cast iron or carbon steel cooking

[rjmt]

now I have some old Wagner cast iron as well as Lodge

they work on electric stove, gas stove or open camp fire

and I have Lodge and Chinese carbon steel pans and an original Chinese carbon steel Wok

now if you want to make light of Chinese WOK, remember in Vietnam, the most protected member of an NVA squad, was the man who carried the WOK on his back to cook for the rest of the unit

for your survival cooking, what pans and skillets do you use? Cast Iron, Carbon Steel skillets or carbon steel WOK

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[RVTECH]

for your survival cooking, what pans and skillets do you use? Cast Iron, Carbon Steel skillets or carbon steel WOK

For my REGULAR, day to day cooking I use cast iron. But then I keep my CI pans properly 'seasoned' and NEVER use any kind of soap product to clean them.

They are 'glass smooth' and nothing sticks to them.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

My "survival cooking" items would be the same ones that I use when camping or hunting....
Reproduction fur trade era cooper / tin lined cups , plates , kettle and coffee pot.
I also use a hand made wooden "trencher" and horn spoons.
Andy

 

[rjmt]

For my REGULAR, day to day cooking I use cast iron. But then I keep my CI pans properly 'seasoned' and NEVER use any kind of soap product to clean them.

They are 'glass smooth' and nothing sticks to them.

true - so true - but consider carbon steel is 1/4 the weight if your packing them in

back in the DAY, I would cook in carbon steel, boil in water after cooking - only - use river sand if I had to scrub them out

my son works from home and can cook an entire lunch of vegies and chicken in just 5 min at high heat

if your in a survival environment, your Wall Mart non stick pans are not going to work over an open fire

 

[Yarome]

I'm a cast iron guy, but one of my favorite pieces of trail kit....


Shhhhh.......

 

[RVTECH]

if your in a survival environment, your Wall Mart non stick pans are not going to work over an open fire

Well, I guess I live in my 'survival environment' - and do NOT own any 'Wall Mart non stick pans'

 

[rjmt]

how many of you can do "Oregon Trail Cast Iron Cooking"?
I studied this as a Scout leader
I can stack 3 dutch ovens, one on top of the other, with charcoal or wood, and get the main dish on the bottom, the desert on the middle Dutch Oven and apple pie on the top and get all 3 to become ready at the same time
I understand this is modern survival technology, about 1840s

 

[rjmt]

Well, I guess I live in my 'survival environment' - and do NOT own any 'Wall Mart non stick pans'

LOLLL

me to

 

[Yarome]

For the survivalist's... and this is what happens when you drop a plain old trangia into a secondary burn type chamber. Turbo charged!

 

[Stomper]

In survival or SHTF mode…. I eats mine raw!

 

[dplev4]

My son restores cast iron so we have a lovely collection of Griswold and Wagner for day to day cooking. Steak and pizza on cast iron beat barbecue. Which I doubted till I tried it.

For camping or if we had to take to the road, then I have ultralight aluminum. It won last long but I can carry it. Cast iron not so much.

 

[rjmt]

For the survivalist's... and this is what happens when you drop a plain old trangia into a secondary burn type chamber. Turbo charged!
View attachment 1172046

when I was in Germany, I acquired a M1945 squad stove - would run off any fuel you had - I had a jet for low test 86 octane I used in my BMW motorcycle

would drain enough gas from my fuel tank for a meal or coffee, then pore the remainder back in the tank

it's in my barn somewhere - haven't seen it in 24 odd years

yes, I used to be that young - roamed North America (including Canada) for 2 years on that old beast from '73 - 75

it was a 1966 BMW R60

only had $3000 dollars in my pocket when I started - 2 years on $3000

the World was different than

 

[rjmt]

My son restores cast iron so we have a lovely collection of Griswold and Wagner for day to day cooking. Steak and pizza on cast iron beat barbecue. Which I doubted till I tried it.

For camping or if we had to take to the road, then I have ultralight aluminum. It won last long but I can carry it. Cast iron not so much.

we have one Griswold - but I consider an old Wagner it's equal

 

[rjmt]

when I was in Germany, I acquired a M1945 squad stove - would run off any fuel you had - I had a jet for low test 86 octane I used in my BMW motorcycle

would drain enough gas from my fuel tank for a meal or coffee, then pore the remainder back in the tank

it's in my barn somewhere - haven't seen it in 24 odd years

yes, I used to be that young - roamed North America (including Canada) for 2 years on that old beast from '73 - 75

it was a 1966 BMW R60

only had $3000 dollars in my pocket when I started - 2 years on $3000

the World was different than

View attachment 1172048 View attachment 1172049

so why did I send photos of a motorcycle on a survivalist board?

