I know BA caught flack last year for being white centric or racially insensitive or whatever, and I'm glad to see the gear change, sincerely, but let's not let natural talent like this go to waste when there's an essentially unlimited audience. Everybody loves confident, well presented ladies. White, black, red, green, and everything in between. 😑😝🤣🤣🤣❤️
Every video on RU-vid gets this wrong. Cast iron is great because it conducts heat really POORLY. That's why we use aluminum in clad pans. Steel conducts heat worse than aluminum. So the thin layers of steel are used for the cooking surface properties, but the layers of aluminum are used to spread heat quickly. Poor conduction means the heat spreads evenly because hot spots can't form as quickly. You can't have a pan with good heat retention (which you also say happens) and also have good heat conduction. The heat would disappate quickly.
@Mr. Popo make your own RU-vid video and dazzle us with your wealth of knowledge on the conductive properties of cast iron. I would bet all the money in the world she’s a much better cook than you and she did it all while using the wrong language to discuss the properties of cast iron cookware.
Well or poorly are relative terms. One could argue that the way cast iron conducts heat is inefficient, although it is well suited for cooking. So if you’re cooking with cast iron, it conducts heat really well.
@@dylanking2013 what I said has nothing to do with my cooking ability. But I bet I know a lot more about material science as a chem major and physics minor. You're an idiot without a clue of context. Anybody who has Google can easily look up a metals heat conductance
@@xacket1 yes, iron conducts heat better than wood, but if we're talking about stuff that's actual cookware, then it is RELATIVELY poor at conducting heat
When I use a cast iron as a "panini press", I heat the cast iron pan, also. Then, you just put the hot pan on top of the sandwich and you don't have to flip it!
A fundamental error about how cast iron works: the material does NOT conduct heat efficiently, but stores and retains a lot of it. This is why it needs time for heating up and also why you have a good browning.
It's actually both. Metals conduct heat faster than air. The main reason that metals are good conductors is that the velocity of electrons in a metal is much bigger than the velocity of air molecules. As compared to something like stainless steel: Stainless steel exhibits a low thermal conductivity of 15 W/(mK), The thermal conductivity of cast iron is approximately 40 W/(m.K). That's more watts transferred in cast iron than stainless steel, so it's a pretty great conductor of heat. If you want to talk about how quickly the pan can adapt to temperature changes as a function of mass, that's largely entirely different concept than thermal conductivity. *flys away*
OMG yes! cast iron pans get hot spots, you preheat it so it evens out. god it's one of my pet peeves when people especially people who claim to be knowledgeable
ok so it's been a while since I watched a BA video since all of the change but why has one of the changes been BA no longer using a tripod for their cameras! Seriously it feels like I'm on a boat with the constant swaying and rocking of the camera
I love my cast iron pens for searing my sous-vide meats. Just got a carbon steel wok today to which many of the same principles about seasoning apply, so I'm looking forward to this addition. I burned it in and seasoned it today and the first result was excellent. If anyone had told me in my 20's that I'd enjoy cooking as much as I do now, I would have called them crazy, but like with every hobby: Owning the right tools plays a big role in it too. ..and it seems women like men who know how to cook also. ;)
One correction: cast iron does NOT heat evenly. Cast iron is not a good conductor of heat compared to, for example, a stainless steel pan with a layer of copper in the base. It does retain heat much better, though.
For searing try avacado oil. The smoke point is about 480 degrees to 520 degrees F depending on the type. All I know is that it works great and the taste is amazing.
The big question still looms......will they ever revert back to filming in the test kitchen, the main element that made Bon Appetit so great in the first place.
With all due respect, Bon Appetit was great a long, long time ago, when they were simply a beautiful print magazine with solid recipes & cooking tips that had something for cooks at all levels. The whole "BA Test Kitchen" personalities thing was great - loved it - but its a very, very recent creature of the social media age. Which is fine! But BA had a presence & beloved role it played in all of our lives a long time before the "youtuber-personality-driven-media-vehicle" came into being. Does this make me sound like a super-crotchety "you kids get off my lawn" or "get a hair-cut!" kind of old person? I'm really sorry if it does. Not intended. Just...feel like I needed to step in and defend BA for being great in eras before internet-insanity re-jiggered the algorithm of what "success" has to look like. Carry on. x.
