Uneven Cooking In Cast Iron Skillet?
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I recently purchased a cast iron skillet. I've seasoned it according to the directions and have used it about half a dozen times. It's great for foods that can be stirred, like scrambled eggs.
However, when I cook something that can't be stirred--such as pancakes or quesadillas--the food in the center of the pan burns, while the food near the edges remains undercooked. I thought that even heating was an advantage of cast iron cookware, so I'm baffled. I've tried using low heat, high heat, more oil, less oil; none of that helps. My spouse is about to toss the new skillet and go back to the nonstick. Any ideas?
Even heating is not the strong suit of cast iron. Iron is a relatively poor conductor of heat compared to aluminum or copper. That’s why high end cookware like All-Clad have aluminum cores. What you’ve described is normal for cast iron.
That being said don’t cast out the iron. Cast iron really excels at producing excellent browned crusts on things like fish, chicken, and steaks. Not a week goes by when one of my much cherished cast iron pieces sees such duty.
Cast iron is also great for deep frying, because it is good at holding heat and it’s weight helps make the pan sit very securely on the burner. For pancakes I use a cast aluminum griddle.
You need to look at cast iron as a pan for filling specific needs (searing steaks, making great home fries), rather than an all-purpose tool. There are some things (like quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and pancakes) that your aluminum non-stick is better suited for.
Yes if you fry fish, the fish tast will remain in the pan. You actually are not supposed to really wash a cast iron skillet. Just wipe it out and occasionally rinse it in hot water. As for uneven heating you may need to get a diffuser for your burner. It is a plate that distributes the heat more evenly. You also need to use your skillet on the big burner not one of the small ones. Every cast iron pan I have ever used works best with medium to medium high heat.
You’re putting your food to be cooked in too soon. Cast iron is a poor conductor of heat so you need to heat your pan and wait for the heat to distribute evenly before adding the frying medium and subsequently the food. As things are now, the food is going in early and in effect being overcooked in the centre (where the heat source is) during ‘heating up’ time already, before the more outlying stuff is even getting a look in.
Your pan is ready for frying etc when, e.g. a wee knob of butter slipped in *at the outer edge* sizzles almost immediately. When using oil, the oil will skid almost immediately from the edge to the middle of the pan once it is up to temperature. If not, it will creep to the middle instead.
Once your pan is properly heated, you then temper to what heat you require and get on with the business at hand.
Hope this helps.
your answer is to let the pan heat awhile before putting something into it to cook cast iron is very thick and requires preheating sometimes
hard to go back to the old ways when technology has solved all these problems for us. buy jaime oliver’s tfal cookware. it much bettwer and it tells you when its hot enuf
Is your stove,burner level?
Are you cooking on a gas or electric stove? That can make a big difference.
There are plates for gas stoves called heat deflectors that help evenly disperse the heat over a wider area.
Good Luck!
If your stove is electric, the skillet and burner on which you use it should be as near the same in diameter as possible.