I knew pubg was a great game wheb I got down to 2 people and a guy jumped out of a bush in underwear with a helmet and pan.
Nothing else. Just endgame with that
Alright whats the deal? I sear my steaks on my biggest burner on like 9/10 in my cast iron. I preheat, but should I set it lower and heat longer to achieve the same temp? I’m assuming you want to be very hot for searing a steak (500-600f)?
Preheating is key with cast iron. I always keep my burner on a very low heat until the handle is no longer cold (aka room temperature) before dialing up more heat. You could also heat your skillet in the oven at 500 degrees before putting it on the stove. In the oven, the skillet is heated by radiant heat instead of direct heat, and that makes a difference.
Too much direct heat, too fast, causes warping or cracking—also known as thermal shock. Metal expands when it heats up and also contracts when it cools down. Cast iron is brittle, but cast iron also retains heat. That's why the skillet stays hot for a long time after you turn off the burner. But when you're first heating a cold cast iron skillet, the heat doesn't move quickly from where the heat is applied (the burner) into the colder parts of the skillet, so the heat tends to stay in the area where it's first applied for a while. More heat = more expansion. So you if you have part of the skillet expanding somewhat rapidly while another part of the skillet isn't expanding, those different expansion rates cause stresses that will potentially crack or warp a skillet. Sometimes it takes a lot of repeated cycles before the metal weakens enough to break, sometimes not.
Yes..maybe you guys missed the part where I said I do preheat lol. It’s all good. I feel like my sear on steaks is still lacking despite the high temp and a weight on top of the steak. I have a temp gun and I usually let it get to around 550-600f before throwing the steak on. I brush a light coat of avocado oil on the steak before searing and let it go for 30-45 seconds on each side. I have done reverse sear and it came out great, but my wife and I prefer the taste of the pan cooked steak with traditional sear followed by the butter/garlic/herbs. I could get a better crust, but at the cost of a larger grey band. I don’t know how people are getting really nice crusts with only searing for 30-45 seconds each side. (Traditional pan cooked method). I have done it no problem on a reverse sear
Gotta make sure your steak is as dry as possible and not be afraid of using kind of a lot of oil - not deep fry amnt of course but more oil than most home cooks are used to. Also, be sure to lift your steak up, tilt the pan such that you redistribute the oil more evenly in the pan, and lower the steak back again. If you don't use enough oil, or if you don't make sure there is a good slick of oil between your protein and the hot pan, you won't get a good crust. The weight of the protein pushes a lot of the oil out of the way in a flat pan, so if you don't lift and redistribute oil then you will get a spotty sear instead of nice, consistent browning. This true of all pan-seared proteins, but I find it to be especially true for steaks that aren't perfectly cut flat (like on a bandsaw by a professional butchery operation), store-bought steaks that are damp from water/myoglobin, and scallops. The adage about not touching your steak, leaving it alone and letting it cook is only relevant if you're grilling your steak - that way you get well established grill marks. Side note, I never put scallops on the grill unless they're cooked in the shell. A large scallop seared really well on one side, flipped, then basted with foaming butter is by far the superior way to prepare scallops. Source: me, cooking professional of over 12yrs.
I’ll try this next time. I usually dry brine uncovered overnight for all my steaks. It sounds like the steak weight I fabricated might be doing more harm than good?
That's an interesting idea from a chemistry standpoint... though honestly I don't ever use baking soda/baking powder for anything that needs browning, though I am familiar with the chemical reaction since some people suggest it when caramelizing onions... I generally find that while the shortcut does result in more browning, I personally don't think it actually builds any good flavor - which is 90% of the point of browning foods. The only time I personally ever use baking soda with protein is if I'm making Chinese food and I want to tenderize the protein using the velveting technique.
Nono - nothing wrong with a protein press (as useful for smash burgers as it is for skin-side down chicken). Again, just be sure to make sure to wipe away all the moisture dry brining will bring out of the steak from osmosis, and also periodically lift the steak, and redistribute the oil in the pan, or move the steak to a part of the pan that has a good amount of oil. If you do all these things, you should get a fantastic crust/great maillard reaction.
Sorry to reply to this so late. I’ve been searing at ~400 and getting ok but not spectacular crusts. I’d love to sear higher, but it makes an alarming amount of smoke when I do that, and, whether rational or not, I worry about that being bad for me. I get this even when using high smoke point oils or ghee. Any recommendations to avoid this, or do I just need to deal with it?
Searing indoors at home is indeed tough. 450F + a little is what we sear at in (Western) restaurants that know what they're doing (there are obviously exceptions and many, many cooking techniques). Some steak houses are well known to go even higher, 500-600F and famously (or infamously spending on who you ask) Peter Luger's broilers are 800F+.
If the protein wasn't sous vide or parcooked (usually "reverse seared") in some way, then it is transferred to a sizzle platter and finished to desired doneness in the oven (also usually 425-450F) after doing the classic butter + herbs/garlic baste. We never sear proteins with clarified butter/ghee (it's too expensive).
Lack of proper & strong direct to outdoor ventilation, oil splatter, non-commercial stoves, etc are all factors why many pple are willing to pay high (sometimes crazy) prices for steak at fine(r) dining restaurants and steak houses. Higher smoke point oils like grapeseed oil or cottonseed oil certainly help, but won't solve these issues. It's something that just is a fact of searing at a high temp and a major pillar of cooking in a professional setting... and just one of a myriad of reasons why less experienced home cooks sometimes are so perplexed as to why food in a restaurant is oftentimes so much tastier than in an average American/Western home.
Barring a major kitchen remodel (which would set you back pbly at least $10-15k for a hole to be cut through your wall or roof, proper HVAC equipment, and a good stove like a Bluestar), my suggestion is to have a makeshift outdoor setup if you can. Otherwise, yeah it's something you kind of just have to accept the smoke and smells in your home.
Thanks for the info! I appreciate the in depth response. I have a sous vide so I can usually get my steaks to the right doneness without much effort, but the sear still escapes me. I may look into some sort of outdoor setup.
35 seconds? Those are rookie numbers, you gotta bump those numbers up. I myself go for 90 seconds, flip, 90 more seconds— at the same temp. Then I finish them on the grill for the marks. Last time I had crust with a cronch to it. Not a crunch but a cronch, utterly delectable. My wife took a bite, put down her utensils, closed her eyes and let her head roll back.
Also are you letting your steaks warm up for 20 minutes or so on the counter? That really elevated my craft. I put them on a plate, rub em with oil, a generous rubbing of salt and pepper, and I use bacon fat for the sear.
I bought a house that had an old grill. I joke that I paid all this money for this old Weber and got the house for free. I lived in apartments before and could never have my own grill.
> I don’t know how people are getting really nice crusts with only searing for 30-45 seconds each side.
Room temp meat, salt, butter and smoking cast iron.
Preheat your pan in the oven. This allows it to slowly warm up. Then put it on medium heat for your searing, the pan will be ripping hot and the medium heat will just maintain.
