>GRANITIUM non-stick has degraded to the point where raw oil seemingly starts sticking to it>no visible damage whatsoever>tired of non-stick being shit, but restricted at shelf space, so keep one around anyway instead of buying a variety of alternatives>decide to bite the bullet and by Miyazaki Seisakusho GEO Saute Fry Pan™ instead of the non-stick as opposed to in addition to it>the best fried egg of my life followed by an amazing fusilli all'assassina>expectedly, nothing sticksMan, was I missing out with that ARR-focused marketer trash.What cookware do you guys use? What's your daily driver, and what you got to expand your options with more specialized tools?I have this naked cast iron pot, which is pretty damn great for what it does (being a huge hunk of iron), but I don't cook often enough to get it to the point where I can afford not to baby it.
>>22181827Bought a carbon steel pan not too long ago, never been happier.
>>22181827I use this daily and i have a larger non stick for omelettes.
>>22181827I dont have a pic of it on hand, but it aint special. A lodge 10.5" CI pan with a lid and that burger press thing (great for lots of stuff). I was gifted an Our Place 12.5" pan a while ago. It is good for larger dishes because of how tall the sides are, and also good for when I need 2 pans I guess. My brother swears by steel, I just havent tried it out yet.
>>22182301Cast Iron makes great steaks and burgers.I have issues with mine because basically every recipe I reach out for is not friendly to cast iron - I'm boiling shit in it, cooking tomatoes, braising, steaming, etc.All the things you can occasionally do in a mature cast iron pan that was used for months to fry oily stuff to develop some proper seasoning.But I barely even cook.Stainless just works if you're fine with high-temp frying with fat.It also just works if you're cooking acidic stuff or are planning to deglaze with wine.In general, things that rely on fond and deglazing works better for stainless than for cast iron, because properly seasoned cast iron doesn't trap as much fond to begin with.Like, my cast iron pot would cook some great pilaf, but the lid's seasoning (it doubles as a frying pan) would suffer from all the condensation, and if I'd decide to actually store the pilaf in the pot - it'd start developing rust in the fridge.So I'd have to portion it out elsewhere immediately.
Mueller Stone for eggs and stuffHestan stainlessCast iron
>>22182319Excellent use case for the steel. I use that non stick our place pan when I want to deglaze with wine or make a sauce. It seems to work well, but I have no basis for comparison to steel. Steel for high temp frying could be interesting. I havent cooked like that before, so opening up more options is great. Would I be correct in assuming that most steel pans are made pretty much the same? (Aside from aesthetic and handle material differences) I have seen All-Clad at some local stores, is that a decent brand? Do you ever use your steel in the oven, or is that more of a CI thing?I guess storing things in the pot is more normal than I thought. I always transfer to another dish to store food in, with the exception of glass casserole dishes.
>>22182362All clad doesn't have a rolled lip and the layers are exposed
>>22182368Oh wow. That seems pretty bad. I am a mechanic, and I see what happens when stuff gets trapped between sheets of metal. It is never good.
>>22182374It's more about the aluminum degrading and the layers becoming more pronounced or even separating, or becoming sharpStainless is fine in the oven
>>22182362Stainless differ mainly with what and how many layers they use, and then the overall thickness -> thermal capacity.The rest of the differences are design/function/cosmetic kind of a deal.e.g. the pan in the OP is a saute pan, so it has higher vertical walls to reduce splatter and comes with a lid included.It's also pretty thick and heavy so it has above average thermal capacity - not as good as cast iron, but better than a cheap off-the-shelf stainless steel would.The walls are curved in a way that make tossing very easy - that's a design feature of this specific pan and not steel/saute pans in general.The lid is apparently well suited for steaming/braising, but I'm yet to test that one out.As far as I know, exposed layers for stainless isn't that big of deal, but it usually makes them dishwasher unsafe.And a general thing to keep in mind about stainless is to not dump a blazing-hot pan into cold water, as that can warp the pan.Otherwise, they are pretty much the pans that require the least hassle.As long as it doesn't have a retarded plastic handle, you can put it in the oven just fine.Non-sticks generally don't accumulate fond well (until they degrade to the point where stuff starts sticking to them, meaning you probably want to discard the pan anyway), don't heat up as well as steel, and shouldn't be operated on as high temperatures as steel should as that directly degrades the coating.They do help with low-temp low-fat frying, which is not something stainless is particularly well suited for.
>>22182394Thanks anon. I appreciate the time you took to teach all of that. When my non-stick pan eventually dies, I am going to look into a SS 3 ply pan with taller sides, a top, and as light as I can get. Essentially the opposite to my cast iron. That should cover pretty much everything I would want to cook. After reading this thread, it seems like I should really be using SS for some of the stuff I use my CI for.
