cast iron or carbon steel cooking

[Yarome]

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)

This.

What you used originally or subsequently to season your pan can really matter as well. Using a high smoke point oil prevents a lot of the issues with potential pan fouling due to overheating and such. Or rather, it's much more forgiving and requires less maintanence if you're still working up your seasoning. Observing what's okay to put in your pan for the first while, and what not to, can also help avoid headaches.

 

[ORhutner]

Love both cast iron and carbon steel. There is usually one of each pan type on the stove at all times. Anything acidic goes in a nice stainless steel pan. If I am having to carry my cookware with me then it is going to be some sort of ultra lite kit.

 

[TNThomas]

Both are great. It depends on what im cooking though, and how im cooking it, but usually Im using Carbin Steel. On a similar note, Im currently welding up my own Mini Smoker out of a small Oxygen tank (fire box) and 2- 20lb Propane tanks. Piece of 90 deg square tubing will act as a flat cook top.

 

[P7M13]

Back when I could carry 80lb packs into the Wind Rivers, I would haul cast iron.
I try to keep my pack below 40 lbs now, and my camp cookware is titanium. You have to use it like cast iron.
I'm still 15 or so to 1, trekking vs car camping.
I don't have a gas stove any more, and haven't used my cast in ~12 years.
You can season stainless or aluminum - don't let anyone fool you. It's all in how you clean it. But, it will never look pretty enough to hang.
I never understood the trouble people had, seasoning their cast iron. I'd pickle (i.e. burn in) mine over the course of a week using the grill and lard. A god-awful smokey mess, but a good pan at the end of it.

Steak and pizza on cast iron beat barbecue

Yep, how I finish all my steaks now (in a pan). I rarely use the grill any more.

 

[whiskeybill]

I have accumulated a fair assortment of cast iron wares over the years, Griswold, Wagner and Lodge. Some of the older pans were my Mothers. When I was single, they served for camp and home cooking. The wife has a fancy induction range and my old cast iron doesn't get used much on her stovetop, but if I make fried chicken I get out the Camp Chef on the deck and get after it. And I like to bake bread in the cast iron loaf pans.

As far as back packing, I have gone through enough aluminum cookware to fill a large pantry, but those days are over. The cast iron was never an issue packing in on horseback when Elk hunting. CI is horse and mule proof.

 

[koolminx]

Ugh! I survive becasue I'm two miles from burger king and the grocery store.... Otherwise my survival would depend upon open fires, a water source, and sticks to use as a turning spit. I won't be carrying cast iron (even though I have six or so different cast cooking products for camping) and My WOK is universal, light, heats rapidly, cools rapidly has enough volume for anything from eggs to stews, and is a solitary good all around item and transports easily.

But the likelihood of being forced into that situation here in the good old screwed up US of A, is still extremely low during my lifetime, regardless of the Russia and China crap going on.

I can bug out and make a base camp with all the necessities, but the logistics of that are statistically improbable due to the relative mass of our (self loving and prepared for catastrophe peoples) population, and the increasing number of us out in the wild, and the smaller number of food/game animals in liveable areas that wouldn't be over crowded and hunted out within six months, and on top of that there's vegetables necessary for survival that need cultivation which requires land clearing etc... There simply isn't enough mass in unlived land left for all of us to do that and make it long term without revealing our whereabouts by simple survival, in a survival from mass war or invasion style survival needs.... Basically too many of us would do the same thing and the areas we would go to would turn into wooded metropolises in no time due to the needs for so much by so few...

That's my take on it.

P.S. Being sober these last six months has really messed me up and I overthink and over react to everything..... 8) 8)

 

[ma96782]

Am I also gonna be responsible for transporting/carrying it?

Aloha, Mark

 

[Geardo]

If it's on my back it's titanium. Ain't nobody humping cast iron around backpacking who has a lick of sense left.


If I'm in a vehicle I have a carbon steel skillet I like.

 

[ma96782]

Think this will work as my canteen?

Aloha, Mark

PS.......

 

[Hueco]

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

I've spent many a day/night backpacking and have tried all manor of cookware.

Jetboil - this amounts to cooking in a thermos sitting atop a single burner sitting atop an iso/propane fuel can. Pros: packable and decently light. Cons: can really only boil water and cook water based things: freeze dried goods, soups, oats, ramen, etc and you're reliant on the fuel can and the burner.

Camp pots (steel/aluminum) and a single burner. The burner set up I ran could use just about anything for fuel, but you're still limited. The aluminum pots usually have some plastic on them and can't go into an open flame. The steel is alright but with how thin it is, you have to be really careful using them in a fire.

I've also gone out with just a mesh grate and some aluminum foil. Can't boil water of course with just the grate but turning any campfire into a kitchen is a win, they're also light and hard to screw up. Wrap up food in the foil and toss into the fire or place on the grate and you're eating in no time. Cons: aluminum foil only gets so many uses before it's destroyed - not really "survival" material in the truest sense.

None of the above are really "survival" but more just general backpacking strategies; but then, I've always looked at "survival" as "able to quickly be on the move." If I had to pick one to get me by for the next decade, it'd be: a carbon steel wok that is smaller than the traditional and under 4lbs + a steel mesh cooking grate that can span the top diameter of the wok so it could be used above or below or on its own.

I love my cast iron pan, and it gets used at home and car camping. But it is way, way too heavy to be in the "survival" gear pile.