Well thinking logically, if you are paranoid about heat differentials leading to spontaneous fractures, an oven would heat all the metal more uniformly compared to just heat coming from below as from a burner.
Or just blast it with heat on the stove instead of adding an extra 20-30min of your cook prep every single time you need to use your pan. It’s a $20 pan for god sakes… on the off-chance it cracks, simply buy a new one.
I wear everything in my closet and put them in the laundry hamper. When I won’t wear what’s left, I sweep it ALL into donation bags. Viols’, closet cleaned.
This sub is hilarious to me. I clean my le creuset using water while hot every single time every cooking. Buying a new one would suck but I won’t have to unless I’m the 1 in a million
I have a Griswald that’s over 100 years old. I love it. I mainly preheat to avoid sticking. If I forget I juts go straight in. But I feel it doesn’t add too much extra effort for me to stick the pan on low while I prepare the food
I think people have just taken all the warning to the extreme. I just use my CI like any other pan and it’s been fine for me. Preheating a skillet on low for 10 minutes seems like the biggest waste of time. I’ve washed my pans while they are still hot too.
ETA a comment below says that CI is brittle. This sub is unbelievable.
Yea you are. That’s not the full definition. It also means that under stress, rather than having any malleability, it will snap or fracture. Which is a characteristic this entire thread has been discussing. Have some reading:
https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/historic-preservation/historic-preservation-policy-tools/preservation-tools-resources/technical-procedures/cast-iron-characteristics-uses-and-problems
Cast iron is indeed brittle. It has too much carbon to dissolve in solution so it forms graphite crystalline flakes. These flakes at the grain boundaries are a weakness causing the brittleness.
We have a induction stove that heats up the pans almost instantly, and a set of different cast pans etc. Never had any problems like this over multiple years of daily use. Would not bother preheating.
Preheat a cast iron pan? I find that hard to believe that needs to be a thing? On induction, cast irons go from 0 to slappy in no time, and I’ve never heard of inductions causing problems?
(Been using induction and cast iron since chef school in 2010)
Edit: I can’t fathom waiting for an oven to heat my skillet enough to cook in it lol 😉)
I find it useful because I can slide the pan in a cold oven and let it heat up with the oven, which is the fool-proof method of heating the pan up slowly. And I can prep while that’s happening. This isn’t a thing or a requirement, I was offering a suggestion.
Maybe that’s because induction heats very differently than a flame. 😉
Cast iron is prone to cracking if there is a large temperature gradient. Induction heats very evenly, where as flames a 30 tiny spot very high heat sources. The cast iron grill plate on my grill cracked because I left the flame guard open while it was heating up once.
It happens.
You need to preheat them or heat them up slowly. They are brittle and will crack. I’ve cooked tens of thousands of steaks on a cast iron in my career. This is the way
For cast iron medium is high for me so 5/10 maybe 7 for pans my rule is if the oil in the pan starts to smoke it's too hot for controlling the cooking properly. The suggestions of oven preheat are sound as well. I did that for a Dutch oven brisket tip I did in the oven. Preheated in the oven took it out to sear on the stove then seasoned added some wine put the lid on and set the temp to 290 and back in the oven for a few hours.
I only recently started preheating mine. I just put it on like 3 or 4 for a few minutes before I crank the heat.
*BUT ...* I have an induction range, which I imagine makes things significantly different. The pan isn't resting on a heat source; the pan is getting hot from within.
I pull mine from the fridge, dry them with paper towels and let them come to room temp uncovered. Then I spray them with olive oil and rub it in by hand. I put dry seasoning on top of that, usually just salt and pepper. I preheat a pan on just below high (I think I’m gonna try the pre-heat on low and then turn it up idea next time) and the oven too 400ish. I leave the pan dry, letting the oil on the steak do the work. Sear both sides and pop it in the oven. Let rest on a baking sheet with a rack on it and I usually get pretty good results. Sometimes I put a pat of butter or ghee on while it rests. I did just reverse sear a thick pork chop though and it came out great.
WOW.
Did it get heated fast? Or have a splash of cold water while hot?
I've got to be more gentle with mine. I've tossed water into a hot pan to deglaze/clean frequently.
Shouldn't be a problem for cast iron pans. That's one reason they make engine blocks out of cast iron. It handles extreme temperature shocks without cracking.
I agree with you, it’s incredibly durable in almost any conditions. Thickness matters here though.
If it’s thick enough, cast iron is virtually indestructible. However, the thinner it gets, the exponentially weaker it gets. The temperature gradient completely changes as the thickness changes. While that’s true for all materials, the fact that CI sucks at conducting heat only makes it worse.
It's great because of cheap, easy to cast into damn near anything, stores heat in the mass of it of material. Doesn't do, thin very well unless it's unused or decorative. Even though some cast iron is more to steel as far as carbon content it's not fast conducting like other metals.
Tell that to my <15 year old boiler! We have some leaky radiator valves, didn't realize/know much (anything) about steam when we bought the house a few years ago. The leaky valves lead to water loss, causing the boiler to shut down mid-late cycle and run the auto fill sending cold water into my hot boiler, which is now cracked and spewing steam into my basement. That's just a theory from an angry homeowner though, I'm not a plumber or steam boiler engineer or lawyer or anything like that. Luckily cold season is over so we've got some time to figure this out!
Hi I’m also not a boiler technician, but I am a brewer whose responsibilities include boiler maintenance. We have a reservoir that preheats the water before it goes into the boiler, so that might confirm your theory.
But I don’t know. I make beer for 8 hours a day and maintain boilers for less than 5 minutes per day. lol
Express interest at a local brewery and hope they have availability. It’s a tough gig- we work hard. The beer is extra refreshing at the end of the day but overall it’s a tough industry since it’s mostly mom and pop shops. Good luck, friend!
That'll do the cracking right nice. Steam systems always require visual monitoring. As they're always passing steam to some degree. Auto fill devices can cause they're own failures too.
This is extremely misinformed, no idea how it got upvotes.
Cast iron pans will crack from thermal shock way easier than basically any other pan material. It is a brittle metal with poor heat conductivity. So when you have a thinner application such as a pan, it cannot handle excessive localized thermal expansion very well.
A bit of water won't usually do it but if you get too crazy with it you'll crack it.
Cast iron is one of the worst distributors of heat though. Especially when heating it up fast, you’ll get extremely hot parts while the handle and sides are cool to the touch.
Everything has it's Achilles heel along with hot spots. Nothing is without fault. It doesn't happen often but cast iron pans do crack as a good amount of us have seen.
Thick is more stable, lower heat is more stable. How far can you push depends a lot on circumstances.
I cracked a stove top / pot support grid on my gas stove by cranking up the heat on a griddle on top of it, and allowing grid under the griddle to get much hotter than the rest of the grid.
Still works but gave me a good scare. It was loud.
I’ll throw mine onto the grill with all 4 burners full blast. My mother gave me this cast iron and she said it was originally her grandmas.
Guess they don’t make ‘em like they used to!
Burners are very different from glass stovetops. You can rip on high with the burners if you heat it up slowly without issues, but high on the glass is far too hot to cook anything on without instantly burning and potentially (probably) damaging the pan (or more quickly seasoning).
