly healthier than other oils, has a clean flavor and doesn’t peel once polymerized for me. Olive oil works, and so does various other fats; bacon, tallow, butter etc.

            I use my cast iron more than any other pans because it is more versatile than my carbon steel or stainless steel pans. Each have their own place but cast iron works for more of what I do. The cast iron absorbs heat and works well for doing high heat cooking so having an oil that doesn’t burn until higher temps gives more temp ranges to operate in. When an oil/fat goes past it’s smoke point it becomes a carcinogen and is unhealthy to breath/eat. So avocado oil’s smoke point just over 500° is better than olive oil at around 300°-350°f.

  • edric@lemm.ee
    303·
    11 days ago

    That and they’re very heavy. I think I’ll go with carbon steel instead. Yeah you still have to season it, but at least its easier to handle.

  • ColonelThirtyTwo@pawb.social
    27·
    11 days ago

    This has been my experience with cast iron. There’s so, so, so much conflicting information on them. Even in this thread.

    I wish the Mythbusters would come back just to test via experimentation all these conflicting claims.

    • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
      11·
      11 days ago

      Cast iron is great if you want to throw the pan in the oven or if you have a grill big enough to fit it. For regular use who gives a shit.

      Been using cast iron my whole life

    • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de
      71·
      11 days ago

      The water one is definitely false. You just have to dry it and add cooking oil right away.

      Steel wool or a Brillo pad, on the other hand …

      • AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social
        6·
        11 days ago

        I didn’t even always add oil afterwards. I just wash it then stick it on the stove on low to dry it while I unload and reload the dishwasher or whatever.

        My wife does hate that I’m fine with my cast iron living in the stove though.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
          6·
          11 days ago

          Put it in the oven. No worries if you turn it on and forget it was in there compared to a pan of brownies with a plastic lid… •́⁠ ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠,⁠•̀

    • ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      America’s test kitchen has done that, although I can’t find one that addresses all the bits of misinformation.

      This one is pretty ok, but doesn’t address all things, and doesn’t specifically call out the myths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUComSZbZ7o

      Notably missing is tomatoes/highly acidic foods. IIRC, it’s fine if the duration is short (about 15 minutes). Shakshuka and quick tomato sauces should be fine, but don’t make Grandma’s all-day tomato sauce. Regardless, for these contexts I’d still grab stainless if that’s an option, but mostly for ease of use/cleaning

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    26·
    11 days ago

    Cast iron is cheap, indestructible, gets better with time, does want some care but nothing outrageous. I do have a good stainless skillet as well, call it the “stick pan”, if you want something to stick and then deglaze, it’s good.

    But the cast iron is my joy, my kids joke that I love it more than I love them (it is older than they are) and already argue about who will get it when I die. Have never bought a nonstick pan, they seem unhealthy, and old cast iron is satiny and nonstick. It suits the way I cook, or perhaps the way I cook has been shaped by the pans. I don’t worry about tomatoes or wine sauce but wouldn’t slow cook spaghetti sauce in one, would use stainless or the Le Cruset one for that.

    Mostly I think it’s like flannel, not great at the start but improves with use, ends up better than everything else and then stays better for a long time. In the case of cast iron that could be several generations.

    • LittleBorat3@lemmy.world
      2·
      11 days ago

      Then my fictional grand kids can have my pan that has 5 different layers of seasoning on it with half of them peeling off.

      It will last even longer because it’s in my cupboard for 5 years at a time.

      • RBWells@lemmy.world
        8·
        11 days ago

        Nooo give it to a disapproving hipster dude, so he can sand it and lovingly restore it and judge you!

        One of mine got crusty, I put it in the oven and ran it through a self clean cycle, it all burned off and I re-seasoned it, been smooth sailing since. So you could try setting it on fire like that.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
          5·
          11 days ago

          Tue secret to cast iron is fire.
          I know everyone talks about their tricks but mone has mostly just been lots of heat directly applied to it and then slap cheap oil and rub it with a rag I accidentally set on fire once and then back to the flame. I figure it worked for my ancestors. And they seasoned that shit with sunlight.

          • RBWells@lemmy.world
            2·
            11 days ago

            Find someone with a self clean oven. My current one doesn’t do it either but the ones made to burn the baked on grease to ash get up to 475-480, that is what will burn off the seasoning. Not as hot as a kiln, I have no Idea what that would do.