Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I do most of the cookin' for our family (I only trust dear husband unsupervised in the kitchen for grilled cheese sandwiches and brewing beer).

We have mostly cast iron and stainless steel cookware. (Plus a single glass and single teflon pan).

I never use the teflon except for making eggs. Anything that boils water (steaming and such) calls for stainless. Warming soups and hot breakfasts are natural for the small glass pan.

But for everything that calls for cooking meats or anything that starts being browned in oils or grease I am drawn towards cast iron. Chilies, lasagna sauces, spaghetti sauces, bacon, hamburgers, just about anything that starts with meat. We have two sizes of skillets, a few dutch ovens, one pizza pan and a griddle in cast iron.

Any opinions about the pros and cons of cast iron?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

It sounds to me like you have everything figured out. I have already taken notes from your example.

:36_1_32v:

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Stick with cast iron- even the high dollar surgical stainless has (316, 319 from memory) has nickel in it.
Do research-nickel very very irritating to human cells.That leaves no other choice-iron.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Iron is good for women but not for men in high dosages...iron is linked to prostate cancer.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...-8&oi=scholart

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I use cast iron across the board. Yeah, acidic foods eat up the seasoning in your cast iron. 1st off, don't let the stuff stay in any longer than required to cook it. 2ndly, anytime you are through using your cast iron, except for frying, you should proceed to wash it out, apply a light coat of oil and heat the pan to drive out any water. Your cast iron will serve you well for lifetimes (plural) if treated this way.
I do keep some stainless around for certain boiling needs because sometimes you do not want a layer of oil in your boiling water (like when you intend to use the boiled water for cleaning or something).

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

What would be the best way to being back a cast iron pan once its been left out in the weather ?

Acid to get rid of the rust and then bead blast ?

Or something else ?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Steel wool until all rust is gone.
Slather with veggie oil while preheating oven to 450.
Bake for 1 hour on each side with a drip pan underneath.
Voila.

This may or may not apply to REALLY, REALLY fubar'd pans but it works for anything resembling a pan that you can still see patches not completely pitted.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Scrub out with steel wool (or something similar, NOT SOS pad),just knock the rust and dirt of, make it smooth. Then clean thoroughly with dishwashing detergent.

At this point you should have a clean seasoned pan.

Now, coat the entire pan with a very light coating of cooking oil or crisco, and the place in your gas grill on low/medium heat for several hours. Let cool, then repeat rubbing crisco or oil and reheat until you have a decent season.

Cooking bacon, sausage, or ground beef will help polish off the season in no time.

We use cast iron for all cooking of meat, and eggs.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

That takes care of the peaks but the valleys are still full of rust.

Maybe a little of both to take care of the entire cooking surface.

thanks for the assist.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Funny, we said essentially the same thing....jinx?

I like using the grill, instead of the oven in case the grease smokes up the house.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I would use a putty knife or an old butter knife to scrape out the rust. Any thing left, leave it, the oil will take care of it.

It is still going to LOOK rusty before you reseason it. Just make sure all the loose stuff is gone.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Ill have to use the oven as I dont own a outdoor grill.

The oven has a forced evac so no worries about it smoking up the house.

Thanks for the both of ya's.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

If the valleys are still rust-pocked might it requires some sort of mechanized rotary sanding treatment in addition?

Unless the rust eats too deep it should be able to be resurrected?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Cast Iron and Stainless here, never owned a teflon pan. Oh i cook a lot in the wok, it is carbon steal, same process as the cast iron to make it nonstick.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

We use only cast iron, steel, and glass. The TeFLon is FLuoride -- and it gasses when you cook with it.

ALL MODERN CAST IRON IS JUNK... at least everything I can find. I finally found an antique Griswold for $20 in an antique store. AMAZING. It is so silky smooth that if the stove isn't perfectly level the eggs will slide to the low side of the pan. Look around and find a Griswold. We use the crappy stuff for meat and other things that would hurt the seasoning on the Griswold. The Griswold is reserved for eggs over-medium.