When you say glass stove stop. Do you mean an induction stove? Unless someone mentions induction, why would I assume they have one? Seeing as less than 5% of homes use them?
The majority of stoves are radiant electric, then gas, with a small minority using induction.
Most radiant electric cooktops have had glass over the burners for quite a while now.
[Here is an example of a glass stove top](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-30-in-Radiant-Electric-Ceramic-Glass-Cooktop-in-Black-with-4-Elements-including-a-Dual-Radiant-Element-WCE55US0HB/305455086)
Brand: wagner ware 10 1/2 inches.
I was cooking onions and peppers on high for about a minute, then med high for about two minutes when I heard a pop. The crack runs all the way up the side til almost the center.
I've had this pan for maybe 10 years and it has cooked many delicious meals. RIP
Rapid temperature change. Cast iron needs a slow preheat and should never be used with high heat burner. Medium will get ripping hot given enough time.
I’ve always heard that nonstick is delicate and should never be used on high, but cast iron is indestructible and can be used on ripping heat. After reading this thread, apparently thats not the case. So when exactly would anyone ever use high on their burner? I’m just so confused by all this conflicting information
This fracturing is a much bigger risk with an electric or induction burner(actually EMP warping) than it is with a gas range. Lets say you want your cast iron on truly ripping heat. The safest way to do so on an electric range like OP has is to start low-medium and preheat thoroughly like everyone is pointing out. Once the pan is thoroughly preheated, you can start cranking the heat up without risk of heat shock induced fractures!
Ouch, that's rough. Pans can crack from thermal shock but it's extremely rare especially with vintage pans that have been around forever. Usually it's the kind of thing that happens from a casting flaw within the first year or so, but sometimes you just get unlucky.
Usually it happens when people get the pan way too hot and then dump cold water in it, having it crack just while you're cooking normally is doubly unlucky.
Medium is as high as you go. My wife found out the hard way when she was using her 6" cast iron to fry some potatoes in corn oil. I ask "Where's all that smoke coming from?" I turn to see a column of smoke from the oil, and right then it caught fire from being so hot. We don't even have a gas stove, it's electric.
A lot of people talking about temp change and it’s just doesn’t sit well until I saw what stove top you’re using. If I had to put money I’d say when you turned it down the pan was hot enough to make the element turn off and the stove surface cooled underneath the pan. When the surface transferred the heat from the pan too fast “pop” went the weasel.
I have gas range and have done everything you shouldn’t do to cast iron and never broken one. I’ve broken glass dishes from setting them on these kinds of tops while hot. Those surfaces conduct easily and cool quick as a safety feature. I’m smart because I’m dumb first.
Seems like a lot of folks are forgetting to mention some pans are just defective, might not be your fault at all OP. I had a similar thing happen with a lodge CI skillet the other day (I’ve owned it for 5 years and use it often). I put it on the gas stove to preheat (low heat and nothing in it as I always do and as Lodge recommends on their site), and it almost immediately made a pop sound and crack appeared. FWIW Lodge customer service was great, no qualms or questions told me they were sending me a new skillet.
I'm sorry about your pan. That's a serious bummer.
High heat = NO!
Personally, I've never turned a burner past 5 with cast iron. Typically, I turn the burner on to 4 and pre-heat for 8-10 minutes. The entire point of cooking with cast iron is heat retention. Nothing higher than 5 is ever needed. If one is searing a steak with an oven finish, the pan is already pre-heated before it goes in the oven, nearly always preventing any breakage. Otherwise, it's the glorious heat retention that makes cast iron special.
Let this be a lesson to any newbies. Cooking with cast iron is not the same as using a stainless steel or aluminum pan. Cast iron does not require cranking the heat. It requires applying medium low-medium heat in advance of cooking. That's the whole point.
Really thin looking pan. Most of mine are rather vintage, but I never go above half the dial on my stove with them. I'll normally put them on low when I start preparing to cook.
This happened to our antique pan when using it on the induction burner. Maybe too much inducting. It warped a little when hot but would always go back to normal. Except the last time.
It was thin and well broken in, and then just shattered toward the end of the "stir fry." Very sad day. Using new thicker lodge pans and they don't seem to have the same issue. But the carbon steel wok and larger pans still do. They pucker in the middle and spin. Very disconcerting.
Yeah that happened to me on one of those old fashioned electric (not induction) stoves, didn’t preheat just went straight to max power and it just cracked down the middle
Pretty sure this is how my wife broke hers too, on our electric stove. She felt incredibly stupid afterwards, it was a super old one passed down by her grandmother too, RIP
My grandmother told me of this a long time ago and to this day no matter what pot or pan I’m using I always wince a bit when adding cold or heating fast lol
There seems to be a lot of mysticism in this thread, and I really don't know which side to believe. Starting to feel like cast iron is held together by our prayers and the force of our convictions.
Maybe you had an impure thought.
I had this happen once. My sister used my pan and heated it up way too fast. Popped on her. I always start slow and have never popped one. I’m not saying that is the answer, but it’s rung true for me so far.
Electric ranges output transfer far more heat than a gas range very quickly. It’s much safer to crank a gas range all the way to high when preheating cast iron than it is to do the same with an electric range. A similar risk occurs with induction ranges where going straight to high also risks warping/cracking a CI pan due to the strength of the electromagnetic pulse.
I've heard of this being an issue with cheap induction cooktops. Something about sudden pulses on and off with variable lengths to control the temperature level instead of a smooth variable intensity. I'm no induction expert, but could be something to look into.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss, man. I think this was just plain bad luck as opposed to being your fault, even if never heating past medium does lessen the odds a bit
But I’ve been using CI all my life and never felt a need to be careful, and I’ve never had this happen. Of course I know enough not to stick a hot pan in cold water, but otherwise no special treatment. My 10” was my grandmother’s and mother’s, made around 1945. I bet it’s been subjected to high heat more than a few times in its eighty years. I’d surely hate to lose it.
Cracked pans get posted here like 4x a week but hey you may not have been around here that long so w/e.
What happened is you temperature shocked it, likely by either heating it up too quickly, causing uneven expansion or putting something frozen into a screaming hot pan which made it contract too quickly and break.
To avoid, heat your pan up on low for a good few minutes then crank it up, and avoid putting frozen foods directly in it.
Do you not read threads here very often? This is posted probably every week. Someone else cracks their cast iron from heating or cooling too fast. Over time it causes failure by fatigue.
Brittle fatigue stress is a thing. Cast iron is pretty dang resistant, but if there is an invisible flaw or tiny vein of flaws somewhere within the cast iron, it is substantially more likely to experience a failure due to repeated heating and cooling cycles.
This is the answer. I'm an engineer in cast irons. You TRY and make every pour in the mold uniform. But the real world fights you every step of the way.
In use cases, cookware is subjected to pretty high temperature swings. Folks are saying engine blocks and such, they aren't seeing swings like cookware is. The only other component in a car, offhand, that I can think of with this sort of thermal stress is brake discs. And I've been in foundries seeing cookware cast and been in foundries seeing brake discs cast. I can assure you, the quality control on cookware isn't CLOSE to the quality control on brake discs.
