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Colorcast iron skillet9/5/2023 With copper, temperature is incredibly even. On an electric stove with a large burner, I've still seen temperatures vary by over 50 degrees F over a cast iron pan's surface, particular on high heat. So, even with a reasonably even heat source under the whole bottom of the pan, you'll still have more hot or cold spots than in most other materials. Even so, imperfections in the manufacturing process for cast iron (which are generally cheaply made) will result in magnified actual "hot spots" in the pan. Induction should also work better than gas. If you have an electric stove whose burner size is roughly the size of your cast iron pan, the numbers will get a lot better, though still not as good as copper. Even very large ring burners will create a ring-shaped hot "spot" in large pan on higher heat. ![]() To be clear, I was testing this on a gas range with reasonably sized (not professional giant) burners. Unless it's something you're planning on stirring constantly, it's just not worth it. Again and again, I saw dishes that were unevenly cooked because of cast iron, and not just on my own stove. Copper was only about 25-30F.Ī minimum differential of 100 degrees is a huge difference in cooking. In contrast, an aluminum skillet had a differential of around 50F or a little more between the center and edge of the bottom of the pan. (At some burner levels, that differential was even as great as 200F.) Basically, with a 10-inch cast iron skillet, I would usually see a temperature difference of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit between the center and the outer edge of the bottom of the pan - and that was even after preheating slowly until the skillet came to equilibrium. But I needed to test it myself to see how bad it was. If you look up the conductivity numbers for cast iron compared to other kitchen metals, that should tell you enough. With an infrared thermometer one weekend a few years back, I tested the surface temperatures of various pans placed over various levels of heat. So, if you need to be able to stop the temperature rise in your Hollandaise sauce at a moment's notice, keep the copper pan.Īnyhow, I know cast iron fans (of which I used to be a big one) sometimes don't believe me when I say things like this. In sum, cast iron fails to heat evenly, and it can't change temperature quickly. Boiling water or applications where you might evaporate water out of a cast iron pan (e.g., steaming an oven) will eventually strip off the seasoning on cast iron if you do it too much.Any dish that you want evenly browned or for which even doneness across a large surface area is important, unless you have a burner that heats evenly under that entire area of the pan's surface.Temperature-sensitive dishes where you want to avoid browning (e.g., French omelets).Acidic dishes that need to be cooked or simmered for a long time - it's okay to cook them for a short time in a well-seasoned pan, but simmering tomato-based chili for a whole day in your dutch oven will often end up adding a metallic flavor.particularly if they need to be cooked down (low simmering might be okay with a large burner) Other thick sauces (e.g., tomato), gravies, etc.Sensitive sauces, particularly egg-based sauces which depend on fine temperature control. ![]() Cooking custards, milk dishes, and other things that could burn easily and quickly.I know there's a lot of kitchen lore out there about how cast iron "heats evenly," but after years of using it and being frustrated by pancakes that were brown on only one corner on my cast iron griddle or grilled cheese sandwiches that would brown in only one area on my skillet, I decided to do some serious testing.īefore I get to the details of that, let me just give a list of places where I think cast iron would be a bad idea: ![]() Cast iron is one of the slowest conductors of heat among the materials for pots and pans, so it will take a long time to change temperature.Īlso, cast iron's response is slow enough that it's easy to generate hot spots or hot areas in the pan. However, I now use it only rarely for specialized tasks, which I'll explain.Ĭast iron and copper have completely different thermal properties, which will impact their usefulness for various tasks.Ĭopper is one of the fastest conductors of heat (the fastest that is practical for making pans out of), so it has very fast response time. I never used it for every kitchen task, but I have a lot of cast iron pans and pots, and at my peak a few years back, I was probably using it for 80-90% of my cooking. First, I'll say that I used to be a big fan of cast iron.
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