Just a quick note regarding a few materials of cookware. I should’ve written this months ago, but decided to do it today.

Carbon steel:

  • Easier to manoeuvre than cast iron
  • Lighter than cast iron
  • More responsive to heat changes due to lighter and thinner material
  • Worse heat retention compared to cast iron
  • Usually need seasoning before using
  • Awesome for stir frying, usually using carbon steel wok
  • Some are oven proof, but some are not due to the handles are being made of non-oven proof materials
  • Not recommended for cooking acid ingredients in a very long time (4+ hours) (eg. food with high amount of vinegar)
  • Prone to rust. Needs to be dried thoroughly after washing. Recommended to put a thin coating of oil before storing.
  • I own a Joyce Chen wok.

Cast iron:

  • Awesome heat retention
  • Harder to manoeuvre. Usually also comes with short handle which makes it even harder to toss ingredients.
  • Heavier compared to carbon steel
  • Usually need seasoning before using
  • Awesome for searing steaks, or grilling something, due to heavier material and longer heat retention
  • Usually oven proof
  • Not recommended for cooking acid ingredients in a very long time (4+ hours) (eg. food with high amount of vinegar)
  • Prone to rust. Needs to be dried thoroughly after washing. Recommended to put a thin coating of oil before storing.
  • I own a few Lodge pans.

Enameled cast iron:

  • A variation of cast iron. It is basically a regular cast iron with enamel coating.
  • Usually is a material for dutch oven
  • Prone to chip (arguably)
  • Easier to maintain. No prone to rust.
  • Oven proof
  • I own Lodge dutch oven. Arguably, the best brand is Le Creuset.

Stainless steel:

  • Awesome for making pan sauce. It leaves fond to deglaze.
  • No seasoning needed, but can be tricky to cook prone-to-stick ingredients (eg. fish, eggs)
  • Usually oven proof
  • Light colour, make it easy to see colour changes when cooking (eg. when browning something).
  • I own a few Scanpan frying pans, and sauce pans.

Non-stick:

  • Awesome for cooking delicate ingredients (eg. fish, eggs)
  • Not oven proof
  • Can’t handle very high heat. Not recommended for searing steaks or stir frying.
  • Prone to scratch. Can’t use metal utensils to cook. It needs special spatula to cook, usually rubber spatula. Once scratched, it needs to be replaced.
  • I use Tefal non-stick frying pans.