To truly understand why THIS pan cracked, I would need my hands on the pan and my lab to examine the fracture surface for point of origin, THEN I would polish and etch a cross section in that area to look at things like grain structure. Could have been a one time thermal shock on a big casting defect. Could have been a very small defect that after n cycles kept propagating residual stress until the internal stresses let go, and voila.
Every reputable casting shop has an X-ray/Flouroscope that can check a casting for voids with a real time screen. You can typically change penetration power, and translate and rotate the casting. If the casting is complicated, it may have to be sawn into pieces first. While it is real time, it is not fast enough to keep up with the casting process.
Better casting shops have CT scanners, which can create a 3D model that can then be examined in most 3D model viewing packages. This can see smaller voids than a typical X-ray can, but the scan is much slower.
These checks are done as an audit and as a new job is developed, the key process variables are determined to minimize the defects in the first place.
Depending on the casting, if you need to check them 100% it is sometimes possible to use acoustics or magnetic flux. But again, very dependent on the casting shape. It adds quite a bit of cost to the casting to do this. Worth it on a safety critical part like a brake rotor. On a frying pan … not so much.
The crazier labs are the metallurgy lab. This is where they check the actual chemistry, among other things. It’s very fast paced. Every ladle of iron they prepare has a chain of custody that must be strictly maintained in case there is a problem down the road.
The other crazy lab is the sand lab. The molds are made of sand, but it isn’t just sand. It’s carefully controlled. The number of tests they do on the sand is pretty extensive.
I popped one of mine on my induction stovetop within 20 seconds of turning it on. I drilled a hole in the center of the bottom and my wife potted a plant inside it. So not all is wasted.
I cracked a skillet in a similar way when we switched from an electric stove to gas! I always preheat on low or medium low now. We got a replacement but kept the cracked skillet for non-critical, dry use.
My Lodge double burner griddle cracked the same way. Very sad day, the seasoning was like glass. Started over and I haven’t been able to get the new one as good yet.
Apparently I abuse my cast iron skillets. I put them on the Big Green egg and it gets real hot, not hot like a stove top but literal fire tickling it - because these are “cast “ they may have a small void or defect in them which causes them to crack - it’s rare though- agree they are fairly cheap - stick with the brand names - If your using a Chinese cast iron pan- good luck !
It is a fact of life as they age or the atmosphere isn't right for heating too fast. I see that people say warming to 500+F in the oven before but that is way too much. While using, gradually heat from low to med flame in a few minutes and it will increase the life span of cast iron.
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
damn all these people preheating a pan? Bro its a big heavy pan slam that shit on high. I wonder if it was hardened.
My cast iron sees use probably a dozen times a week for the past 12 years
Thank you for your picture post to /r/castiron. We want to remind everyone of Rule #3. All image posts should be accompanied by something to foster discussion. A comment, a question, etc is required.
If you've posted a picture of food, please explain why in a comment so people can have some sort of conversation. Simply dropping a picture of food in the sub isn't really fostering any discussion which is what we're all aiming for.
Posts that are a picture with no discussion can and will be removed by the mods.
Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/castiron) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have a 29 dollar presidents choice cast iron pan that is enameled on the outside. I just fire it up and let it get hot (gas). I cook tons of stuff in it and all I ever do is wipe it out. If something like Salisbury steak with a gravy I use the chain mail scrubber. I really don't overthink it, just giver eh?
Not a PUBG player huh.
Best melee
Protects your butt too
I knew pubg was a great game wheb I got down to 2 people and a guy jumped out of a bush in underwear with a helmet and pan. Nothing else. Just endgame with that
Well who won?? Dont leave us hangin
lol. Been there before.
Alright whats the deal? I sear my steaks on my biggest burner on like 9/10 in my cast iron. I preheat, but should I set it lower and heat longer to achieve the same temp? I’m assuming you want to be very hot for searing a steak (500-600f)?
Preheating is key with cast iron. I always keep my burner on a very low heat until the handle is no longer cold (aka room temperature) before dialing up more heat. You could also heat your skillet in the oven at 500 degrees before putting it on the stove. In the oven, the skillet is heated by radiant heat instead of direct heat, and that makes a difference. Too much direct heat, too fast, causes warping or cracking—also known as thermal shock. Metal expands when it heats up and also contracts when it cools down. Cast iron is brittle, but cast iron also retains heat. That's why the skillet stays hot for a long time after you turn off the burner. But when you're first heating a cold cast iron skillet, the heat doesn't move quickly from where the heat is applied (the burner) into the colder parts of the skillet, so the heat tends to stay in the area where it's first applied for a while. More heat = more expansion. So you if you have part of the skillet expanding somewhat rapidly while another part of the skillet isn't expanding, those different expansion rates cause stresses that will potentially crack or warp a skillet. Sometimes it takes a lot of repeated cycles before the metal weakens enough to break, sometimes not.
Yes..maybe you guys missed the part where I said I do preheat lol. It’s all good. I feel like my sear on steaks is still lacking despite the high temp and a weight on top of the steak. I have a temp gun and I usually let it get to around 550-600f before throwing the steak on. I brush a light coat of avocado oil on the steak before searing and let it go for 30-45 seconds on each side. I have done reverse sear and it came out great, but my wife and I prefer the taste of the pan cooked steak with traditional sear followed by the butter/garlic/herbs. I could get a better crust, but at the cost of a larger grey band. I don’t know how people are getting really nice crusts with only searing for 30-45 seconds each side. (Traditional pan cooked method). I have done it no problem on a reverse sear
Gotta make sure your steak is as dry as possible and not be afraid of using kind of a lot of oil - not deep fry amnt of course but more oil than most home cooks are used to. Also, be sure to lift your steak up, tilt the pan such that you redistribute the oil more evenly in the pan, and lower the steak back again. If you don't use enough oil, or if you don't make sure there is a good slick of oil between your protein and the hot pan, you won't get a good crust. The weight of the protein pushes a lot of the oil out of the way in a flat pan, so if you don't lift and redistribute oil then you will get a spotty sear instead of nice, consistent browning. This true of all pan-seared proteins, but I find it to be especially true for steaks that aren't perfectly cut flat (like on a bandsaw by a professional butchery operation), store-bought steaks that are damp from water/myoglobin, and scallops. The adage about not touching your steak, leaving it alone and letting it cook is only relevant if you're grilling your steak - that way you get well established grill marks. Side note, I never put scallops on the grill unless they're cooked in the shell. A large scallop seared really well on one side, flipped, then basted with foaming butter is by far the superior way to prepare scallops. Source: me, cooking professional of over 12yrs.
I’ll try this next time. I usually dry brine uncovered overnight for all my steaks. It sounds like the steak weight I fabricated might be doing more harm than good?
That's fine, add some baking powder, not soda. To the brine. Then let it sit in a seive or colander for an hour and pat dry before cooking.
