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Cast iron leet

• AndrewVos 4y ago
  I love my cast iron pan, but I also love having some carbon steel pans around. DeBuyer carbon steel pans are the same price as Lodge cast iron and are much lighter and better for certain tasks. The handle is a lot longer too, which makes it more fun to use than cast iron.
• k__ 4y ago
  I had this issue with non-stick pans too. But since that ceramic coating came out a few years ago, I bought one and didn't need a replacement since.
  • treffer 4y ago
    Well, I was a huge fan of ceramic ones but found that they also wear off. Still better than non-stick pans, but not perfect. Might be that newer ones are better but I already switched to cast iron by now. Right now my main pan is from a Kickstarter campaign (Stur). Plus a sticky metal one where that's enought.
  • IshKebab 4y ago
    Yeah same. Different league from old teflon ones.
  • coryrc 4y ago
    Most claiming to be ceramic just mean there is ceramic under the teflon coating.
• cercatrova 4y ago
  prose.sh really is quite interesting, a ssh-based blogging service. I was looking for something like this after reading more about astro.build, since in a way, prose is even more minimalist in that I don't even need to set up my own site, just my markdown files.
  • igetspam 4y ago
    I'm quite surprised this is the first comment about the site itself. I know it's off topic but I find the setup to be more interesting than yet another discussion about pans.
    • cercatrova 4y ago
      It has been covered before on HN [0], as well as a similar product called BearBlog [1], although that requires a signup which Prose does not require, which puts Prose above BearBlog for me. God forbid you ever lose your ssh keys however... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32128013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32128013 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32127363 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32127363
• sunaurus 4y ago
  What really impressed me with cast iron skillets is how they actually get better with use. I bought my first cast iron skillet 10 years ago, originally it came with a relatively rough cooking surface. This meant that it was still somewhat sticky even after seasoning it. But now, 10 years later, the cooking surface has worn to a completely smooth state through constant use, it's very easy to cook anything on it without sticking.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • jlkuester7 4y ago
    My grandmother has some cast iron pans (one of which came from her mother) that are so smooth to the touch that it is hard to believe they are the same material as the gritty Lodge pans at the store. This is what I love most about these pans! It completely flips the script on our disposable culture and gives you something that just keeps improving as the decades go by!
    • dmitriid 4y ago
      Doesn't this also mean you ingest all that wonderfully scraped material?
      • sneak 4y ago
        It's just polymerized cooking oil. There is worse stuff in tap water.
        • willismichael 4y ago
          Well, it's that and iron. If I understand correctly, cat iron cookware is sometimes recommended for people who are anemic.
          • robocat 4y ago
            I would be interested to measure what impurities are in cast iron cookware: I presume they use the cheapest recycled iron possible? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9287087/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9287087/
• rmetzler 4y ago
  During the pandemic I learned how to make great Neapolitan style pizza in a normal kitchen oven. To get great pizza you usually need very high heat (~500° / ~930°F) so the pizza cooks very fast and gets cross and soft at the same time. If you use less heat the cooking will take longer and the longer you have it in the oven the more dryer it gets. So you need either a pizza stone or cast iron pan to transfer a lot of heat fast. I bought a skillet since it costs the same, I have more control over the pizza making process (e.g. browning the bottom on the stove before putting it in the oven), and can use it for steaks and such.
  • hef19898 4y ago
    You cab get your oven to 500 degrees C?? I need one like that, not for cooking but for heat treatment of blades at home!
    • leobg 4y ago
      If you use the grill function and put in a cast iron pan, the pan will heat up to those levels even if your oven normally just goes up to, say, 250 degrees Celsius.
    • fulafel 4y ago
      I read it as saying you don't need 500C if you have a pizza stone or cast iron pan for transferring heat fast. So use a object that has a significant heat capacity to buffer heat, and you don't need the oven to be as hot. (Stone has higher heat capacity per unit mass than iron, but large cast iron pans are heavier than typical pizza stones, so the two objects probably have similar heat capacities.)
      • chihuahua 4y ago
        There's also baking steels, made specifically for this purpose.
      • rmetzler 4y ago
        Yes, my oven only goes up to 250°C. I adjusted the recipe for the dough and use 70% water instead of the usual 60% (baker's math).
• nicexe 4y ago
  Cast iron is far from perfect. I use it for steaks because they are hard to sear in other cookware. The cleanup and seasoning processes make cast iron hard to use for anything else. I plan to get a ceramic one (with iron core) but even if it solves the seasoning process and the cleanup process, it isn't the best to sear steaks in it. My point is that each tool has its use and in this specific case, cast iron is not the tool for everything.
  • f38zf5vdt 4y ago
    I went from teflon to ceramic to cast iron to steel ("carbon steel"). You still have to season it, but it's a lot lighter than cast iron and things stick less. The price point is roughly the same. Searing with gas or induction is straightforward.
    • jlkuester7 4y ago
      The price point of carbon steel pans is about the same as cast iron? My first exposure to carbon steel was a link someone posted out here on HN and the linked pans were $100's (compared to cast iron which are $10's). Maybe I just looked at a very expensive sample..
      • f38zf5vdt 4y ago
        They are very affordable, but you need to order from somewhere that wholesales to restaurants. https://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-equipment/pan-fry-118-quot;-carbon-thermalloy-6068153 https://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-equipment/pa... These pans are pre-seasoned and ready for use.
        • peatmoss 4y ago
          Side benefit, you get an ergonomic pan. I was gifted a couple a couple of carbon steel egg pans when a friend of a friend closed a restaurant, and I was like, "ah these are pans that need to be comfortable through a shift, not look shiny at Crate & Barrel for amateurs." I feel like carbon steel is the biggest secret that people outside the restaurant biz are oblivious to. I have cast iron, but my carbon steel gets used much, much more.
• mfgs 4y ago
  I love my cast iron skillet, which must be at least 4 decades old. It’s great for cooking with the only challenging task being scrambling eggs on low heat (for fluffier eggs), which can stick a little. I recently bought a new cast iron skillet and it just doesn’t seem to be of the same quality, it’s a lighter colour and doesn’t seem to season as well. Are there different grades of cast iron, or are they just not made like they used to be?
