So essentially I want to buy one pan, I don’t want to care about what utensils I use in it (metal, plastic, or wood), or what I cook in it, and I want to clean it easily by just putting some soap on it, using the rough side of a sponge and drying it off and tossing it back in the cupboard.
Ideally, I’d also like this pan to last longer than 2-3 years.
So overall I am thinking I want enameled cast iron because it seems like it could take all of that but then I recently read how you don’t want to cook something like eggs or fish in it because they’ll stick.
The other bit I’ve seen is just buying a coated non-stick pan of any sort but be prepared to throw them away in 1-3 years and don’t use anything metal in them.
Should I just buy enameled cast iron and cook whatever I want in it? Should I buy multiple types and cook different things in them? Should I just stick with non-stick?
Overall, I am a very novice cooker who simply cooks for a family of 4. Typically using something like everyplate. I’m not looking for fancy but I am looking for “buy it once then use it until I die with low maintenance.” I essentially want the Toyota Camry of cookware. Reliable, low maintenance, not going to win any cooking contests.
Any suggestions?
Thank you.
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Cast iron is definitely not the best for lazy cookers. Mine always started to rust after a while. They require a lot of babying to keep them seasoned.
Personally, I like having a regular old carbon steel pan with no non stick surface. A decently sized one so I can meal prep for the week. I can set it high to sear, I can use metal utensils on it. Works great for most of my cooking needs. Clean up is as easy as soaking it for a minute and hitting it with a brush or scrub sponge, with the occasional barkeepers friend to bring back the shine. Its a workhorse of a pan and pretty bulletproof.
The only use for a non stick pan is for frying eggs, and I can usually accomplish that with a cheap non stick pan for $20. Mind you, this pan is ONLY FOR EGGS. I never use it for anything else, or else the non stick coating will wear. I generally hate using non stick pans for other stuff, as you cant crank the temperature very high to sear stuff or to reduce liquids, or else youll damage the coating.
Enameled cast iron is nice, but its also pretty fragile in that you have to baby it so you dont chip the enamel. You cant get it too hot or youll scorch the enamel. Cant go in the fridge, or the uncoated edges rust. Its very heavy. Its more of the kind of pot youd buy for specific use , like making a stew or something that needs to go from stove to oven and retain its heat and moisture.
So tl:dr get a carbon steel pan with no coating, and a super cheap non stick for eggs. Those two pans will do most of what youll need.
interesting, from what I am reading, carbon steel is great for a seasoned pan that will be non-stick once you break it in. Stainless steel might be the way to go for a general-use pan that can be used in the oven and to have a smaller carbon steel pan that I occasionally use. Although I always worry about not using a seasoned pan enough.
Cast iron should not be rusting if you have it seasoned. You never wash these shorts of pans, well not with soap anyway. So I am not sure what care your talking about. You just use it and use it. Maybe I am missing something.
Seconding the notes in enameled cast iron. I have some and I love it to death but it’s not great as general use, is nothing resembling non-stick and most importantly for OPs question, it’s fragile as glass (because it’s literally covered in glass). Metal utensils will lead to scratches and chipping of the enamel and once the enamel chips, it’s trash unless you want to risk having glass in your food.
I’m also curious about your carbon steel though. I was under the impression that carbon steel pans were nearly as fussy with seasoning as cast iron. Is that not the case?
To me, the obvious answer is stainless steel. There are cheap ones and expensive ones, and everything in between. The more expensive ones tend to be constructed with more even surfaces, with better heat transfer (things like an aluminum or copper core), and more durable to regular or even careless use. But even the cheap ones are great.
Stainless advantages over traditional Teflon-based nonstick:
- Metal utensils and scrubbers don’t damage it, which means you can use thinner spatulas and scrub more aggressively, or do things like whisk in the pan (helpful for making sauces or gravies)
- No need to worry about maximum temperature (Teflon reacts poorly to high temperatures, degrading quickly and off-gassing fumes that are mildly harmful to humans but deadly toxic for birds)
- Oven-safe (if the handle is oven safe), which is good for certain recipes that are easier to just transfer to the oven (certain sauces or braises)
- Much better thermal conductivity, for faster temperature response to turning the heat up or down.
