Stamped steel has most of the properties cast iron has with regard to seasoning, the main difference is reduced heat retention.
I prefer stamped steel, lighter, stronger, won't break. But it does turn cooking in it more like cooking in a wok, faster to heat up faster to cool down. Where as cast iron is better for staying the course with a steady temp.
But the thing I like best about both is the maintainability of the pan, When I commit a sin against cooking and burn the living hell out of the poor thing, I can sit down for an hour of penance with the wire wheel and steel wool to strip the mistake out and then resurface the pan to it's nearly non-stick surface. I love having a surface I can repair with just the tools found in my kitchen.
They have different applications. Sometimes you want steel because you want the pan to lose heat rapidly, depending on what you're cooking. Other times, you want cast iron; you want slow temperature change.
A well-equipped kitchen will have both... and a Dutch oven, and...
Hard to get a seasoning that isn't stripped by acids, most vendors don't seem to provide the correct method either, leaving people with a blotchy seasoning.
Yeah that's the way, creates magnetite. Many manufacturers recommend the normal cast iron way that creates a brown seasoning that is stripped if it sees a lemon and doesn't get better over time.
I have several Griswolds and they’re my daily drivers. I love cooking on them, but stainless steel is so much easier to clean. I can scour it as hard as I want and it’ll be fine without any additional work.
My grandmother isn’t going to be using a 12” Lodge cast iron skillet no matter how much exercise she gets.
I have one of each more or less. Stainless are great as they can stick and you can use the sucs for pan sauces, but can also be essentially non stick if handled correctly.
> The joy of working with seasoned cast iron cannot be overstated.
If you don't mind waiting half an hour for it to heat up. (semi-/s)
There are plenty of times where you do not need or want the heat capacity of cast iron, and it's actually a 'con' for the dish. Never mind that you don't really want to cook anything that's acidic (e.g., tomatoes) in it.
Certainly having cast iron in your tool box isn't a bad idea, but stainless steal has all sorts of other advantages. And if you want something less sticky but still responsive, there's also carbon steal.
Not sure if you have a wife or not, but "just get cast iron" is something I would have said when I was single. Now, it's buy a new nonstick pan every year.