  • askvictor 4y ago
    There's apparently something of a trade in antique cast iron; I don't have any, but I've heard it used to be smoother. But even in new stuff there are different qualities; my no-name cheapie is definitely rougher than my Victoria brand pans.
  • jdougan 4y ago
    New cast iron usually isn't finished as well. I have seen people take new cast iron to a machine shop and have the cooking surface smoothed down a bit.
• tekacs 4y ago
  Nowadays it’s also much easier than it used to be to buy smooth cast iron, which becomes extremely easy to cook even fairly sticky foods on after just a seasoning or two (e.g. https://fieldcompany.com/products/field-cast-iron-skillet https://fieldcompany.com/products/field-cast-iron-skillet). As sibling commenters have mentioned, smooth vs. rough does seem to make a difference. Source: I have cast iron like these and use it to comfortably cook eggs and food where sticking would be a problem all the time. Unlike several other commenters here, it absolutely hasn’t seemed like a tool ‘mostly for steaks’. In fact I cook most things in cast iron, carbon steel wok or finally fall back to stainless if neither is appropriate.
  • sunaurus 4y ago
    Your comment made me curious and I looked up what I paid for my skillet 10 years ago. I found the order confirmation e-mail, it was 12.99€ - that's over a 10x difference. I'm sure that explains why my skillet had a rough surface, but still, the price difference seems crazy to me, considering how there are no quality issues at all with my skillet even after a decade of use.
  • peatmoss 4y ago
    I found an old cast iron pan at a second hand store that was antique (i.e. ground smooth). After cooking on the old one, I went out and bought some flap disks to stick on a drill and polish my modern lodge. It does work better. But not as good for eggs as carbon steel (which you also season, and has same durability advantages as cast iron)
  • thfuran 4y ago
    $150 for a cast iron pan is nuts.
• taywrobel 4y ago
  This does miss one huge drawback of cast iron for cooking some dishes - heat control. Cast iron retains heat like crazy and doesn’t change quickly. Get that thing up to a searing temperature and it’ll be 10-15 minutes before you can get an egg anywhere near it for example. A thinner steel pan will heat up and cool down much rapidly allowing for a lot more control. Luckily there’s a fantastic non-nonstick option for that too; a carbon steel wok. Amazing tool that is frankly under-utilized in the western world. J. Kenji López-Alt released a book this year that goes over how to use it in great engineering-focused detail for anyone wanting to give it a shot.
  • CarVac 4y ago
    Another benefit of carbon steel woks is they come from the factory smooth.
    • taywrobel 4y ago
      True, but worth noting that they usually also come with machine oil on them. It’s very important to correctly clean and season before first use, same as with cast iron.
  • twawaaay 4y ago
    Carbon steel wok is only viable on a powerful gas stove. Right now where I live there is a campaign to get rid of gas stoves. And the existing ones are far, far from being powerful enough to use wok properly.
    • taywrobel 4y ago
      I actually just moved to a house with an all-electric range. We use the wok too often for that, so grabbed a butane burner for ~$50 on Amazon. Can also find them at camping supply stores. The one we got is 15,000 BTU, which is frankly too much. You can find 10,000 or 12,000 BTU options for cheaper, and will probably get some more fine grained control out of it. The butane lasts for quite a while in it for wok use as well, since you’re generally only cooking for a few minutes at a time.
• perlgeek 4y ago
  > You can't use dish soap on them because it'll destroy the seasoning I believed this before reading the article. Is it commonly accepted wisdom that this is bunk?
  • askvictor 4y ago
    I can't say if it's commonly accepted wisdom, but I personally use dish soap on my cast iron when I need to (i.e. if it's too greasy). I think this is confusion that stems from dishwasher powder, which you should definitely keep away from cast iron (actually, a little might be OK as long as you don't run it through the dishwasher; not sure, never tried).
  • sunaurus 4y ago
    I use dish soap to clean mine after every use, haven't had any issues.
  • CarVac 4y ago
    I've read that lye-based soap will attack the seasoning coating, but modern hand-safe dish soap will not.
  • Errancer 4y ago
    I heard that it used to be true but the chemicals in soap changed and now its safe to use, but I don't know enough to verify this.
  • AndrewVos 4y ago
    Yeah it is. I always use dish soap, and it will definitely take off any oil that hasn't been polymerised. I think the people who believe this (and use cast iron) probably haven't seasoned it hot enough or have scraped off the seasoning close enough to the metal.
  • JshWright 4y ago
    If (modern) dish soap washes your seasoning off, it wasn’t seasoning, it was just grease and grime stuck to your pan. It is true that dish soap used to be much more aggressive, and those soaps can cause issues for pan seasoning (and also for your skin…), but those soaps haven’t been sold (in any meaningful quantity) in decades.
• isanengineer 4y ago
  I agree overall, but there are a lot of misconceptions about cast iron that can give it a learning curve. The post glossed over this, but it is certainly possible to damage your seasoning, especially if something you're cooking sticks to the pan. However, this doesn't mean you need to do some day-long "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole thing and baking it in the oven. Just clean the pan, put some oil in it, put it on the burner, and rub the oil in with a balled up paper towel until it gets hot. Do this after you cook until you build up a good seasoning and then stop. If your seasoning gets damaged for any reason, just rub some oil into it after you cook until it's good again. The key for me was learning to care for carbon steel woks. It's basically the same as cast iron, but there's a lot less misinformation and internet superstition out there.
  • randallsquared 4y ago
    > this doesn't mean you need to do some day-long "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole thing and baking it in the oven. Unless you want everything you cook in the cast iron pan to smell like what was burned in it for weeks, you really do. Or, hear me out: buy a new cast iron. The seasoning process is really onerous, but the manufacturer does it in bulk, and a new cast iron is typically cheaper than a quality nonstick pan. The incredible inconvenience of re-seasoning has made me want to never do it again after a few attempts over the last dozen years in various apartments. Nope.
    • martingoodson 4y ago
      I think you’re doing it wrong. It’s very easy to renew the seasoning and it doesn’t retain smells.
