Cookware, according to Cooking YouTube

I don't know why anyone would ever own a grill pan

Guess what? Stainless steel doesn't have that problem. It is perhaps the safest cooking surface I can think of.

And everything else, you just follow the directions of any other recipe you're using. And that's the beauty of stainless steel. It does it all.

Stainless is that version without all the [ __ ] Hopefully, I have you convinced.

Stainless steel is the ultimate all-purpose cookware. You can use it to sear meat and fish, saute vegetables, boil pasta, simmer sauces, and much more.

Stainless steel is also the best type of cookware for pan sauces. Since it's uncoated, cooking meat in a stainless steel pan creates fond, which is the brown stuck-on bits of concentrated meat flavor at the bottom of the pan.

In fact, a well seasoned cast iron skillet can rival and certainly outlast any non-stick pan.

This is a glass-like coating, and it prevents the metal from rusting and keeps it from reacting with acidic foods, which can happen with traditional cast iron.

As we saw with the burgers, the carbon steel pan has certain traits that really make it a great all-around pan. It definitely has that nice heat retention and heat transfer of a cast iron pan. It has that nice release of a non-stick pan. This is a great all-around pan, does almost anything you want it to do, it's…

they're sort of hybrid skillets they kind of take all the best properties from a cast iron skillet and a stainless steel skillet and combine it into this perfect skillet

biggest cons of carbon steel there really isn't any that's the beauty of carbon steel

honestly for me carbon steel skillets are my favorite skillets to use so i don't see very many cons to be honest

if i want to be practical if it was the end of the world and i can only have one skillet and it had to be something i can just set it and forget it yeah it would be a stainless steel skillet because it doesn't rust it does everything all the other skillets can do

um but it's not the end of the world so if i can only have one skill it would be a carbon steel skillet

Other secret of this pan is its ability to become naturally non-stick. So the smooth grain of this takes to seasoning a little faster than cast iron and it becomes very rapidly non-stick when you season it. And you can cook in it with just a little bit of fat, and food will just come right out. So if you're really…

Stainless steel or, in particular, a fully clad pan where there are layers of stainless steel, aluminum, and stainless steel is really known for its ability to make even, uniform heat. The aluminum transmits heat very quickly, stainless steel much more slowly. The stainless retains it so it spreads, and you get this…

In the carbon steel, I think we got the sort of Goldilocks moment. You get this really beautiful golden brown crust that is deeply brown, and nice, and crusty. Inside is nice and pink. And you really get this nice contrast between the brown crust and the cooked interior that is nice and juicy. So I thought it was a…

When we were done, there was almost nothing in the pan. It was just, I wipe it out, rinse it out, and we're good to go.

it cooks really inefficiently

their pain and about to clean because gunk gets all down in there

really the only thing they add to food is cosmetic there yeah

Once the oil is in the pan, I want to talk about heat control. This is where everybody makes big mistakes. All right? This is where people burn stuff. This is where people smoke out their houses.

And this is also where people get that sort of brown ring around the pan, which is fine, but it's just annoying to clean.

There's a thin layer of oil around here that's going to get hyper hyper hyper hot because the edges of this pan are thinner than the bottom, right?

You will have to use more oil or more fat when you're using stainless steel. That is the simple reality.

Obviously, the parts of the pan that didn't have any oil on it is where the egg stuck on the scramble.

This is what stops people from cooking with stainless steel. They see this happen and they're like, I'm got to throw the pan away. And a lot of people have thrown their pans away because of this.

Common mistakes that will ruin your life or maybe just your pan. Number one, cooking on too high of a heat.

Now if this was a steak or whatever and you wanted to delaze your pan, this fond no more. This is just char. So if you delaze this, it'd be bitter. It'd be blackened. It'd be gross.

Let me be honest with you. This hack still sucks to do, but it works really well.

And the best thing is it distributes heat quickly, efficiently, and evenly over the pan.

But often times they heat really inevenly, and they take a long time to preheat. This to me is perfectly balanced in that way.

Another reason, it creates flavor like fawns. It gets great sears on any piece of meat.

But guess what? Most of it won't end up on the food. You drain it on a paper towel. Really, it's not too much more.

Once it has seared properly enough, it will naturally release from the pan. You can already see the edge of this egg already lifting up off the pan.

just to prove the egg came off clean. Look at the underside of the egg. See that? No sticking, no ripping.

