Tych2 posted:

---

Most of your cooking is done at medium. You cook at high you learn to eat a lot of burnt food.

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

you cant sear a steak at medium heat.

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

eggs are best cooked in cast iron with a) a ton of butter, or b) a little bit of bacon fat.


teflon cookware is the devil

---

__Bonk__ posted:

---

I have stainless steel, one cast iron seasoned pan, and cheap non stick. I'm thinking of just getting a few high quality non stick instead to complete my set. I cleaned my stainless steel today with stainless steel cleaner.

---

ZigmundZag posted:

---

If I want a steak, I'll cook it on the grill.

When you're cooking for a family, teflon if the way to go. They need to be replaced every few years, but the time you save scrubbing pots and pans is worth the extra money.

---

Azure-TheBlueOne posted:

---

I refuse to cook anything in non-stick, and I have never owned a non-stick pot or pan. Gross.

---

Tych2 posted:

---

Azure-TheBlueOne posted:

---

I refuse to cook anything in non-stick, and I have never owned a non-stick pot or pan. Gross.

---

lol sorry but that's dumb. Even JBF award winners use non-stick pots and pans. Sometimes its the right tool for the job.

---

Elkad posted:

---

The main difference is the amount of oil you use. Good non-stick means you can run the pan almost dry.

---

Elkad posted:

---

Incidentally, anyone tried the new ceramic non-sticks?

---

Elkad posted:

---

Company standards. 2 eggs easy is supposed to be perfectly round, evenly white, etc. Since a lot of your eggs were omelettes anyway, you just run all eggs in the omelette pans on the side burners. You can try keeping a clean spot and using rings on the grill, but that's just annoying. Since you are using the pans, you can just saute-flip them instead of picking up a spatula, which is faster and means less yolk breakage. And if you screw up and finish your eggs before the rest of the plate is ready, they can sit in the pan (off the heat) for a few seconds instead of trying to balance them on a spatula propped over the grease trough.

Edit: er, the flat-top part was to Ptilk I guess. But it still applies. And omelettes on a flat top is just silly.

---

Elkad posted:

---

He said "a line of old people", so it may have been an omelette station at the end of a buffet. No room for a grill there.

---

Cawlin posted:

---

All the diner cooks I've seen do their eggs on flattops from omelets to sunny side ups to over lights to scrambled.

In restaurants where either a) eggs weren't a major component of the menu or b) there was no flat top, yes, egg pans are what I've used. I've never worked in a diner though.

I can see company standards though I guess... but such standards aren't usually part of "Joe Popadopoulis' Jersey Diner"

Also, diner omelets that I've had tend to be just a very thin shell of egg around a bunch of "stuff" rather than some "fluffy" deal...

---

Cawlin posted:

---

ITT: People who don't know anything about physics, chemistry, or cooking.




Cast iron is wonderful for cooking for some things. For doing things like pan cooking a steak, it's the go-to choice if you can't grill.

For cooking eggs, scrambled, fried, over easy, etc., non-stick is the way to go unless you've got a flat-top grill in your home.

As for "good" cookware - I prefer the stainless steel sandwich construction like All-clad over anodized aluminum like Calphalon for all non-cast-iron and non-teflon cooking.






Two hints to people who don't understand how to use non-stick cookware:

1) You can boil water over a campfire in a paper cup or even a styrofoam cup. Think about it.

2) You very rarely need more than medium heat to cook anything on your stovetop. If you are doing "true" saute cooking (most people who say they are, aren't) you will want more than "medium" heat, you want your pan "rocket hot" as AB says, AND you won't be using anything as thin as a non-stick pan anyway, nor would you be using something like cast iron, though you COULD with an exquisitely seasoned cast iron - most people don't own one of these and the "pre-seasoned" ones you get from Lodge won't cut it - though those are excellent.

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

Cawlin posted:

---

ITT: People who don't know anything about physics, chemistry, or cooking.




Cast iron is wonderful for cooking for some things. For doing things like pan cooking a steak, it's the go-to choice if you can't grill.

For cooking eggs, scrambled, fried, over easy, etc., non-stick is the way to go unless you've got a flat-top grill in your home.

As for "good" cookware - I prefer the stainless steel sandwich construction like All-clad over anodized aluminum like Calphalon for all non-cast-iron and non-teflon cooking.