 

[rjmt]

I have lot's of goose eggs and looking for a way to use them
read about cast iron oven baked omelets
found an old #8 Wagner cast iron skillet in the garage that belonged to my wife's Great Grandmother
classic Wagner American made cast iron
spent tonight sanding 50 years of rust out of it - coated in canola oil and seasoning in the oven at 425 deg now
will use it for the first time in 50 years in the morning for an oven baked goose egg omelet!
the goose egg was laid just this morning

 

[Yarome]

use it for the first time in 50 years in the morning for an oven baked goose egg omelet!

Just a heads up... egg in a newly seasoned/re-seasoned pan might not end well. It generally takes a little time to build up a really decent seasoning to "bulletproof" your pans. Or... doing a multi layer seasoning at different temps to speed up the process.

A low heat and copious amounts of butter might do you, but you'll probably want to keep it shifiting while cooking... which might be difficult in an oven.

Canola oil at 425 degrees... let me guess. A lot of smoke, right? Typically you want to keep your oven below the smoke point of the oil you're using to prevent scorching/burning that can affect even saturation and the polymerizing process. For your typical canola oil you're talking around 400 degrees, IIRC.

 

[Tony617]

I have a 12" cast iron pan made in Taiwan that I have had for more than 30 years. I coated with oil and seasoned in the oven before I started using it. It has been well used over the years. For camping I have a small kettle for boiling water, and have a smaller pan, and then there is a small fry pan. It packs up into single unit and has a carry bag as well.

 

[rjmt]

Just a heads up... egg in a newly seasoned/re-seasoned pan might not end well. It generally takes a little time to build up a really decent seasoning to "bulletproof" your pans. Or... doing a multi layer seasoning at different temps to speed up the process.

A low heat and copious amounts of butter might do you, but you'll probably want to keep it shifiting while cooking... which might be difficult in an oven.

Canola oil at 425 degrees... let me guess. A lot of smoke, right? Typically you want to keep your oven below the smoke point of the oil you're using to prevent scorching/burning that can affect even saturation and the polymereizing process. For your typical canola oil you're talking around 400 degrees, IIRC.

some smoke, but we have a great new hood fan

will cook the goose egg in lots of butter

but this pan was used for many year by my wife's Great Grandmother down in Texas

will let you know

 

[rjmt]

Just a heads up... egg in a newly seasoned/re-seasoned pan might not end well. It generally takes a little time to build up a really decent seasoning to "bulletproof" your pans. Or... doing a multi layer seasoning at different temps to speed up the process.

A low heat and copious amounts of butter might do you, but you'll probably want to keep it shifiting while cooking... which might be difficult in an oven.

Canola oil at 425 degrees... let me guess. A lot of smoke, right? Typically you want to keep your oven below the smoke point of the oil you're using to prevent scorching/burning that can affect even saturation and the polymerizing process. For your typical canola oil you're talking around 400 degrees, IIRC.

the oven baked omelet came out just great - no stick first time out
but I did use the same cast iron to suate my onions and mushrooms, so it was well coated with butter by the time it went in the oven

 

[Yarome]

I did use the same cast iron to suate my onions

Nice! The onions probably helped. I forget what it is in onions that reacts with heated surfaces, but it's a tried and true "trick" to create a non stick barrier. I think it originated in China on carbon woks ("seasoning" with only ginger and scallions), but works just as well on cast iron and stainless steel.

Who knew, right? Glad it worked and getting the great grandmothers iron back into service.

 

[rjmt]

Nice! The onions probably helped. I forget what it is in onions that reacts with heated surfaces, but it's a tried and true "trick" to create a non stick barrier. I think it originated in China on carbon woks ("seasoning" with only ginger and scallions), but works just as well on cast iron and stainless steel.

Who knew, right? Glad it worked and getting the great grandmothers iron back into service.

I did not know that about onions - but did find lots of referenced on line for it

we grow potatoes out here, so I have used potato skins

by the way, when I seasoned the cast iron at 425 and didn't have smoke, my son told me the spray bottle I used was corn oil, not Canola oil
we have pump bottles with Corn, Canola, Olive and Avocado oil, depending on what we're cooking in the carbon steel or cast iron

I could start an entire post on Oregon Trail cast iron cooking - have a 1941 cast iron Gray & Dudley US Army griddle that's 3' long to put over an open fire

 

[rjmt]

I did not know that about onions - but did find lots of referenced on line for it

we grow potatoes out here, so I have used potato skins

by the way, when I seasoned the cast iron at 425 and didn't have smoke, my son told me the spray bottle I used was corn oil, not Canola oil
we have pump bottles with Corn, Canola, Olive and Avocado oil, depending on what we're cooking in the carbon steel or cast iron

I could start an entire post on Oregon Trail cast iron cooking - have a 1941 cast iron Gray & Dudley US Army griddle that's 3' long to put over an open fire

sorry, here's a link for a like item

31X21 Gray and Dudley 1941 Cast Iron WWII Army Griddle | #137963248

WELCOME PICKED THIS UP AT A LOCAL ESTATE HERE IN EAST TN A 1941 US ARMY 31X 21 GRAY AND DUDLEY CAST IRON GRIDDLE SKILLET IN EXCELLANT USED CONDITION. IT IS HUGE AND HEAVY. THE STORY ON THE CARD. ON TH

www.worthpoint.com

 

[Yarome]

...Avocado oil

That's my all time favorite for seasoning. Smoke point is about 520 degrees. Good stuff!

Excellent on just about any pan type. SS, CS, even lightweight aluminum camp gear.

 

[Mike_M57]

Imagine how advanced our civilization would be if people would stop believing in things that aren't true.