Stainless advantages over ceramic non-stick:
- Metal utensils and scrubbers OK (ceramic nonstick is more resistant to scratches than traditional nonstick, but the guides still all tell you not to use metal)
- Can withstand higher temperatures (ceramic nonstick isn’t as bad as traditional nonstick at high temperatures, but it still loses nonstick properties under high heat, over time).
- More likely to be oven-safe (some ceramic nonstick is oven safe, but you’d have to look and check, and still be mindful of temperature limits)
- Better thermal conductivity
Stainless advantages over cast iron:
- Better thermal conductivity (cast iron actually sucks at this but nobody seems to acknowledge it)
- Easier care, no need to season
- Can handle acids no problem, so things like slow cooking a tomato sauce or deglazing with wine/vinegar/juice are possible without weird dark discoloration in your food.
- Much lighter in weight, so much easier to use when transferring or pouring food, washing the pan, etc.
Stainless advantages over carbon steel (including carbon steel woks):
- Easier care, no need to season
- Can handle acids
Don’t get me wrong: I literally own every single type of cookware listed here, and I cook on all of them for different purposes. But the stainless is my workhorse, the default I use on weeknights, because it’s easy and mindless and I literally can’t mess it up.
EDIT: Wow, can’t believe I forgot to actually list the disadvantages of stainless. Main disadvantages:
- Not non-stick. When things stick, it can be a huge pain in the ass, ranging from making your food ugly to actually ruining a dish (for example, if the sticking causes you to destroy the structural integrity of the thing you’re cooking, or the the stuck food starts scorching and adding bitter burnt flavors to your food).
- A little bit more effort to clean in typical situations, and a lot more effort to clean when there’s food residue stuck to the pan.
- Better thermal conductivity (cast iron actually sucks at this but nobody seems to acknowledge it)
One of the main selling points of cast iron is the fact that it has low thermal conductivity - it takes a while to get hot, but then it stays hot for longer. This is an advantage for some types of cooking and is why I only use my cast iron for specific things.
Fwiw, I agree that if you only have one pan, don’t make that pan cast iron - it’s good at what it does but it’s not as versatile as a stainless steel pan for most things.
Cast iron has better thermal conductivity than stainless: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-metals-d_858.html . This is why copper clad stainless exists. However a cast iron pan has a lot more thermal mass, so it takes longer to get the surface up to temperature.
If you’re a novice cook and want to keep it simple then get a nice nonstick pan and just don’t use metal on it - silicone, plastic, or wood. You can even use the rough side of a sponge fine. Just don’t run it through the dishwasher. Should easily last you 5+ years.
Cast iron and stainless steel are great but more particular in how you use and maintain them.
How is a stainless steel pan ‘particular’?
I have several and I don’t baby them, I throw them in the dishwasher etc.Personally I moved away from teflon back to steel and I cant go back. In addition to no longer having to baby it to keep the thing from going from nonstick- to stick and being able to scrub that badboy. On top of that going from plastic and silicon spatulas back to a metal spatula is just incredible.
That said if youre a novice cook and dont want to clean dishes then a stainless steel can sometimes require some scrubbing(though you can usually mitigate this by adding water while hot and essentially deglazing the shmutz off
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I have a ceramic cast iron dutch oven that I use a lot and it’s pretty good so far 2 years in, but I am always a little concerned that one day it will start chipping and that’ll be the end for my pot.
So funny story. The workhorse of my kitchen is a cheap-ass enamel Dutch oven that my wife impulse bought at a grocery store 4 or 5 years before we moved in together. After we got married, I decided to get her a LeCruset replacement for our anniversary the year that cheap one bit the dust. We’ve lived together ten years as of this summer and I still haven’t had to shell out for the Lecruset. We use that thing at least twice a week, maybe more in the winter months and this thing shows no signs of quitting. At this point we’re so attachted to it that when the enamel does go, I’ll probably drill holes in it and keep it as a flower pot.
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You need to heat it before putting anything in and you need to use enough fat/oil to keep things from sticking. Non-stick is more forgiving on this front. It can also be harder to clean
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Same. We use a ceramic wok for 90% of our cooking. Just have to be mindful of the temperature and not use metal utensils; but otherwise it’s non-stick, versatile to cook various types of dishes, and very easy to clean.