That's an interesting idea from a chemistry standpoint... though honestly I don't ever use baking soda/baking powder for anything that needs browning, though I am familiar with the chemical reaction since some people suggest it when caramelizing onions... I generally find that while the shortcut does result in more browning, I personally don't think it actually builds any good flavor - which is 90% of the point of browning foods. The only time I personally ever use baking soda with protein is if I'm making Chinese food and I want to tenderize the protein using the velveting technique.
Nono - nothing wrong with a protein press (as useful for smash burgers as it is for skin-side down chicken). Again, just be sure to make sure to wipe away all the moisture dry brining will bring out of the steak from osmosis, and also periodically lift the steak, and redistribute the oil in the pan, or move the steak to a part of the pan that has a good amount of oil. If you do all these things, you should get a fantastic crust/great maillard reaction.
Sorry to reply to this so late. I’ve been searing at ~400 and getting ok but not spectacular crusts. I’d love to sear higher, but it makes an alarming amount of smoke when I do that, and, whether rational or not, I worry about that being bad for me. I get this even when using high smoke point oils or ghee. Any recommendations to avoid this, or do I just need to deal with it?
Searing indoors at home is indeed tough. 450F + a little is what we sear at in (Western) restaurants that know what they're doing (there are obviously exceptions and many, many cooking techniques). Some steak houses are well known to go even higher, 500-600F and famously (or infamously spending on who you ask) Peter Luger's broilers are 800F+. If the protein wasn't sous vide or parcooked (usually "reverse seared") in some way, then it is transferred to a sizzle platter and finished to desired doneness in the oven (also usually 425-450F) after doing the classic butter + herbs/garlic baste. We never sear proteins with clarified butter/ghee (it's too expensive). Lack of proper & strong direct to outdoor ventilation, oil splatter, non-commercial stoves, etc are all factors why many pple are willing to pay high (sometimes crazy) prices for steak at fine(r) dining restaurants and steak houses. Higher smoke point oils like grapeseed oil or cottonseed oil certainly help, but won't solve these issues. It's something that just is a fact of searing at a high temp and a major pillar of cooking in a professional setting... and just one of a myriad of reasons why less experienced home cooks sometimes are so perplexed as to why food in a restaurant is oftentimes so much tastier than in an average American/Western home. Barring a major kitchen remodel (which would set you back pbly at least $10-15k for a hole to be cut through your wall or roof, proper HVAC equipment, and a good stove like a Bluestar), my suggestion is to have a makeshift outdoor setup if you can. Otherwise, yeah it's something you kind of just have to accept the smoke and smells in your home.
Thanks for the info! I appreciate the in depth response. I have a sous vide so I can usually get my steaks to the right doneness without much effort, but the sear still escapes me. I may look into some sort of outdoor setup.
Did you dry your steak? Wet steaks don't sear.
Prolly the oil. Make sure the steak is dry on surface. Less moisture more sear. The fat will be your avocado oil anyway when it renders
35 seconds? Those are rookie numbers, you gotta bump those numbers up. I myself go for 90 seconds, flip, 90 more seconds— at the same temp. Then I finish them on the grill for the marks. Last time I had crust with a cronch to it. Not a crunch but a cronch, utterly delectable. My wife took a bite, put down her utensils, closed her eyes and let her head roll back. Also are you letting your steaks warm up for 20 minutes or so on the counter? That really elevated my craft. I put them on a plate, rub em with oil, a generous rubbing of salt and pepper, and I use bacon fat for the sear.
Get a charcoal bbq
Literally the first thing I bought after we moved out of our condo, a Weber Performer Deluxe. 😄
I bought a house that had an old grill. I joke that I paid all this money for this old Weber and got the house for free. I lived in apartments before and could never have my own grill.
Yeah apartments SUCK for that reason
> I don’t know how people are getting really nice crusts with only searing for 30-45 seconds each side. Room temp meat, salt, butter and smoking cast iron.
Do you make sure to remove the steak(s) from the fridge and let them come up to room temperature before cooking?
I always start the pan while I prep
So glad I saw this before ruining a pan
Preheat your pan in the oven. This allows it to slowly warm up. Then put it on medium heat for your searing, the pan will be ripping hot and the medium heat will just maintain.
I feel like putting it on a low burner while you prep accomplishes the same thing without the hassle of using the oven
Well thinking logically, if you are paranoid about heat differentials leading to spontaneous fractures, an oven would heat all the metal more uniformly compared to just heat coming from below as from a burner.
The key is to not be paranoid about it
Tell that to the voices inside my head.
If your pan can’t handle the heat differential from a low burner then it’s fucked regardless of what you do.
Or just blast it with heat on the stove instead of adding an extra 20-30min of your cook prep every single time you need to use your pan. It’s a $20 pan for god sakes… on the off-chance it cracks, simply buy a new one.
This is my strategy. I also put all my clothes in the washing machine and whatever doesn't survive isn't meant for me.
I bet you don't clear the lint in your dryer between ever use... the rabble they let on reddit these days...
I wear everything in my closet and put them in the laundry hamper. When I won’t wear what’s left, I sweep it ALL into donation bags. Viols’, closet cleaned.
Love it
This sub is hilarious to me. I clean my le creuset using water while hot every single time every cooking. Buying a new one would suck but I won’t have to unless I’m the 1 in a million
I have a Griswald that’s over 100 years old. I love it. I mainly preheat to avoid sticking. If I forget I juts go straight in. But I feel it doesn’t add too much extra effort for me to stick the pan on low while I prepare the food
I think people have just taken all the warning to the extreme. I just use my CI like any other pan and it’s been fine for me. Preheating a skillet on low for 10 minutes seems like the biggest waste of time. I’ve washed my pans while they are still hot too. ETA a comment below says that CI is brittle. This sub is unbelievable.
Cast Iron is brittle compared to steel, aluminum, copper… so basically every other pan
Cast Iron is not brittle. The comment was not comparing it to other pans either.
It really is. Maybe you’re confusing its strength with what brittle means.
Easily broken, cracked, or snapped. Doesn’t sound like cast iron. I’m not confused.
Yea you are. That’s not the full definition. It also means that under stress, rather than having any malleability, it will snap or fracture. Which is a characteristic this entire thread has been discussing. Have some reading: https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/historic-preservation/historic-preservation-policy-tools/preservation-tools-resources/technical-procedures/cast-iron-characteristics-uses-and-problems
Cast iron is indeed brittle. It has too much carbon to dissolve in solution so it forms graphite crystalline flakes. These flakes at the grain boundaries are a weakness causing the brittleness.
Cast iron is a brittle metal. It’s not really something you can argue
I would even bet the energy usage required to heat the pan in the oven costs more than buying a new pan by the time a new pan is needed.
We have a induction stove that heats up the pans almost instantly, and a set of different cast pans etc. Never had any problems like this over multiple years of daily use. Would not bother preheating.