I thought I was watching Tasty channel and I thought to myself "man they've stepped up their game." Until I saw the ending. No wonder why the content was good😅
Great content! I would say for that last section, instead of using the pan as a press, cook in the pan & get an actual press like you'd use for bacon, I picked up a round 'Lodge' one at Walmart for just under 15 dollars.
They do not "conduct more heat", they retain more heat because of their density, meaning that when food touches the pan there is more heat for it to absorb. The food doesn't "cool" the pan off as much.
So many people keep perpetuating that lie or misconception. Cast iron is actually terrible at heat conduction. Way worse than copper or aluminum. You'd get faster cooking in either of those materials with a stove that was hot enough to keep the temperature up. Cast iron is just more foolproof.
Yes, very much a pleasure! I'm new to the 'cast iron' thing so I'm still learning & this gave me tips & ideas I hadn't thought of but will definitely try.
if you're spatchcocking a chicken definitely pre heat the cast iron pan in the oven, if you preheat the oven to 500 just put the cast iron in when you start it and by the time it's preheated it'll be hot enough, throw the chicken skin side down in it, then back in the oven for 30 minutes at 500 and you'll have perfect crispy skin and tender meat. You can also use another skillet or other type of heavy implement resting on top to flatten the chicken out and press more surface area against the skillet.
OMG , you can even hammer a nail into the wall, use this a shield during school shooting or just as a heat shield for spaceX rocket when reentering earths atmosphere, amazing
Slice the fat on the pork chop every few inches so it stays flat. If not the meat constricts and the fat band pulls up, making it not flat and not able to get a good crust.
Kendra says "...there are some pans that you can't transfer to the oven beyond a certain degree..." It's a crying shame that our schools no longer teach our children the English language. Is she talking about angle, step in a process, social rank, or temperature?
Seasoning a skillet/cast iron means to coat it in a VERY thin coat of oil and heat the skillet till the oil is past smoking. This converts the oil into a polymer which, over time, will make your skillet more and more nonstick. This process also prevents rust as raw cast iron or cast iron with little seasoning is prone to rust if stored with moisture present. Never throw your cast iron products into the dish washer as the heat and chemicals will strip all your seasonings and rust like crazy.
@@Chaoticsful It's wrong because cast iron does not conduct heat well or evenly. This fact is the very reason why cast iron pans must be pre-heated before you put food in. And what's wrong about your sentence is that it's a question but you did not end it with a question mark.
As an avid cast iron user, daily, and for many years, I do agree with a few things in this video. However, I have some critiques on the "Searing" in cast iron. -1- You don't need to heat up your cast iron pan for a "significant amount of time." Often, you will find, that the pan heats up just as fast as any other pan for your purposes. Heating up too slow for you? Turn the heat up. Cast Iron is very receptive to the heat level you apply, and also retains heat well. So, as your pan is heating up on a HIGH heat to your desired temperature, and you begin to reach said temperature, lower the heat down to what you actually wish to maintain the heat at. You aren't hurting the iron by doing this. -2- Watching for your pan to be hot enough based on the oil's shimmer or level of viscosity? I disagree. My oil shimmers and runs easy when I'm making eggs, and that's definitely not at sear-level temperature heat, and is a poor indication of what heat you need for searing. Well below sear-level temp, in fact. If that's the only thing we're looking at, we're in trouble. If you're searing, then a light smoke (emphasis on light) that is coming off the pan is a good indication of the temperature because oil smokes at a certain temperature, and a well-kept cast iron even without oil will begin to smoke when it's really hot which is what you need when searing. -3- Vegetable oil does have a high smoke point (around 460 F) but is also extremely unhealthy for you in comparison to other options. So unhealthy that if a recipe ever called for purely vegetable oil with no substitute, I would opt to not make nor eat said recipe. I'm surprised a channel titled "Bon Appetit" with 6m+ subscribers would ever recommend vegetable oil, but I digress. Avocado