Stainless steel, flat-ish bottom, tall curved (wok-like) sides, all metal. Something like this mf: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81O93YXWJ-L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
you can:
- pan fry
- stir fry
- stew
- throw it in the oven for roasts
- soup in a pinch
- use it on every kind of stove top
care:
- minimal
- steel wool and scraping is a-okay if it gets nasty!
downsides:
- you’ll never have a good time frying wet starches like noodles without some serious oil
- your first 4 attempts at pan fried fish will inevitably result in destruction
- fried eggs are gonna be tough
quirks:
- heats and cools very quickly, so you’ll have to break some habits if you ever expand your cookery collection with carbon steel or cast iron
Stainless steel, all the coatings are coming out as bad for our health, and non-stick doesn’t last. Enamel can chip and also expose cheap material and that can also be bad for your health. Get bar keepers friend to remove spots or tough stuff, throw it in the dishwasher, it can take a beating especially if you put some money into it. It may not be quite as low maintenance as others but it’s a lot less than cast iron and you can use whatever in it. They heat up beautifully too. Total game changer.
You could buy a more traditional metal pan like you see in professional kitchens. Non-stick has a lot of issues and some of those are also present in coated cast iron.
One of the main things no matter what kind of pan you use is to use oil and an appropriate temperature. If your heat is too high it’ll make it harder to flip or move anything in the pan. Even a non-coated cast iron can be used if you use oil and a middle temperature heat.
What you’re looking for doesn’t exist. You are going to have to make a compromise on clean up, upkeep, and/or durability if you just want one pan. I wish it wasn’t true, but non-stick fails, cast iron (and carbon steel) requires upkeep, and stainless (or high quality aluminum) can be hard to clean.
The toyota camrys are cast iron and stainless steel. They aren’t always pretty, but with the right care they will last 3 generations.
Interesting, how do you feel about enameled cast iron? From what I read the cleanup is just warm water, soap, soft cloth. Dry and put away?
It can take some abuse, but I wouldn’t use metal utensils. Eventually you will damage the coating from all the scratches. I think they are easy to clean, like you said. I’ve burned food and it comes out with a good soak and a wash.
Interesting. I might just toss all my metal utensils and stick with wood. Silicon or plastic seems to always kind of melt or wear. At least with wood if it wears I don’t have to worry about ingesting plastics.
Yeah, I mostly use my metal spatula in the stainless pans.
I’ll walk back my statement a little though. I don’t think it’s as delicate as I made it sound. :) You can use metal, but you just can’t go crazy with it. It’s not as touchy as non-stick.
I don’t typically toss around my pans or anything. I don’t even lift them unless it’s to put them on or off the stove. I’m not trying to pan-flip anything. My current large 12-inch pan is flaking and I don’t know what it is but it’s probably some sort of teflon non-stick. So I should at least probably replace it. I have a smaller 10-inch non-stick which is newer but already looks a bit worn. Getting sick of non-stick. I still have to use butter or oil for eggs otherwise they will stick. So I might as well buy something that won’t fall a part.
Good luck! I think you might have to try a few pans up find which one you like the best.
From what I read the cleanup is just warm water, soap, soft cloth.
What’s stopping you from using just warm water, soap, and soft cloth on every other type of pan? If the answer is that it doesn’t do a good enough job cleaning those things, then you’ll want a pan that can stand up to more aggressive cleaners/scrubbers.
I personally would rather just have stainless. Non-reactive, light, clean however you want, and it will last. The enameled stuff I have used wasn’t easier to clean, and it scratched and chipped (and I am careful with my pans).
So the cleanup on enameled cast iron is super easy. Some manufacturers (LeCruset for sure, probably a few others) even bill them as dishwasher safe.
The two big problems for what you’re asking for are that they’re not going to hold up well to metal utensils and, they’re really not anything resembling non-stick. I always use mine for pan sauces because the burnt on bits really add something when you delglaze them into a sauce. As far as something delicate like fish or eggs, you’re gonna have a bad time.
I think they’re a great addition to almost any kitchen but, they’re far from a universal pan.
Interesting, what do you recommend?
I’m not sure.