      • randallsquared 4y ago
        It's definitely possible I'm doing it wrong. There are so many reasonable-sounding articles I've read over the years about smoke points and food-safe flaxseed oil and temperatures and ventilation so you can season for H hours for each seasoning coat... When everything is working, cast iron seems great: quick brush off, slight bit of oil to rub in while it's still warm, done. When a spot of rust appears, or large spots on the interior become matte while the rest is shiny (or the reverse), or you're using it as a dutch oven and burn a steak, well, that's when the nightmare begins. After several weekends of attempting to get that smell out and get it re-seasoned, I gave up, left it in the leave/take area of my then building, and bought a new one. But I haven't used that one much, because I know it's only a matter of time until something happens and I am faced with the whole process again.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• jacknews 4y ago
  Can you do a classic french style omelette in one? Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10etP1p2bU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10etP1p2bU
  • peatmoss 4y ago
    Yes, easily. But I prefer carbon steel for this.
  • hcarvalhoalves 4y ago
    I’m able to do in mine, although the texture is better if I do on stainless steel. Still, I’m able to make it without sticking and correct colour. (It’s important to let it get to right temperature first, which takes longer for cast iron, and should be slowly to get even heat)
• jstx1 4y ago
  In general I find that cast iron is very overrated. > Here's a list of myths about cast iron skillets: (...) You can't cook with acidic foods (e.g. tomatoes) because it'll destroy the seasoning You might not destroy the seasoning but you will get metallic tastes in your food. I don't get why anyone would pick cast iron over stainless steel for an acidic sauce that needs to be cooked for a longer period of time. Also not mentioned downside of cast iron - you need to dry it perfectly every time or it rusts very easily. Stainless steel has better heat retention and distribution, doesn't react with acidic foods, is easier to clean, and never rusts. Nonstick pans are better at being nonstick than cast iron. So cast iron ends up being second best for most use cases but the cult around it is certainly strong. (And I admit that they do kind of look cool). Cast iron = the Python of cooking pans.
  • twiss 4y ago
    Re. your analogy, aren't they more like the C of cooking pans? Hard to use right, easy to make mistakes, etc. The initial even matches :)
    • noninc 4y ago
      Ha :) Though cast iron pans are not a tool, that no one ever managed to succeed entirely.
  • Swenrekcah 4y ago
    A downside of non-stick pans are the unknown side effects of the non-stick substance used, though.
    • eutectic 4y ago
      Teflon is inert unless you really overheat it.
      • sgt101 4y ago
        It's not the teflon that is my concern, it's what they have used to get the teflon to stick to the pan. read this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX#Pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX#Pollution
• talkingtab 4y ago
  Sorry to be skeptical, but are the links affiliate links? Added to that question is the question of the quality of the article. While I agree completely with the main point about using cast iron pans, I think the post glosses over some issues. To be clear I own two cast iron skillets and NO non-stick pans. But it ain't as easy as the post makes it. "Easy to clean" with a scrubbing net is misleading because it is only "easy" if you maintain a good seasoning patina. So research that before you buy. And I would look at Lodge instead of Amazon brand and skip the net cleaner until you have the seasoning part down and decide you really need that. My number #1 accessory for cast iron is a Duxtop Induction Cooktop (one burner). If you can't find it yourself on Amazon I would skip the cast iron skillet and work on that skill first. <snark/>. Someone commented on the heat retention but I find that with an induction cooktop I get very good temperature control. Maybe its just me, but I just don't notice a problem and I am picky about my eggs. Another person commented on cast iron woks and I echo that. I found a flat bottom cast iron wok (and again you can probably find it yourself on Amazon) and it works very well with the induction cooktop. Probably better with a gas stove that blasts heat, but for me I can cook things (fried rice with eggs) that are much better than any other method I know of. Just my 2 cents and an apology if that is not an affiliate link. I am so used to seeing them and wondering if the review is affected by the profit that I now suspect everyone. I don't mind so much when people announce them.
  • r1ch 4y ago
    Amazon affiliate links contain a "tag" query parameter, these do not appear to be affiliate links.
  • jimmaswell 4y ago
    Why do people care about affiliate links? If someone benefits from me clicking on something then good for them so long as the price stays the same for me.
    • aqfamnzc 4y ago
      For me, affiliate links can be an indicator that the author's motives may be more skewed toward convincing people to buy things than giving a fair representation of the products. However this isn't always the case obviously.
• raverbashing 4y ago
  (about non-stick) > you have to use soft plastic utensils or else it'll scratch the coating Yes, and? Don't use metal utensils Yes, the coating wears off eventually, but if you're careful it goes a long way I wouldn't stand using a cast iron pan for everyday use.
• randallsquared 4y ago
  Cast iron is easier to deal with if you have an outdoor or really-well-ventilated oven for re-seasoning, which you'll have to do from time to time, in my experience. It's actually far, far easier to just get a new pre-seasoned cast iron pan (I also bought Lodge, as the fine article's author did), but if you're going to buy a new pan every year anyway, suddenly nonstick doesn't seem like a bad deal.
  • jb1991 4y ago
    I’ve been using a lodge for eight years, the same one, and I’ve never once put it in the oven. Still works beautifully, occasionally a full scrub clean and just do a bit of oil coat on the stove.
  • thebetatester 4y ago
    Part of the "will outlive us" is not buying a new one every year. I know I've been trying to reduce the waste I produce lately and going with cast iron pans has been a part of that plan. Buying one every year instead of taking the 1 minute to wipe it with oil and then throwing it in your oven for an hour is laziness. If you don't like the smell and you have an outdoor grill (preferably one where you can set a temperature) it's pretty easy to season your skillets in one of those and let the wind deal with the smell of polymerizing oil. There's been a lot of discussion in the cast iron fanatic circles about how terrible Lodge's pre-seasoning is and how it's better to build up your own. I own one Lodge and two other brands and I've noticed the other two I seasoned myself are basically as good as Teflon and the Lodge (which admittedly hasn't seen as much cooking) sticks like it doesn't have any seasoning at all. YMMV I guess but I feel like it's worth putting in the effort to season yourself and keep up the seasoning.
