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Comment on Anon recommends a cast iron pan

thawed_caveman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

it’s so much better than stainless

debatable but i think so

it takes a little maintenance

everything needs maintenance in the sense that you have to clean it. jokes aside, the only maintenance it needs is to burn oil in it if the seasoning got a little damaged for any reason

can’t cook anything tomato based

you can, it’s not great but won’t ruin it

eight coats of oil you have to burn onto it before you can use it

that’s not true, all cast iron pans come pre-seasoned from the factory

you can cook fried eggs and steak

that is true

even after seasoning it everything will still stick to the pan

not really, it’s pretty non-stick

to clean it you gotta heat it up then dry salt scrub then re-season

not really, you only need to do that if the seasoning got damaged

if water ever touches it the entire thing will disintegrate

that’s not true, you’d have to leave it in water for days to get it to rust

things that aren’t mentioned: you gotta use it regularly otherwise it gets sticky; you can use metal tools like knives and spatulas directly in the pan that would demolish any teflon; the seasoning is more resilient than people think, you can even wash it with dish soap; the seasoning actually gets stronger when you fry fatty things in it (grilled cheese, steaks, eggs, sausages); it’s very simple, durable, rustic, old technology, and incredibly cheaper than skillets of a similar quality (excluding cheap teflon pans); you can unrust it in your garage and even weld it back together if it breaks, which is sick as hell.

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dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
I’m with you 100%.

I’ll add that I rarely use my cast iron in the kitchen, preferring to use it on camping trips or the grill. Why? The sheer heft of the thing could accidentally cause my glass cooktop some trouble. For those occasions, I reach for my well-seasoned carbon steel pans: much lighter with most of the same non-stick situation as the iron skillet.

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- thawed_caveman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I don’t know your glass cooktop, but i’d be shocked if the weight of a cast iron was enough to damage it. Does this mean you also wouldn’t put a cooking pot full of water on it? Mine had no problem, didn’t even get scratched which i was worried it might.
  
  That said i do think cast irons can be too heavy for some people, especially when it’s full
  
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  - dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Here’s the thing: I’m a klutz, and do not always watch my hands (damn ADHD). So this whole thread is semi-rational at best. Still, I’m certain that I’m the guy that would drop it one or more inches onto the cooktop by accident. I honestly don’t know how resilient these things are, but I’m not about to find out.
    
    That said, I looked up some numbers for weights and well, it’s really not too different from a full pasta pot. I may just have to work up the courage. Thanks.
    
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    thawed_caveman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Yeah i believe you can break a cast iron, it will snap instead of bend, but i have no idea how hard you’d have to drop it. It also probably would damage the glass
    
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- SSJMarx@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  
  glass cooktop
  
  This is one gripe I have with my own cast iron, is that it marks up my glass cooktop when I use it. I can return the top to pristine condition by scrubbing it with steel wool, so it’s not permanently damaging it, but it’s kind of annoying to me that you can see which one of the burners I use way more often than the others because its discolored in a cast iron-sized circle.
  
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  - dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Deep scratches are one major concern/gripe I have with glass cooktops, hence why my skillet goes nowhere near it. Scratches can introduce weak points that can nucleate a fracture.
    
    glassdoctor.com/…/why-did-my-glass-top-stove-crac…
    
    When dragged across the glass surface, rough pots and pans create micro-scratches. When they accumulate over time, they can weaken the integrity of the glass to the point of cracking.
    
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match@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
“some of this is true”

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ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

you can unrust it in your garage

You can very easily de-rust cast iron cookware with Ospho which is basically phosphoric acid (Loctite naval jelly available at Lowe’s is the same stuff in gelled form, which is a bit grosser). Obviously you have to rinse it really well afterwards, but it’s a hell of a lot easier than trying to physically remove the rust.

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