IMHO, the cast iron wouldn’t be too bad maintenance wise once you got it well seasoned and learned how to use it but, that takes some time so it might be more fussing around than you’d like for the first several months. And even then, you’ll probably still want a non-stick around for some recipes. The stainless sounds like it might be what you’re looking but, I’m not well versed with that. The one time I tried it, the food stuck so bad that I never tried it again but, all the recommendations I’ve read about it since then make me think that was probably user error.
Good quality stainless steel with metal handles, nothing to wear out, indestructible!
I cook a good bit of fish in my pans. I’ve read that stainless isn’t great for delicate things like that. Do I just need to butter/oil it up before cooking something delicate?
Stainless steel is not forgiving for delicate proteins, but it’s not impossible. Oil coverage and temperature control will get you most of the way there. Being patient and waiting for the fish to release (without overcooking) is the tough part.
I’d argue the opposite.
Because you can use metal utensils on stainless, that means that an ultra thin fish spatula is an option when you’re cooking something delicate. Silicone or wooden utensils tend to be too thick and clumsy for working with anything delicate.
I got rid of all my non-stick pans and almost always use stainless steel. I still have one ceramic pan.
Fish isn’t a problem, I cook it a lot too. The first few times it might stick but once you got used to it, it’s easy. The important part is for the pan to get to the right temperature and for you to not trying to flip the fish too soon after placing it in the pan.
The only thing that’s actually difficult are sunny side up eggs. I just can’t get them to work for some reason. Scrambled eggs and omelette work perfectly fine though.
Cleaning them is also much easier than I thought. Just don’t let stuff dry in them and they are as easy to clean as other pans. But unlike other pans even if things burn and really get stuck you can still clean them fairly easily. Just let it soak in warm water for a few hours and then you can scrub them clean with stainlesssteel sponge. It might require a little bit more force but since you don’t have to be careful it’s less frustrating. If something ever got stuck in my non-stick pan, it was the worst.
And being able to just stick the entire pan in the oven is such a convenient thing.
Stainless steel is buy it once and use until you die with low maintenance, use any utensil in it and can withstand the rough side of the sponge. Its also much kighter than cast iron, so easier to use. Look for one with stainless steel handles without any wooden or plastic parts, then you can also put it in the oven. No rivets on the inside is a bonus for cleaning if you find one like that.
I clean mine while it’s still warm (if I can, doesn’t work always unfortunately), use a stiff brush under warm water first and that usually gets 90 percent of the stuff stuck to the bottom, the rest I do with dish soap and the soft side of the sponge and don’t need to be aggressive at all. Brushes are great for cleaning pots and pans!
In my experience :D, you can’t use any utensil you want, use the rough side of the sponge, and expect a non stick pan to last more than a year. I stopped using nonstick for anything high heat like searing, I use it pretty much only for eggs these days and used my last nonstick for 5 years before I had to buy a new one for induction. It had no scratches when I gave it to a friend and was still nonstick, even if not as good as new.
Plain cast iron. Once it’s been broken in it’s mostly non-stick. To clean, scrub with a nylon scrubber or sponge without using soap and the coating will last.
Soap these days doesn’t contain lye, so it doesn’t strip off your hard earned seasoning. Use soap on your cast iron cookware people.
Can bung them in the dishwasher, no problem.
I usually love to recommend non enameled cast iron pans.
Those are the pans I use most and I am pretty lazy myself.
Most times I just clean them with soapy water and a sponge, dry them well, rub a really really small splash of oil around in it and heat it back up until I see the first signs of smoke.If even that is too much work (and you have a gas stove or similar) I would recommend a simple wok from any Asian store.
I have a glass stove top right now so I rarely use mine anymore, but if I had a gas stove I think that I would use it all the time.You are not supposed to wash cast iron with soap and you also need to let them cool down enough before washing because they can get a temperature shock otherwise and crack inside.
I have cooked with cast iron for years and have never cracked one.
I have destroyed a bit of seasoning, but surely not with mild dishsoap.Normal modern dishsoap does not have any strong lye in it (and hasn’t for decades) and will not destroy a proper seasoning.
And obviously I don’t wash my pan while it’s ripping hot.Usually I do my dishes after eating, sometimes the pan is completely cooled down, sometimes it is a bit lukewarm, I never had problems with either. If I can handle the pan with bare hands it is cool enough to wash with warm water.
