How hot does it get in there?

W. Hilditch

Active member
I put my Lodge10 SK covered on a 3 1/2” gas burner at it’s lowest setting (1,650 btu/hr). After 20 minutes this shows the air temperature in the skillet when it leveled out.



Hilditch
 
To me this is a strong indication of why cast iron cooking can be done on low heat. If simmer produces heat equal to a moderate oven, low would put it equal to the hot range and above that seems unnecessary for most cooking. The skillet will get hot enough for searing on low/medium.

Higher heat can be appropriate for things like cooking a full pan of veggies or browning a large amount of ground meat to boil off moisture.

Hilditch
 
I guess I'm still failing to miss the point. From my cooking experience, a simmer is still a simmer and a sear is still a sear. It doesn't matter what vessel you're using whether it's a clay pot, stainless steel, copper, cast iron, anodized aluminum, etc.

I was cooking a very large pot of spaghetti sauce the other day in a hard anodized aluminum pot. I am able to get my gas cooktop to cook with an even lower flame than its lowest simmer setting by actually turning my knob all the way past high to almost off. That was the only way I could get that pot to simmer rather than do a slow boil for the 4 hours I was cooking the sauce. I don't see that your experiment validates anything except cooking can be done at low heat. I like cast iron as much as the next guy, but I don't believe it has any special "low heat cooking" properties. Once water gets to boiling at 212° F it never gets hotter. You can boil it faster, but the temperature never changes. The only way to increase the temp is to increase the pressure. Hence, pressure cookers.
 
Kevin, I think you are missing the point because you have experience and know what you are doing. This was aimed at the more novice CI cook who may think that medium to high, like many recipes on the internet suggest - even to melt butter! - are the way to use CI for any recipe. Comprende?

Hilditch
 
Back
Top