Two hints to people who don't understand how to use non-stick cookware:

1) You can boil water over a campfire in a paper cup or even a styrofoam cup. Think about it.

2) You very rarely need more than medium heat to cook anything on your stovetop. If you are doing "true" saute cooking (most people who say they are, aren't) you will want more than "medium" heat, you want your pan "rocket hot" as AB says, AND you won't be using anything as thin as a non-stick pan anyway, nor would you be using something like cast iron, though you COULD with an exquisitely seasoned cast iron - most people don't own one of these and the "pre-seasoned" ones you get from Lodge won't cut it - though those are excellent.

---

note to cawlin: latent heat of evaporation only works when a change in state of matter is occuring.
tell us what temp a steak melts at, or boils, and maybe then your latent heat of evaporation comment will matter some.



teflon is toxic above 250 degrees.
keep using it. we need to thin herd some.


when my ex moved in with me, the first thing she did was buy a teflon pan and hid my cast iron. i told her to never serve me anything cooked in that pan. i hid it and refused to let her cook unless it was with me doing big breakfasts when she would man one of my skillets while i did the other. she learned to love my cast iron. i think shes even converting her parents to cast iron now.

---

Cawlin posted:

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

Cawlin posted:

---

ITT: People who don't know anything about physics, chemistry, or cooking.




Cast iron is wonderful for cooking for some things. For doing things like pan cooking a steak, it's the go-to choice if you can't grill.

For cooking eggs, scrambled, fried, over easy, etc., non-stick is the way to go unless you've got a flat-top grill in your home.

As for "good" cookware - I prefer the stainless steel sandwich construction like All-clad over anodized aluminum like Calphalon for all non-cast-iron and non-teflon cooking.






Two hints to people who don't understand how to use non-stick cookware:

1) You can boil water over a campfire in a paper cup or even a styrofoam cup. Think about it.

2) You very rarely need more than medium heat to cook anything on your stovetop. If you are doing "true" saute cooking (most people who say they are, aren't) you will want more than "medium" heat, you want your pan "rocket hot" as AB says, AND you won't be using anything as thin as a non-stick pan anyway, nor would you be using something like cast iron, though you COULD with an exquisitely seasoned cast iron - most people don't own one of these and the "pre-seasoned" ones you get from Lodge won't cut it - though those are excellent.

---

note to cawlin: latent heat of evaporation only works when a change in state of matter is occuring.
tell us what temp a steak melts at, or boils, and maybe then your latent heat of evaporation comment will matter some.



teflon is toxic above 250 degrees.
keep using it. we need to thin herd some.


when my ex moved in with me, the first thing she did was buy a teflon pan and hid my cast iron. i told her to never serve me anything cooked in that pan. i hid it and refused to let her cook unless it was with me doing big breakfasts when she would man one of my skillets while i did the other. she learned to love my cast iron. i think shes even converting her parents to cast iron now.

---

My remark about boiling water was not about latent heat or about changes in states of matter. It was about the fact that with non-stick pans, if you let them sit on a burner with nothing in them, they will of course get too hot and become unsafe. However, if you actually are cooking with them with food in the pan, the food will cook before they get too hot - ESPECIALLY if you don't put the heat over medium.

As for toxicity of teflon, I guarantee you that on a daily basis you ingest and inhale more toxic vapors and fumes working around boat engines and all those solvents than you would ingest from 20 years of cooking over medium heat with a teflon pan. You're like the Amish or something about this dude. Lighten up and accept that there may be some exaggeration in the stories you've heard about Teflon's toxicity.

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/healthandfitness/a/nonstickpans.htm

---

eodoll posted:

---

Isnt it difficult to clean cast iron?

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

eodoll posted:

---

Isnt it difficult to clean cast iron?

---

only if you also have problems cleaning your ass

---

Aerlinthian posted:

---

Ceramic nonstick? First I've heard of it as well. If it is truly inert, I'd be interested in checking it out.

---

eodoll posted:

---

Isnt it difficult to clean cast iron?

Ex. No dishwasher, no soap, no hot water, heavy, etc... Seems inconvenient.

I keep a cast iron pan in my bbq grill, i like cooking bacon and grilling onit outside. It prevents flare ups and all the smoke has a place to go.

