Cast Iron VS smooth top ranges
14 years ago
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- 14 years ago
- 14 years ago
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BEST?: Anodized vs. Stainless vs. Tri-ply vs. Cast iron
Comments (14)Ease of cleanup has absolutely no relationship the whether or not the pan will perform the cooking job better. I buy my pans based on how well they cook, not how easy they are to clean. Always buy high quality cookware suited to the task and buy for life. I've found properly seasoned cast iron to be superior for frying, deep frying, hearth cooking, searing meat, cooking cornbread, eggs and a number of other foods. Nothing sears better than cast iron. Cast iron's limitations are few but include reacting with highly acidic foods like tomato bases and lemons and accelerating the oxidative degradation of cooking oils at high temperature. This is remedied by using high quality enameled cast iron. Seasoned cast iron cookware gets better with time, unlike chemical non-stick coatings. For precise temperature control required in sauce making, candy making etc, stainless-lined solid copper cookware such as Falk Culinare is superior. Very few companies produce copper cookware worth buying - Falk is in my opinion the best and their bimetal process is actually used by the other major manufactures of quality copper cookware. Stoneware for baking is wonderful material and should be used more often. Same goes for clay cookery. It is always more important to have a wonderful, healthy meal than it is to save a few extra minutes doing dishes. Sleepyhollow...See MoreGriddle: nonstick vs cast iron?
Comments (29)Hi Raquel. With uneven heating on cast iron, 2 things come to mind. First, you have to let it preheat for a bit for the heat to be even. The parts directly over the burner heat up first of course. Second, are the 2 burners you're using exactly the same? My front right burner puts out more BTUs than any of the other burners while the back right burner puts out fewer. This is a feature that stove manufacturers advertise - it gives you the ability to do a higher heat on one burner more like a professional range (though not quite that hot) and the abiltiy to cook delicate sauces on the smallest burner. (I learned about this on the appliance forum while I was shopping for my cooktop). On my stove, only the front left and back right are exactly the same and of course a griddle probably can't reach diagonally. The difference in BTUs means that Medium on the large burner doesn't equal Medium on the small burner. So you'd need to adjust the heat for them to be equal. Obviously I have a gas stove, but this would probably be true on an electric stove if you have different sized burners....See MoreCast Iron VS smooth top ranges
Comments (10)I use cast iron on my ceramic cook top all the time. That said, I DID manage to crack the top with a little help from my hubby: I'd left an empty skillet with the burner on under it (accidentally, obviously, and I was sick at the time, so I have a good excuse), and the skillet caught fire. Hubby found it and picked it up off the hot burner and set it, still flaming, on a cold burner. I'm not sure if it was the contrast in temperature or if he dropped it on the cook top (he probably grabbed the flaming skillet in his bare hands), but the crack runs all the way through the two eyes on the left side of the stove. I understand the top can be replaced, but I haven't done it yet, and the stove still cooks just fine on the two remaining eyes. Have to do something about it before canning season, though, because I'm afraid to put a big, heavy pressure canner on a cracked top :P...See MoreCan you use cast iron on glass top range?
Comments (9)I think the two most important things to consider when purchasing cookware for a glass top range is to make certain that the size of the pot or pan fits the burner, and that the bottom is perfectly flat and true. It needs to sit tightly on the glass top. If it is warped or there are voids, not only will it not heat properly, but it can actually cause the top to crack. Also you don't want the pan to be larger than the burner. You can check the bottoms using a straight edge. According to our our owners manual (KA), aluminum and copper bottoms can leave a residue and should not be used on a smooth top range. Cast iron works, but it might scratch. They recomend a stainless steel bottom. Unfortunately stainless by itself is not a good heat conducter. You can however purchase any number of brands that make an aluminum or copper core that is clad in stainless. That way you get the heat properties of the core with the glass top compatability of the stainless. There has been several discussions about these issues on the cookware forum. Here is a link that might be useful: Cookware...See More- 14 years ago
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