Well, the myth says that cast iron is thicker and heavier, so the thought process is that if you get it nice and piping hot and then slap a steak in it, you wil

Well, the myth says that cast iron is thicker and heavier, so the thought process is that if you get it nice and piping hot and then slap a steak in it, you will get a good sear as all that latent heat energy is released into the steak. I never did any actual experiments to back this up though, so it's hard to say if it's true or not. I did end up buying a set of stainless steel pans from Costco that were 5 layers of stainless steel and aluminum (basically Costco's answer to All Clad d5 pans), and those worked equally well for searing. Food stuck to them like crazy though, and I ended up just taking them back to the store. My new favorite pans are my Misen carbon steel pans. They are truly incredible. I'm seriously considering just giving away all my other pans. https://misen.com/products/carbon-steel-pan https://misen.com/products/carbon-steel-pan