Keep it low

W. Hilditch

Active member
Cooking with cast iron on a wood, electric or gas stove seldom requires heating the vessel with more than simmer or low heat, but it does require patience. Let’s use a skillet. Given enough time it will heat up on simmer to around 375° F. Enough to burn your bacon. On low it will heat up to over 500° if you give it time. Picture setting your electric fry pan or griddle at 375° or 500°.

If you have the patience to let the skillet heat up correctly then the only reason to turn the heat up is to replace the heat being absorbed by the food. If heated correctly(read slowly) and you add 3 lbs. of ground beef or veggies it will be appropriate to turn it up to high for a while as the food absorbs the heat. Then back down to low or simmer. One lb. of meat will sear well on medium, or less in a good cast iron skillet.

I seldom need to turn up the heat above low, but when I do it is getting serious.

Hilditch
 
Since Ive begun using only cast iron in my house I have noticed I rarely go above the the first "notch" on low on my gas stove. Ive also begun to become more patient :)
 
My new stove has an 18,000 BTU burner, and I couldn't be happier!
I'm mostly just razzing your berries, Hilditch. But that much heat is really nice when you want to put the brown in hash browns using your Wagner No. 12 filled from edge to edge with yummy potatoes.
I do respect that patience and a low flame are an excellent combo for most cooking though. I'm thinking about using a wok ring to bring some evenness to the equation, especially with larger thinner irons.
 
Damn, my Thermador only puts out 11,000! I think you got a turkey frier good for 5 lbs. of potatoes in a skillet. A wok ring, like a high base with a waffle iron, may work well to even out the heat. But it is still OK to go slow.

Hilditch

PS: Bet you can't flip the whole thing.
 
For those without the numbers, my gas stovetop’s smallest burner, when constantly on simmer, puts out 1,300 BTU/hr. This is too hot to percolate coffee so I have to use a diffuser and turn it up a hair to get the right perk point for a 8 cup coffee pot.

My large burner starts at 1650 BTU/hr and goes up to 11,000.

Hilditch
 
This is for those with electric stovetops rated in watts. Officially 1w = 3.412 BTU’s/hr. This is BS. Input watts has almost noting to do with output heat or power.

I discovered this years ago while comparing electric stand mixers. More than one manufacturer at 300 watts has more power than Westinghouse at 575 watts. Watt input does not equal power or heat.

It is nice to know what you are dealing with. A pot of water and a skillet with a known smoking point of some oil is the best way to learn your electric stove. Forget the numbers.

Hilditch
 
I recently got a nice new dual wireless thermo. Over the holiday I made a prime rib and was able to temp the meat and the oven at the same time. Shocking to see how off the oven can be. Started the oven at 375 and watched it climb to 428 before I opened the door instead of losing the meat. Once it dropped to 375 it stayed there but for some reason when my oven preheats, it goes nuts.
 
Many electric ovens also turn on the broiler element during pre-heating. Not hot enough to glow red, though. Could be it was just your thermometer probe placement.
 
Many electric ovens also turn on the broiler element during pre-heating. Not hot enough to glow red, though. Could be it was just your thermometer probe placement.

I thought that so I moved it around. Nope.... Its gas also. Only did it on preheat. Once I opened the oven and let it drop it stayed stead pretty close
 
From a June 4, 2015 post on Cast Iron Seasoning:

"IMPORTANT! Verify your ovens temps. It's reported that they can vary as much as 75° from the setting by a service tech. Not abnormal in newer ovens. Set at 475° mine cycles between 450° and 485°. Few are this exact. Over 500° is the danger zone."

Hilditch
 
Mine went from 350 to about 390 when set at 375, after the initial horror. Im glad I start at 250 when seasoning. That thing might get to 700 if set at 450 :chuckle:
 
In reference to post #7, one must multiply the input watts by the conversion efficiency which can be as low as .1 to get output watts before multiplying for BTUs. Without the conversion efficiency factor watts mean nothing for heat or power. Also remember that watt figures are the maximum number for any one burner, not the minimum. Of course, companies do not publish conversion efficiency factors or you would have a way to compare apples to apples.

Hilditch
 
Gee, you guys are all so high tech! I'm cooking on a well worn gas range, ca. 1938, I think, and the technique is: light the burner, adjust the flame, and keep a close eye on it.:D Well, it works most of the time!
 
Gee, you guys are all so high tech! I'm cooking on a well worn gas range, ca. 1938, I think, and the technique is: light the burner, adjust the flame, and keep a close eye on it.:D Well, it works most of the time!

In my opinion the gas burners on 1930's range tops were more high tech than current offerings. My old O'keefe & Merritt had a more precise burners, all with inner and outer rings that delivered even heat over a wide range of temps. New stoves have crude burners with only one of them having inner and outer rings if your lucky. The ovens that are attached to them are infinitely better in just about every way though, so it's a trade off.
 
Not necessarily more high tech, just better thought out. Someone with expertise in fluid dynamics took the time to ensure optimal fuel flow across the whole operating range of the burner. The burners on my modern (and not cheap) gas stove get pretty turbulent when you crank 'em up. They get noisy and the flames get real fuzzy looking. I've seen cheap burners that can't hold a consistent flame across the whole burner when set to low/simmer. Sections of it peter out and then reignite for no apparent reason. My best guess is that the pressure and exit velocity are so low the gas disperses with ambient air before it leaves the nozzle. The old school burners I've seen don't do any of that. The last two stoves I've owned have/had difficulty igniting the largest burner. I keep a campfire lighter within reach because of that. They just don't make 'em like they used to.
 
Not necessarily more high tech, just better thought out. Someone with expertise in fluid dynamics took the time to ensure optimal fuel flow across the whole operating range of the burner. The burners on my modern (and not cheap) gas stove get pretty turbulent when you crank 'em up. They get noisy and the flames get real fuzzy looking. I've seen cheap burners that can't hold a consistent flame across the whole burner when set to low/simmer. Sections of it peter out and then reignite for no apparent reason. My best guess is that the pressure and exit velocity are so low the gas disperses with ambient air before it leaves the nozzle. The old school burners I've seen don't do any of that. The last two stoves I've owned have/had difficulty igniting the largest burner. I keep a campfire lighter within reach because of that. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Possibly a supply issue?
 
Holy cow, you guys are hi tec. When I need my pan hotter I just open the door at the bottom of the stove and add more wood.:-D
 
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