PS - My pan was carbon-coated when I got it. I had to completely strip it by soaking it for a week in a lye/water solution and LOTS of scrubbing. I finished it up with fine steel wool before re-seasoning it.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I found an old Griswold waffle iron underneath my grandmother's house about 40 years ago.

I will have to dig it out of the box its in and take some pics to post.

Its the kind meant to sit in the hole of an old wood stove as it has a lip around the bottom outside edge.

It has wooden handles and the rest of it is seasoned Cast Iron.

I would guess the thing is at least 100 years old.

I will be headed to town Monday to the antique stores to look for another old Griswold skillet.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Let me know if you want to sell the waffle iron. We are building a house with a Kitchen Queen wood cook stove. I could put it to use.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I have a cast iron dutch oven, and I let the lid:5_1_120: "seal" with some oil inside that went bad and now it flavors the food. Think bad fish smell.

What should I do?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

My wife would kill me, The item has family history.

Sorry...

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Sounds like the oil/grease was enough to go rancid.

The only thing I can think of would be to strip off the seasoning and start over by re-seasoning. In that case, use lye (as SLV said) to strip it down.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Cast Iron - Especially heavy garage sale OLD Iron for cooking.

Stainless for fermented things.

Glass is pretty good to bake in, too.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

If you were to buy a stainless steel pan, which one(s) would you choose?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

My favorite is LustreCraft 5-ply stainless. Great cookware and great warranty, the latter of which I only had to use once in over a decade. My pots And pans were hand-me-downs.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

That's great. Thank you for the information. I need to buy one for my wife, so I'll look for one of those.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

You will not pickup any nickel in the food from a stainless steel for 2 reasons. First, the nickel in SS is in a binary solid solution with the iron and cannot be liberated. Then, in a properly passivated stainless, there is a thin layer of chromium oxide over the parent metal. This is what creates the sheen in a stainless pan.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Our stainless cookware is "Serafino Zani Karen" and is really nice. I know the bottom surface actually has a copper pad sandwiched in there for good heat transfer. Most of my cast iron is Lodge (TN made) and I've had no issues with it. The other pieces have no brand name and are old as the hills and very likely came over to the new continent with the pilgrims (no joke). It is quite impossible to ruin the seasoning on those with acidic foods.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Has anyone used enamalized cast iron? I was looking for some cookware the other day an noticed they sell a lot of it. Its basically cast iron covered with a glossy enamel like pottery.

Does anyone know if that stuff is non stick without seasoning it?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

But beware of chinese cookware, I bought a stainless saucepan at Wal-Mart and got it home to find it did not claim to be Stainless steel on it anywhere. No telling what other mets get melted down and recycled there....lead...mercury etc.

I would stay away from chinese cat iron too. I'm not a metalurgist, though.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I bought an enamalized cast iorn dutch oven several months ago. You don't have to season it except around the rim where the cast iorn is exposed. I've
used it to cook chili, stew, roast, and beans. Nothing has stuck to it and it cleans up very easily.

Ara

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I am and that's really good advice!!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I don't like teflon for anything. No matter what you do, some of that coating is going to wind up in the food.

I even use cast iron for cooking eggs, fried and scrambled. If your cast iron is well-seasoned and you get your pan hot before adding the oil (or butter), eggs will not stick.

I agree about using ss for water or tomato dishes.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Thanks, I might pick one up next time.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Another Die Hare Cast Iron User Here

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

The cooking surface is enamel and therefore will not require seasoning. The sandwiched cast iron lends its' quick heating and heat retention properties to the mix. I've not used any of these things despite my wife's deep fascination with them, specifically Le Creuset.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Are you saying my new Lodge skillet is junk cast iron? I've never used the old stuff and the Lodge seems pretty nice.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I've read about Lodge cast iron cookware, but never have used it. Lodge runs a state of the art foundry and uses a proprietary casting process for their cookware, that produces a fine-grained iron.