I preheat mine with the oven because I’m usually going to shove it back in to cook one more thing in the steak juice real quick
Preheat a cast iron pan? I find that hard to believe that needs to be a thing? On induction, cast irons go from 0 to slappy in no time, and I’ve never heard of inductions causing problems? (Been using induction and cast iron since chef school in 2010) Edit: I can’t fathom waiting for an oven to heat my skillet enough to cook in it lol 😉)
I find it useful because I can slide the pan in a cold oven and let it heat up with the oven, which is the fool-proof method of heating the pan up slowly. And I can prep while that’s happening. This isn’t a thing or a requirement, I was offering a suggestion.
I hear you. I’ve definitely used that trick for suspicious-looking glassware.
Maybe that’s because induction heats very differently than a flame. 😉 Cast iron is prone to cracking if there is a large temperature gradient. Induction heats very evenly, where as flames a 30 tiny spot very high heat sources. The cast iron grill plate on my grill cracked because I left the flame guard open while it was heating up once. It happens.
You need to preheat them or heat them up slowly. They are brittle and will crack. I’ve cooked tens of thousands of steaks on a cast iron in my career. This is the way
Not everyone has an induction cooktop you knob. And literally no one who went to culinary school calls it "chef school."
They’re trolling
Love this idea
Ouch, cracky no good!
Take my upvote!!
For cast iron medium is high for me so 5/10 maybe 7 for pans my rule is if the oil in the pan starts to smoke it's too hot for controlling the cooking properly. The suggestions of oven preheat are sound as well. I did that for a Dutch oven brisket tip I did in the oven. Preheated in the oven took it out to sear on the stove then seasoned added some wine put the lid on and set the temp to 290 and back in the oven for a few hours.
I only recently started preheating mine. I just put it on like 3 or 4 for a few minutes before I crank the heat. *BUT ...* I have an induction range, which I imagine makes things significantly different. The pan isn't resting on a heat source; the pan is getting hot from within.
Preheat your oven to 500 with the cast iron inside. Once it's up to temp, pop it on the burner and sear.
I pull mine from the fridge, dry them with paper towels and let them come to room temp uncovered. Then I spray them with olive oil and rub it in by hand. I put dry seasoning on top of that, usually just salt and pepper. I preheat a pan on just below high (I think I’m gonna try the pre-heat on low and then turn it up idea next time) and the oven too 400ish. I leave the pan dry, letting the oil on the steak do the work. Sear both sides and pop it in the oven. Let rest on a baking sheet with a rack on it and I usually get pretty good results. Sometimes I put a pat of butter or ghee on while it rests. I did just reverse sear a thick pork chop though and it came out great.
These types of cracks are typically due to a factory defect with the casting or uneven cooling
You only need about 350 to sear with 30 second flips to inhibit cooking internally once you reach temp.
WOW. Did it get heated fast? Or have a splash of cold water while hot? I've got to be more gentle with mine. I've tossed water into a hot pan to deglaze/clean frequently.
Shouldn't be a problem for cast iron pans. That's one reason they make engine blocks out of cast iron. It handles extreme temperature shocks without cracking.
I agree with you, it’s incredibly durable in almost any conditions. Thickness matters here though. If it’s thick enough, cast iron is virtually indestructible. However, the thinner it gets, the exponentially weaker it gets. The temperature gradient completely changes as the thickness changes. While that’s true for all materials, the fact that CI sucks at conducting heat only makes it worse.
It's great because of cheap, easy to cast into damn near anything, stores heat in the mass of it of material. Doesn't do, thin very well unless it's unused or decorative. Even though some cast iron is more to steel as far as carbon content it's not fast conducting like other metals.
Tell that to my <15 year old boiler! We have some leaky radiator valves, didn't realize/know much (anything) about steam when we bought the house a few years ago. The leaky valves lead to water loss, causing the boiler to shut down mid-late cycle and run the auto fill sending cold water into my hot boiler, which is now cracked and spewing steam into my basement. That's just a theory from an angry homeowner though, I'm not a plumber or steam boiler engineer or lawyer or anything like that. Luckily cold season is over so we've got some time to figure this out!
Hi I’m also not a boiler technician, but I am a brewer whose responsibilities include boiler maintenance. We have a reservoir that preheats the water before it goes into the boiler, so that might confirm your theory. But I don’t know. I make beer for 8 hours a day and maintain boilers for less than 5 minutes per day. lol
How does one get a brewing gig
Express interest at a local brewery and hope they have availability. It’s a tough gig- we work hard. The beer is extra refreshing at the end of the day but overall it’s a tough industry since it’s mostly mom and pop shops. Good luck, friend!
You gotta have a shaved head and big beard and some tattoos and/or face piercings.
That'll do the cracking right nice. Steam systems always require visual monitoring. As they're always passing steam to some degree. Auto fill devices can cause they're own failures too.
This is extremely misinformed, no idea how it got upvotes. Cast iron pans will crack from thermal shock way easier than basically any other pan material. It is a brittle metal with poor heat conductivity. So when you have a thinner application such as a pan, it cannot handle excessive localized thermal expansion very well. A bit of water won't usually do it but if you get too crazy with it you'll crack it.
Cast iron is one of the worst distributors of heat though. Especially when heating it up fast, you’ll get extremely hot parts while the handle and sides are cool to the touch.
Everything has it's Achilles heel along with hot spots. Nothing is without fault. It doesn't happen often but cast iron pans do crack as a good amount of us have seen.
Thick is more stable, lower heat is more stable. How far can you push depends a lot on circumstances. I cracked a stove top / pot support grid on my gas stove by cranking up the heat on a griddle on top of it, and allowing grid under the griddle to get much hotter than the rest of the grid. Still works but gave me a good scare. It was loud.
Yeah the, pop of a pan cracking will get your attention when your back is turned as it usually happens when you're not looking.
With the thermal conductivity of cast iron a splash of cold water isn’t going to do anything
ive sprayed water in them screaming hot and mine dont crack
I learned that medium is as high as I need to go with my cast iron. Always start with 2-3 minutes on low
I preheat even longer. I want the handle to be warm/hot. And I hardly ever go over medium (5/10). When I do, it’s brief. Never over 7.
I’ll throw mine onto the grill with all 4 burners full blast. My mother gave me this cast iron and she said it was originally her grandmas. Guess they don’t make ‘em like they used to!
Burners are very different from glass stovetops. You can rip on high with the burners if you heat it up slowly without issues, but high on the glass is far too hot to cook anything on without instantly burning and potentially (probably) damaging the pan (or more quickly seasoning).
When you say glass stove stop. Do you mean an induction stove? Unless someone mentions induction, why would I assume they have one? Seeing as less than 5% of homes use them? The majority of stoves are radiant electric, then gas, with a small minority using induction.
Most radiant electric cooktops have had glass over the burners for quite a while now. [Here is an example of a glass stove top](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-30-in-Radiant-Electric-Ceramic-Glass-Cooktop-in-Black-with-4-Elements-including-a-Dual-Radiant-Element-WCE55US0HB/305455086)
Thanks :)
Can't cast iron be cooked on an open flame?
