/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.16683017]

I bought a cast iron pan recently, despite /ck/'s complaints about how they're so high maintenance and whatever else. You know what? I'm loving it for precisely 1 reason: the inside bottom is FLAT. When I put oil into the center, the oil stays fucking put. When I roll the oil around the pan it COATS the bottom rather than just sloshing from one side to the other. It's fucking amazing, I love it. Nonstick pans have infuriated me all my life with that very slight curvature they have in the center that causes all the oil to run out to the sides.

Drop a tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan and it just pools around the edges, drop a tablespoon of oil in cast iron and you can easily and effectively coat the whole surface evenly. All the other maintenance is completely worth it just for that fact alone, FUCK nonstick shit, I can FINALLY create an evenly, lightly oiled cooking surface in this cast iron pan.

The maintenance isn't even that difficult, it just amounts to cleaning, drying, and lightly putting some oil on the surface, it doesn't even take much longer than washing out my nonstick pans, the only difference is the oil which takes like 10 seconds. I can't believe I let /ck/ meme me out of this improved cooking experience for so many years.

[Anonymous No.16683027]

I think you've been warping your pans, OP. Don't put cold water in them when they're hot.

[Anonymous No.16683059]

>>16683027
No, I haven't done anything like that and they're not warped. Maybe it's just a function of them being nonstick, all I know is that in every nonstick pan I've ever owned, even brand new ones, if I put oil in the center it will run to the edges and leave the center dry, but in the cast iron it stays in the center even as it gets hot so I can actually have oil in the spot where I'm planning to set my food.

[Anonymous No.16683457]

>>16683017
>put a small amount of oil in the skillet
>while heating up, the oil thinnens and spreads evenly on the whole surface
>can place your meat anywhere on the pan and it will always get direct, full contact with the oil
These are the joys I've never known before, only cooking with non-stick. In retrospect it really felt like cooking on a completely artificial cooking surface, not how cooking was supposed to be imo.

[Anonymous No.16683463]

>>16683017
I hate how my cast iron skillet can't cook eggs. It always sticks.

[Anonymous No.16683481]

>>16683457
Yes, exactly, it's so wonderful. Glad I'm not the only one.

>>16683463
I haven't tried eggs on their own yet, but I haven't had issues with any other foods sticking so far. Of course, I do add that tablespoon of oil before cooking anything so that probably helps.

[Anonymous No.16683526]

>>16683463

Cast iron is great for eggs. But you can cook eggs in anything. I cook eggs in a stainless steel. You just have to have the right temperature.

Cast iron is not high maintenance as long as your don't cook acidic things in it a lot like tomato sauces that will break down the seasoning.

[Anonymous No.16683532]

>>16683526
>just don't use vinegar in your cooking
Sounds great.

[Anonymous No.16683537]

>>16683481
I feel like I need to add a lot of butter or oil to keep things from sticking, but I usually use less than a 1/2 tablespoon so maybe that's why.

I just wish I could polish the skillet a lot more and make it smoother.

[Anonymous No.16683562]

>>16683463
eggs are the things its best for though

[Anonymous No.16683565]

>>16683532

Using vinegar is fine, its just cooking a lot of sauce without adding oil that will break down the seasoning.

>>16683537

You're probably not using enough heat. I can cook an egg on my cast iron with no oil and it doesn't stick. You have to have it hot enough where is instantly sizzles.

[Anonymous No.16683570]

>>16683537
I put in about a tablespoon and then as the pan is heating I tip the pan around to get an even coating over the whole surface and try not to leave any part dry. It probably helps that most things I cook are either meat or have a meat component, so there's some amount of extra oil from the fat in the meat as well, which helps replace what gets soaked up or moved around by the food.

[Anonymous No.16683595]

>>16683537
>I just wish I could polish the skillet a lot more and make it smoother.
... you can?

[Anonymous No.16683645]

>>16683595
Do you know how much work that is and what you need to do to keep your workspace clean? Definitely can't do that in a studio apartment.

[Anonymous No.16683655]

>>16683526
>don't cook acidic things in it a lot like tomato sauces that will break down the seasoning.
i have simmered tomato sauces occasionally in my cast iron without ruining the coating.

[Anonymous No.16683685]

>>16683645
its a one time event you lazy fuck

[Anonymous No.16683687]

>>16683645
>Do you know how much work that is
Yeah, did it myself, really not much.
>Definitely can't do that in a studio apartment.
Just take your pan on a trip outside, with a few different grit sandpaper sheets, takes maybe 30 min. of elbow grease

[Anonymous No.16683881]

>>16683017
The people who think cast iron pans are high maintenance are just wrong. It's okay to be wrong, but the best thing about cast iron is how versatile and easy they are to use.

[Anonymous No.16684241]

finally someone that agrees with my issues, why the fuck are all nonstick pans like that? is it for health bullshit where people still think low fat is good? the only other type of pan I have that doesn't do that is a large stainless steel one

[Anonymous No.16684330]

>>16683463
that means its not at peak seasoning. a great seasoning on a cast iron pan is as non-stick as teflon, but getting it to that point takes some time.

[Anonymous No.16684752]

>>16684241
It is because nonstick pans are usually very thin alluminium and they warp due the heat.

[Anonymous No.16684758]

>>16684241
You sound like a working class chump. I bet you thought it would be a great "investment", how you would wake up to a warm, healthy breakfast to start off your long day. Maybe, you even had a couple thoughts about all the other nifty little uses you could find for the thing, how it would help you cook healthier meals in general, shed a couple pounds off the old gut, boost your confidence around work and with the ladies. Yeah, maybe that slow cooker would start your life cooking again, wouldn't it? I can see your strained hands holding the box and reading through it carefully at the store. A little bit pricey, but you're the type of guy who thinks everything is more than you can spend, aren't you. And look what happened to you. Look what the slow cooker did to you. Fucked you over, and made you clean it like a useless bitch. You don't even fucking like oatmeal. Piece of shit, you've been repeating those three words your whole life, haven't you. Yeah, how was work after that piece of shit fucked you over? I bet it was on your mind the whole day, you probably didn't say shit to nobody. Can't be telling people about your mistakes. How your little fix yourself plan, failed you. Don't want people to start thinking you're the failure. You're the piece of shit, all along. You don't want that do you? You don't want to be the piece of shit everybody secretly whispers about, do you? Was your father a piece of shit like you? I bet he never had a slow cooker. He had a woman, a house, a damn good job. I bet it's slow cooking you the fuck alive, isn't it. Comparing yourself to him. How one day when all the steam runs our of your life, you'll discover how you're nothing more than burnt shit to be scrapped off and thrown in the trash.

[Anonymous No.16684828]

>>16683645
This guy: >>16683687 means emery paper.
Normal sandpaper isn't going to do shit.

[Anonymous No.16684896]

>>16684828
Emery paper is just what pansy handed aristocrats call sandpaper while imagining they sound like experienced tradesmen

[Anonymous No.16684925]

>>16683565
>I can cook an egg on my cast iron with no oil and it doesn't stick. You have to have it hot enough where is instantly sizzles.
That’s too hot to cook a sunny side up egg asshole.

[Anonymous No.16685409]

>>16684752
Even brand new pans do it, though. And there are other pans like these "red copper" pans my mom has which are visibly domed to a degree that couldn't have been caused by heat warping. Those are my least favorite pans to cook on by far.