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The main thing I’ve learned that most advice about seasoning pans doesn’t tell you is that how you use the pan to cook matters more than how well seasoned it is
by neild 6y ago
The main thing I’ve learned that most advice about seasoning pans doesn’t tell you is that how you use the pan to cook matters more than how well seasoned it is. Cast iron is really forgiving of seasoning, you don’t need the perfect job to cook with it.
However, cast iron will never be as non-stick as a good non-stick pan, and if you treat it as one, you’re going to have a bad time.
Put bacon in a dry, hot pan, and it’ll leave crispy fond stuck to the pan. (Nothing you do will ever create fond in a non-stick pan.) Cook bacon starting with a cold pan, and enough fat will render by the time it heats to keep it from sticking.
Eggs will stick to cold, dry cast iron. Fry eggs in a moderately hot pan with plenty of grease. I had the devil of a time with fried eggs until I realized I wasn’t letting the pan heat enough. Also, it’s very easy to burn butter in a cast iron pan; use a more forgiving fat like bacon grease or a neutral oil.
Cast iron behaves differently than non-stick or stainless steel. Different heat density, different emissivity. Just like any other cookware, you need to learn how to work with it; it’s not just a matter of getting the magical perfect seasoning and pretending it’s Teflon.
- captainredbeard 6y agoKeeping an IR thermometer by the stovetop is handy if you're cooking with cast iron. It removes the guess work around things like "Am I going to burn this butter if I drop it in the pan?"
- colechristensen 6y agoPutting a drop of water on the pan is a good indicator of temperature. It will either sit there in a small puddle, wander around a bit, or zoom around in a frenzy.
- lmeyerov 6y agofor most medium/high, when an oiled pan, you can see the super faint smoke. for some oiled, even based on the viscosity from shaking the pan. water test is good for learning this point. but water in an oily pan can hurt later so good to learn to do without :) some startups have been experimenting with built-in thermometers, so I can imagine this classic design being different 10yr from now :)
- jfim 6y ago> some startups have been experimenting with built-in thermometers, so I can imagine this classic design being different 10yr from now T-fal has had the thermo spot in their regular nonstick pans for at least a decade, if not two or three.
- sk5t 6y agoWhile you can eventually develop a very non-stick surface with cast iron or carbon steel, there's also the option to make a "spanish egg" with a medium amount of hot oil; e.g. https://youtu.be/mL-w_OegewU?t=215 https://youtu.be/mL-w_OegewU?t=215
- dugite-code 6y agoHowever, cast iron will never be as non-stick as a good non-stick pan a NEW non-stick pan. The advantage of cast iron is it gets better with age where a non-stick pan gets worse. Not to mention I have never gotten good self release of stuck food from a non-stick pan where as cast iron works a treat. Also I always put bacon in my pan dry and hot, never have an issue