    • randallsquared 4y ago
      One hour. Haha. There are a dozen mutually exclusive methods for seasoning cast iron. I’ve never found one that works as well or as simply as advertised. In a 1bd apartment, the seasoning process will make it difficult to breathe for nearly the full process unless you have incredible ventilation. Stripping the previous seasoning after burning something (only once, but it mentally scarred me, as you might be able to tell from the ranting… ;)) is incredibly difficult. So much steel wool. So much elbow grease. That was the final time for me, and I gave up after several weekends without being able to get the burnt odor to go away. There is a limit to how many hours I’m willing to invest in cookware, and it was not much higher than ten. You are welcome to call me lazy over it. :)
• jstanley 4y ago
  > I can really scrape food off the pan without worrying about chipping the paint. But if you had non-stick pans you wouldn't need to scrape food off them.
• teekert 4y ago
  I also don't use teflon and have been buying these (and some plate steel pans): [0] [0]: https://www.greenpan.nl/ https://www.greenpan.nl/ (sorry Dutch website, but if you search for greenpan on amazon you will also find these pans)
  • runnerup 4y ago
    GreenPan falls under the “ceramic” nonstick category. When I looked into this category 2-3 years ago most of the pans had Teflon or other fluorinated compounds (Teflon-like) as the final coating on top. I’ve seen greenpans perform about the same in terms of non-stickiness and durability as regular nonstick pans. In light of https://www.leafscore.com/eco-friendly-kitchen-products/why-we-no-longer-recommend-greenpan/ https://www.leafscore.com/eco-friendly-kitchen-products/why-... and my own personal experiences I am deeply skeptical of “ceramic” nonstick being any safer than typical PFOA-free but PFAS-containing nonstick pans. In fact I suspect (and 2-3 years ago confirmed) that most “ceramic” nonstick pans are still coated in teflon like materials. Possibly GreenPan isn’t, but they also won’t tell you what they ARE coated with…so I’m pretty sure they know they’re doing something dirty.
    • coryrc 4y ago
      Yup, the secret is they say "hard anodized" -- the pans are made of aluminum, it's anodized underneath the teflon. Still toxic. AFAICT there are a few that truly don't have teflon, but most will lie
    • teekert 4y ago
      Thanx for this reply, til. I really wonder what their tech is, one of my fav pans is a greenpan and it can get very hot with no issues and has been surviving my dishwasher for 2 years now. But this does smell fishy indeed.
• tech_bro_3000 4y ago
  This doesn't really pass a cost/benefit analysis, compared to cooking tools like microwaves. With modern microwave-fridges, I can place my food in and leave it chilled out until it's ready to cook. A simple tap of the app starts it cooking for me and it's ready as soon as I open my apartment door. This plus my regular, drone-delivered meal replacement shakes mean I never have to waste time worrying about skillets or whatever ancient tech this guy is rambling about.
• f0e4c2f7 4y ago
  Fine to buy on Amazon but you can also find them at your local hardware store hanging off a rack very cheap.
• exabrial 4y ago
  Season with flax seed oil. People try olive oil and think seasoning doesn’t work. The ‘unhealthier’ the oil, the better it will season!
• ncmncm 4y ago
  Nowadays you get a Magnalite pan you don't need to "season" or worry about it getting unseasoned.
• exabrial 4y ago
  There are hundreds of cast iron pans at your local thrift store. No need to get one off Amazon
  • K7PJP 4y ago
    I haven’t had any luck finding cast iron in thrift stores for years now. There’s people scouring the stores for them. I’ve seen a couple of crappy 6 inch pans from the 90’s and that’s it. Any vintage ones get snapped up instantly.
• sva_ 4y ago
  I wonder what people are doing to their nonstick pans that they need to throw them out every year? I've been using the same two nonstick pans for years now and can't say I have that problem (I only use wood/plastic on them). I'm still concerned about the chemicals used though.
  • perlgeek 4y ago
    > I wonder what people are doing to their nonstick pans that they need to throw them out every year? I had a very high-quality non-stick skillet, only used wood/plastic utensils, and the non-stick coating started coming off after about three years (of pretty heavy use). I plan to have it refurbished, there are (at least in Germany) services where they sand-blast your skillet and apply a new coating. Seems wasteful to throw away the entire skillet for that.
    • bratwurst3000 4y ago
      Thank you for than information. Living in germany and didnt know that.
      • perlgeek 4y ago
        FYI https://lotteweber-grillpfanne.de/pfanne-erneuern/ https://lotteweber-grillpfanne.de/pfanne-erneuern/ is the service I plan to use; haven't yet though.
  • asciimov 4y ago
    Poor craftsmanship is likely the biggest culprit, followed by thermal shocks, putting the pans in the dishwasher, and not following care instructions. I went through half a dozen non-stick pans over a 5 year period that all had their coatings fail. After having expensive brands with lifetime warranties fail on me due to poor build quality, I swore off of them and went with hard anodized and haven't had an issue since.
  • jitl 4y ago
    I’m still on my first $30 Teflon skillet, been using it for 5 years. I only cook medium heat or below, which is still enough to do the tofu frying.
• theobeers 4y ago
  I love cooking with cast iron and have built up a decent collection over the years. More recently, I’ve also gotten into carbon steel cookware. However… I always keep one nonstick pan in the kitchen, and it sees a fair bit of use. My practice is to buy something cheap, since I’ve found that the nonstick coating will last only so long, even on an expensive pan. By not spending much, I avoid feeling upset when it’s time for a replacement. (My current one came from IKEA, for about 15 EUR. I expect to get a year out of it.)
• tunatrout 4y ago
  Cast Iron is great, but it's not a one-size-fits all solution. Take it from Atari designer Greg Easter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=378eeKE-KxM https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=378eeKE-KxM
• mberning 4y ago
  I have used cast iron and carbon steel for a while. They have their uses and I generally prefer them, but a nonstick pan is essential in many circumstances. Just watch Jacques Pepin make a French style omelette. He used a non stick pan. Who is going to disagree with that man.
• is_true 4y ago
  I bought a professional non-stick (teflon) pan and I use it with a metal fork a couple of days a week for almost 3 years now and it's good as new. Just don't stab it. It was still cheaper than a cast iron pan and the amount of time I save cooking is enormous.
