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I bought a couple of cast iron skillets last year after decades of cooking on traditional non stick pans, and I must say I love them and regret not doing so muc

I bought a couple of cast iron skillets last year after decades of cooking on traditional non stick pans, and I must say I love them and regret not doing so much earlier. It is amazing how, when well cared for they actually work better than most non stick pans I've used over the years. Sure there is a tiny bit more 'maintenance' required after use, but I actually enjoy the process (even if it was hard for me to deliberately NOT use soap during the cleaning process - a simple scrub out with a hot water & a stiff brush is all I do now before re-heating and re-coating with oil). (The big secret for me was using high quality olive or flaxseed oils).

wombatmobile 5y ago
Olive oils? Aren't they not recommended for this because they have a low smoke point?
- cyberferret 5y ago
  I believe the cheaper blended olive oils cause a lot of problems. I now use only pure, high quality olive oil (from Kalamata, Greece, where I visited a couple of years back and saw them make (and drink) the stuff) and have experienced far less oil burning issues in all my pans.
- KozmoNau7 5y ago
  The wisps you see from olive oil on a frying pan is steam, unless of course the pan is crazy 10/10 hot, at which point any cooking oil will burn. I fry most things in either extra virgin olive oil or butter. The olive oil stands up to the heat better than butter (the milk solids will burn). https://youtu.be/l_aFHrzSBrM https://youtu.be/l_aFHrzSBrM
- mikeg8 5y ago
  Extra Virgin Olive oil is the one you definitely should NOT use as it does have a low smoke point. Pure olive oil has a higher smoke point and can be used, although other oils may be better.
  - KozmoNau7 5y ago
    Extra virgin olive oil is perfectly fine to fry in, unless you're seeing black smoke, you're not hitting the smoke point.
    - mikeg8 5y ago
      The smoke point of Extra virgin olive oil (374–405) is too close to the temp you need to fry (350-375) and EVO has a very distinct taste which is not welcomed in most fried foods. Find some recipes or chefs that recommend frying with it - you wont.
      - KozmoNau7 5y ago
        The majority of chefs from countries bordering the Mediterranean would laugh at your claim that extra virgin olive oil is not suitable for frying. Obviously you shouldn't go using your fancy $100 bottle for deep frying, but mostly because it would be a waste of money, and because frying dulls the flavor. You want to save the really flavorful and expensive oils for salads and as a finishing touch. I've been pan frying eggs, onions, pork chops, chicken, potatoes, fish, basically anything interchangeably in extra virgin olive oil and butter/ghee for decades. There is certainly a flavor difference, but that's because the olive oil is much milder in flavor than butter, and the process of frying dulls the flavor of the olive oil, as mentioned. I - along with millions of people in countries bordering the Mediterranean - enjoy the flavor of food cooked in olive oil. Adam Ragusea did a great video on the topic, with cited sources. I highly recommend watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM Sources: https://actascientific.com/ASNH/pdf/ASNH-02-0083.pdf https://actascientific.com/ASNH/pdf/ASNH-02-0083.pdf https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691510004941?via=ihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786... https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/8/1555/htm https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/8/1555/htm Including this famous chef using it for deep frying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSPDYAUn7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSPDYAUn7E Additional sources: https://www.nutritionadvance.com/cooking-with-olive-oil-good-or-bad/ https://www.nutritionadvance.com/cooking-with-olive-oil-good... https://www.bonappetit.com/story/can-you-fry-with-olive-oil https://www.bonappetit.com/story/can-you-fry-with-olive-oil https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24360472/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24360472/ https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-oil-for-deep-frying https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-oil-for-deep... The bottom line is that extra virgin olive oil is more heat stable than other cooking oils with higher smoke points. Just don't use it to sear steaks or something. So much of the conventional wisdom around cooking is not based on scientific fact, but rather on unsubstantiated observations and gut feelings. The viability of extra virgin olive oil for cooking is one of those pieces of faulty conventional wisdom, the need to sear steaks to "seal in the juices" used to be another big one, until we finally got the record set straight.
stickfigure 5y ago
When you're ready for the next upgrade experience, try a clad pan (stainless on the outside, aluminum in the middle). You get the even heating of aluminum with the durability and ease of cleaning of stainless steel. I cooked on cast iron for years before switching to clad. Cast iron's poor conductivity causes hot spots underneath the burner. With clad pans, you find yourself pushing the food around less to get even heat.
- Stratoscope 5y ago
  Thank you, time for me to do some shopping! I often hear people say that cast iron conducts heat well, but that is easy to disprove if you have a gas burner: put some water in the pan and turn the heat up. You will see the water boiling in a pattern that matches where the flame hits the pan. I like to fry frozen chicken in the cast iron pan, but it is always a bit of a nuisance that the center of the pan gets much less hot than the perimeter. My gas range has a fairly large burner with no flame in the middle.
  - stickfigure 5y ago
    This site has a lot of IR camera shots of various pans, and you can clearly see the hotspots: https://www.centurylife.org/how-to-choose-cookware/ https://www.centurylife.org/how-to-choose-cookware/ It's what inspired me to try out clad, and I'm glad I did. My cast iron mostly sits unused now.
    - Stratoscope 5y ago
      That is a really informative and interesting article! Thanks for posting it.
  - pfranz 5y ago
    There are a bunch of techniques to see the heating pattern of a pan and to show how poor cast iron is in that regard. I remember someone using parchment paper (maybe Harold McGee?). In looking I found someone suggesting a light dusting of flour [1]. Of course, an IR camera is the most obvious. I've also noticed water boiling in unique patterns, like you mention. [1] http://cookingissues.com/2010/02/16/heavy-metal-the-science-of-cast-iron-cooking/ http://cookingissues.com/2010/02/16/heavy-metal-the-science-...
darkarmani 5y ago
> even if it was hard for me to deliberately NOT use soap during the cleaning process Not using soap is just a myth. The hard surface is not oil anymore. You don't want to abrade it off, but it isn't going to come off with a little bit of soap. My big "ah moment" came when i realized why our teflon pan was ruined. It became "seasoned" after someone overheated it with some low-smoke point oil in it. The black layer that formed in it is the same "seasoned" layer you get from oil in a cast iron pan.
- jray 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene#Ecotoxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene#Ecotox...
maddyboo 5y ago
I find my cast irons to be much lower maintenance than any other pan I’ve had. Cleaning is super easy, they are super durable and I’ve scrubbed them super hard with a bit of soap when necessary and the seasoning is still perfect.
gorgoiler 5y ago
When cooking, the omega content of flaxseed triggers all kinds of fish-smell revulsion in me. How are you not overwhelmed by this?

