Cast-iron pans

[Vades]

I ordered my first press off Takealot and, despite it claiming to be cast iron, it was clearly cast aluminium. I tried it and unsurprisingly, it sucked.

I was in the US for a couple of months so I ordered the 8" Victoria one off amazon for about $25.

Yeah, it's niche and TBH I'm probably going to use it more for burgers than tortillas, but it's useful to have.

Assuming it's actually cast iron the Azteca one Snyper564 linked to looks good enough though surprisingly they specifically say not to attempt flour tortillas... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you have any questions re the Victoria I bought feel free to ask.

Thanks bwana, Azteca for me then.

 

[bwana]

Thanks bwana, Azteca for me then.

The Victoria is top quality but over priced in SA so I'd probably settle for the Azteca as well.

 

[SauRoNZA]

So even though I “surprised” myself with another Japanese knife for my birthday my wife snuck in a Victoria HD press so off to Azteca I go.

 

[maumau]

"Surprised" yourself

 

[RedViking]

So even though I “surprised” myself with another Japanese knife for my birthday my wife snuck in a Victoria HD press so off to Azteca I go.

You wife will win the fight. I knife is useless against a cat iron pan, nevermind a press.

 

[saor]

So even though I “surprised” myself with another Japanese knife for my birthday my wife snuck in a Victoria HD press so off to Azteca I go.

What do you do with more than one sharp chefs knife?

Also did she buy the Victoria press locally?

 

[SauRoNZA]

What do you do with more than one sharp chefs knife?

Besides the fact that it may become an addiction (this is only my second one) the Gyoto I have is a very long knife with a very sharp tip which means that you don't have all that much leverage when using the tip as it's miles away and therefore doing things like dicing onions and such can actually be quite treacherous.

Also because it's ridiculously sharp if you are doing a rock chop with two hands and you cock it up that tip can massacre you even in reverse from the top should you slip...which is likely due to the shape.



So I specifically wanted something very different that is more square and doesn't have a "tip" as such and hence getting the Nakiri so they will compliment each other and I can flip between them depending on what I am doing.

Yes you can do everything with both knives that the other one can do if you have to...but why not both?



Not possible to see from the pictures but that's a 210mm vs 165mm blade so a very different thing to wield.

Also did she buy the Victoria press locally?

Yeah bought from Yuppiechef I believe.



It's funny the moment I saw my daughter struggling to carry it and I heard the metal "clink" inside I knew exactly what it was.

 

[bwana]

So even though I “surprised” myself with another Japanese knife for my birthday my wife snuck in a Victoria HD press so off to Azteca I go.

Nice - 8" or 10"?

I'm going to grab the 10" next time I'm in the US and sell the smaller one.

 

[The Darkness]

Would like to get a cast-iron pan. Any considerations to keep in mind when buying? Right now I'm leaning toward uncoated (pans without non-stick or enamel coatings). Looking at the 20cm version of this:

https://www.yuppiechef.com/victoria-skillets.htm?id=42597&name=Victoria-Seasoned-Cast-Iron-Skillet
View attachment 1528153

Which seems cool because it also has glass lids available:
https://www.yuppiechef.com/victoria...?id=45773&name=Victoria-Glass-Lid-for-Skillet

Is it necessary to treat this before using?
Cleaning after use?

These pans are great. I use mine all the time. For a new one; clean well with hot water and soap, the use olive oil, wipe it all over the pan, and bake the pan in a 200 oven for an hour. From there just wipe it out with warm water after each use and the pan will stay healthy

 

[Vades]

Nice - 8" or 10"?

I'm going to grab the 10" next time I'm in the US and sell the smaller one.

Keep me in mind if you sell please.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Nice - 8" or 10"?

I'm going to grab the 10" next time I'm in the US and sell the smaller one.

8”

I wasn’t very specific on my wishlist but she would have considered it too rich.

But with smaller kids in the house I reckon we’ll mostly want smaller anyway.

 

[bwana]

Keep me in mind if you sell please.

Will do.

 

[bwana]

I was in the US for a couple of months so I ordered the 8" Victoria one off amazon for about $25.

Taco night

 

[saor]

Love my cast iron but getting much more mileage from the stainless. Really versatile, especially for sauces / curries etc. Easy to clean. Glad I've got both & use both but if I had to pick a single cooking vessel it's probably the stainless.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Love my cast iron but getting much more mileage from the stainless. Really versatile, especially for sauces / curries etc. Easy to clean. Glad I've got both & use both but if I had to pick a single cooking vessel it's probably the stainless.

View attachment 1883013

Enamelled cast iron solves all that.

No need to worry about curries and sauces etc.

 

[Speedster]

I picked up a set of Le Creusette aluminium non-stick. They're pretty amazing.

 

[saor]

Enamelled cast iron solves all that.

No need to worry about curries and sauces etc.

Just seems a bit redundant. I use the cast iron for the surface and that flavour / finish it imparts. Stainless is perfect for sauces etc. and I like the lighter weight of the stainless. Also just cba with pans with coatings anymore - prefer the durabilty of the raw material. Only non-stick I have is a basic frying pan for eggs.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I picked up a set of Le Creusette aluminium non-stick. They're pretty amazing.

The new ceramic stuff?

 

[bwana]

Love my cast iron but getting much more mileage from the stainless. Really versatile, especially for sauces / curries etc. Easy to clean. Glad I've got both & use both but if I had to pick a single cooking vessel it's probably the stainless.

Fortunately you don't have to choose, I doubt I could.

Only non-stick I have is a basic frying pan for eggs.

You should be frying your eggs in the stainless too

 

[SauRoNZA]

Just seems a bit redundant. I use the cast iron for the surface and that flavour / finish it imparts. Stainless is perfect for sauces etc. and I like the lighter weight of the stainless. Also just cba with pans with coatings anymore - prefer the durabilty of the raw material. Only non-stick I have is a basic frying pan for eggs.

It’s not a coating, it’s part and parcel of the pan, hence the lifetime guarantee.

But on the weight front, stainless steel certainly wins, my biggest problem with it is that it just doesn’t retain heat.

The moment the heat source turns off the pan becomes dead cold near instantly.

I don’t do any non-stick at all, it all happens on the enamelled cast iron.

You should be able to do your eggs in the stainless and the cast iron without a need for non-stick. Just keep the heat low and give the pan time to warm up properly.

Unless you have the Verimark approach to non-stick and don’t use any oil.

That being said I do have stainless steel as well, but I do question whether I use them purely because I have them and paid good money for them. If I had to start over knowing what I know now I’d probably pass on the stainless steel for everything but my pasta pot and colander with steamer.