Cleaning this isn't going to be that hard. You take an abrasive pad to get this part off first. Clean it immediately. You're ready to go again.

And the beauty of this is if your pan is hot enough, really, your fish should move around the pan. You won't even really need to scrape it off.

You can see the skin is nice and crisp and dried out. You got a little bit of mayard on the flesh. It's not even sticking to it, even flesh side down, but I can feel the fish.

I've been sitting around medium, slightly above medium for this whole temperature. Right. If the pan looks like it's starting to get too hot, just drop the temperature a little bit. You can fluctuate it however you need. That is the key to using stainless.

And what will be left behind is little brown bits from the flour, stuck bits from the meat that are on the pan. That is your fond. There's tons of flavor in that. You don't want to throw it away.

You can scrape on the bottom to release any stuck bits. Scrape on the sides. Scrape that into there. Now, you can see all the stuck bits. That's all that like reduced intense chickeny flavor now giving flavor to this sauce.

So, my pan's not like ripping hot. It's warm, so it'll release a little easier, right? We're almost preparing this to delaze it, right? You're basically delazing in here.

And you'll notice that even just by doing that, if I rinse this bad boy out, I haven't even used soap yet. This is 90% of the way clean.

We have a pan that basically looks almost brand new. It's literally that simple. This applies to pretty much every single scenario I could possibly think of. The key is soap and water or proper stainless steel cleaner. That is it.

Leave it in there. Don't scrape it off because it's going to stick anyway, right? Just let it cool down naturally, and you could easily bring it back on once it stops smoking and turn it to medium heat. Eventually, it'll release.

So, you're going to fill this up with water about halfway up. Set it on your stove. Add one drop of dish soap. That was more than a drop. Set over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, let it boil for about 1, two, maybe 3 minutes until the residue comes off easily.

And like I said, you got to season this. If it gets rusty, you got to season it again, right? Unless you use a cast iron pan every single day and maintain it regularly and always have fat and oil in it. Guess what? You're going to have to constantly season it.

you have to dry your stainless steel. Never, ever, ever just let it sit with water. You're going to get water stains, and guess what? You're going to have to clean it all over again.

But this pan has a slight warp in it because we did that a lot. The warping has created a bowl in there. See that? It doesn't sit flat on this anymore.

The beauty of stainless steel is there is almost no stain. It's stainless. No burned on bit. you can't clean off. You just need to know how.

Now, this is a still usable pan and that's fine. It happens. People make mistakes. But the more you do that to that pan, the more the pan is going to get more anded up, okay?

You don't have to do that with stainless steel. It's oven and dishwasher safe.

It's great for fish. It's great for vegetables. You can also cook gently in it.

you could easily just heat this pan back up. You don't even have to clean it yet, right? I've got tons of stuff in here. There's still flavor in this pan, right?

Searing, sautéing, developing a fond, and then removing the fond through delazing, making a sauce with that, putting it on top of our thing, and we have a final dish all with one pan.

but what happens with stainless is that as they get better and better they start to behave a little bit more like cast iron they hold their heat incredibly well and they distribute their heat incredibly well

i can season of course in my cast iron pan where if i cook at the right temperature in my stainless steel and i use a lead enforced effect where i'm finding just the right sweet spot i can cook with a little bit of oil and things basically become nonstick

so using the cast iron pan being well seasoned it's more forgiving you can have it really well seasoned if it's a little cooler a little hotter a little variable in heat then it seems to allow you to have things that don't stick

the beauty with high-end stainless steel is the variability is wider so you have a bigger window of it being more of a perfect temperature within a high-end stainless steel aluminum core pan than you do in a cheat pan

it definitely can brown a little bit better over time things cook a little bit more thoroughly in cast iron somewhat when it comes to high-end cookware not not a massive difference

Because it’s so thick and heavy and holds heat well, it’s the better option for searing steaks, pork chops, chicken, and other meats.

It’s also better for cooking eggs, pancakes and other delicate ingredients. When cast iron is well seasoned it performs similarly to a non-stick pan.

Lastly, cast iron is ideal for roasting, baking, and frying because it heats up gradually and maintains a consistent temperature over long periods. Because it heats slowly, you’re less likely to burn food.

Stainless steel is more of a go-to everyday type of cookware. It heats fast and evenly and you can use it to cook any type of food, including tomato sauces, soup, and other acidic and liquid heavy meals.