that old thing had a magneto - no battery - had 6:1 compression - ran on anything you put in the tank
you could drink Everclear, Grappa, a bottle of Jack, piss in the gas tank and it would still run

 

[Burt Gummer]

Was using a non-stick pan since I started cooking a couple years ago. Then I read that the coating is hazardous and hell it probably is, isn't everything?
So went cast iron - a 12" brute - not sure how a small lady could manhandle it. Anyway, here is my concern. Is a cast iron pan ALWAYS giving off black iron?
I mean I have a steel scrub pan and clean it, wipe it out with a towel and it is black. Then I tried heavy paper towels, many wipes and I can get it down to trace amounts.
Is all that iron in my hamburger, steak OK? Started getting concerned so I flip-flop now between the non-stick cancer pan and the cast iron.

 

[RVTECH]

Grappa

Grappa is best as a motor fuel.

Who ever thought it was good enough to drink? The stuff is horrible!

 

[oremike]

No aluminum or Teflon cookware for me, I'm trying to save the last few brain cells I've got left.

 

[Koda]

Is a cast iron pan ALWAYS giving off black iron?
I mean I have a steel scrub pan and clean it, wipe it out with a towel and it is black. Then I tried heavy paper towels, many wipes and I can get it down to trace amounts.
Is all that iron in my hamburger, steak OK? Started getting concerned so I flip-flop now between the non-stick cancer pan and the cast iron.

no, thats carbon from the burnt food embedded into the porus grains of the cast iron. It will allow for more burnt foods in those areas of the pan but over time if you leave it and it will work itself out as your cast iron pan breaks in if... you keep it well seasoned and you wont have this.

Cast iron for the win but carbon steel is a close second. Nothing really wrong with either but im only familiar with using cast iron and I just know a cast iron cookwear will last forever. Although... my dog actually broke a cast iron skillet but thats another story.... the pan still worked anyways.

 

[Yarome]

Was using a non-stick pan since I started cooking a couple years ago. Then I read that the coating is hazardous and hell it probably is, isn't everything?
So went cast iron - a 12" brute - not sure how a small lady could manhandle it. Anyway, here is my concern. Is a cast iron pan ALWAYS giving off black iron?
I mean I have a steel scrub pan and clean it, wipe it out with a towel and it is black. Then I tried heavy paper towels, many wipes and I can get it down to trace amounts.
Is all that iron in my hamburger, steak OK? Started getting concerned so I flip-flop now between the non-stick cancer pan and the cast iron.

Assuming that it's properly seasoned, more than likely that's just carbon build up, not 'iron'. It's not harmful but it can give your food a little more color than you might like and can give it a bit of a charred flavor that isn't too pleasant.

Excessive carbon build up is usually from low smoke point oils, overheating or overcooked food buidup, to name a few.

You might try a good salt scrub. It's abrasive enough to remove carbon but won't remove your pans seasoning. Coat liberally with oil and let it soak overnight. Put a liberal amount of salt on an oil soaked rag and scrub away.

Normal cleaning, and if your pan is properly seasoned, shouldn't really require much more than a bit of warm soapy water and a rag, or at most, a stainless steel chainmail scrubber for those really stubborn food stuffs.

A little "color" on your paper towel after cleaning and reoiling isn't out of the ordinary, but excessive carbon build up is pretty unpleasant and can cause sticking.

Not knowing the condition of your pan it's difficult to say, but there is always the option of stripping the seasoning and starting back nice and fresh. That should be a last resort though. It takes a WHOLE lot of cooking over time to really get a good seasoning back up to snuff.

 

[Koda]

In my experience if your getting a lot of carbon build up in your food its because you burnt your last dinner, typically cooking with too high heat. Always start with low heat, the pan wont warm up any faster but if the cooking oil is smoking its too hot and will burn the food and create sticking in the pan and carbon build up. A cast iron pan/pot will not stick food if used properly.
It happens and if you burn or stick food it takes a while to cook it out with normal use, that spot in the pan will continue to stick food for a few more times. You can scrub it relentlessly but you need to get the oil back into the iron pores by properly seasoning the pan, may take a few seasonings. Once its clean reseason the pan and cook with it until you get the non stick surface cast iron is famous for. Just keep the pan seasoned regularly and dont burn your food and it will last. Sometimes when I get a sticky spot I just know to use the other side of the pan for non stick cooking like flipping eggs etc until the other side comes back around. (Thats mostly cause my teen burns everything no matter how much I say to lower the heat..... lol)