I'll bet that a lot of the imported cast iron uses a hypereutectic, cupola melted cast iron, which is going to result in large and/or open grain iron. Ideal for easy manufacturing and casting, but makes for a lousy cooking surface,

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Yes- this I have done on a few crusty old pans. I also oiled up some rusty pans and charred them this way. Most of the big rust chunks fell off.

You have to be a little careful. I pressed it for a long time in extreme heat and had one old Groswold pan warp a little at the lip. (that was glowing it red hot for hours)

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

You do realize that what Mtn man is talking about can only be done to cast iron right? Steel pans will defiitely warp, but cast won't.

s

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Never bought into that nickel poisoning scare. Like Revereware stainless/copper and Faberware stainless.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Lodge is still very high quality.

Been made in the USA by the same family for over a hundred years.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Its also linked to increased heart attack. Men should never supplement iron. In fact there is a study that shows men who donate blood on a regular basis have higher life exceptecny.. Actually all of the above apply to post menopausal women too.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Yes. I've got three of them, and I use them for cooking meat because I don't care what happens to the seasoning. They have the texture of a concrete sidewalk. The first time I tried a Griswold it was like an epiphany - smooth as silk and it weighs half as much. I don't know why someone isn't making truly functional user-friendly cast iron nowadays.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Does Lodge use a coarser casting sand than was used "way back then"?

My mom's (multi-generation old) cast iron cornbread skillet has a nice smooth surface on the inside. My 2 Lodge skillets (2-3 years old) and my Lodge Dutch Oven (used for baking yummy no-knead bread) have a much rougher texture. Repeated use seems to be filling in the "pits" on my larger pan (used more frequently), but it's not any where near as smooth as mom's skillet.

I'll email Lodge's Customer Service about this texture difference, and will post their response.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Well, to Lodge's credit, they answer emails VERY quickly (in just 3 freakin' minutes!). Unfortunately, it seems that some steps ("polishing") have been chopped from the cast iron manufacturing process, so this may explain the rougher texture.

My email, and Lodge's response are below. They answered me in just a few minutes.

>We no longer polish the cookware, so now the cookware has a rough
>surface.
>
>With use and replenishment of the seasoning, the pan will become
>smoother. Unlike other types of cookware, Lodge Cast Iron only gets
>better with use. For concerns about roughness, it is OK to use a fine grade
>of sandpaper to smooth out the rough areas. Make sure to re-season the
>item before using.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Reba Wooden
>Customer Service
>Lodge Manufacturing Company

Subject: Question re: Lodge Cast Iron "Smoothness" vs Older Cast Iron
Sirs -

I've got a couple Lodge cast iron skillets (bought at your Sevierville outlet) that I use for making corn bread, and I also love my Lodge Dutch Oven that I use for making nice crusty "no-knead" bread.

I recently visited my parents' home, and noticed that mom's multi-generation old corn bread skillet (I didn't notice the maker) had a MUCH MUCH smoother inner surface than any of my Lodge cookware.

In reading some online forums, many folks say that Griswold (& other older) cast iron pans have a very smooth surface, while Lodge pans "have the texture of a concrete sidewalk."

Do you think that this smooth surface is the result of:

1) Years of seasoning buildup
2) Years of scraping & abrading & smoothing of the cast iron surface
3) Use of a finer casting sand "way back when" versus the sand currently used by Lodge

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Does anybody know the largest size Griswold skillet? I did some searching but couldn't get a definitive answer.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

In December, on the recommendation of a friend, I bought two Woll Nowo pans with glass lids.

These are German, cast from thick aluminium totally encased in titanium. Ludicrously expensive (even by rip-off Britain standards) but totally non-stick, teflon-free, rust-free, easy to clean and a joy to cook with.

The handles unclip if you want to put them in an oven or on an open fire.

