Non-stick vs cast iron vs carbon steel.

Roper

Roper

Idiot Savant, still
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It’s been my experience that nonstick pans only lasts between three and five years. After that, the nonstick property doesn’t do the job very well, if at all. So I have been researching alternatives. I have several cast-iron pans, but I don’t use them very often. I find them heavy and cleaning them is a bit of a conundrum. So I’ve been reading up on carbon steel pans. They obviously are lighter and appear to be easier to use. So have any of you made the conversion to carbon steel and if so, what is your experience using them?
I have a glass top at my property in Everett. At the ranch, I have an old-school electric coil.
 
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I still think cast iron is the way to go. I have two carbon steel woks and love them, but the flat pans I've used I just never jived with. Also find it every bit as difficult to clean as cast iron.

For cleaning, and I know this isn't feasible for everyone, but I installed a special in line hot water tank under the sink with its own side faucet. Pumps out water just shy of boiling. I put a bit of that in the cast iron, do a scrape and maybe a scrub with the chain mail, then wipe and done.

Faucet also is great for French press coffee.
 
I have both cast iron and carbon steel and like both but have found myself using carbon steel more often recently. I like that the carbon steel heats up and cools down faster making it easier to control and change temperatures while cooking. At least for me anyway.
 
I have and use both. But have been using carbon steel more often just because it’s lighter and easier to move around in my small kitchen. Cleaning is the same as cast, but I call bullshit and use soap ;)

Carbon is also so much lighter when I’m schlepping pans out to the pizza oven
 
Roper said:
It’s been my experience that nonstick pans only lasts between three and five years. After that, the nonstick property doesn’t do the job very well, if at all. So I have been researching alternatives. I have several cast-iron pans, but I don’t use them very often. I find them heavy and cleaning them is a bit of a conundrum. So I’ve been reading up on carbon steel pans. They obviously are lighter and appear to be easier to use. So have any of you made the conversion to carbon steel and if so, what is your experience using them?
I have a glass top at my property in Everett. At the ranch, I have an old-school electric coil.
Click to expand...
I am not a fan of nonstick pans. The surface gets all torn up and the forever chemicals used to make the non-stick surface (PFAS/Teflon) have some health and environmental concerns.

I use cast iron, all the time. All Lodge brand, some pretty old. I bought a small rectangle of chainmail made from stainless steel split rings for cleaning my CI. After cooking, when the handle is cool enough to hold, I run the pan under hot water while scrubbing it with the chainmail. No soap. Then I put it back on the heat to evaporate the water and rub a little oil on with a paper towel. My pans are heavy, but I'm pretty sure you are stronger than me!

I have only had one carbon steel pan and I didn't like it very much. Maybe I didn't get it seasoned properly or something, but it just didn't seem as good as my CI, but it is lighter.

I think this guy, Cowboy Kent Rollins, knows what he is talking about (and he's a hoot!):

 
My older CI pans have a smooth cooking surface. New Lodge cast iron has a pebbly cooking surface. I'd use a flap disk to make the cooking surface smooth before seasoning a new Lodge pan, mainly because using a metal spatula on the pebbly surface is loud.
 
I do something similar to Evan, but I just put the pan back on the stove with a half inch of water and boil the crud off. People are way too precious with their CI, and I’ve seen “seasoning “ that’s just years of baked on food.
 
The newer ceramic pans last better than the coated non sticks...still use a couple cast irons as well for certain things. I did have a selection of carbon steel woks while I was in Hawaii, but don't own any now...mostly due to mostly only cooking for two these days.

Yes, cast iron and carbon steel are far more work to maintain than other pans...the beauty of cast iron is they don't warp...and maintain even temp...carbon steel heats up very fast, and cools very fast, but I really have no need for them.

Kent Rollins has cooked a few meals on cast iron...and I've followed his suggestions on new cast iron, ones that say pre-seasoned, (which they are not very well)...I take a finish sander to them and season in the oven with grapeseed oil...
 