But, since stainless steel pans are made with a highly conductive aluminum or copper core, they heat up fast and evenly.

The water in the stainless steel pan started boiling after 2 minutes and 55 seconds, and the water in the cast iron pan started boiling after 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

Cast iron may not heat up as fast or evenly as stainless steel, but due to its thick construction, it has far superior heat retention.

Don’t get me wrong, stainless steel pans, especially good quality fully clad pans, retain heat well, but not at the same level as cast iron.

After ten minutes, the water in the cast iron pan was 104 degrees Fahrenheit and the water in the stainless steel pans was only 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because it’s nonreactive and heats evenly, you can cook anything and perform any cooking technique.

Cast iron is also versatile - you can use it searing, roasting, sauteing, frying, baking, and cooking eggs.

But if you do it the right way, it also creates a slick surface that makes it easy to cook eggs and other delicate foods without sticking.

Because it responds to temperature changes quicker, you have more control over the results.

so now it's time to turn these and just look at that crust absolutely gorgeous this is off the cast iron

now let's check the stainless steel also an absolutely beautiful crust i wasn't expecting it to be that good

you can hear that that's there's a lot of crust that formed on that stainless steel and same with the cast iron i don't know that there's really any difference in the crust here and it's the same on both sides like really really solid crust

it looks like on the cast iron pan we got a pretty good medium rare all the way through

in terms of overall evenness and doneness i'm gonna give that to the cast iron pan and frankly that's actually what i would have expected too with a cast iron pan you have the thermal capacity of that pan really absorbs a ton of energy into it as it's heating up on the grill and it just allows for a more even cooking…

so the taste test on the stainless steel steak absolutely incredible as well a slightly different level of doneness but still we've got that rich buttery beefy texture got the garlic the rosemary the saltiness this is just perfect

the crusts were almost identical it rendered the fat cap just as well

it takes a while to get to operating temperature because it's so densely packed it takes a while to cool down

so that translates in if you need to adjust your temperature you better adjust it well in advance because you can easily burn your food if you realize that your temperature's set too high and you want to lower it the skillet's going to take a while to adjust

so dialing in your temperatures and adjusting during your cooks can get pretty tricky with cast iron there's a bit of a learning curve

and with cast iron and carbon steels you do have to be very careful with how you do clean them at the end of your cooks you need to wash them and then completely dry them on the stovetops and lubricate them before storing them every single time or you do run the risk of getting rust and you definitely don't want that

another big thing with cast iron skillets and carbon steel skillets as well is that they tend to react with acidic foods

i feel like cast iron skillets don't tend to react as much as carbon steel skillets do

they don't retain heat as well as cast iron skillets but that also means that they don't share any of those negatives

but the biggest con of stainless steel skillets is yes they do stick

but it does stick you don't believe me try making scrambled eggs it can be done you have to put a lot of oil on there and it's a lot more work you have to be very mindful to temperatures

the biggest cons of stainless steels however are they stick they stick like crazy they're not as forgiving if you make mistakes

i mean they get hot really quickly they cool down really quickly but if you're not paying attention you can either put your food in when the skillet's not necessarily hot and boom now you've just created a really sticky mess or you'll get distracted and you've burnt your food really quickly

but other than that the two biggest cons are the price and they're not as nonstick as carbon steel and stainless steel

and she definitely loves the carbon steel skillets but i don't think she likes to do that extra step at the end you know completely drying them off and cleaning them

i'm here to tell you that a cast iron skillet is going to be a really good skillet regardless of the surface finish

however i do agree that a smoother does mean a better cast iron skillet

now later on we're going to talk about carbon steel and carbon steel has a really smooth surface right out of the factory and it sears meat exceptionally well with an amazing non-stick coating

so let's talk about cast iron skillets that are made out of cast iron have some of the best properties and are famously known for getting a really good sear because cast iron is so densely packed it tends to retain heat really really well

but where cast iron really shines is retaining that heat and once it gets up to that operating temperature that you're looking for it tends to retain an even temperature all around

but once you do figure it out once you get to know it a little bit better it's amazing you just have to kind of plan ahead

really once you do that you got a really good non-stick coating it's properly seasoned and you're really ready to go

now once you do develop a deep seasoning the risk of rust kind of diminishes over the years

