/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.15649586]

So... I'm in the US, and the Aldi says they have "lightweight cast-iron" skillets, a 12-inch skillet or a two-pack of 8-and-10-inch skillets each for 17 dollars. They also have a "lightweight cast iron dutch oven" for 25 bucks, enameled on the outside but bare on the inside. You know Aldi launches homegoods for a week at a time in a limited quantity.

My question is, what the fuck is this stuff? It is definitely lightweight compared to a classic skillet, and it definitely needs to be seasoned or else it rusts. But what is it? I've never used a carbon-steel or even seen one in-person, it SEEMS like a similar product, but why would they advertise it as 'lightweight cast-iron" if it was carbon steel? I've been a cookware-nerd for the longest time but I've never heard of anything like this. There's like, kickstarters for cast-iron skillets that are lighter than the standard Lodge, but I really don't know what I'm looking at.

[Anonymous No.15649616]

>>15649586
Looks like "made in China" utter crap to me. Those are thin as shit, low walled and unsuitable for frying for safety reasons. They may be alright for a thin crepe batter or making some small items like blini. You'd have to be careful with butter or oil in the pan.

[Anonymous No.15649617]

>>15649586
this is their stock image for it.
did I just buy a cheap carbonsteel pan set? what else could this be?
the pic in OP is after I stovetop-seasoned both pans, though I haven't used them yet.

[Anonymous No.15649641]

>>15649616
>You'd have to be careful with butter or oil in the pan.
why?
I have a proper skillet, a Lodge that I stripped and hand-sanded before seasoning, so this isn't my only option for the record. obviously it's not anything I'll pass down to my grandchildren, and its definitely made in China. but what is it? it's completely new to me, if it was that simple to make cast iron super-thin I'd think someone else would have at least tried it by now

[Anonymous No.15650204]

bump

[Anonymous No.15650224]

>>15649586
>what the fuck is this stuff?
Hard to tell without a closer look. Could be stamped steel pan, riveted to a stainless handle, or could be a very thin cast iron pan riveted to a stainless handle.

Given that they're saying it's cast, I'm inclined to believe it.
Expect it to not have the desirable thermal mass of a typical cast iron pan. Expect it to not have the strength of carbon steel (may crack if dropped, rather than bending like steel).
Because it's not all one piece, the rivets may fail at some point.

I expect they're fine for making fried rice.

[Anonymous No.15650330]

>>15650224
>>15650224
how would you know if they were carbon steel? and if there was a cheaper way of making cast iron, wouldn't there be at least some cut-rate company making something like this already?

[Anonymous No.15650668]

>>15650330
Cast pieces look different from stamped pieces.
Castings are usually going to have casting media (usually sand) as a visible surface texture. At this price point, it's simply not economical to have the surface machined, so the casting texture should be apparent.
Stamped pieces will almost always have a uniform thickness, except for the curved areas. It could be "spun" instead of stamped, but that's a method usually used on aluminum or maybe copper - it's expensive (but possible) for steel, so again, unlikely at this price, even in China. The pieces don't look spun.

Basically, look hard for a dappled sand texture on the pan, or a casting seam - probably on the bottom of the pan.
The edge of the pan is what's throwing me off. Doubtful I can get to an Aldi before Saturday to check, even if I did urgently want to purchase some Chinesium pans.

[Anonymous No.15650702]

>>15650668
on both the pieces it's like, thin and season-able material but with concentric grooves all around. particularly around the curved parts of the pan, these grooves are quite deep and course

[Anonymous No.15650705]

>>15650668
>>15650702
that was the larger pan, this is the smaller pan
coarse, I should say.

[Anonymous No.15650739]

>>15650702
Right... those grooves are typically seen in spun pieces; an artifact of the spun forming method.

Nothing says they couldn't spin an aluminum form and use that as the master pattern for the casting sand, so those ridges aren't indicative of much in this context. They could be stamping artifacts, they could be casting artifacts.

You can't really stamp cast iron; it's a ductility/brittleness issue. You don't generally get the internal structure of steel unless it's rolled, so if it's cast, it's probably not steel. Steel is basically iron + a little bit of carbon throughout; cast iron is usually iron + carbon, but the carbon is on the outside, not internal to the metal piece.
It's $17, shut up, don't drop it, make fried rice.

[Anonymous No.15650839]

>>15649586
Even if it sucks it's $17 so who cares, fry some shit and beat the hell out of it until it fails

[Anonymous No.15650924]

>>15649586
I think found the same pan on Amazon as KINDEN Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet Pan Lightweight, 10.43 Inch. Might actually just be some thin cast iron.

[Anonymous No.15650968]

lost wax casting.

[Anonymous No.15651092]

>>15650839
that is indeed why I got them. 16.99 plus tax for two lightweight season-able wok-style pans with round bottoms. Again I haven't cooked with them yet, and honestly I've been mostly baking so much I've hardly used my stovetop recently. But I've wasted ten times more on things half-as-useful, c'est la vie.

[Anonymous No.15651332]

>>15649617
>Those shitty looking rivets

[Anonymous No.15651921]

>>15651332
>when those rivets block you from scraping food onto your plate and get lodged with old food and start unscrewing themselves with the slightest use