No problems at all so far, but it's early days yet. Remind me to give an update in ten years!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I use a plain seasoned cast iron, enameled cast iron, stainless steel with aluminum or copper cladding on the bottom, plain stainless steel, copper with stainless linings, copper with tin lining. They all have their place. The stainless lined copper (Mauviel 2.5mm) and the plain seasoned cast iron (Lodge) get the most use in my house.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Well, I don't have any Griswold.. I do have several pieces of old Wagner(ware) Cast iron, My favorite being my old drip drop roaster #8. cooks like a dream!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I have read on a few occasions of people using a orbital sander to smooth over the finish before seasoning there pans. May be a viable answer.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Cast just needs to be seasoned and it's good to go for all your frypan chores. As mentioned SS for acidic stuff. Stay away from chinese anything and the teflon pans are probably not good for you, but I use them for eggs since they work great. The cast pans works for eggs as well, but they get some color from the seasoning and I don't have a perfect sized cast omelette pan.

The rule I follow with cast is cook stuff in it, and never wash it. Just wipe it out with towel or paper towel. If there is crusty stuff you overheated and can add more oil and salt to help scrub that out. Oil and salt is the only way I know of to wash cast. If you use water it's not good, if you use soap, it's fatal.

I had a dead cast pan that I couldn't make work and my lovely mother in law was visiting. She had that thing seasoned and doing duty in a few days. I have followed her instructions and it's all my cast stuff works great now. This stuff is really old. It lasts forever as opposed to wal-carp that works for a few years.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Something came to mind as I read this post. The rancid smell is probably from the WAX used to protect the cast iron during shipping. This wax must be boiled off before using. If you buy a new cast item and can scratch ANY residue off the item it must be stripped using heat or chemicals.

I boiled my dutch oven and lid in a huge pot I had. You wouldn't believe what came off it!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

The seasoning?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Neither.

I have used Le Crueset for about 40 years. Enameled

Cast iron (French). Beautifully smooth surface.

And, yes, you do have to keep them seasoned,

When they get cruddy, scrub them out with Bon Ami,

Rinse super well, coat with olive oil, and

Put them on moderate heat for 20-30 minutes.

The only other pan I have is a pre WWII Husqvarna

Oval pot, gifted to me by my mother,

Also enameled cast iron, which, although

Chipped and stained because of close to

80 years of service, is

My one and only rice pot.

And I eat a lot of rice.

Rice isn't right without it.


scyth

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

That's a funny. The Chinese had superior cast iron technology, due to their double chamber bellows, and were centuries ahead of the west.

FWIW - "Wok hee" (flavor of the wok) is based on all that carbonized crud cooked into the cast iron surface.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

No, I find that a good wok hei comes from an intense heating flame (I use an outdoor propane wok burner), combined with good cooking technique. I use a number of carbon steel woks, but you'd see the same thing with a cast iron wok. In my stir fried chicken/pork dishes, I find that getting the wok nice & HOT, adding oil, adding the meat, then letting it sit (no stirring) for 1 minute gives a very nice smoky flavor.

Before I got the propane wok burner, I'd had zero success in duplicating the complex smoky wok hei flavor that I got in lo mein dishes from my local Chinese restaurant.

For a good book on this subject, I recommend Grace Young's "The Breath of a Wok".

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Have also had good luck over the years with Lodge. Use cast iron on the woodstove, in the oven, and over the fire. Everyone should have two stillets and a duch oven at a minimum. Also like 18/10 Stainless for everyday use - easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and heats/cools much quicker.

My neighbor and I like fire. We do this during the summer and eat together. That pot had a 9 pound pork roast in it. Two hours to cook. The meat "shivered" when it came off the heat. Crispy on the outside...uummmm.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

SH,

FINALLY. Someone mentions Wagner Cast Iron. They've been in business since the late 1800's.

We have sizes that range from a small 4" to the large 12" skillets. Plus they make some really kewl corn bread molds shaped like corn cobs.

I get a lot of my Wagner cast iron off of Ebay. And at garage/estate sales.