but once a cast iron skillet is seasoned cleaning it is not the issue food just slides right off

it's a very small thing you have to do at the end of a cook that really goes a long way it's not an inconvenience at all

but once carbon steel and cast iron get their seasoning down i don't see them reacting anymore i've never had them react to where it completely stripped off the coating or anything like that

carbon steel skillets get hot really quickly they can really get up to high temperatures so that means they're going to sear food amazingly

carbon steel skillets will react to temperature changes accordingly they will heat up and cool down much faster than cast iron skillets

food literally slides off of carbon steel skillets i've never had a mess with any of my carbon steel skillets when it comes time to clean them oftentimes i can just literally wipe the inside and i'm done

i usually put it back on the stove sanitize it put a drop of oil lubricate it store it away i never even have to use soap or water

eggs will literally slide right out of carbon steel skillet it's like foods ice skating on this thing

stainless steel skillets are the lightest out of the three skillets get really hot tremendously fast and they tend to cool down really quickly as well

biggest pro stainless steel skeleton is they do not rust so you don't have to worry about having to dry them or doing any special treatments after to completely dry them off and keep them from oxidating

now you'll see a lot of videos out there where people will tell you no they won't and that's true if you follow the fundamentals and you make sure that they heat up properly before throwing your food in there and you make sure you have enough fat cooking oil or grease or whatever it is that you're using yes food won't…

they're really light they heat up quickly they sear amazingly they're very easy to clean and they create fun for amazing sauces

and finally cast iron skillets are almost indestructible it's a tool that you're gonna cherish and pass down to your kids and grandkids

they will definitely outlive you and it's something that you're going to pass down to your kids and grandkids for sure just like a cast iron skillet

european families will often find their grandparents carbon steel skillets stashed away somewhere in the attic

cast iron can fry cast iron can sear a really mean steak they can saute vegetables you can make pizza in cast iron you can bake in cast iron it will literally do everything pretty well

cast iron skillets are relatively cheap and propel you into that pro level category will make you into a better cook because they do have a learning curve but the learning curve is really all the fundamentals of cooking so once you've mastered cooking on a cast iron skillet you've basically mastered cooking

if you're looking to make sauces out of the fond fond is basically the leftover sticky bits that are left on stainless steel skillets you can make a sauce out of that by adding wine or a chicken or beef broth or whatever broth that you want to use

just like cast iron carbon steel can be used for almost anything i've made pizzas in it i've baked i've cooked and seared amazing steaks in it you can saute in it and you can even make sauces

stainless steel skillets can literally cook anything acidic foods meats proteins you can bacon them you can do anything you want with stainless steel skillets

but they do one thing extremely well and that's fond if you want to make an amazing sauce stainless steel skillets are for you

i tend to use mine mainly for italian dishes or something where i know i want to make a sauce right after and that's what stainless steel skillets are really good at

but it can make anything i mean a stainless steel skillet can make a great steak

the cast iron skillet that i showed you in the intro and in the talking head is a 10-inch cast iron skillet i bought years and years ago and i think it was 15 bucks and for 15 bucks it's a hell of a bargain

now i remember before kovid a large 12-inch cast iron skillet can be found on amazon usually at a great sale price of 20 bucks i mean come on 20 for a pro skillet that's incredible

Cool spots, like the ones I caused by repeatedly dropping water intp the pan, also have an impact.

So, after watching the tests over and over again, and with the considerations I just mentioned, I believe in the context of stainless steel cookware the Leidenfrost Effect begins around 420°F or 215°C.

But if you're measuring from the center of the pan, aim for approximately 430°F or 221°C to ensure the entire pan is hot enough.

That extra height is really necessary for containing hot oil and food, such as when frying donuts and shallow frying chicken.

but we preferred those with wide broad loops that we could really hang onto, especially when wearing oven mitts

Generally though, we recommend buying a 12 inch skillet if you can. It's always good to have the option of a bigger pan for recipes of different sizes

Another downside, don't expect enamel cast iron skillets to be or become non-stick.

While some manufacturers claim their pans will do this and become more non-stick with use, in our hands-on testing experience, we found that not to be the case.

You also wanna avoid using metal utensils and scraping or banging the pan, you know it's glass, so you gotta be a little bit careful with it.

Most artisan makers will also take the time to hand polish their pan surface, which makes it naturally non-stick much faster than a mass produced pan.