this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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[–] [email protected] 127 points 2 months ago (9 children)

Most of this is true, I've never used cast iron in my life

[–] [email protected] 71 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Some of this is cast iron, I've been true my whole life.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

True is some of this, I've been cast iron my whole life.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

True iron is some of this, I've been cast my whole life.

[–] mousetail 21 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My whole life is cast iron. I've been true for some of this.

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 2 months ago (9 children)

I bought a $20 cast iron pan at target, I season it like once a year. I just wash it and make sure to dry it, I’m sure this is against the rules. Seems to work fine for me though. I wouldn’t say it’s nonstick but it’s mostly fine.

A $20 Teflon pan would be flaking and unusable, so for $20 it’s a good deal.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

I bought those cheap marble coated pan, now entering 2 years of frequent use, other than tiny bit of degraded non-stick capability, it works just fine, didn't even chip. I bought an expensive teflon once, it only last around half year before it start chipping. Teflon is just bottom tier coating now.

I also own a cheap cast iron skillet, cook with it frequently, wash with soap and only heat dry it, didn't even bother with seasoning after washing, it now has a nice, smooth patina on it that mostly non-stick. I genuinely don't get why people always baby a cast iron, it's a hilux, not a cybertruck.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (7 children)

I have a cast iron griddle that I use once a year at my mom's house. I leave it in the outdoor grill when I'm done using it and don't even clean it. The next time I go to use the grill, I take out the cast iron griddle and just leave it out in the elements and it rusts like crazy.

Then, the day I'm ready to use it again, I scour the shit out of it, heat it up to 500-600°, throw some oil on it like a greased up whore, and get the lowest quality seasoning on it.

Then I use it to grill some ears of corn so they don't turn black from the soot of all the wood I burn to heat the outdoor grill. Once the corn is done cooking, I close off the grill and tell the cast iron griddle to go fuck itself.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Don't these pans last like generations, being passed down? I doubt your grandma and her grandma were bothering to apply 8 coats of flaxseed oil and heating it up to 1000 degrees and the pans would still perform as expected for ages

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If I know grandmas, I was probably purchased at Kmart in like 1996.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Has anyone outside of a commercial kitchen ever actually destroyed a stainless steel pan though

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (11 children)

Yes.

Apparently you can't hear up tortillas in them without it forever getting scorch marks. I suppose only thing I haven't tried is using a machine sander on it to try to remove it.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Reject tradition. Embrace forever chemicals.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

BerlingerHaus uses some kind of artifical stone instead of teflon. I've only got a grill pan so far but it's easier to use and to clean than teflon. Surely wherever you are has something similiar?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Enameled cast iron is definitely a thing, our le cruset Dutch oven is a work horse

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

There is nothing wrong with putting cast iron in the dishwasher. I do it all the time.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Stainless steel I swear by though. Easy to clean and nothing sticks if you heat the oil properly.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (6 children)

While oil is necessary, It's more about how you preheat it and your technique, rather than how you oil it; no amount of oil is going to save you from over crowding a cold pan.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago

Skillet issue

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My biggest gripe with Teflon, after the whole PFAS problem, is that you have to baby it. I never was able to find a plastic spatula that worked well for any application. At worst, some are so darn floppy it's like trying to flip an fried egg with another fried egg. Not to mention, the leading edge would eventually melt and deform sending plastic shreds everywhere over time.

The things you can do cooking-wise with metal tooling just get you more control and better results. Any pan/pot that lets you do that is going to help your overall cooking experience. Plus, even if you don't go carbon steel or iron - say, stainless or even glass - de-glazing the pan with some water and heat from the range can make short work of cleaning.

One last point to this rant: your favorite cooking shows are lying to you softly. Your cookware are tools - they're gonna get fucked up. Used things eventually get scratched, stained, singed, dented, and that's okay; I promise you they're not unsanitary because they're in this state. Those stainless pans with mirror-perfect surfaces, or carbon steel skillets with that pristine golden hue, they're new; you usually see new product on camera thanks to sponsors and the general optics of the thing. Teflon pans hold out this false promise of pristine cook surfaces that just aren't realistic. And in practice, even those awful things do not go the distance. So yeah, reject modernity and all that. You'll be okay.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (7 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

lol look there's one main benefit of cast iron: it holds heat really well. it is not easier to use or maintain than steel, but if you want something that holds a lot of heat, look no further

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

No, the main benefit is that it is made out of something edible that won't give you cancer

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Stainless steel is unreactive and is leeching less into your food than cast iron, if that's your main concern. We already know that burned things are a carcinogen so why wouldn't that include burned polymerized vegetable oil?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think they mean Teflon coating. While Teflon itself is not carcinogenic, the chemicals used in its production are in the PFAS group and not so healthy. The question is then if those chemicals are sufficiently removed in the end.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The one reason professional chefs don't use it is because it doesn't disperse the heat evenly tho

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

If you need even heat distribution, copper pans are the way to go

And they definitely need more babying than cast iron IMO, cast iron pans will take any and all abuse, then you can just clean & season them again and your pan is good as new

If you get cooper too hot, use the wrong utensils or are generally not treating it with kid gloves, it's gonna end up ruined after a few years, especially if it's a tin lined one

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In all seriousness my cast iron never looses its seasoning and is the best non stick I have in my house. I refuse to go back to PFSA

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

People have weird ideas about seasoning. It is literally oil polymerized and bonded to the metal with high heat; but people act like it just rubs off. You can scrape seasoning off, but it's hard. I need steel wool to do it.