Wagner on Ebay

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I just got 4 cast iron skillets from the local Craigslist. Two Wagner Ware, a Piqua Ware, and a no-name. All nice & smooth on the inside! For $5, I also got a couple smaller cornbread molds. One of those is old & very well seasoned (lots of baked on oil covering the maker's name), but the second is a grainy rough Lodge model.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I made "Apple Pie Pancakes" for the kids this morning in my Griswold:

1 cup freshly milled whole wheat (soft wheat milled as finely as possible)
7/8 cup half & half
one large egg
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil (Nutiva)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients except for the coconut oil. Warm coconut oil to liquid state (above 77 degrees) then add slowly while mixing batter. Allow batter to stand for one hour before making pancakes.

Top off cooked pancakes with home-made applesauce and a pinch of cinnamon.

They were a HUGE hit! And not too bad for the kiddies either.

BTW... I forgot to mention earlier that I use my Griswold with the range set at "3", but I have to use the Lodge set at "4" because of its additional mass. It takes less energy to cook in the lighter Griswold.

I've looked at Wagner, but I didn't find them to have as smooth of a surface as the Griswold. I do understand that they are just as collectable.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Yesterday I found a Griswold #8 skillet at a local consignment shop for about the cost of a new medium Lodge Logic skillet, and it came home with me. It needed some work, so I washed it, dried it, used steel wool to get some surface rust off, and am in the process of seasoning it. I have coated it with vegetable oil and baked it at 450 for an hour, let it cool, wiped it down, and repeated twice. It looks a heck of a lot better than it did yesterday afternoon, and it is smoother than the new Lodge cookware we have.

I also noted that the Griswold is MUCH lighter than an equivalent Lodge skillet. This will help my wife as she has already had surgery for carpal tunnel issues.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

We also have used Le Creuset enameled cast iron, especially the Dutch ovens, for quite some time. Good stuff as you can cook acidic foods, like tomato sauces, in it without damaging the enamel coating or the underlying cast iron.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Lately, all the ss pans I get tend to warp. Our last set, we paid over 400.00 for. I tend to burn everything in SS, however, I never burn in my cast iron. When I had a wood cook stove a few years back, I loved cooking on it. I hate cooking on the electric stove! I used my lodge square skillet and new fry pot this morning. Nothing burned! I am seasoning my 7 qt pot now, the house should smell nice in a little bit!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Congrats! The #8 is our egg pan. Be patient with it... it will take a couple weeks for it to get broken in after reseasoning. DON'T WASH IT. Just wipe it out before it cools completely.

It can be hard to serve out of a Lodge pan because of the weight. My wrist starts to hurt if I'm carrying it around the table with scrambled eggs for everyone. This can be a bad situation if the pan is burning hot.

A few rules of thumb for cooking with your new pan:

1. Cook on a lower temperature than with the Lodge.
2. Use a good quality metal spatula.
3. NEVER cook any sauces or meats in the Griswold -- do those in the Lodge.
4. Cook with Nutiva brand coconut oil -- it will make the best fried egg / omelet you have ever had!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

https://secure.lodgemfg.com/storefro...FDA13713}_2HH2

These are a lifesaver! They fit over your handle on the lodge.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I have cooked with the Griswold, and it did just fine. Made some scrambled eggs in it, and the only thing I needed to do was boil some water in it to get the food residue to release from the surface. After dumping the water, I just wiped it down, heated it to dry, and wiped a bit of vegetable oil to protect the iron.

The same place has a Griswold #0 skillet, and that one might also come home if I can do some dickering on the price.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Boiling water in cast removes the seasoning. When I cook eggs there is no residue in the pan -- this is because it has become well seasoned. When I cook fried eggs they will slide from one side of the pan to the other if the oven is just a little bit out of balance. When I'm done I wipe out the extra oil with a paper towel and put it away. That's it.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Hmm, I guess I need to season some more. The eggs slid on most of the skillet, but I had some residue stuck in a few spots. Next time can I leave the residue on the pan? How do I get it seasoned enough to not have eggs stuck to it?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Fry bacon frequently. Cook oily stuff frequently. Don't use soap to clean and always wipe dry immediately after washing. I always throw the utensil back on the burner for a few seconds to drive off all the water. Apply a light coat of vegetable oil after cleaning/wiping dry and before heat drying. Seasoning takes time, it's the reasoning for calling it seasoning.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Why should an SOS pad not be used to scour the rust off a neglected pan. I thought it was just steel wool with soap already applied.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I use only Nutiva coconut oil. Cook the eggs on a lower heat until it gets better seasoned. However, do not drop any eggs into the pan until the handle is hot to the touch. This will make sure that your pan surface is evenly heated.