wombatmobile 5y ago

Olive oils? Aren't they not recommended for this because they have a low smoke point?

cyberferret 5y ago
I believe the cheaper blended olive oils cause a lot of problems. I now use only pure, high quality olive oil (from Kalamata, Greece, where I visited a couple of years back and saw them make (and drink) the stuff) and have experienced far less oil burning issues in all my pans.
KozmoNau7 5y ago
The wisps you see from olive oil on a frying pan is steam, unless of course the pan is crazy 10/10 hot, at which point any cooking oil will burn. I fry most things in either extra virgin olive oil or butter. The olive oil stands up to the heat better than butter (the milk solids will burn). https://youtu.be/l_aFHrzSBrM https://youtu.be/l_aFHrzSBrM
mikeg8 5y ago
Extra Virgin Olive oil is the one you definitely should NOT use as it does have a low smoke point. Pure olive oil has a higher smoke point and can be used, although other oils may be better.
- KozmoNau7 5y ago
  Extra virgin olive oil is perfectly fine to fry in, unless you're seeing black smoke, you're not hitting the smoke point.
  - mikeg8 5y ago
    The smoke point of Extra virgin olive oil (374–405) is too close to the temp you need to fry (350-375) and EVO has a very distinct taste which is not welcomed in most fried foods. Find some recipes or chefs that recommend frying with it - you wont.
    - KozmoNau7 5y ago
      The majority of chefs from countries bordering the Mediterranean would laugh at your claim that extra virgin olive oil is not suitable for frying. Obviously you shouldn't go using your fancy $100 bottle for deep frying, but mostly because it would be a waste of money, and because frying dulls the flavor. You want to save the really flavorful and expensive oils for salads and as a finishing touch. I've been pan frying eggs, onions, pork chops, chicken, potatoes, fish, basically anything interchangeably in extra virgin olive oil and butter/ghee for decades. There is certainly a flavor difference, but that's because the olive oil is much milder in flavor than butter, and the process of frying dulls the flavor of the olive oil, as mentioned. I - along with millions of people in countries bordering the Mediterranean - enjoy the flavor of food cooked in olive oil. Adam Ragusea did a great video on the topic, with cited sources. I highly recommend watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM Sources: https://actascientific.com/ASNH/pdf/ASNH-02-0083.pdf https://actascientific.com/ASNH/pdf/ASNH-02-0083.pdf https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691510004941?via=ihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786... https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/8/1555/htm https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/8/1555/htm Including this famous chef using it for deep frying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSPDYAUn7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSPDYAUn7E Additional sources: https://www.nutritionadvance.com/cooking-with-olive-oil-good-or-bad/ https://www.nutritionadvance.com/cooking-with-olive-oil-good... https://www.bonappetit.com/story/can-you-fry-with-olive-oil https://www.bonappetit.com/story/can-you-fry-with-olive-oil https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24360472/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24360472/ https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-oil-for-deep-frying https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthiest-oil-for-deep... The bottom line is that extra virgin olive oil is more heat stable than other cooking oils with higher smoke points. Just don't use it to sear steaks or something. So much of the conventional wisdom around cooking is not based on scientific fact, but rather on unsubstantiated observations and gut feelings. The viability of extra virgin olive oil for cooking is one of those pieces of faulty conventional wisdom, the need to sear steaks to "seal in the juices" used to be another big one, until we finally got the record set straight.

