>Buy my first cast iron skillet, 12" Lodge
>Excited as fuck, they make shit-tier cast iron skillets where I live (literally every single one has a retarded handle)
>It arrives, I season it and all that jazz
>Try frying an egg, shit sticks like nothing else
>Fast forward a few weeks of me meticulously caring for it, seasoning it after each use
>Works almost better than my non-stick pan now, even for eggs
>that satisfying feel
I still can't decide if I should get a cast iron grill pan, they seem like a pain in the ass to clean and season.
>Excited as fuck, they make shit-tier cast iron skillets where I live (literally every single one has a retarded handle)
Retarded how?
They all either have a wooden/plastic handle or one of these retarded abominations.
Basically, makes them next to impossible to fit into an oven and prone to deterioration which defeats the point of having a cast iron pan to begin with. I had one earlier and it worked fine until the handle started coming loose and I didn't even use it that much.
Have 10" lodge grill pan, can confirm it is a pain in the ass to clean. But I do love cooking steaks and pork chops in there so damn much desu
>cast iron
>hard to clean
is this a new meme? just let it sit on some high heat for a while, add a little oil, pour in some coarse salt and scrub with a cloth towel
Can someone explain to me why I'd get one of these old fashioned shits compared to new technology like a good nonstick pan? It seems like a whole lot of extra maintenance just to pretend to be old school or something.
its not more maintenance. what makes people think that cast iron takes 'effort'?
See
And why do I have to 'season' a pan for it to work?
okay, ill explain. fist of all, cast iron will rust if it gets wet and sits for a while. treating it with oil protects the iron from oxidizing. cast iron tends to carry the flavor of whatever was cooked in it last. if you use soap on you cast iron and then cook with it, you food might taste like soap. cast iron is pock marked all over, its not a smooth uniform surface. this causes thing (measts especially) to stick to it. this is not a bad thing, in fact its a good thing. after you remove the meat from the pan you can make use of the caked on bits by using alcohol and a wooden spoon and make a tasty sauce or gravy. cast iron pans last over a lifetime. a lifetime of usage build up whats called 'history'. a well cared for pan with nothing in it when heated up will smell really good before you even get started actually cooking. cast iron distributes heat more evenly than steel or aluminum (not copper though). if you like uniform smooth non-stick surfaces then you can get enameled cast iron cookware too.
also i dont see how dry heat+oil/salt+cloth is more effort than hot water+soap+steel scrubber
Cleaning with hot water+soap+steel scrubber will fuck up your season and the heat from the water will open the pores of your pan, allowing water and soap to work it's way in and pronounce its self every time you decide to use it. The aforementioned heat+oil/salt+cloth will maintain your seasoning and non stick properties and, by extension, flavor.
But maybe I'm not understanding your question
haha no no. i agree. i was trying to explain to that other user that it doesn't take more effort, just a different process. i shouldve worded it differently
what would be the best way to fry an egg?
nonstick pan with butter and a rubber spatula. alternatively; wok, high heat, floating in canola oil, flip, metal perforated spatula
>Floating in oil
Gross
okay, so you don't recommend doing it on the cast iron?
Is there alternatives? I saw a lot of restaurants cooking omelet on it.
never had a Chinese style fried egg before have you? its high heat. it instantly starts cooking. its like making egg fu yung without vegetables. it literally lakes 30 seconds to cook. its crispy on the outside and a little runny on the inside. let it dry and hit it with some chili garlic sauce
no, cast iron would not be my fist choice. egg would stick to to easily. when you tried to lift it from the pan you would end up losing half of it to stickage. overworked at breakfast diners before making omelets. chances are the pan was non stick. cast iron might work okay but make sure you use extra butter
iv'e worked*
>Chinese-style fried egg
I know China's a big place but where the fuck they do that at?
My mother is from Chengdu and I have never seen some foul wasteful shit like this. She would cuss me out if I wasted that much oil frying an egg.
You do realize that frying oil can be re-used, right?
Every chinese restaurant I've ever worked in has had multiple large pots of oil in the kitchen with a strainer sitting on top. Used frying oil goes in, strainer catches any food bits left over. When the cooks need oil they ladle it out from the pot.
You can see the same thing done by the Chinese chefs in the old Iron Chef show from Japan.
>not saving an reusing the oil after cooking a single egg
shit son, no one is suggesting that. im living outside Foshan right now and had worked in a Cantonese restaurant for three years. we did that shit all the time. my favorite hole-in-the-wall beer spot but a fried egg like that on all their lunch specials
>frying oil can be re-used
Are you trying to give yourself botulism or just genuinely retarded?
Given that the oil gets heated to a few hundred degrees before being used there's no risk of bacteria, viruses, or any other pathogen in the oil.
Every restaurant on earth re-uses frying oil.
I've built up a pretty good seasoning and I can fry eggs in my cast iron skillet no problem, I just have to add a touch more oil than usual.
Todays soap will not fuck your pan up, they dont use lye anymore which would remove the seasoning. A green scrubber pad and soap are fine to use, just remember to oil the pan when its dry.
>Excited as fuck
good luck cleaning that bitch after every cook...
