Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
I’ve been away from the desk for a few days tending to old dog, dental and church matters–not necessarily in that order 😉 During that time, I have acquired a couple of new pieces of Smithey carbon steel and a piece of Lodge carbon steel is on the way.
If you’ve read this blog before, then you know about my deep affection for cast iron. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of press about carbon steel, cast iron’s lighter-weight cousin. I’ve never used it before, but it is a favorite of professional chefs, and after some test cooks on the pieces I have, I’m finding that there’s a lot to like. For the next week or two, I’ll be going over what I like a lot and what I like less about the carbon steel pans I have acquired. I’ll be testing recipes in them and comparing and contrasting the pieces to their cast iron counterparts.
So let’s introduce the contestants:
First, is the Smithey 11″ Oval Roaster:
The second piece of Smithey carbon steel I acquired is this little beauty: The “Little Farmhouse Skillet”
First things first–let me just say that these pieces of Smithey are GORGEOUS. On order, I have a piece of Lodge carbon steel that is nothing special to look at, but also FAR less expensive than the Smithey. When it arrives, I’ll post a picture of it.
So why do chef’s like carbon steel so much?
Let’s start with the fact that it’s lighter weight than its cousin, cast iron, although I have to say that the Smithey pieces are still pretty heavy. I’ll be interested to see how much the Lodge carbon steel pan weighs. So why is carbon steel lighter than cast iron? Cast iron is cast from molten iron into a sand mold. Carbon steel is typically stamped out or spun and can also be hammered (as in the case of the Smithey), which results in a thinner metal wall and an overall lighter pan.
Next, carbon steel is a very good conductor of heat, although it has a tendency to heat unevenly. Cast iron is also a great conductor of heat, but cast iron tends to heat up more slowly, and then hold onto the heat for a long time. Carbon steel will heat up more quickly and, critically, I think, cool down more quickly than cast iron. And both carbon steel and cast iron are far better conductors of heat than stainless steel. I’m going to do some temperature tests on both cast iron and carbon steel for a future post to compare and contrast the time it takes for each to heat up and cool down. But the advantage of using carbon steel for a professional chef, would be the control you can get with temperature, especially when cooking delicate items, such as seafoods and sauces. You can also take the carbon steel to extremely high heat, making it ideal for getting that great sear on a steak or piece of fish, but also be able to cool it down quickly once it’s removed the heat source.
Carbon steel pans also tend to have longer handles than cast iron. Why? Cast iron is cast as one piece, where carbon steel is made out of two pieces–the pan and the handle. The larger a cast iron pan gets, the more likely it is that a longer handle will break off during the casting process. That’s why a very large 14″ piece of cast iron will have a short handle, which I find becomes very unwieldy and is why there is usually a “helper” handle on larger cast iron skillets. Smithey tends to include helper handles on their larger pieces of carbon steel, but Lodge does not. For a professional chef, though, that longer handle would allow a chef to stand back from the heat and the flames of a gas burner, grill or fire when cooking.
You can use both cast iron and carbon steel on any type of cooking surface, including induction, as well as ovens. Carbon steel and cast iron both can be used on the grill and even on camp fires. So, they’re both extremely versatile.
Care for carbon steel is basically the same as for cast iron–clean and season it after each use and keep it dry between uses.
Carbon steel pans tend to be more expensive than their cast iron counterparts. For example, Smithey’s 12″ carbon steel skillet is $285.00, vs. the 12″ cast iron pan, which is $210.00. The same is true for the Lodge, although the Blacklock (Lodge’s premium cast iron product) is an exception. The 12″ Lodge carbon steel pan comes in at $49.95, while the traditional Lodge skillet is priced at $29.95. The Blacklock 12″ skillet is $80.00. The price difference between the cast iron and carbon steel is undoubtedly due to the labor involved with casting vs. stamping, spinning and/or hammering/finsihing of the final product.
So that’s a quick overview of carbon steel vs. cast iron. Tune in later in the week when I’ll be sharing some test cooks with each of the new pans.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