stickfigure 5y ago

When you're ready for the next upgrade experience, try a clad pan (stainless on the outside, aluminum in the middle). You get the even heating of aluminum with the durability and ease of cleaning of stainless steel. I cooked on cast iron for years before switching to clad. Cast iron's poor conductivity causes hot spots underneath the burner. With clad pans, you find yourself pushing the food around less to get even heat.

Stratoscope 5y ago
Thank you, time for me to do some shopping! I often hear people say that cast iron conducts heat well, but that is easy to disprove if you have a gas burner: put some water in the pan and turn the heat up. You will see the water boiling in a pattern that matches where the flame hits the pan. I like to fry frozen chicken in the cast iron pan, but it is always a bit of a nuisance that the center of the pan gets much less hot than the perimeter. My gas range has a fairly large burner with no flame in the middle.
- stickfigure 5y ago
  This site has a lot of IR camera shots of various pans, and you can clearly see the hotspots: https://www.centurylife.org/how-to-choose-cookware/ https://www.centurylife.org/how-to-choose-cookware/ It's what inspired me to try out clad, and I'm glad I did. My cast iron mostly sits unused now.
  - Stratoscope 5y ago
    That is a really informative and interesting article! Thanks for posting it.
- pfranz 5y ago
  There are a bunch of techniques to see the heating pattern of a pan and to show how poor cast iron is in that regard. I remember someone using parchment paper (maybe Harold McGee?). In looking I found someone suggesting a light dusting of flour [1]. Of course, an IR camera is the most obvious. I've also noticed water boiling in unique patterns, like you mention. [1] http://cookingissues.com/2010/02/16/heavy-metal-the-science-of-cast-iron-cooking/ http://cookingissues.com/2010/02/16/heavy-metal-the-science-...

darkarmani 5y ago

> even if it was hard for me to deliberately NOT use soap during the cleaning process Not using soap is just a myth. The hard surface is not oil anymore. You don't want to abrade it off, but it isn't going to come off with a little bit of soap. My big "ah moment" came when i realized why our teflon pan was ruined. It became "seasoned" after someone overheated it with some low-smoke point oil in it. The black layer that formed in it is the same "seasoned" layer you get from oil in a cast iron pan.

jray 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene#Ecotoxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene#Ecotox...

maddyboo 5y ago

I find my cast irons to be much lower maintenance than any other pan I’ve had. Cleaning is super easy, they are super durable and I’ve scrubbed them super hard with a bit of soap when necessary and the seasoning is still perfect.

gorgoiler 5y ago

When cooking, the omega content of flaxseed triggers all kinds of fish-smell revulsion in me. How are you not overwhelmed by this?