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Cast iron VS non-stick VS stainless steel

Poll Results: What is your preferred cooking surface?

This is a multiple choice poll
  • 57% (4)
    Cast Iron
  • 14% (1)
    Standard Teflon non-stick
  • 28% (2)
    Stainless Steel
  • 0% (0)
    Cast iron with enamel
  • 0% (0)
    Stainless Steel non-stick
7 Total Votes  
post #1 of 9
9/10/12 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 

Which cooking surface/types of pots and pans do you prefer to cook in?  Cast iron?  The pans with teflon non-stick that you find in every store in the country?  Stainless steel?  Cast iron with enamel or stainless steel with teflon non-stick?  Do you alternate but favor one over the others?  I'm curious to see what the community here thinks.

 

As for me:  My vote is for cast iron -- for now.  When I started cooking seriously I decided to get a cast iron skillet (Lodge Logic, 12") given the chemical concerns present with the non-stick pans that were available around the house and I am loving it.  None of the nightmare stories I've heard from my parents about cooking on cast iron have came true, to say the least!  I have a cast iron dutch oven with enamel coating on the way and will be giving a stainless steel skillet a try as soon as possible.  If it's half as good as the cast iron skillet I will not be looking back.

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post #2 of 9
9/10/12 at 6:42pm

You forgot to add carbon steel to your list. That's my favorite. 

 

Stainless steel for acidic cookery. 

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post #3 of 9
9/12/12 at 11:45am

Never used Stainless, but I love using my cast iron skillets at home. They have great versatility and hold heat well.

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post #4 of 9
9/12/12 at 1:17pm

It depends on what I'm making. 

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post #5 of 9
9/12/12 at 4:45pm

If I could only have one, it would be stainless, but I like cooking on them all for different purposes.

more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #6 of 9
9/12/12 at 7:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by phatch View Post

If I could only have one, it would be stainless, but I like cooking on them all for different purposes.

Really, stainless? Care to share why stainless over the other options, particularly Cast Iron?

~If you are what you eat, I am cheap, fast, and easy.

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post #7 of 9
9/12/12 at 7:41pm

clad stainless cooks well, is versatile, non-reactive and easy to care for.

more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #8 of 9
9/12/12 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 808JONO202 View Post

Really, stainless? Care to share why stainless over the other options, particularly Cast Iron?

It's nonreactive and quicker to heat up, lighter to shake, allows to saute stuff, etc... 

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post #9 of 9
9/12/12 at 8:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by French Fries View Post

It's nonreactive and quicker to heat up, lighter to shake, allows to saute stuff, etc... 

Right on, to each their own. Was just curious. 

 

 

Cast Iron for me, cast the vote before posting, but I am 110% in the CI camp.

 

I have some passed down cast iron, well over 100 years old, that cook better than anything else I own, or have been gifted. SO well seasoned, so well loved, every thing I have ever cooked in them seem to have a richness, and depth, that no SS or enamel clad vessel has ever been able to reproduce. . .and for very obvious reasons.

 

I can see the draw for SS, especially when in a restaurant/line style setting, but I love the cast iron for it's even heat, it's heat retention, it's "one size fits all" capabilities.

 

As you mentioned too, earlier in the thread, I like Carbon steel pans as well. Even more so than SS, especially for line cooking.

~If you are what you eat, I am cheap, fast, and easy.

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