• bratwurst3000 4y ago
  Sorry but I cant sign this. Stainless steel with and without enforced bottom is the way to go. I have also cast iron and I polished and seasoned the living shit out of it and it still sticks omelette. For delicate things like eggs I use an non stick pan from tefal for 10€ that I buy new every 2 years….. why not? It works way better than stainless and way way way better than cast iron. The only advantage of cast iron is heat retention but this is solved with reinforced stainless steel. Btw copper is for sauces and marmelade … got them too…. Here some other downsides of cast iron… You have to maintain it realy well with regular seasoning and cleaning. You cant clean it with a ironsponge. Acid stuff will atack it. And du you realy want whatever this seasoning is in your food? That stuff has to be polychained burned oil. And Iron is one of the most agresive free radicals that you can pump in your bloodstream ;) Ps: I am french so I am a complette ashole if its about cooking
  • travisby 4y ago
    Do you use the ironsponge on stainless steel? I assume you mean something like steel wool? My biggest "pro" for cast iron is that it's incredibly easy to clean without worrying about ruining the pan. Our stainless steel pan gets scratched if I look at it wrong, even using the rough side of the sponge. Not sure if we just have the wrong pan, or worry about scratches more than we should? For our cast iron I use chainmail if there's every anything stuck on hard. For the stainless steel I feel a lot more out of luck! Metal utensils, soap, rough side of the sponge, I'm never worried about it!
    • bratwurst3000 4y ago
      Yes I meant steelwool. My opinion is that all the scratches dont hurt stainless but are hurting the cast irons seasoning. Thats my problem with cast iron. I cant be rough with them At the end most pans work good if used correctly and its a personal preference ;)
• hcarvalhoalves 4y ago
  In my country (Brazil), it is traditional to cook in cast iron. There are pans, pots, skillets… everything you can think of. It’s also cheaper than steel, ceramic, etc. Funny to see people elsewhere “rediscovering” these products. The one I have is like this (around $ 20 USD): https://www.apaneladeferro.com.br/frigideira-de-ferro-fundido-panela-de-ferro-para-cooktop-de-inducao/frigideira-de-ferro-cabo-de-ferro-29-cm-diametro-assadeira-de-ferro.phtml https://www.apaneladeferro.com.br/frigideira-de-ferro-fundid... I cook everything on it: steak, fish, eggs, sautéed tomatoes, etc. > They are easy to clean ( with one of these) I never have to clean it with anything, just wash ;) If you have to scrape, either you burned the food or it wasn’t seasoned. You don’t need to do anything special to season, just cook everything on it and don’t scrape clean.
  • PragmaticPulp 4y ago
    > Funny to see people elsewhere “rediscovering” these products. It’s funny for us Americans to watch our fellow Americans go through their “cast iron is amazing” phase. Cast iron is actually very common here as well, but many young people start with a cheap nonstick pan and only later discover that there is a range of cookware options available. In reality, an experienced cook will use a variety of cookware for different tasks. Having cast iron, non-stick, stainless steel, and enameled cookware available is very common. I appreciate cast iron, but this trend of worshipping it as the one true cookware is funny. Good nonstick pans are amazing when used properly and replaced when they wear out.
    • hcarvalhoalves 4y ago
      I actually only have cast iron and inox steel cookware. I inherited some Teflon (“non-stick”) ones that I don’t see the use for, and will dispose of after learning it’s toxic. I can cook eggs and omelette just fine without those. https://amp.dw.com/en/pfas-forever-toxins-teflon/a-57756695 https://amp.dw.com/en/pfas-forever-toxins-teflon/a-57756695
• gorgoiler 4y ago
  I read somewhere that iron and steel expand at a microscopic level, when heated, such that you can fill these small holes up with oil and get a non stick cooking surface. Whenever I’ve washed up an iron pan I always put it back on the heat with some oil. You can literally see the water bubbling out of the surface as the pan gets hot and the water boils off.
  • happyopossum 4y ago
    > You can literally see the water bubbling out of the surface as the pan gets hot and the water boils off. That’s not what’s happening - there are no ‘microscopic’ gaps that water is getting in to, iron is too dense for that.
    • gorgoiler 4y ago
      I wonder what the phenomenon is then?
• vptr 4y ago
  Totally agree with what you said about non-stick pans. Sounds like a total scam. I myself did not go with cast iron skillet (only for some outdoor/bbq stuff). But I switched to stainless steal pan from demeyere like 10 years ago. It's still like new and made thousands of meals. Now i'm in a (slow) process of converting all my equipment to stainless steel from demeyer, quality is just that good. Buy for life.
• karaterobot 4y ago
  Cast iron is fine, but it has been talked about to death on the internet.
• westcort 4y ago
  Tupperware MicroPro with the eterna coating has been great for me. I can make a roast in 20 minutes, lasagna from scratch in 15 minutes, etc. The coating is a lot more durable than conventional coatings and there is no indoor air pollution, like with my gas stove. The technology is better than the old way of cooking. It is so much more convenient, in fact, that I wonder if there was a campaign against microwave cooking by the petrochemical industry.
  • happyopossum 4y ago
    > I can make a roast in 20 minutes No. No you cannot. You can cook a cut of meat commonly called a ‘roast’, but you sure as heck aren’t actually getting all of the culinary results of roasting.
    • westcort 4y ago
      You are mistaken! Here is the proof: https://locserendipity.com/MicroPro.html https://locserendipity.com/MicroPro.html
• deleted 4y ago
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• lenkite 4y ago
  Wow, >100k ratings on that simple pan with 92% 5+4 stars.
• deleted 4y ago
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• gnramires 4y ago
  The cook Adam Ragusea has fantastic evidence-based opinions on his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGR-pyLHz1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGR-pyLHz1s
• graycat 4y ago
  Yup, cast iron has all these advantages. Yup, I, too, have both 10" and 12" cast iron skillets. Yes, on seasoning, as you explain, it's easy, natural, would be tough to avoid, is good to have and easy to maintain. The common complicated descriptions seem to be to make the authors look like they have some advanced, tricky expertise -- nope, it's all just dirt simple. If have a cover, then can also use the pair effectively as a stove top oven, e.g., for pizza, as in my https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32433275 Stamped steel can be similarly good and is easier to work with for some things, e.g., flipping an egg or an omelet, because it is a lot lighter than cast iron and has sloping sides. For a pot, say, 6 quarts, stainless steel with a thick aluminum bottom bonded on the outside can also work well.