oil is leaps and bounds a healthier option that also has a high smoke point while remaining neutral in flavor. There are other options available that are also healthier than vegetable oil, albeit not as healthy as Avocado oil. Olive oil is considered a low-smoke point oil even though it is healthy like Avocado oil, and so should not be used with high heat cooking in a cast iron for searing, but works perfect for any low-medium cooking in a cast iron. I often use olive oil when I am making eggs in the cast iron, and no, eggs never stick when I do it! That's a different topic, but one thing I can say is take care of your cast iron and it will take care of you: season it well, and preserve that seasoning, cook to cook. I foresee some comments regarding when oil is smoking that means its producing free radicals and producing acrolein and will ruin the taste of your dish and is unhealthy for you. First, you should be listening to your senses and perhaps a timer you set when your pan is ready, not the smoke alarm, so please use common sense. Second, as I stated before, I cook in cast iron, not sometimes, all the time. The only time I don't use cast iron is when I am making a soup stock, and even then, I could make that in a cast iron if I really wanted to, but I don't own a cast iron pot large enough. I have made dishes exclusively in cast iron for years (as long as I've been able to cook as a kid) and have used this technique to sear many things and especially to make steaks that trump steakhouse restaurant quality. It works. When you are searing, you want that pan HOT. Not kind of hot, not just about hot, you need it HOT if you want to develop a good sear especially on steaks. I'm talking 500 F hot, and that is about where a lot of high-smoke-point oils will show the smoke you're seeing. Whether you want to use my methods above or not is entirely up to you. If you're more scientific, buy an Infrared Thermometer gun and take the guesswork out of waiting to see a light smoke coming off the cast iron pan. Either way, buy a cast iron and get cooking!
@calebboatsman7856 you are very knowledgeable it seems on cast iron cookware. What was surprising to me was your claim that avocado has a neutral taste pallet. It actually does have a taste pallet and why cook to cook seasoning with it shouldn't be done if your goal is zero taste pallet for the cookware. Especially if your cook to cook seasoning isn't a complete polymerization process where the oil molecules aren't 100% carbonized to the pan. Also if your pan is preheated "dry" to 500°F and your seeing any smoke it's because there is some un-polymerized oil molecules still on the cookware "still wet" molecularly even though it doesn't show on a paper towel. Alas when you pull the baked seasoning processed cookware out of the 500°F oven it's not smoking but 100% polymerized because you gave it enough time to complete like 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Now refined Canola oil has a smoke point of 460°F to 500°F based on it's refinement, and with a ZERO taste pallet. Which is why it's my choice to use as a seasoning oil. Along long with it's stronger polymerized bond it makes with the cookware, ergo won't flake off like Flaxseed oil can because its weaker bond produced over the fact that molecule bonds so easily break between the Hydrogen Oxygen anything else and the Carbon. Just getting Jiggy on the chemistry side of things and I know if I said this in a crowd of Cast iron afficienados a bunch would lose their minds over the Flaxseed oil statement. 🤯
you have to be careful while baking because the cast iron hold heat and you can burn your bottoms. When you have nice looking Bake but when you take it out it is rather burnt.
Cast iron pans can also be used to keep your husband in line. Be careful though, cast iron may crack when it comes in contact with a hard surface. LOL .
You heat the plain oil to the starting edge of the smoke point, and then it drops down when you put in the meat. Good cooking is all about heat control.
@@JD-wz9il I guess you've never eaten BBQ, or toast. Most people like a bit of char and smoke on their food - both meat and veggies. There's a fine line between controlled caramelization, smoky and charred versus burnt and overly bitter. That line is a personal preference.
Great for patching jeans. Cut a patch using glue gun put glue all over patch put on hole and press down with a heated cast iron pan. Patch will never come off.
Copper conducts heat like a champ. Cast iron does not and that is why it takes a long time to heat up and also why it retains energy really well. Please correct this and resubmit.