Don’t spread outdated information.
The only thing this does is intimidate people from using cast iron at all and that’s just a shame.This right here. If a bit of soap and scrubbing takes off your seasoning - you didn’t have real seasoning in the first place!
Don’t spread outdated information.
The only thing this does is intimidate people from using cast iron at all and that’s just a shame.Yeah, I think this was my biggest issue when I started using cast iron. I never had much luck getting it actually clean without soap and it definitely showed in my cooking. I eventually got some better advice and started having much better results. Now my CI is my go to eggs every weekend and afterwards, I throw it in the dishpan with everything else. As long as you don’t soak it, you’re fine. I think the soaking thing is a big part of why a lot of manufacturers still recommend against soap and water. It’s easier to tell people to not use soap and water than it is to explain the nuance of “wet it, don’t soak it” and “gently wash, don’t scrub into oblivion”.
Maybe dishsoap is not the same everywhere, ours can definitely strip seasoning off. The company making the pan explicitly states that the pan should not be washed with dishsoap.
I have seen quite a few people serving the dish, taking the just emptied pan and run it under the (not yet warm even) water. If the water evaporates when hitting the pan, I believe that difference is enough to damage the pan. What you’re describing sounds perfectly sensible to me.
I have a glass top with electric coils under (not induction) and I still have other friends recommending a carbon steel wok. It might be really worth it.
To me, a pan for a lazy cook means easy to clean, and you don’t need to worry about what you cook in it. I wouldn’t care about what types of utensils you need, because a true lazy person would simply throw out all of ones you can’t use.
With that in mind, I think an oven-safe ceramic nonstick pan is your best bet. The nonstick is great for both cooking and cleanup, and unlike a cast iron you don’t need to worry about acidic foods or reseasoning. If all you own are silicone utensils, the only downside is that you can’t crank the heat up too much. And even then, all that does shorten the lifespan of its nonstick properties, at which point you’re no worse off than a steel pan.
This is what I use. It’s 30cm to cook everything up to my weekly meal prep, flat sided to make mixing easier at the edges and the a handle to make it a little easier to keep steady.
I’d want the nonstick and stainless/cast iron, personally. Each does things the others don’t, and since you’re cooking for four, having more than one pan is a good idea anyway: side dishes or whatever. You may not need nonstick, but it does make a lot of things very convenient. Stainless or cast iron for most other cooking - anything high heat at least, anything where you want a pan sauce. That way the nonstick pan gets a break and a longer lifespan, arguably less maintenance overall.
If not: stainless. Lower maintenance than cast iron, will do mostly the same things and stand up to almost anything.
Edit: I think you could learn to cook eggs and fish almost no matter what you use, but I’m not an expert. Supposedly it has a lot to do with just temperature control and using fat properly.
Cast iron is the only thing that will last longer than you or me. Whether or not you spring for the enamel coated big whoopty-doo expensive brand name, or just simple lodge ware, it’s gonna be built tough. Personally I wouldn’t recommend the enamel coated, because you will eventually crack that coating too, you can make your own, stronger coating, by simply using your cast iron pans to cook. Simply scrub it with warm soapy water after use, preferably while it’s still warm enough to easily remove food, dry it, add a dab of high smoke point oil (avocado, cold pressed flax oil, and plain old canola are my go tos), dab that on after drying, make sure it’s not thick and oily, just enough to prevent rust, and you’re good to go.
For a few years I had a light weight aluminum wok that served me well, very versatile given the big surface and naturally light weight of the metal. Also needed regular care and seasoning routine, but was worth the steps to only have one main pan/pot.
Good luck with whatever you go with.
Thank you! I’ve seen a few recommendations for carbon steel as well. It seems to be a competitor to cast iron and cast iron apparently leaches iron into the food. Additionally, I’ve read that carbon steel is smoother and thus creates a better non-stick surface. Is this something you’ve found? It’s kind of why I wanted enameled cast iron, keeps things simpler it seemed. I didn’t realize how many recommendations differ though. I guess everyone has a preference.
The enameled cast iron from le Creuset is pricy, but worth it in my opinion. For nonstick that will last a good long while, I recommend Scanpan.
Yes it’s smoother. Another advantage is that a carbon steel pan is lighter than a cast iron.