While you are waiting for it to get well seasoned just use a plastic scraper or metal spatula to get up the stuck remnants.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Soak the pan in a lye water solution (heavy on the water). Leave it in there for a week. It won't rust with the lye in there. This will take everything off the pan. Then use a good steel wool to pollish the cooking surface.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Since cast iron is porous, the soap from the SOS pad can get into the iron and you will get a nasty flavor of soap.

Don't EVER use soap on the pan, even if you are going to re-season.

Use lye as SLV suggested.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Thanks! I never knew that...now I just need to get some lye (& phosphorus, & starter fluid, & lithium batteries, & anhydrous ammonia, &...).

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

FWIW, Lodge recommends the use of Baking Soda as the water additive for cleaning. Same idea, chemically speaking, I suppose. Sodium bicarbonate is a hell of a lot safer to handle than Sodium Hydroxide.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I use soap on my cast iron all the time, it never made my food taste different.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Thanks for the explanation, TechGuy.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

SLV>,

Thanks for the help. Will be trying what you suggested this weekend.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I picked up a Lodge enamel cast iron dutch oven yesterday at Wally World. It has a plastic type handle. Does anyone know if it can be used in a fire, or do you need a metal handle for that? The ones I have seen with stainless steel handles were $100 more for what is other wise the same thing.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I would not place the enameled cast iron in a fire as the enamel will burn and the phenolic handle will melt. The cast iron that you can place in a fire is one-piece. Lodge calls it "Lodge Logic". The Lodge stuff with the stainless handles is very expensive, and I do not own any of it as I cannot see paying more for a built-in failure mode.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I also seasoned my Griswold skillet a bit more this weekend. My wife needed three pounds of ground beef browned for a lasagna she was putting together for a friend's 50th wedding anniversary party. I decided to use the Griswold as I figured the fat in the ground beef might help with the seasoning process.

First, working with the skillet is a dream as it is heavy enough to not slide on the glass cook top yet light enough to easily drain the rendered fat. I let the skillet come up to temperature before adding any meat, onion, garlic, or seasonings. I cooked the room temp meat in one pound increments to avoid large temperature drops and had no issues. The skillet cleaned up with just a bit of wiping, which was welcome.

Much nicer than using my wife's old Calphalon skillet.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I've read this thread a couple of times and well, laughed at some of the posts....

Yes, Lodge cast iron is a little rougher when new, but it's not junk. I've got a huge range of Lodge pans and Dutch ovens and other specialty pieces. My 2 oldest, 25 years, have a cooking surface as smooth as glass. They will ALL get this finish eventually if you are patient and cook in them a lot. Mine didn't take 25 years by any long shot to get that smooth... they've been that way as long as I can remember and some of my newer pieces are getting that sheen now as well.

I've always used a little soap or even a little SOS pad action when there was debris left stuck in the pan and never had a funky soap taste.

I buy new because iron IS porous and who knows what was in the pan before someone took it to the flea market, but that's just me.

Of all the oils I've used to season, coconut oil is the best.

Once every year or so, I season ALL of my cast iron whether it needs it or not. I do this on very cold days so the oven helps heat the house.

:s1:

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I cannot stop my wife from steaming or boiling stuff in our cast iron pots. She did it just the other night and I was begging her to use the stainless. I know she does it just to mess with my OCD but WTH? She steamed some zucchini, squash, onions and mushrooms and when she was done the lid was rusty. When I pointed it out she was like, "It was like that before!". I responded that it had been like that because she'd done this stupidity before but I had scrubbed it and re-seasoned since and she'd just screwed it up again. Dirty looks were exchanged, wine was poured and the subject dropped. Later I saw here scrubbing the lid with steel wool.
Aah, married life...