---

Elkad posted:

---

At Olive Garden, the house pans NEVER left the heat. It was that busy. 11am to 11pm, 7 days a week, then you throw them out. Some of the wear was not caring, but they got used a LOT. 75% of the hot food served there went thru those pans. Including things you'd never expect. No microwaves in the store, so if some mom wanted a bottle of expressed milk reheated, we just dumped it in a saute pan for a few seconds.

Wipe the pan out with a damp towel, and throw in the next order of overpriced mac'n'cheese.

---

Ptilk posted:

---

I've worked flat tops for eggs and omelets. Hate them, but they do have a place in very busy joints. I could lay out 40 or 50 eggs at once on a flat top and by the time I cracked the last one....the first ones were ready for a 5 second flip and onto a plate. I actually prefer pans for eggs, not quite as heavy load friendly, but far superior product and a hell of a lot less work.

I did do an omelet station back in the day. 6 burner mobile burner top, making omelets to order for schmucks that think it's cool to pick 10 ingredients for me to stuff into a 3 egg omelet. You get to be a machine after you do it for a few months. I could make 500 to 600 omelets in a 3 hour brunch rush no problem. Smiling and joking and keeping the customers entertained. Tips weren't bad either. I usually walked with $150-200 easy and I made pretty decent on the hourly as well. Back in college days. I think I'd kill everyone in the room if I had to do something like that now.

I did a bit of work a few years back for resort complex that served 800-1000 daily breakfasts during season. I wasn't a cook thank god, but when it got rolling....anyone that knows what to do throws on an apron and starts pushing the food out....and pushing the kids who are on the verge of tears out of the way.

Had two cooks there that were fricken unbelievable. Those guys would come in so hung over they couldn't see, and still churn out the food looking perfect and fast as hell for 6 straight hours of hell. One of the proudest moments of my varied food service career is when they told the restaurant manager (who worked for me) to get the hell out of the way and let a guy who could hang work the spot and they were talking about me. One guy had been there 27 years and the other 22. Both of them made over 60K a year flipping eggs....and were worth every damn penny.

If I was ever able to go back to work, I'd want to be a short order cook again. It was the hardest I ever worked, the most fun, and the most completely satisfying job I ever had. I cooked in places that charged 150 bucks for a plate of artfully arranged salad ingredients, served 2 presidents and countless celebrities....boring.

---

Orwyn_Blackheart posted:

---

Elkad posted:

---

No microwaves in the store, so if some mom wanted a bottle of expressed milk reheated, we just dumped it in a saute pan for a few seconds.

---

goddamn dude, thats gross. is it safe for the kids?

---

Ptilk posted:

---

If I was ever able to go back to work, I'd want to be a short order cook again. It was the hardest I ever worked, the most fun, and the most completely satisfying job I ever had. I cooked in places that charged 150 bucks for a plate of artfully arranged salad ingredients, served 2 presidents and countless celebrities....boring.

---

sweeny_comodore posted:

---

im sure theres a ton of exaggeration, its the same type of over the top, sky is falling, crap that the plastic bottle scare is, and global warming....

when i left my folks house, i took moms cast iron skillet since she never used it and wouldnt miss it.
its all ive ever used and its all i ever will use. my cast iron collection has no grown to include even a wok.
i just find that toxicity reports a convient excuse to push my agenda of all cast iron, all the time

---

ZigmundZag posted:

---

Aerlinthian posted:

---

Ceramic nonstick? First I've heard of it as well. If it is truly inert, I'd be interested in checking it out.

---

It's never a good sign when antisemites take an interest in nonstick ceramic.

---

Ptilk posted:

---

I've worked flat tops for eggs and omelets. Hate them, but they do have a place in very busy joints. I could lay out 40 or 50 eggs at once on a flat top and by the time I cracked the last one....the first ones were ready for a 5 second flip and onto a plate. I actually prefer pans for eggs, not quite as heavy load friendly, but far superior product and a hell of a lot less work.

---

Ptilk posted:

---

I have a Le Creuset chicken pot. It's an enameled cast iron dutch oven that is shaped like a chicken. I love that thing. It doesn't cook any better than the Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven that I paid 1/4 as much for however. But it's shaped like a chicken!

---