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I use all three and don't feel that any one of them is so good that it can be declared the only one to use. In addition I use a carbon steel wok along with a non stick wok. And a carbon steel Blackstone griddle and an electric non stick Blackstone griddle. I agree with Roper that a 3-5 year lifespan can be expected from nonstick but compared to the price of booze or fly fishing gear, $35 every 5 years is just mouse nuts. A case in point, I have been using the induction ready T-Fal 12'' non stick pans as long as I have used induction, about 12 years. Last year was about year six on the latest one and it was starting to show signs of wear. I decided I deserved a high end pan and read that the Made In pans were top of the line and ordered one, about $150 for the induction model. Then I started to read more reviews and opinions and learned that despite it's high initial cost the Made In pans also failed in 4 or 5 years. So I cancelled the order and bought a new T-Fal for $30 which I expect to last at least another five years, possibly a lot longer than I will last. The T-Fal is a nice pan that cooks well with the induction bottom and holds up remarkably well for it's price. I could buy 5 of them for the price of 1 Made In and they would last until I was approximately 112 years old!

Years of experience with induction has taught me that cast iron doesn't dovetail with it all that well so I started using carbon steel which works perfectly. In addition to being much lighter it heats quickly, cooks fairly evenly and can take a real beating. Since I have induction in the Casa also it is the perfect solution for camping taking up less space and being easier to deal with than cast iron. With proper seasoning they can be almost as good as nonstick and you don't need to baby them.

Cast iron is outstanding for those biscuits and gravy breakfast and just superb for cornbread or pizza. So it's not an either/or situation to me, all three have their strengths depending on what is being cooked and where.
 
I’m a big cast iron user. Have a bunch of older Grizwold cast iron. Tends to be a little lighter than the lodges. There are also some new cast iron skillets brands out there that might also be lighter, but think they have premium prices.
 
Have cast iron, stainless and carbon steel.
For most all my general cooking on the induction stove, I use carbon. Heats even, cooks our eggs easy, cools quick, easy clean up. Like has been said, put some water in pan, heat it, wipe it clean.
Eggs, french toast, salmon, steaks, etc.
Plus much lighter weight when you get older, have start of arthritis.
 
All cast-iron here. Newest piece is from the 1930s, oldest is 1880s-ish and came to Washington on a wagon.

Would buy Lodge as I need a Dutch oven but I hate the pebbled texture—seems like everything sticks to it.
 
I don't like my cast steel on my glass top range. The lag in temps for the glass makes it really tough to get consistent temps in the steel. I much refer my cast iron for that and have been filling out the collection. Once I dialed in hash browns I had to get a bigger one for the family.
I did replace the old non-stick pans with ceramic and am super happy with it. I do my eggs in there and I don't even need a spatula, they just slide right out. Gooey sunny side up eggs over crispy hash browns with bacon from the over is about as good as eatin' gets.
 
The other downside to nonstick pans, I didn’t address. That is that ghee, bacon fat, and oil all tend to pool up and not coat the pan evenly. I know that cast-iron does much better and I’m hoping carbon steel will also.
 
I bought four de buyer steel pans a while back, and my take on them is that they take longer to season, and you have to be much more persnickety about anything with acid in it or you will take your seasoning off. Now that I have learned how they need to be treated though, I will have them for the rest of my life. I can fry eggs on them and flip them without sticking, and for me that is the test. They work for pancakes, and one of the pans was designed for crepes, although a pancake is as close as I get.
I found that olive oil, sesame oil, or walnut oil works good for seasoning. I don't have any canola or corn oil in my kitchen, can't comment on that, but avocado oil wasn't cutting it. Unseasoned, bacon would stick and make a mess of things, probably the sugar in it.
Anyway, I like them, but I will still have cast iron in my tool kit. I almost never use non stick for anything. Just don't need it.
 
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