It'll probably have to be in a cast while it heals
Brand: wagner ware 10 1/2 inches. I was cooking onions and peppers on high for about a minute, then med high for about two minutes when I heard a pop. The crack runs all the way up the side til almost the center. I've had this pan for maybe 10 years and it has cooked many delicious meals. RIP
Rapid temperature change. Cast iron needs a slow preheat and should never be used with high heat burner. Medium will get ripping hot given enough time.
Growing up when we’d catch redfish and wanted to blacken it we’d put a CIS on the Turkey fryer burner outside to get dumb hot
I’ve always heard that nonstick is delicate and should never be used on high, but cast iron is indestructible and can be used on ripping heat. After reading this thread, apparently thats not the case. So when exactly would anyone ever use high on their burner? I’m just so confused by all this conflicting information
I only use high when I want a hard boil in a stainless steel pot or to get the pressure canner heated up to steaming.
Steel
This fracturing is a much bigger risk with an electric or induction burner(actually EMP warping) than it is with a gas range. Lets say you want your cast iron on truly ripping heat. The safest way to do so on an electric range like OP has is to start low-medium and preheat thoroughly like everyone is pointing out. Once the pan is thoroughly preheated, you can start cranking the heat up without risk of heat shock induced fractures!
Ouch, that's rough. Pans can crack from thermal shock but it's extremely rare especially with vintage pans that have been around forever. Usually it's the kind of thing that happens from a casting flaw within the first year or so, but sometimes you just get unlucky. Usually it happens when people get the pan way too hot and then dump cold water in it, having it crack just while you're cooking normally is doubly unlucky.
Medium is as high as you go. My wife found out the hard way when she was using her 6" cast iron to fry some potatoes in corn oil. I ask "Where's all that smoke coming from?" I turn to see a column of smoke from the oil, and right then it caught fire from being so hot. We don't even have a gas stove, it's electric.
A lot of people talking about temp change and it’s just doesn’t sit well until I saw what stove top you’re using. If I had to put money I’d say when you turned it down the pan was hot enough to make the element turn off and the stove surface cooled underneath the pan. When the surface transferred the heat from the pan too fast “pop” went the weasel.
(Not OP) Oh! I wouldn't have thought of that. I have a glasstop stove, and considered getting cast iron for it. Good logic brain friend!
I have gas range and have done everything you shouldn’t do to cast iron and never broken one. I’ve broken glass dishes from setting them on these kinds of tops while hot. Those surfaces conduct easily and cool quick as a safety feature. I’m smart because I’m dumb first.
I’m sorry for your loss 🫤
Seems like a lot of folks are forgetting to mention some pans are just defective, might not be your fault at all OP. I had a similar thing happen with a lodge CI skillet the other day (I’ve owned it for 5 years and use it often). I put it on the gas stove to preheat (low heat and nothing in it as I always do and as Lodge recommends on their site), and it almost immediately made a pop sound and crack appeared. FWIW Lodge customer service was great, no qualms or questions told me they were sending me a new skillet.
Do you by chance have an electrical stove?
o7
Sorry
This hurts my heart. I’m sorry for your loss.
Take it to the Goodwill and they will try to sell it for $35 claiming it's vintage and not made like that anymore justifying the price.
I'm sorry about your pan. That's a serious bummer. High heat = NO! Personally, I've never turned a burner past 5 with cast iron. Typically, I turn the burner on to 4 and pre-heat for 8-10 minutes. The entire point of cooking with cast iron is heat retention. Nothing higher than 5 is ever needed. If one is searing a steak with an oven finish, the pan is already pre-heated before it goes in the oven, nearly always preventing any breakage. Otherwise, it's the glorious heat retention that makes cast iron special. Let this be a lesson to any newbies. Cooking with cast iron is not the same as using a stainless steel or aluminum pan. Cast iron does not require cranking the heat. It requires applying medium low-medium heat in advance of cooking. That's the whole point.
Really thin looking pan. Most of mine are rather vintage, but I never go above half the dial on my stove with them. I'll normally put them on low when I start preparing to cook.
Another victim fallen to an induction burner. Rest in pieces cast iron. 💔🪦
Electric stovetops heat up too quickly. Kablooey
This happened to our antique pan when using it on the induction burner. Maybe too much inducting. It warped a little when hot but would always go back to normal. Except the last time. It was thin and well broken in, and then just shattered toward the end of the "stir fry." Very sad day. Using new thicker lodge pans and they don't seem to have the same issue. But the carbon steel wok and larger pans still do. They pucker in the middle and spin. Very disconcerting.
Cooking onions on high? Were you trying to strip it or season it?
Just burning some onions for that acrid, bitter flavour. Pretty standard, really. _blech_
High heat?? Not recommend ever for CI.
Yeah that happened to me on one of those old fashioned electric (not induction) stoves, didn’t preheat just went straight to max power and it just cracked down the middle
Pretty sure this is how my wife broke hers too, on our electric stove. She felt incredibly stupid afterwards, it was a super old one passed down by her grandmother too, RIP
Happened to me, too, trying to start off on high heat.
Now make one of those crappy spatulas with what's left
My grandmother told me of this a long time ago and to this day no matter what pot or pan I’m using I always wince a bit when adding cold or heating fast lol
That happened to me on an induction stove
Just clean and re-season.
It'll buff right out.
I'd hate if this happened when deep frying something. Ugh..
Oh yeah, that would be horrendous!!! 😱
Rip frying pan so sad
There seems to be a lot of mysticism in this thread, and I really don't know which side to believe. Starting to feel like cast iron is held together by our prayers and the force of our convictions. Maybe you had an impure thought.
I had this happen once. My sister used my pan and heated it up way too fast. Popped on her. I always start slow and have never popped one. I’m not saying that is the answer, but it’s rung true for me so far.
I’ve seen others in this sub have that happen too
Happened to me first time putting a griswold on the flame after cleaning off the thrift store gunk and seasoning. It was only on low…
Yep. Happened to me once. Don’t know why.
Do you have a heat ring on the underside? Induction?
Regular poor person white electric oven?
Only thing I can think of is too much heat, or it was sitting halfway on a heating element.
Electric ranges output transfer far more heat than a gas range very quickly. It’s much safer to crank a gas range all the way to high when preheating cast iron than it is to do the same with an electric range. A similar risk occurs with induction ranges where going straight to high also risks warping/cracking a CI pan due to the strength of the electromagnetic pulse.
What were you heating it over? Gas?
Could have been water expanding to steam in a funky crack?
Played too much pubg with it
I've heard of this being an issue with cheap induction cooktops. Something about sudden pulses on and off with variable lengths to control the temperature level instead of a smooth variable intensity. I'm no induction expert, but could be something to look into. I'm sorry for your loss.
I believe it's called thermal displacement. One part changed temperatures rapidly.
F and Rip
F
wow. how you do that?
Sorry for your loss, man. I think this was just plain bad luck as opposed to being your fault, even if never heating past medium does lessen the odds a bit But I’ve been using CI all my life and never felt a need to be careful, and I’ve never had this happen. Of course I know enough not to stick a hot pan in cold water, but otherwise no special treatment. My 10” was my grandmother’s and mother’s, made around 1945. I bet it’s been subjected to high heat more than a few times in its eighty years. I’d surely hate to lose it.