• layer8 4y ago
  Regarding non-stick pans, the AMT pans [0] are great, which use a ceramic coating. I bought my first one in 2015, and it hasn’t degraded since, despite regular use. [0] https://bestpan.com/ https://bestpan.com/
• JohnHaugeland 4y ago
  > These are all demonstrably false. Once a pan is seasoned, there's not much you can do to mess up the seasoning -- in my experience. Having destroyed the seasoning on a great many cast irons, this is a remarkable sentence to me.
• tristor 4y ago
  I'm not going to claim that cast iron is the best at everything, it isn't. That said, most of the people who dislike cast iron do so because they don't actually know how to use it. Anyone who is an accomplished cook learns that there are different techniques appropriate to different tools, and cookware is just a kind of tool in the kitchen. You should use different techniques with cast iron than you use for stainless steel than you use for non-stick than you use for copper, simply put. There are a number of commenters in this larger thread that are describing issues with cast iron that are directly caused by using the wrong techniques. One of the great things about the Internet though is that there is truly a wealth of information out there to learn these things. I was an okay cook before the pandemic, but I spent most of my free time during lockdown learning how to cook and even found an online culinary school I could take classes through. It made a massive massive difference both in the quality of my output and the level of frustration I experienced during the process. I went from dreading cooking to really enjoying it as a form of zen. If you use the right techniques to match your tools, everything starts to come together easily.
• jeffrallen 4y ago
  I cook on my grandma's pan, and I can confirm, it outlasted the 20 or so pans I used growing up. Cast iron is forever.
• moogly 4y ago
  I used to be a cast iron fanboy. Seasoning, polymerization, yadda yadda and all that jazz. Then I got an induction stove. I now consider cast iron to be overrated. The heat retention makes an induction stove pretty pointless (apart from the energy efficiency I suppose) with cast iron. I'm getting old and my wrists aren't as good as they used to be, so slinging around cast iron pans and pots really hurts after a while. I bought various sizes of Tefal Hard Titanium+ pans and I really like the weight, ease of cleaning, but most of all the heat reactivity. Might look into carbon steel, but I'm a bit wary of how it's going to be to clean.
  • dwohnitmok 4y ago
    > Might look into carbon steel, but I'm a bit wary of how it's going to be to clean. If you have experience maintaining cast iron, the process is the same for carbon steel, both when it comes to cleaning and seasoning. They're very similar. I basically just treat carbon steel as a thinner and lighter version of cast iron (and the thinness changes certain attributes such as heat retention)
  • jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
    I'm a big fan of the Tefal pans for value. I use a mixture of stuff I've assembled over the years, but Tefal is my go to for having a couple nonstick pans around. Carbon steel is very much like cast iron: it's easy to keep clean and seasoned, but some people like to make more elaborate rituals for whatever reason. I'd say it's easier to keep clean that cast iron typically actually, as it usually has a smoother surface finish, and having to herc a big heavy pan around in a sink is a legit annoyance.
• mritun 4y ago
  We have the same 12” cast iron skillet and every word is true. Sometimes people mention rust and it’s true as well. We washed it many times in dishwasher and it’d rust. But then scrape it with a scraper, oil it and heat it until oil polymerizes - voila you’ve your pan good as new. Oh and if you need to cook tomatoes, get enameled cast iron skillet - you’re not going to go back ever to non-stick.
• tclancy 4y ago
  Cast iron pans are fine if you like them. Cast iron people are a cult to be avoided.
• poulsbohemian 4y ago
  I haven't seen a whole lot said in the thread below about ceramic coatings. While I like and use cast iron and stainless steel in my kitchen, I've been very pleasantly surprised by some of the "non-commercial" grade ceramic pans I've encountered recently. Especially for those times when I just want to fry an egg and I'm not doing soufflé or omelets, there's a lot to be said for reaching for a generic ceramic pan. Conducts heat uniformly, doesn't stick, cleans up beautifully, and as far as I can tell doesn't contain any kind of harmful chemicals. For a beginning cook in particular, I'd really recommend this path over some of these other options that take a bit more effort in both cooking and clean / care.
• throwaway892238 4y ago
  Anodized aluminum is non-stick, non-reactive, lightweight, can be cleaned as normal, requires no seasoning, is scratch-resistant, and heats very quickly.
  • qbasic_forever 4y ago
    Aluminum, even anodized, will definitely stick to food. Most anodized pots are treated with a teflon nonstick interior though and its color is very similar to the grey color of the anodization. You do have to be careful about scratching anodized stuff too. The anodization will scratch and flake off if hit with hard material like steel. But again it's usually not anodized material directly in contact with the cooking surface since they put nonstick there.
    • deleted 4y ago
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    • throwaway892238 4y ago
      Looks like you're right; they used to not add coatings back in the day, but now they all seem to have them, even if they don't point it out in the product details.
      • qbasic_forever 4y ago
        Yeah aluminum is still great, it's actually a lot better than cast iron for heat distribution. Thick aluminum stuff in particular is amazing in my experience. I have an anodized aluminum sauce pan that is a perfect rice cooking pot--it heats up and boils water super fast, retains heat well, and nonstick interior is great for rice. Still looks as nice and clean as the day I bought it 15 years ago too.
• qbasic_forever 4y ago
  One thing I've recently discovered with my cast iron pan (now 20 years old!) is cooking pan pizza at home with it. I follow the America's Test Kitchen recipe here and it comes out unbelievably good, just like Pizza Hut from the 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-srfPL5CWZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-srfPL5CWZs It's super trendy to obsess over getting the hottest pizza oven--something that gets up to 800 degrees, etc--so you can get super authentic restaurant pizza at home. That's great and a fun hobby for some folks I'm sure, but a cast iron pan with a long overnight fermentation of the dough is a game-changer for from scratch pizza for me.
  • chihuahua 4y ago
    I've had the same experience. It's really a game-changer. Start the pizza in the cast iron pan on the stovetop first, then move it to the oven. You can get such a good crust that's any shade of brown you want.
