Spyderco Forums

Well...Do you cook in steel, aluminum, teflon coated, cast iron....or one of the "new fangled" ones ie.. orgreenic, copper/titanium/diamond coated, etc, etc...Or do you have a mish-mash of various types and styles???

What do you like/dislike about your favorites?? Anything you'd like to try instead??

I cook in cast iron about 80% of the time but have a set of old 70's era aluminum Club cookware (the harvest gold color) and a set of Wagner Magna-Lite aluminum from around the same vintage. Love the cast iron and like the aluminum stuff...they all cook well but I seem to grab the cast most of the time.

And if you think Spyderco buying is addictive...I have 50+ pieces of vintage (50yo or older) cast iron cookware and probably close to that in aluminum. Yes, it's addictive too, if you love to cook.

I use cast iron for most cooking. Look at my screen name. It's not about cooking, but cast iron is a spiritual material for me. Cast iron is just plain cool, no matter what it's made into. The newest of our CI cookware is a giant frying pan that my mom bought me in the 80's. Most of what we have belonged to my wife's grandmother, probably from the 50's or 40's. We have enough cast iron that we blew out one of the custom shelves in the kitchen, so I had to do some reinforcement. If anyone is shopping for new cast iron, one characteristic that sets the good stuff apart is a machined surface on the inner bottom. The lesser quality is rough cast, and isn't so much of a joy to cook on. And ladies, cooking on CI will increase your dietary iron intake.

I use to do a lot of it in cast iron. Loved it.

Since my heart attack, I've moved back home and we use stainless. Have to go get my cast iron pans from Chicago....they are at the apartment there.

Demeyere 7-layer “silvinox” stainless steel pans are great. The welded-on handles eliminate those blasted rivets inside the pan, and the thick layered construction heats very evenly. Also, the handles stay cool. I also use cast iron, but less than before (no rivets!)

Basically use two types. The first type is a mix of 50+ year old Farberware stainless steel saucepans and frying pans with cast aluminum slugs attached to the bottoms and some recent Tramontina stock pots of similar construction. The other type are Cuisinart saucepans in stainless steel with non-stick coating.

Solid stainless heavy duty ( brand unknown). They are about 25 years old and still going strong. I can slice meat up in them with no issues except to the knives and clean up is quickly done with a soap impregnated brillo pad. They don't heat as quickly as some copper bottom pots I have but they are bulletproof and easy.

Joe

Copper Chef. My wife likes it and it does work well. Also have some Todd English cookware...couple of big pots and a huge pan. Good stuff to cook on!

Analon Advanced pans are really nice, but a little on the pricey side. The ones we have are from estate sales, though, so we got great deals on them. But imo, everyone needs a good Lodge cast iron pan. Watch the Alton Brown video on how to properly season them, and they are amazing. It's very convenient to sear something like pork chops in the cast iron, then stick the whole pan in the oven to finish.

I've been on a cast iron kick for the last few years. Indoor, outdoor, oven, grill or campfire it really does make the best food. (Note the worn Teflon coating of my better half's skillet)

Stainless steel or cast iron for everything except eggs. I fry or scramble eggs in an enameled cast iron pan or a nonstick pan (my only piece of nonstick cookware). My favorite pan is an iron skillet that is 60 years old and was my grandmother's. Smoother than glass from decades of use.

xceptnl wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:37 pm

I've been on a cast iron kick for the last few years. Indoor, outdoor, oven, grill or campfire it really does make the best food. (Note the worn Teflon coating of my better half's skillet)

They really are the best - so versatile and they'll last forever if you take care of them.

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 31, 2020 8:29 pm

xceptnl wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:37 pm

I've been on a cast iron kick for the last few years. Indoor, outdoor, oven, grill or campfire it really does make the best food. (Note the worn Teflon coating of my better half's skillet)

They really are the best - so versatile and they'll last forever if you take care of them.

They do. I will admit they are more work than some other styles of cookware. My wedding gift cookware is a nice set of Calphalon stainless with the slab aluminum bottoms. They have lasted us almost 18 years now and look brand new after a little elbow greese and BKF. The cast iron in the picture is an ultra inexpensive Ozark Trail model from Walmart but its also 14" and I love the addition cooking surface for anything I prepare.

My pans are usually round although some are more squareish.

Cast iron

Lodge cast iron, cheap, made in the USA. They dont come with a smooth machined finish today but after seasoning and cooking the get pretty smooth. I can slide an egg around all day long, and scrambled eggs dont stick.

Dont buy a Chinese brand, they could have lead or who knows whats in the metal.

Our main pans are a stainless - aluminium - stainless laminate and work well except the totally non non-stick fry pan!

I bought a cheap CI pan for the bbq a few years ago and sanded smooth the bottom with a circular disc sanding attachment for my drill. Messy but it worked.

Most of the cast iron cookware we see this side of the pond is Le Creuset style enamel coated, which is good but can’t take the high temperatures of a grill.

All oil based cooking except deep frying gets the cast iron. Anything water based gets stainless.

ChrisinHove wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 01, 2020 2:29 am

Our main pans are a stainless - aluminium - stainless laminate and work well except the totally non non-stick fry pan!

I bought a cheap CI pan for the bbq a few years ago and sanded smooth the bottom with a circular disc sanding attachment for my drill. Messy but it worked.

Most of the cast iron cookware we see this side of the pond is Le Creuset style enamel coated, which is good but can’t take the high temperatures of a grill.

I've seen some domestic boutique companies over here offering machined and polished CI. Super expensive in my opinion, but I'd be willing to try it on a flea market find. Thanks for the recommendation.

Cast iron for us. We also have one ikea non-stick pan that the we use for particularly sticky foods that are a pain to clean out of the cast iron, but 95% of the time it's cast iron.

My main cooking pan is stainless steel.

I also have a non-stick one, coated with either Teflon or ceramic(?) or whatever, I forget. I rarely use the non-stick pan, though.

Jim