Yea, if you want to use a wok, go to the closest Asian market or restaurant supply place and get one that’s cold rolled carbon steel.
They are relatively cheap and the best - It will need to be seasoned.
I use mine over the high output burner on my propane stove. I let it heat up for 5+ minutes and the heat distribution seems pretty right. It is intense at the bottom and warm up the sides. I control cooking Temp by moving food up and down the sides of the Wok. Cast iron works great for me as a Wok, I thought the idea was for it to have varied temperatures as the food climbs the walls?
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Yeah but isn’t it supposed to be super hot at the bottom? But I was reading the Amazon reviews and everyone there said to preheat for 15 min so I’m going to try that. The steel ones heat up in a second it seems.
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It is certainly slow to heat up. Thing is like a small block Chevy.
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That thick base threw me at first and the Lodge is similar to the Le Creuset cast iron wok in that regard. I later learned that it allows the cast iron wok to hold heat better when you toss in room temp or refrigerated ingredients. They may take some time to heat up but since they hold that heat so well, wok hei seems easier to maintain when you don’t have a burner designed like a jet fighters exhaust nozzle.
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My Great Grandmother gave me some cast iron she cleaned by throwing them in a bonfire for a day. Easy, but not for everyone.
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The Antique v. New doesn’t really acknowledge the great carbon steel cookware coming out now.
And Finex has some great video of their process and mentality.
When I was young and didn’t know any better…I was an inveterate junk-scrounger and second-hand shop aficionado. I bought a cheap Coach purse in decent condition at a thrift shop for a few dollars. And somehow we acquired a Griswold skillet at a low price. We were in a rich area in grad school where students and locals would throw away pretty decent stuff. So perhaps they didn’t care about an old iron skillet or an old Coach bag.
After we moved to Tennessee we had a yard sale and some really aggressive people came 1 hour early (and peed in the backyard). They bought the Coach bag, practically cackling at how stupid we were. The guy said, “I just came to see if you had any Griswolds”. Fortunately we kept it. It is indeed awesome.
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The Finex looks really nifty. I don’t think I can afford $200 for one pan, but it’s good to see new designs available.
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Isn’t it a bad idea to use the self cleaning mode on an oven at all?
Also worth mentioning here
Cast Iron is a Drug. It’s a drug that transforms raw eggs and into something wonderful.
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Also interesting: supposedly you can reverse the protein changes in an egg and un-hard boil it. Maybe we can fix all the people who went CRAAAAAAZY.
While we are at it, we should make them better, faster and stronger.
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venn diagrams! I have one for ‘always’ statements stating someone else’s will or intent.
Not to beat a dead horse here: there is a place for hyperbole and insisting that people always speak in confirmable rational statements may be a mis-application of otherwise excellent principles.
Sorry to be so incredibly late but I meant to comment last week. The closing remark about pancakes in particular drew me. I have a modern thick cast iron skillet with the kind of surface the article describes. I did not spend two days seasoning it etc. it is c.15 years old now bought for 5 yoyos/pounds. I cook pancakes, without oil, every day. They don’t stick. Just leave them alone until they are ready to come free and they will.
I do omelettes too, French style, quickly cooked. But I do use butter for that because I like it. Clarify it first so that you can get a good high temperature without smoking.
I do oil it every now and again and obviously I don’t use detergents on it.
If that’s the key factor, wouldn’t the problem be that there’s not enough air pollution? I’d have thought modern manufacturing would produce less pollution and modern cites are generally cleaner than before (unless the cookware is produced somewhere like China, of course).
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