I think these people complaining aren't really seasoning their pans - just using dirty pans (i.e. the oil hasn't fully polymerized).

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (8 children)

Different types of oils form different polymerized surfaces, too. Related to the greentext, some people came up with the idea of flaxseed as the best oil for seasoning cast iron based on some theorycrafting about chemistry at a high school level, and it turned out that flaxseed oil seasoning chips and flakes really, really easily.

So there are a bunch of people out there doing it wrong and complaining that it's too fussy.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That and they’re very heavy. I think I’ll go with carbon steel instead. Yeah you still have to season it, but at least its easier to handle.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

This has been my experience with cast iron. There's so, so, so much conflicting information on them. Even in this thread.

I wish the Mythbusters would come back just to test via experimentation all these conflicting claims.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nothing beats the feeling of pouring cold water on the still hot cast iron pan.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I didn't know metal exploded until I accidentally the pan.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Cast iron is cheap, indestructible, gets better with time, does want some care but nothing outrageous. I do have a good stainless skillet as well, call it the "stick pan", if you want something to stick and then deglaze, it's good.

But the cast iron is my joy, my kids joke that I love it more than I love them (it is older than they are) and already argue about who will get it when I die. Have never bought a nonstick pan, they seem unhealthy, and old cast iron is satiny and nonstick. It suits the way I cook, or perhaps the way I cook has been shaped by the pans. I don't worry about tomatoes or wine sauce but wouldn't slow cook spaghetti sauce in one, would use stainless or the Le Cruset one for that.

Mostly I think it's like flannel, not great at the start but improves with use, ends up better than everything else and then stays better for a long time. In the case of cast iron that could be several generations.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I like to avoid the hassle of taking special care of a cast iron and just use a stainless steel pan from IKEA. Spray on cooking oil works really well to keep food from sticking if your don't crank up the heat and anything that does get stuck can be easily scrubbed off with a copper scouring pad. Best part is that there's no need to worry about rust. Ultimately just use what you like most.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I just like how I can use my metal scrapers and spactulas without having to worry about damaging it.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but one hit with this baby and you'll send any ghost straight into the afterlife.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago

Nah my cast only washes with hot water and small Scraper. If you need soap. We'll you don't like actualy don't. Seasoning? Just cook bacon, dump the grease leave a bit in put it back on the stove for a hot minute or while you put your blt together. Done it's hunk of metal not much you can do to fuck it up. And if food is sticking to it probably cause you didn't get the pan hot enough before you put the food in.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I use a wok and I wish I could use it for everything. I love that little damn thing to bits. I have only seasoned it twice (removed the previous one due to rust) and it can fry an egg fine.

It handles soap, tomatoes and other acidic foods fine as well. Didn't use any fancy oil, just avocado oil.

My mom's 300$ tephlon pans don't even last more than 8 months without getting nicks. My Lil fella is 15 years old.

They want to brainwash into using expensive, disposable, products.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

I bought like a $30 one at the grocery store a few years ago and it's still going strong. If I forget to use it for a long time it'll get a patina of rust, but it scrapes right off. I only seasoned it once when I got it with beef tallow.

Honestly if I threw it away today and bought a new one it still would have been cheaper than buying a Teflon pan for like triple the price and having it only last maybe a year before it gets completely ruined, and you get those forever chemicals in your body as an added bonus.

It's not like it's some huge investment, just give it a try and see if it works for you. Buy a cheap one at a big box store, season it with oil or fat, and don't put it in the dishwasher just hand rinse it with lye-free dish soap and a soft sponge. Maybe that's too much work for you and you prefer your nonstick or stainless, that's fine too, good quality stainless can last a lifetime if treated properly and ceramic nonstick pans are getting better and cheaper all the time and pretty much outcompeting PFA-based products because people are becoming more aware of how shitty they actually are.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Counterpoint:

It doubles as a weapon that can induce blunt-force trauma.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (8 children)

I have a cast iron pan. Pros - it'll last forever if you look after it, it doesn't contain PFAS and generally it is non-stick enough to not be a nuisance. Cons - heavy AF, needs to be cleaned and dried after use & not in a dishwasher. I haven't tried to cook anything acidic in it yet but it does okay for steaks, eggs, mushrooms, sauces that I have used it for.

I still use soap and a plastic scrubber on mine and just dry it on the hob for a bit. I haven't had to reseason it yet but I imagine it will be a pain in the ass when I do. I have seen part of the seasoning flake off but it normally self heals with more cooking.

So it's okay overall but I think lack of PFAS and the fact that this thing will last a lifetime are the clinchers. Even if you have non-stick buy one of these and use it by default. I expect a stainless steel pan would be good too for same reasons.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (6 children)

call me lemmyml but I fucking love using a carbon steel wok to cook anything

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Don’t care, use carbon steel

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