Cast iron cooking?

[Al Czervik]

29 minutes ago, crockett said:

 

It's not that clear cut. Iron and copper are very close in that aspect:

• Copper: 24.47 Isochore molar heat capacity
• Iron: 25.09 Isochore molar heat capacity

That accounts for iron, while cast iron is more brittle and less dense, hence has a lower heat capacity altogether.

BellaCopper has a good definition to this matter:

Relative metal mass and thermal capacity:

Copper is an excellent material for heat transfer, but can also hold more heat than ordinary cooking metals. This is called thermal mass. What this means is that a warm BellaCopper heat diffuser contains more heat than the same size aluminum or cast iron heat diffuser at the same temperature . More internal heat means no rapid cooling of the heat diffuser as it transfers heat to a cool pan. With the BellaCopper heat diffuser there are no transient hot or cold spots due to lack of thermal mass.

It's all about Entropy and Enthalpy (bet you never thought you would hear those words again after you got out of science class). Entropy is the property of heat transfer and conduction. Enthalpy is the property of how much heat something can hold. Copper is superb in both.

http://bellacopper.stores.yahoo.net/metheattrans.html

 

 

The rub is, copper cooking pans are not the same as the heat diffuser, and the mass of the same diameter carbon v copper/stainless v cast iron are wildly different.

[Al Czervik]

43 minutes ago, Maccabeus said:

I used to keep a pan on the stove for quick use on simple things like cooking up some meat or vegetables.

I've never been able to cook eggs without making a terrible mess.

My wife ended up with elevated iron levels so we stopped using the cast iron as one way to limit her intake.

One common mistake is not allowing enough time for the pan to heat before adding fat.  Eggs and fish slide right out of mine.

[crockett]

48 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

The rub is, copper cooking pans are not the same as the heat diffuser, and the mass of the same diameter carbon v copper/stainless v cast iron are wildly different.

I just weighted 2 of my pans with almost the same diameter, one a still new cast iron, the other one a copper / SS.

5. lb 3.9oz for the cast iron vs 4 lb 9.0oz for the copper / SS. The cast iron has a second handle, so it's getting close at my comparison.

My old cast iron definitely didn't retain heat as well as the compatible copper / SS pan. I could not crowd the cost iron with the same amount of sliced meat as the copper / SS. It would stark cooking the juices out before the meat was properly seared.

 

[Maccabeus]

4 hours ago, Al Czervik said:

One common mistake is not allowing enough time for the pan to heat before adding fat.  Eggs and fish slide right out of mine.

Maybe one of these days I'm cooking just for myself, I'll try that again with more preheat time. 

[XSIV4S]

On 7/17/2018 at 8:19 AM, crockett said:

 

Oh, I enjoyed the ride for 20+ years, in every aspect, until my health started paying the bills for my stupidity. Americans go in average through 29 years of chronic health issues before they die, thanks to very unhealthy lifestyle choices. The ride is only fun until you wake up in pain, daily, and with diagnoses that will shorten your life expectancy.

But hey, ignorance is bliss.

Not blissfully ignorant, just realistic. The folks over at the American Cancer Society are kind enough to post a list of the 400 or so known and probable Cancer causing agents (See list below). Unless you live in a cabin in the woods, you are probably exposed to many of these every day and more-so if you live in a large metropolitan area.  So how about this I won't spend all my time harping on the evils of alcohol, read meat, processed meat and hot beverages and you let me enjoy the occasional stone oven cooked pizza?

 

[XSIV4S]

On 7/17/2018 at 10:44 AM, Al Czervik said:

One common mistake is not allowing enough time for the pan to heat before adding fat.  Eggs and fish slide right out of mine.

+1. I agree. When I cook Salmon, I get the pan very hot, then turn it to medium heat, add olive oil, spices and salmon (A few minutes on each side). It is a quick, delicious meal with almost no clean up.

[Glocks4Freedom]

3 minutes ago, XSIV4S said:

 So how about this I won't spend all my time harping on the evils of alcohol, read meat, processed meat and hot beverages... 

 

2

Steer clear of *****, you can get HPV! So, no family, grandchildren, memories... 