Do you not clean your pans after every cook regardless of whether or not it's cast iron?
This. It's no different than cleaning any other pan.
>Be me
>Depressed
>Want to cook eggs
>Dont want to clean
>Well its got a little oil and flavor from the stir fry previously so its all good right guys
How fucking bad do you have to be at cooking that you fuck up so bad on cast iron that it's hard to clean......I'm usually a reckless drunk when I cook w/ my cast iron and have never once had trouble cleaning it after even burning shit
Soap doesn't damage seasoning you dumb memer.
ITT: Retards.
>he doesn't cook in wooden pans
nobody can ever give a good reason other then they "want to"
its like the super autists on /g/ that use arch and deal with everything constantly breaking but act like its no big deal and no more work, and that anyone suggesting so its just an idiot who doesn't understand.
they will parrot the bit about seasoning, oblivious to the fact that slathering on oil and baking it repeatedly to build up a layer of disgusting garbage sounds ridiculous to people without autism.
pic related, the blue fellow here is your typical cast iron user.
>actually going to the trouble of caring for your pan properly
>not just pouring a little water in the pan, letting it sit overnight, then just washing it the next day like anything else then towel drying it and wiping around some oil on the pan
>not investing in the copper square
you've been memed son
>its like the super autists on /g/ that use arch and deal with everything constantly breaking
I have a friend just like this, everyone in our electrical engineering program laughs at him being difficult for no reason.
t. faggot who cant cook
>Not just throwing your pans in the dishwasher like 99% of people
This is why nobody cares about cast iron. Its an old relic. Move on.
But isnt this literally what a ton of top Michelin chefs do when they use cast iron?
>they will parrot the bit about seasoning, oblivious to the fact that slathering on oil and baking it repeatedly to build up a layer of disgusting garbage sounds ridiculous to people without autism.
Don't confuse a dirty fucking pan with seasoning user. Why do people such as yourself have strong opinions about something that they don't even understand?
Properly seasoning a pan is done once. There are no "layers". It's not greasy or sticky and certianly doesn't involve repeat applications of oil.
Built up layers of disgusting garbage is just that--disgusting garbage. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with proper seasoning or use of iron cookware.
Cast iron or not, a dishwasher is a poor way to care for cookware, and it's also unnecessary.
Stop being so poor that you NEED to use one pan your entire life. Using a dishwasher on pans you'll still get years of use out of them.
You expect me to believe you can somehow burn flavor onto metal, then clean it all the time, and still taste the difference somehow over years despite the cleaning and reuse?
>But isnt this literally what a ton of top Michelin chefs do when they use cast iron?
Nope. There are two different ways to "care" for cast iron, and people often confuse the two.
Properly seasoned cast iron has a rock-hard shiny black coating on it. It's not sticky or greasy and there are no "layers". Properly done seasoning can be scrubbed with soap and water if need be--the only way to remove it would be with a powerful abrasive. That is what top chefs do. (same thing applies to carbon steel cookware which is also very popular in a commercial kitchen and seasons the exact same way as cast iron).
The other method goes like this: someone who doesn't know what they're doing tries to season the pan but doesn't do it correctly. Food sticks and the pan constantly rusts. To fight this they constantly oil the pan after every use or talk about "building up layers". If you keep the pan constantly oily then it doesn't rust. People who don't know any better confuse this with proper care. It's not. Not only is it fucking disgusting to have a pan with sticky oily junk on it, but it's also more work!
Don't confuse the two.
Nobody ever implied the latter
>You expect me to believe you can somehow burn flavor onto metal, then clean it all the time, and still taste the difference somehow over years despite the cleaning and reuse?
Nope, not at all.
Seasoning a pan has nothing to do with flavor. It's a chemical reaction that polymerizes fat into a hard, slick, coating on the iron (or carbon steel). It's purpose is to prevent the iron from rusting and to make the surface non-stick. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "flavor". A properly seasoned pan tastes of nothing, just like any other cookware.
>Nobody ever implied the latter
People have done that several times in this thread. Specifically:
talks about retaining flavors and "smells really good before you even start cooking".
mentions soap removing the seasoning and flavor
talks about built-up layers of disgusting garbage
Those are all examples of "the latter".
eh, soap and water on a cast iron is okay but you would still need to treat it with oil afterward.
you don't need to absolutely scour your cast iron cook ware though
you seem upset
I had a cast iron 10" skillet and i used it once for camping and several times for cornbread. Stopped using it and it rusted. Roomates fixed it up and its all better now.
>Have 10" cast iron
>Seasoned from scratch after purchase
>Wash with soap+water, then rub down with oil and heat on stove
>No soapy taste, works just fine
Not perfectly nonstick, but if I wanted that, I'd use teflon. This isn't that difficult, folks.
Before running water, people used to reuse grease on pan and just wipe it - if that.
T. peasant
>when you tried to lift it from the pan you would end up losing half of it
what shit rusted pan are you using my dude? a well seasoned cast iron is fine for frying eggs
I love underdog stories like this. It has a bad start in life, everyone gave up on it but with some love and care the Phoenix has risen from the ashes.