Hello /ck/. I hail from /k/ so I don't know if this is a

It's better at a lot things, particularly meat. Stainless steal is better at other things like sauces.

>>8806536
>steel
fml

>>8806516
they are excellent as long as you care for them properly

>>8806516
What happened to that poor steak?
>inb4 someone cut it in the pan

Cast iron is great for getting a hard sear on meat, or wielding as an improvised melee weapon. It's not as good for, say, backpacking or making a delicate tomato sauce.

Get heavy stainless or a quality non-stick for your everyday use.

>>8806516
They last longer if you take care of them, and retain heat better which makes for better heat distribution. Being entirely made of metal make them particularly well suited for both stove top and oven applications.

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I bought into the cast iron meme. I have a cast iron wok, pans, bread pan, mini biscuit pan, Dutch oven, and a round flat skillet.

I use the wok probably the most, because I have an electric stove it's the only way I can actually stir fry anything properly. You can heat the thing up super hot and get good flavour because it holds the heat.

I would say pancakes are way better in my cast iron, they brown up really nicely. A lot of things brown better in my cast iron vs the stainless steel.I'll make tomato dishes in them, but I won't store the sauce for a long time in the pot.

One problem I noticed is if you heat the largest pans up really fast on a flat ceramic glass electric top they will warp temporarily and they will pop out on the middle so the pan won't sit flush anymore. But if you heat them up slower then raise they heat you won't have an issue.

>>8806552
do you actually have to put oil on them after every use or is that a meme

>>8806605
It's not a meme, you should.

>>8806605
It's a good idea to oil them after every use, but you don't need to reseason them after every use or anything.

>>8806605
Yeah, with a paper-towel after washing. Shit will rust.

>>8806607
guess my lazy ass should stay with non-stick pans then

>>8806615
Its literally 2 seconds of effort

>>8806615
Oh you can do what we do at my job and just get a spray bottle

+heavy
+all iron construction means it can be used in the oven as well as stovetop
+lasts forever with minimal maintenance
+high heat retention means you can get a real sear on meat, fry potatoes well and other high heat applications
+can be pretty nonstick with minimal maintenance

-heavy
-acidic sauces can make the pan rust if you don't clean and re-oil it
-easy to burn oneself if you are an idiot or drunk. I'm both so I constantly burn myself.
-will never be as nonstick as a dedicated nonstick pan
-a tiny bit of maintenance is required

I have heard that new Lodge pans, which do not come very smooth from the store, work better if you sand them down a bit.

>>8806694
You're going to be sanding for a while, my dude.

If you're any good with an angle grinder you might be able to grind one smooth.

>>8806516
ignore all these stupid faggots

a quality cast iron that is properly maintained is like a Remington 870. An abolosute work horse with lots of general application but is lacking in the specialization department. It's an essential piece of cookware none the less that will treat you well if you treat it well.

>>8806708
Fuddlore: /ck/ edition

>>8806712
doesn't cook
doesn't shoot

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as much as I love being a contrarian shitposter, a cast iron pan (even an economy one) is a very good investment

>>8806694
Don't bother with grinding. Just fry a bunch of shit with oil/high fat while only doing wipe downs for cleaning (i.e. don't ever use a scratch pad or scrubber wand) until you have a good base layer of seasoning on there. Note that properly seasoning doesn't mean "cook on a bunch of crumbs" it means get a good layer of oil/grease to soak into the iron's pores which result from the casting process. Since cast iron is a method of metalworking that ultimately creates a porous material, grinding traps small metal shavings in it, which eventually get stuck to your food (probably not enough to notice, but I wouldn't bother with it myself) whereas if you season it with oils/grease it winds up filling those pores with oils that ignore the grease above them.

>>8806730
very good advice here, OP

>>8806605
Oil, then wipe it all off with a paper towel, then bring to smoke point so it doesn't go rancid. Then you're good to go.

>>8806737
I did forget to mention that you want to use heavier oils/greases during your seasoning process (lard or butter) as they are more apt to stick around in the bottom of the pan, due to their relative density. While lighter oils such as canola or vegetable will work as well, and often have a better chance of getting into the pores they also have a higher chance of getting out. Once your heavier greases are in there, they're in until you scrub the living piss out of them with soap and water.

I'd recommend avoiding peanut oil in the pan as well (despite being a good oil for what you need it to do), in the event you or a guest has a peanut allergy.

>>8806605
>people are afraid of accidentally doing memes
This is where we're at these days. I hope you're all happy with yourselves.

>>8806748
This isn't how seasoning works. The oils get in the pores and form a layer on the iron surface, and the seasoning process polymerizes the oil such that it bonds with the metal. After this process, it is no longer an oil. The best oil for this process is flax seed. Using lard or butter is a horrible idea as there are other compounds in butter/lard that will simply burn.

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>>8806730
>>8806725
>>8806708
Is there anything it can do that a normal non-stick pan from a department store can't? (besides being put in the oven). I mean it's cool and all but should I make the investment over what I already have for regular cooking for a single guy?

>>8806769
Well it'll last you 60 years

>>8806769
It can take prolonged full-blast high empty heating without being -completely- ruined.

>>8806769
Different tools for different purposes, bud.

I think you should get both. Cast iron pans aren't expensive, and honestly you should cheap out on the nonsticks and buy a new one every 18 months/2 years. But you'll never brown meat in a nonstick like you can with cast iron, you'll never make a tarte tatin without a cast iron.

>>8806769
It's 20 dollars for an item that will outlive you.

>>8806769
Cook at higher temperatures. You can use proper metal cooking utensils on it rather than plastic ones. Adds iron to your food rather than teflon. Lasts a lifetime versus nonstick which needs to be replaced every year or less.