The only problem with my cast-iron pan is that the handle is one with the pan, no coating. So it can burn you if you don't use a towel! It's the only pan I use when searing meat. That reminds me, I need to order a mortar and pestle... I should have used my cast iron but I just used a chef's knife to crush coriander seeds the other day. I'm gonna make a panini for dinner now! Nice video thanks!
7: Use a Cast Iron Skillet as a plate! No need to set the table, just put the Cast Iron Skillet directly on the table after cooking and your food will stay perfectly warm! 8: Use a Cast Iron Skillet as a water boiler! Just pour the water directly into the Cast Iron Skillet, and you can see exactly when the water is perfectly boiling! 9: Use a Cast Iron Skillet as a foot bath! Just heat up your water slightly and place the Cast Iron Skillet on the floor, and you're ready to relax with a perfectly warm foot spa! 10: Use a Cast Iron Skillet as a hat! When it's raining outside and you don't want to get your hair wet, the Cast Iron Skillet is a great tool to make sure your hair stays perfectly dry, all day!
@@Cyrribrae so long as the utensils aren’t metal yeah. People get over overzealous with force when serving or cutting into stuff so I’d be worried about the seasoning using metal utensils.
@@joshw.2739 no worries, metal won't hurt your pan and if you do scratch the seasoning no biggie it'll fill in soon enough. Metal spat.s and chainmail scurbbers are preferred here. Keeps things smooth&clean.
Wash it, best not to use soap. Hard bits best to use a scraper made for the task. Towel dry it a bit and put back on the stove on low till it's really dry. pour a bit of veg oil in and with a very folded up paper towel so you don't burn yourself spread it all over the pan. Don't let it pool up, get off all excess. It's not as bad as it sounds, and after a while you'll probably love it.
Cast Iron does not conduct heat well or evenly. I wish that idea that would die. It does have decent thermal mass due to the sheer amount of material present (even though it has poor specific heat), thus it can resist change in temperature once hot. We don't have to guess about these things. There are very clear and relevant material properties which allow us to make accurate assessments as to the performance expected.
Cast iron seems to have a roughly similar specific heat as stainless steel and carbon steel. Not sure what you mean when you say that it has poor specific heat. The thermal conductivity of cast iron is also on par if not better than that of the different forms of steel. So cast iron does conduct heat well and also spreads heat evenly as long as you wait till the pan is heated and don't continually blast the pan at high heat.
@@nontrivialdog I agree that there are other cookwear materials which are similarly bad. However, within the pantheon of materials, Cast Iron is quite poor in the aforementioned properties (as are carbon steel and pure stainless). Stainless clad aluminum or copper gives notably better overall heat transfer, and the aluminum variants also excel at overall stored energy (not far off CI without the mass). Same is true of heavy aluminum cookwear. On the negative, they tend to be less "non-stick," as there is not a lot of ability to season SS or aluminum (can anodize aluminum). However, if you heat before adding oil, you can still get a quite delightful cooking experience and the fond is useful.
Her: you see this metal pot, you can use it to hit people... also step on it and hammer a nail with it Me: Is that really using it Her: also press your bread with it Me: ...
@@sdfopsdmsdofjmp7863 Cast iron RETAINS heat really well, it does NOT conduct heat well. Aluminum conducts heat extremely well but doesn’t retain heat well. See the difference?
@@tpn1110 Eh. Cast iron conducts reasonably well, and more than enough for any cooking application. Yes, aluminium is much better, but that doesn't make cast iron bad.
Yup, I use my somewhat heavy 12 inch cast iron skillet on my electric glass top stove regularly. I just try to be careful when lifting it so that it doesn't accidentally fall out my hands and hit the stovetop.
My experience that the issues with cast iron on a glass top is not just dropping it. There seems to be some rough spots that scratch the glass….does anyone have a solution for that? (Interesting that my le Creuset pots are fine on the glass but my Lodge cast iron fry pans are rough on the bottom).
You guys’ content has taken a serious nose dive in quality in my opinion. I really liked it before. These days I’m barely getting through a video. It really feels like interesting food has taken the backseat to being trendy and thats a bummer.