    • jhatax 4y ago
      Great idea that I will incorporate into my pizza-making process. Here are two methods that I used to get the crust to brown: a) Pre-topping: Prep just the crust by putting the pan into the oven for 5-minutes as the temp rises from 400 to 500-degrees. Top the crust with sauce, cheese, and toppings post the prep stage. b) Post-baking: Once the pan is out of the oven, I put the hot pan on the stove for a few minutes if the crust needs some more cooking. For what it’s worth, I use Kenji’s recipe for pan pizza [1]. I prefer his method of measuring ingredients using grams vs. other units of measure (teaspoons, cups) that I tend to get wrong. 1. https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe
  • SoapSeller 4y ago
    You can also do neopolitan-style pizza in cast iron(and oven): https://www.seriouseats.com/hacker-free-neapolitan-pizza-for-a-home-kitchen-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/hacker-free-neapolitan-pizza-for... We have a Ooni(koda 16) and I'll occasionally do the cast iron one. Using basically the same recipe. It's very similar but different, we like both.
• mastax 4y ago
  I like using cast iron pans for searing meat since they have a large thermal mass and you can get them ripping hot without damaging them. Being able to put them in the oven is also nice for meat and such. I also use them on the grill sometimes e.g. for making fajita veggies without smoking up the house. I often want to de-glaze the pan after cooking the meat to make a pan sauce. I have had issues sometimes if the sauce is too acidic the seasoning starts flaking up. I don't understand how people cook eggs in cast iron. I have an antique cast-iron pan with the smooth surface and a pretty good seasoning but it's not even as nonstick as my crappy old ceramic non-stick pans. I do like my eggs to be very soft and delicate but maybe its okay for crispy fried eggs. Overall I think it's worth having one since they're cheap, even though they're only really great at a few things.
  • wussboy 4y ago
    You have to add fat (butter or oil etc.) but if you do, it’s very easy to get eggs to slide around
• guestbest 4y ago
  I use copper
• asdfasgasdgasdg 4y ago
  Does anyone know how well enameled cast iron works for eggs? I've seasoned my cast iron and I wasn't able to get it to be efficient with eggs. But maybe the enameled ones would work. Personally I'm not really that worried about PFAS uptake from non-sticks for my one non-stick meal per day, but it'd still be interesting to know the most efficient way to do things outside of non-stick.
  • azinman2 4y ago
    In my experience regular seasoned cast iron works better than enameled for eggs. I use my enameled for sauces.
  • jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
    Enameled and egg is more or less a no go unless you use enough fat to in effect shallow fry. The blunt truth is teflon pans are the best tool for eggs. There's alternatives you can make work, but nothing quite as good. So most of us just have a dedicated egg pan. Seasoned carbon steel is probably your best bet for eggs outside of teflon. Its surface is usually smoother, and it seems to take the seasoning a bit different.
• dataflow 4y ago
  Tangent, but given all the recent discussions around PFAS and Teflon and metal toxicity and all that, does anyone know of any kind of cookware that we can consider to be "safe" for cooking aside from cast iron? Or is that literally the only option left?
  • korfuri 4y ago
    Enameled cast iron should be safe. Earthenware pots are pretty specific but should be safe too.
    • dataflow 4y ago
      > Earthenware pots are pretty specific but should be safe too. Is their ceramic glaze safe? Or do you mean unglazed only?
  • copperx 4y ago
    Yes! I want to know whether stainless steel is considered just as safe. Also, now that air friers are all the rage and they all seem to have a non stick coating and they are heating said coating more than a skillet would, are they basically poisoning us?
• resters 4y ago
  I love cast iron and generally prefer it. But I have had great results with all clad nonstick pans when I use only avocado oil in them. Olive oil will quickly ruin the non stick coating.
• deleted 4y ago
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• mgaunard 4y ago
  Caring for cast iron or carbon steel is fairly difficult and not something most people actually want to do. In practice hard anodized aluminium is the best compromise for people that aren't cookware geeks.
  • deleted 4y ago
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  • paulcole 4y ago
    > Caring for cast iron or carbon steel is fairly difficult When it comes to cast iron this is clearly false. In the US, there are thousands of cast iron pans still hanging around that were used for decades or generations by non-rich non-“cookware geeks” who gasp used soap on their cast iron cookware and didn’t treat their cast iron cookware as if it were a delicate snowflake. Instead they just cooked with it, cleaned it how they wanted to, and nothing went horribly wrong.
  • random42_ 4y ago
    When I cook with my cast iron, I wash it by hand using regular dishwashing soap and a non-scratching sponge. Dry it and then coat with a bit of oil before storing it away. Easier than caring for my SS where from time to time I need to use Barkeeper’s Friend to bring it back to its original looks.
    • mgaunard 4y ago
      People don't want oily pans in their cupboards. Stainless Steel is also somewhat hard to care for.
      • random42_ 4y ago
        Fair point. I was just pointing out that caring for it is not that hard. Basically same thing I do with my non-stick minus the oil.
• lowbloodsugar 4y ago
  Got to remember that westerners have been sold on the entire product cycle of every day chores. Wash your hair everyday - lather, rinse, repeat. Yes! Hey we could increase our profits 100%? WTF how?? We just tell them to do it twice! Lol. Cooking food? Buy a spray to oil it! Buy a nonstick pan that will last a year. Buy dishwashing soap! And cool washing up brushes that dispense the soap! It’s not clean unless you scrubbed it back down to the state it arrived in! Keep buying those products! It’s too much work to clean an iron skillet! Well you don’t clean it: you just wipe it. What??? No you must clean it! Dawn says so! Etc
• rob_c 4y ago
  There is a reason this were done that way until the 60s/70s. In large part because nobody the everything away because it was cheap. Not all of the "moving forward" has been a good idea or actually beneficial. But yes some inventions such as the electronic typewriter demonstrably save multiple hours each week for people.
• phibz 4y ago
  Better than cast iron for me is enamled cast iron. It's not non-stick but it's extremely durable. Worth the price.
• Avlin67 4y ago
  Once you master the cooking on stainless steel pan, it is a dream… You can even cook eggs on stainless steel pan, no need for non stick stuff.