The better question would be is there anything nonstick pans can do that cast iron can't, and the answer is not much. Once your cast iron is seasoned it acts just as well as a non stick surface. The only advantage a nonstick pan would have is that it's arguably easier to clean, changes temperatures faster, and is lighter so you can flip food with it.

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>>8806760
>seasoning process polymerizes the oil such that it bonds with the metal
>oil-iron polymer bond
>on what will likely be an alkane
I see where you're coming from, and I understand what you're trying to say, but you're /sci/ing wrong. If it polymerizes over the top of the pores, then by all means it's good. There likely won't be much coordinate complex chemistry going on though.
>The best oil for this process is flax seed. Using lard or butter is a horrible idea as there are other compounds in butter/lard that will simply burn.
Lard and butter do have components that will burn... without seeping into the pores/pockets. Wiping the char out of the pockets would prevent them from soaking too far in, especially if you do it immediately after the pan cools.

>>8806797
You're right. But as most of /ck/ knows a seasoning isn't complete after the initial work on a new pan. It takes several seasonings to get that nice nonstick layer. So while you may not get it perfectly over and in each pore, you can get close with the right oil. And eventually you can cook eggs over easy.

>>8806797
>>8806821
Also, why go to the trouble of wiping out char when you can just avoid the problem entirely? You're probably not wrong but it just seems like an extra step.

>>8806832
>>8806821
Fair enough, I'll concede that flax seed is an easier and potentially better seasoning, but that doesn't necessarily mean that animal fats are poor options. As I said, for baseline heavy greases that won't leave once in place, they're not particularly bad options.

Now I kinda want to find out how big cast iron pores are with respect to different types of oil molecules.

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>>8806797
The polymerization occurs when a diene is oxidized and forms a crosslink with a diene in a neighboring triglyceride (pic related).

Iron and heat catalyze the formation of the peroxide.

>>8806847
Animal fats are poor options because they are unsaturated to a lesser degree and polymerize at a slower rate. Polyunsaturated fats like flaxseed oil have a lower activation energy for the polymerization reaction.

>>8806854
A crosslinked polymer is nice for a slippery surface, but they also may wind up too big to fit into pores within the iron lattice. That said, I was just looking at the wiki image on flaxseed, which apparently undergoes DA reactions, which would give you a nice diene ring that could potentially undergo some coordinate bonding. That's pretty specific to flax seed though. Plenty of polyunsaturated fats would give that same effect though.

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>>8806873
Micrograph of gray cast iron, scale is μm.

Those are practically caverns.

>>8806865
You have to remember that although polymerization reactions in this situation are nice in that they create a pretty good and low-stick surface, we still want to have a fair amount of mid-length branches that enable for good sticking to the pores in the cast iron.

To that end, I'd get a few monounsaturated fats in there as well. According to wikipedia, what I personally would use is pumpkin seed oil, relatively short mono and poly unsaturated fats account for most of the fat content, allowing polymerization with monomer side chains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_oil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_seed_oil

>>8806896
Fair enough. Where'd you find that pic? 30 seconds on google didn't yield me much.

>>8806903
I can't remember, I had that one saved, but here's 97 pages of metallurgy porn if you're into that kind of kinky shit.

http://www.sae.org/events/bce/tutorial-ihm.pdf

Hey /k/,

This will explain it in terms you can understand.

A cast iron pan is the moisin-nagant of /ck/. You don't "need" one, but everyone here loves them. If you can only get two pans, get a nice mirrored stainless skillet with an all-metal riveted handle (870 with 8rd tube and additional slug barrel) a cheap TJ Maxx non-stick (cheap .380 ACP 5-shot)

Just like you can kill anything on earth with an 870 pump, You can do just about anything in with a nice stainless pan and they clean up super easy. Sear meat, cook with acid, brown veg even boil pasta. Shit I even flambé bananas foster in mine. But you CANT cook an omlette or eggs sunny or easy. For that, use your cheap non-stick. It's not versatile but it is essential in certain scenarios, just like an el-cheapo practically disposable gun you can hide in the palm of your hand.

Cast irons are cool like nuggets are cool. But I'm not particularly /k/, so I prefer a modern walnut stocked .270 with decent optics that shoots MOA 200yards to a wooden stock antique. Which is why my iron is enamled le cruset, not raw cast iron.

/k/arry on, soldier.

>>8806915
You're a god walking among mere men, good sir.
>read phase diagrams
>unzips dick
>get to bulk moduli
>dick hard enough to do a pole vault
>see thermodynamic information
>about to cum
>CORROSIVE RESISTIVITY
>WITH ELECTROLYSIS ARGUMENTS
>ABOUT TO CUM, HNNG
>No information on it
Killed a boner fast man.

>>8806917
kek 10/10 thanks man

>>8806917
>You don't "need" one
Just like how you don't need guns to post on /k/, but I'm sure you know what that's like.

>>8806997
>A well-regulated kitchen, being necessary to the cuisine of a free state, the right of the chefs to keep and bear cast iron shall not be infringed.

>>8807018
>Changing the people to the chefs
I will gut you Brady

>>8806997
Your statement would be accurate if you said >just like you don't "need" an AR.

I have plenty of guns. Just not the kind /k/ has a boner for.

>>8807022
Do you have a permit for that knife?

>>8807024
It's not a knife, it's an 80% completed edge.
And stop eyeing my doc.

>>8806917
>But you CANT cook an omlette or eggs sunny or easy
Yes, you can. If you know how.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1376ITxF1Oc&t=4s

>>8806516
calling things memes is a meme.

It's better for some things, worse for others. And, yes, it's a meme, but that shouldn't be a reason not to get one. Everything is a meme.