Abstinence from sex is recommended as one way to prevent the transmission of HPV.

 

[crockett]

29 minutes ago, XSIV4S said:

Not blissfully ignorant, just realistic. The folks over at the American Cancer Society are kind enough to post a list of the 400 or so known and probable Cancer causing agents (See list below). Unless you live in a cabin in the woods, you are probably exposed to many of these every day and more-so if you live in a large metropolitan area.  So how about this I won't spend all my time harping on the evils of alcohol, read meat, processed meat and hot beverages and you let me enjoy the occasional stone oven cooked pizza?

 

That 'But hey, ignorance is bliss' comment was retrospectively and the bottom line of my 20 years of living very unhealthy. You can obviously do as you please.

Nothing wrong with stone oven pizza, I only recalled an article dedicated to burned cheese when I saw that pan pizza in this thread. They had been very clear in its cancer causing properties. As long as it doesn't turn dark brown or black, everything is golden, so to speak.

[syntaxerrorsix]

I use cast iron daily.  I've got a wok, a couple number 8s a 5 and 3.  A flat iron griddle, a bread loaf pan and a dutch oven.  Pans are Griswold, everything else is Lodge.

I bake and cook with them almost exclusively.  The wok doesn't get as much use indoors as it's heavy as sin.  The only stainless I have is a wok and my sauce pans.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by syntaxerrorsix

[syntaxerrorsix]

On 7/17/2018 at 11:44 AM, Al Czervik said:

One common mistake is not allowing enough time for the pan to heat before adding fat.  Eggs and fish slide right out of mine.

Another common mistake is using too much heat.  Unless you are searing something you should use medium low heat.  Let the pan get to temperature, add any fat that you want, let it get up to temperature then cook.  A pan that is too hot will cause the food to burn and stick.  I cook over easy eggs every Saturday and they slide right out.  

Edited July 18, 2018 by syntaxerrorsix

[BadAndy]

On 7/17/2018 at 9:19 AM, crockett said:

 

Oh, I enjoyed the ride for 20+ years, in every aspect, until my health started paying the bills for my stupidity. Americans go in average through 29 years of chronic health issues before they die, thanks to very unhealthy lifestyle choices. The ride is only fun until you wake up in pain, daily, and with diagnoses that will shorten your life expectancy.

But hey, ignorance is bliss.

I've got enough damage from being hit by a drunk driver 18 years ago that occasional crisp cheese on the edge of a pizza is the last thing that will be the death of me lol!

[BadAndy]

7 hours ago, syntaxerrorsix said:

Another common mistake is using too much heat.  Unless you are searing something you should use medium low heat.  Let the pan get to temperature, add any fat that you want, let it get up to temperature then cook.  A pan that is too hot will cause the food to burn and stick.  I cook over easy eggs every Saturday and they slide right out.  

Man.... I can't tell you how many times I've helped friends avoid destroying a meal just by teaching them how to adjust heat properly. So many people think there are only two options on a stove: High and Low. I ended up in a home economics/cooking class in high school and even by then I knew how to follow a recipe with basic skills I learned from watching my parents and I still laugh thinking about some of the girls in that class could set spaghetti noodles on fire while they're still in the water lol!

[Lazy R]

I started using cast iron about ten years ago. My wife would bitch at me, "Cast iron gets too hot!" Um no, you just regulate the heat because it stores it differently. "Cast iron is for old people!" I did all the cooking worth a **** anyway.

I still have my cast iron. She gone.

[Heehaw]

We use cast and enjoy it. Lately I've been using it on a propane grill for eggs, venison and the like. It definitely gives everything a "smoked" flavor that way and gives me and the family some extra time outside. Also keeps my house from smelling like grease.  If time allows, I love to cook on the fire pit with cast.

[Al Czervik]

Most of the cast/carbon steel that lives in my kitchen, other than my giant wok and paella pans, etc.

[PNWguy]

Went out camping in the woods yesterday and cooked my breakfast this morning on my cast iron skillet on a Coleman grill.  Cooked corn beef hash and eggs and I noticed that the food didn't stick.  Weird.

Normally I cook on it at home on an electric burner stove.  Bad sticking issue.