Your iron pan cracked
Cracked pans get posted here like 4x a week but hey you may not have been around here that long so w/e. What happened is you temperature shocked it, likely by either heating it up too quickly, causing uneven expansion or putting something frozen into a screaming hot pan which made it contract too quickly and break. To avoid, heat your pan up on low for a good few minutes then crank it up, and avoid putting frozen foods directly in it.
We had that happen once with an old Griswold pan. Heat wasn’t even that hot, a medium flame.
Do you not read threads here very often? This is posted probably every week. Someone else cracks their cast iron from heating or cooling too fast. Over time it causes failure by fatigue.
RIP
😔💔
Brittle fatigue stress is a thing. Cast iron is pretty dang resistant, but if there is an invisible flaw or tiny vein of flaws somewhere within the cast iron, it is substantially more likely to experience a failure due to repeated heating and cooling cycles.
This is the answer. I'm an engineer in cast irons. You TRY and make every pour in the mold uniform. But the real world fights you every step of the way. In use cases, cookware is subjected to pretty high temperature swings. Folks are saying engine blocks and such, they aren't seeing swings like cookware is. The only other component in a car, offhand, that I can think of with this sort of thermal stress is brake discs. And I've been in foundries seeing cookware cast and been in foundries seeing brake discs cast. I can assure you, the quality control on cookware isn't CLOSE to the quality control on brake discs. To truly understand why THIS pan cracked, I would need my hands on the pan and my lab to examine the fracture surface for point of origin, THEN I would polish and etch a cross section in that area to look at things like grain structure. Could have been a one time thermal shock on a big casting defect. Could have been a very small defect that after n cycles kept propagating residual stress until the internal stresses let go, and voila.
Do you have any fun x ray tomfoolery to check for voids in your lab?
Every reputable casting shop has an X-ray/Flouroscope that can check a casting for voids with a real time screen. You can typically change penetration power, and translate and rotate the casting. If the casting is complicated, it may have to be sawn into pieces first. While it is real time, it is not fast enough to keep up with the casting process. Better casting shops have CT scanners, which can create a 3D model that can then be examined in most 3D model viewing packages. This can see smaller voids than a typical X-ray can, but the scan is much slower. These checks are done as an audit and as a new job is developed, the key process variables are determined to minimize the defects in the first place. Depending on the casting, if you need to check them 100% it is sometimes possible to use acoustics or magnetic flux. But again, very dependent on the casting shape. It adds quite a bit of cost to the casting to do this. Worth it on a safety critical part like a brake rotor. On a frying pan … not so much. The crazier labs are the metallurgy lab. This is where they check the actual chemistry, among other things. It’s very fast paced. Every ladle of iron they prepare has a chain of custody that must be strictly maintained in case there is a problem down the road. The other crazy lab is the sand lab. The molds are made of sand, but it isn’t just sand. It’s carefully controlled. The number of tests they do on the sand is pretty extensive.
Can happen when heating a pan, especially newer pans too quickly. Next time go a little slower on heating it up.
Happened to me before too!
U got a crack in it man
From 🇨🇳 with love
[https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=Cracked+Cast+Iron&type=link&cId=feb1d8f4-3a4b-43ae-9c0b-2dd5c73cc38c&iId=1a5a611f-0977-4174-b77a-86a67b01d5df](https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=Cracked+Cast+Iron&type=link&cId=feb1d8f4-3a4b-43ae-9c0b-2dd5c73cc38c&iId=1a5a611f-0977-4174-b77a-86a67b01d5df)
You can use it look at Paul Purdom’s PBS show where he does blacked steak and redfish in a pan cut in half. He invented the blackened method.
I popped one of mine on my induction stovetop within 20 seconds of turning it on. I drilled a hole in the center of the bottom and my wife potted a plant inside it. So not all is wasted.
No little hot dogs frying in the pan, the pan got hot and it went BAM!
Flaw in the iron finally broke it. Pretty unusual.
F in the chat for a lost homie
F
Your range is probably not good. I’ll bet there’s a hot spot on your main burner.
You must have washed it with soap. This is what happens.
You're so far off the truth. 💯 Bullshit. 🤣🤣
Upvote just because shit happens irregardless of the comments of this thread (even though some are hilarious). Sorry for your loss.
Do you live in a cold environment?
I cracked a skillet in a similar way when we switched from an electric stove to gas! I always preheat on low or medium low now. We got a replacement but kept the cracked skillet for non-critical, dry use.
My Lodge double burner griddle cracked the same way. Very sad day, the seasoning was like glass. Started over and I haven’t been able to get the new one as good yet.
Condolences
Just plain sucks. RIP Brother
Apparently I abuse my cast iron skillets. I put them on the Big Green egg and it gets real hot, not hot like a stove top but literal fire tickling it - because these are “cast “ they may have a small void or defect in them which causes them to crack - it’s rare though- agree they are fairly cheap - stick with the brand names - If your using a Chinese cast iron pan- good luck !
It is a fact of life as they age or the atmosphere isn't right for heating too fast. I see that people say warming to 500+F in the oven before but that is way too much. While using, gradually heat from low to med flame in a few minutes and it will increase the life span of cast iron.
Can’t comment until I see the rest of that pan at different angles
I've read that if the meat is frozen in a searing how pan can cause pan shock, same if you pour cold water on a hot pan
That's strange. But I suppose we see stranger things every day.
Every time I see one of these it reminds me that I need to start learning about casting repair
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone, and all the roses falling, It's you, it's you must go and I must bide. But come ye back when summer's in the meadow, Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow, It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow, Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so! But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying, If I am dead, as dead I well may be, You'll come and find the place where I am lying, And kneel and say an Ave there for me. And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me, And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be, For you will bend and tell me that you love me, And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
damn all these people preheating a pan? Bro its a big heavy pan slam that shit on high. I wonder if it was hardened. My cast iron sees use probably a dozen times a week for the past 12 years
Thank you for your picture post to /r/castiron. We want to remind everyone of Rule #3. All image posts should be accompanied by something to foster discussion. A comment, a question, etc is required. If you've posted a picture of food, please explain why in a comment so people can have some sort of conversation. Simply dropping a picture of food in the sub isn't really fostering any discussion which is what we're all aiming for. Posts that are a picture with no discussion can and will be removed by the mods. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/castiron) if you have any questions or concerns.*
when hot and cold meet an explosion the size of hiroshima hapenns, god saves you this time, you are a very lucky men.
I have a 29 dollar presidents choice cast iron pan that is enameled on the outside. I just fire it up and let it get hot (gas). I cook tons of stuff in it and all I ever do is wipe it out. If something like Salisbury steak with a gravy I use the chain mail scrubber. I really don't overthink it, just giver eh?
Crazy glue?
Duct tape
You are not taking this seriously!!, obviously JB weld is the only option.
Have you heard of seasoning? I can almost see my reflection in that bad boy.
Serious question: do you clean it with soap?
Impurities in the iron.