# Cast iron VS non-stick VS stainless steel



## geodude (Aug 23, 2012)

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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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

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

Stainless steel for acidic cookery.


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## remy (Sep 11, 2012)

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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## chicagoterry (Apr 3, 2012)

It depends on what I'm making.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

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


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## 808jono202 (Sep 3, 2012)

phatch said:


> 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?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

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


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

808JONO202 said:


> 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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## 808jono202 (Sep 3, 2012)

French Fries said:


> 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.


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