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Thats what I was wondering. I just bought some lodge pans at wally world and they seem pretty nice. Sure they are rough, but they are more heavy duty then my old griswald cast iron (I weighed them both, the lodge is a lot heavier pan).

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

SLV has a point that heavier requires more energy to do the same cooking and is more of a hazrad when transporting or pouring from the pan. On the other hand, the heavier stuff carries more latent heat and tends to heat more evenly so you can certainly use it to your advantage. I have zero problems with my Lodge cast-ware.

My biggest gripe is I want a flat-bottomed dutch oven with a recessed lid for charcoal and the wire bail handle. AFAICT there is no such animal. In fact, Lodge intentionally makes their fire and stove ovens in even or odd quart sizes so that the lids cannot be shared. Yes, I could buy 2 to achieve both purposes but I don't think I should have to.

Edit for clarity: The fire dutch ovens have legs on the bottom so using them on the stove is really not recommended.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I always wondered why they didn't just make the lids universal... seems like it would have been easier for Lodge, but hey, I guess there must be some sort of reasoning why not, huh?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I was told by a relative when I was very young that they preferred the thicker Lodge pans because they didn't crack as easy as some of the lighter pans.

I can't say that I've ever known anyone who managed to crack a cast iron pan, so if there is any validity to that claim, I can't prove it.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Yes, so you spend twice as much to get 2 units to perform the needed functions.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

:ok: That would most likely be that reason!!

All those emoticons down there and not one slapping its forehead saying "Doh!"?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

:thumb.aspx:

No, "doh", but a head slap nonetheless.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Whoops! I missed that one..... darned coffee still isn't working this morning. Yeah, I said morning... I know it's 11:47 EST....

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

I've seen cracked Griswold pans hanging on the walls of antique stores. I have a feeling that they were treated to too much heat and/or dropped.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

The texture difference between a Lodge and a Griswold is night and day. I don't want to wait 25 years to be able to keep an egg from sticking to my pan.

Re: flea market pans - one week soaked in a lye solution pretty much takes care of the situation. Just reseason and it is like new. They just don't make them like they used to. Have you used a Griswold?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

So you're part of the "Instant Gratification" generation, eh? :wink:

It did not take 25 yrs for my Lodge pans to get that smooth surface... and seasoned properly, I've never had any problems. I'm not saying Lodge is superior to Griswold as, no, I have not used it before, but your statement above about seeing cracked Griswold tells me exactly what I suspected my Auntee was talking about... the thinner cast iron is more prone to cracking than the thicker, heavier weight pans.

I'm not endorsing Lodge over other brands... I was just raised in the Deep South and that's what everyone used... or non-branded cast iron. I'm sure that probably had more to do with ecoomics than anything.

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Have you seen the Lodge-branded seasoning compound? I laughed out loud in Gander Mountain when I saw it. $9.99 for a tube of oil/grease!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen? People have lost all the old-timer skills... goddess help us if teotwawki ever happens!!

I don't even like the pre-seasoned pans they sell. Just give me the darned raw cast iron and I'll do it myself, thank you!

Sheesh!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

My Ikea skillet had a rough surface when I bought it - it was dirt cheap though. After a good bit of seasoning (any carbonised stuff I scrape off, everything else has been left in it, except excess fat which I pour out), it is slippy enough to slide an egg from side to side with no sticking problems. I don't expect it to last forever and become a family heirloom - but for $15 you can hardly go wrong!

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

See, as long as they're seasoned right.... don't matter which brand!

Oh, and the "cracking" of cast iron usually happens when the very hot pan is put under cold water, or so I've been told. Always let your pan cool some before submerging it in water.

:biggrin:

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

What makes a good quality metal spatula?

Re: Cast iron or stainless steel?
 

Something stainless (not chrome-plated) with a sharp edge. It will double as a scraper if necessary. Also, I've found that the cheap ones rust out at the weld spots.