• giardini 4y ago
  Cast-Iron Cookware (CIC) blogspam: this appears on HN several times a year: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%20cast%20iron%20&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... Buy a cheap nonstick skillet, use it until it doesn't work. Repeat. You'll be happy you did. Or cook on a stainless steel rod over an open fire.
• squintychino 4y ago
  My only gripe with cast iron is the absurdly small handle that they almost always have. They are not designed to be handled well and in a stable way, especially with added weight from the food.
• greenSunglass 4y ago
  I have one from le creuset for my steaks, but every single time I use it, I find it dangerous: - it's really heavy, you really need two hands to take them sometimes if the food is heavy - the handle is so small, and that plastic to protect the handle from the heat does not feel safe - Keep the heat too long, sometimes I forget it is hot and burned myself Non-sticky pan are quite light. I need to change mine soon (because the teflon is gone now). Maybe some have some recommendation of better cast iron?
  • amelius 4y ago
    Also look out for lead and cadmium in Le Creuset pans. https://tamararubin.com/2022/04/le-creuset-overview/ https://tamararubin.com/2022/04/le-creuset-overview/
• amelius 4y ago
  I was hoping for more details on the seasoning process.
  • hansvm 4y ago
    Seasoning is a reaction between the pan and fat. You're trying to create a thin layer of that reaction product (not just a coating of burned hydrocarbons). Any procedure that looks roughly like the following will be fine enough: - Coat your iron with a heat-tolerant oil (peanut, avocado, ...) in such a way that it won't spill or make much of a mess. This usually includes very thin layers and maybe a drip pan. - Cook it at 350-480F for 5-120 min. This often involves an oven, but you can do fine just bringing the pan up to high heat with some oil for a minute or two before you cook anything. - Repeat as necessary. The seasoning isn't critical for most dishes. Don't overthink it; just get the pan roaring hot once in awhile and start cooking in it. If you do manage to screw it up somehow (you probably won't), half a minute with some steel wool will make it easy to start over and try again.
• wmock 4y ago
  I really want to love my cast iron, but I just have such a hard time cleaning it - or rather, maybe I'm not supposed to clean it? I'm just so confused with what to do after cooking with it for a meal.
  • davidn20 4y ago
    For me, when you are using a cast iron, you have to adjust your idea of clean. I think of it like a grill. You're not going to spotlessly clean your grill every time you use it. There are always going to be some carbon on there that wipes off. Honestly, the reason why I love my cast iron is because of how lazy and rough I can be with it. I rarely clean my cast iron unless I leave oil in there for weeks or there is a ton of residue from sauce or something. I use scrap out the bottom with a metal spatula and call it a day.
  • artificialLimbs 4y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Q53k5K1cN5HKCwhCsUVEZOQ6g07HxMx https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Q53k5K1cN5HKCwhCsUV...
• MarquesMa 4y ago
  I mainly use three different pans: 1) A carbon steel wok 2) A cast iron skillet 3) A dutch oven. The wok is very versatile. I use it for most things by default. The skillet is great for pan frying. The dutch oven is great for braising without me stirring it too often. Cast iron is situational because it has large heat opacity: you can think of it as a pizza stone for pan frying. The advantage is you can compensate by long preheating if your stove is inferior. The disadvantage is it's slow to respond: When you turn to high it delays a while, when you want to lower the temperature you still need to wait.
• sgtnoodle 4y ago
  When I interviewed at Google, I was asked to bring a picture of something I thought had elegant design. Instead, I brought my cast iron skillet. When the interviewer asked for my picture, I plopped it out onto the table, and we talked about its merits for half an hour. I left it out for subsequent interviews, which made a nice ice breaker. I got the job! It was fun going through airport security with it, too.
• stjohnswarts 4y ago
  I haven't had any issue with my hexclad that i've had for about 3 years now with teflon coming off. Use the 10" skillet just about every day. If you do want to get an alternative I would say to get some carbon steel pans instead of cast iron. Much easier to season and much lighter with similar advantages.
• pragmaticpandy 4y ago
  > I can scrape it -- hard -- with metal utensils > Being able to use metal utensils on a skillet is so nice. I can really scrape food off the pan without worrying about chipping the paint. The multiple mentions about scraping make me think the author has some unconventional cooking techniques, like using too high of heat or not using enough fat, this should basically never be happening with pans that are even a little bit nonstick. > after spending $150+ on a all-clad non-stick pan, which died after a year or so of heavy use, I realized this was not the way If this is referring to the All-Clad hard-anodized aluminum pans then I definitely think something is odd is going on here. I have used these nearly daily for years now, including washing them in the dishwasher, and while they have shown some wear, they are still performing perfectly. They also have a lifetime warranty like the rest of All-Clad's products. They are also not that expensive—currently $70 for a two pack: https://www.amazon.com/All-Clad-E785S264-Anodized-Nonstick-Dishwasher/dp/B0170TFNXM/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2H3QGBNOULO3&keywords=all-clad+ha1&qid=1660451123&sprefix=all-clad+ha%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-4 https://www.amazon.com/All-Clad-E785S264-Anodized-Nonstick-D... I have transitioned the opposite direction of the author. I used to use cast iron, and now I never do because of the All-Clad HA1 line. They can be washed in the dishwasher, are much lighter to handle, are metal utensil-safe, and can go up to 500 degrees in the oven. If they ever break, All-Clad will fix them for free. Again, dishwasher. This alone is just so much better than cast iron.
• somat 4y ago
  Even better are stamped steel pans. I will admit, not only is this is highly debatable, but both sides have good valid arguments, however stamped steel edges out cast iron for two reasons, it is more responsive to heat, that is, it is easier to get the temperature you want(like a wok) and it is lighter and stronger. But really having a pan that you can abuse, and all it takes to get back to cooking trim is a little oil is great. note there are some real artists with seasoning pans out there, and if you look online you will probably find one, but I don't bother with any of that, I rub a little oil on it after I clean it and if I am feeling especially diligent I will get the pan hot. 10% of the effort for 90% of the result.
• westcort 4y ago
  Although I have been a microwave chef for about a year, I am growing more worried about the possibility of leaching chemicals into my food as a result of nonstick coatings, so I am switching to these: https://cookanyday.com/ https://cookanyday.com/