Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–glad you’re here!
Today, I’m going to share results from the heating and cooling tests on my Finex and Blacklock cast iron skillets and then wrap up my findings about carbon steel and cast iron.
First, let’s take a look at the final two contestants:
Finex 8″ skillet:
Blacklock 7″ skillet:
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.
Carbon steel is a favorite of professional chefs for its ability to heat and cool quickly in response to a heat source, its ability to be used on any heat source (from induction to camp fires), its long handles, which allow a chef to stand further away from a heat source, and its lighter weight.
I decided to do a series of tests on both carbon steel pans and cast iron pans to get a better understanding of the properties of each. Let me clear that I didn’t consider these experiments to be a “cage match” between carbon steel and cast iron. I only wanted to do some experiments to help me learn more about each material. What I learned was that you can really go down a rabbit hole with this stuff and in some ways, I kinda did.
So–today I’m going to wrap this series of posts up by focusing on four skillets: the Smithey 9″ carbon steel skillet, the Lodge 8″ carbon steel skillet, the Finex 8″ cast iron skillet and the Blacklock 7″ cast iron skillet.
First, I’ll share the results from the heat tests for the Finex 8″ skillet and the Blacklock 7″ skillet:
The Finex 8″ cast iron skillet took 1 minute and 53 seconds on high heat to reach 400* and the Blacklock” 7″ Skillet took 1 minute and 46 seconds on high heat to reach 400*.
Next, I tested heat retention, by removing each pan from the heat source to a cold stove grate and then testing the temperature after 1 minute, after 2 minutes, 3 minutes and finally after 5 minutes. Here’s what I found for each skillet:
Finex 8″ cast iron skillet: after 1 minute: 330*; 2 minutes: 289*; 3 minutes: 250*; 5 minutes: 200*. The handle on the Finex never got hot.
Blacklock 7″ cast iron skillet: after 1 minute: 344*; 2 minutes: 301*; 3 minutes: 258*; 5 minutes: 206*. The handle on the Blacklock was branding iron hot.
Now let’s compare these heat tests to those of the Smithey carbon steel 9″ skillet and the Lodge carbon steel 8″ skillet:
Smithey 9″ carbon steel took almost 5 minutes to heat up to 400* on high heat. After one minute, the skillet read a temperature of 324*; after two minutes: 279*; after three minutes: 244*; after five minutes: 197*. The handle on the Smithey carbon steel pan got hotter as the pan cooled, but never branding iron hot.
Lodge 8″ carbon steel took just under two minutes to reach 400* on high heat. After one minute, the pan had cooled to 323*; after two minutes, it had cooled to 271*; after three minutes, it had cooled to 232*; and after five minutes, it had cooled to 177*. The handle eventually got warm at the end of the cool-down period.
Let’s wrap this up with some final thoughts:
The Smithey 9″ Carbon Steel Farmhouse Skillet:
Maybe because this skillet acted much more like cast iron than I expected, I found this pan to be an absolute joy to work with. It released food beautifully from the start, I got a beautiful sear on fish and steaks and it released eggs like a dream. It did cool down more quickly than did the Finex 8″ cast iron, but not as much faster as I thought I would see. Furthermore, it took the longest of any pan I tested to heat up to 400*, which I was a big surprise, and something that I may follow up with Smithey about–I’ll keep you posted. It’s a surprisingly heavy skillet, weighing in at 3.1 pounds (about the same weight as the Finex 8″ cast iron skillet). Although the handle is a little sharp on the edges, it’s not uncomfortable and really doesn’t get hot, so it was very easy to use for almost any task. I also appreciated the extra length on the handle, as it really did allow me to stand away from the heat source. And let me just say that with its graceful lines and hand-hammered interior, this is one of the most beautiful pieces of cookware I own. It is also amongst the most expensive, coming in at a hefty $200.00. However, given the handmade nature of this piece, I don’t think it’s particularly overpriced for the quality.
The Lodge Carbon Steel 8″ Skillet:
This little skillet gives a lot of bang for the buck. It heated up quickly, reaching 400* in under two minutes on high heat and released the heat more efficiently than did its Smithey carbon steel counterpart. The handle is quite long, and allowed me to stand away from the heat while cooking. The handle didn’t ever get hot, and the pan performed adequately on the cook tests. The pan weighs in at about 2.5 pounds. The handle is sharp, as are the sides of the pan and overall, the pan is absolutely nothing to look at…unless you’re partial to cookware you might see in a prison kitchen. While very solidly made, it has three rather ugly bolts holding the handle to the pan and it lacks any of the graceful lines and aesthetic of the Smithey carbon steel pan. That having been said, it is also about a fifth of the price of the Smithey, coming in at about $40 bucks at most retail outlets. So, for overall performance, I have to give this pan high marks in spite of being a rather homely offering.
The Finex 8″ cast iron pan:
For regular readers of my blog, you already know that I love Finex pans. They are gorgeous, the handles have a unique design that is not only attractive, but functional, remaining cool for stovetop cooking. Finex pans are solid performers for searing, roasting, baking and sautéing. It took under 2 minutes to heat to 400* on high heat and actually released the heat comparably to the Smithey carbon steel, which was a bit of a surprise to me, as I would have expected the cast iron to hold the heat longer than the carbon steel…or perhaps the other way round: I expected the carbon steel to release the heat more quickly. This pan weighs in at about 3.1 pounds and is available for about $150.00 at most retail outlets. Although I very much liked the longer handle on the Smithey carbon steel, I find the features and benefits of the Finex to be comparable to the Smithey carbon steel in almost every way and I think this pan is a solid choice no matter what your cooking needs are.
Finally, the Blacklock 7″ skillet, or as I like to call it, “the little pan that could”:
This little guy is such a solid performer, and at a very reasonable price. It heated up to 400* on high heat in well under 2 minutes and actually held the heat better than the Finex. I found that this pan cooked food a little more quickly than the other pans, but that’s just something you have to know about and adjust for. It weighs in at about 2 pounds costs about $40 bucks. It’s not the best looking pan in the lineup, but neither is it as homely as the Lodge carbon steel. The biggest drawback about the Blacklock is the handle, which I find to be a little sharp and it gets branding iron hot very quickly, so you have to be careful with it. The handle is also a little on the short side. However, overall, this is a solid choice for any cook, whether you’re in the market for either carbon steel or cast iron.
Thanks for tuning in for my deep dive into carbon steel pans. I learned a lot, as I hope you did, as well.
Tune in later in the week for some fun summertime recipes–
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
