Pan frying - stainless vs. CI - does it matter?

[jasonjax]

I am going to be pan frying up a few chicken breasts for chicken parmigiana tonight, and I started wondering if it matters if I use my SS or CI.

Any benefits to either I might be missing?

Off top of my head I guess CI will hold the heat better since I'll be cooking two breasts at a time based on size of the pan, but the SS would probably recover faster there too …. inquiring minds....

[retfr8flyr]

I don't think it would make much of a difference with chicken breasts. If you were doing steaks, or other thick beef, the CI would do a much better job searing the meat than the SS.

[Stingerhook]

Your good either way Jason

[Beer BQ Breath]

Won't really matter either way for something like that, but for me, its always cast iron. I just like the nostalgia of using my old pans, pans that were my grandparents and a good many older that date back to the late 1800's. I've got skillets of all sizes, round and rectangular griddles, bean pots, cornbread stick and wedge pans, gem pans, dutch ovens, waffle iron, bread pans, fish fry pans, etc. I think its neat finding an old rusty, grungy cast iron cookware piece, buying it for next to nothing, stripping it and re-seasoning it to make it look good as new.

[Swine Spectator]

As I understand it, cast iron has greater thermal mass (can hold more heat) and has greater emissivity (can transmit more heat). It would be the better choice.

David

[Titch]

I have both and find the stainless can stick
mind you, may be the way I cook

[drunkenmeatfist]

I agree with the retfyr8yher. Nothing matters.

[Shadowdog500]

Either one would work just fine.

I was using cast iron when we got married but my wife didn’t like the weight and the fact that you couldn’t throw it in the dish washer. Since then we had revere, T-fal, chameleon, west bend, and a bunch of others that QVC sells, and now we are back to cast iron, but this time it is enamel coated.

They all would fry chicken well.

How was your chicken?

[storming]

I have both and for anything other than burgers I find my vollrath non stick works great with chicken breasts and most everything else too. Best part is how easy they clean!

[SonVolt]

Originally Posted by storming

I have both and for anything other than burgers I find my vollrath non stick works great with chicken breasts and most everything else too. Best part is how easy they clean!

Vollrath is my favorite commercial brand. Unfortunately they don't know how to pack and ship their products worth a damn. They direct shipped a 25qt stainless stock pot that arrived all dented up because it was loose in a box with zero protection. I called and requested they better package the replacement they send and of course it showed up 2 days later also dented all to hell b/c it was packed loose in a box with no protection.

[jasonjax]

I chose my grandma's CI. Chicken turned out awesome. Should have taken a pic of just the breading, but didn't.

One thing that did happen which I wonder if stainless would have prevented was where the chicken came in contact with the bottom of the pan charred the breading a bit. Not bad at all, and taste was best to-date as I work for the ultimate chicken parm recipe.

[Blizzard]

Cast iron and carbon steel are the favorites in my house. I can’t stand stainless steel pans for anything other than boiled eggs or say soup

Everything sticks to stainless steel like mad. Then they are harder to clean.

[SonVolt]

You actually want some level of sticking - that's called fond - and that's how you really up the flavor in food. That's where stainless and aluminum shine over cast iron or carbon steel.

[Sid Post]

Originally Posted by Titch

I have both and find the stainless can stick
mind you, may be the way I cook

You're putting the chicken down before the skillet gets hot. Let the skillet get hot, slap the chicken down, and don't touch it until the bottom crisps.

Lift early, it sticks. Put in the pan before hot, it sticks.

A spritz of canola oil also will go a long way to help things not stick if you are in a hurry. Heat control matters as well (i.e. not everything cooks best at max heat ).

Heavy cast iron will have more thermal mass so that is important with something like a thick steak that will suck the heat out of a thinner pan. Chicken is something that doesn't need that much aggressive heat so, I'd typically use stainless steel, especially if the chicken is acidic with lemon juice for example.

For a lot of things, I like cast iron for a bit of extra iron in my diet.

[Sid Post]

Originally Posted by jasonjax

I chose my grandma's CI. Chicken turned out awesome. Should have taken a pic of just the breading, but didn't.

One thing that did happen which I wonder if stainless would have prevented was where the chicken came in contact with the bottom of the pan charred the breading a bit. Not bad at all, and taste was best to-date as I work for the ultimate chicken parm recipe.

Try turning the heat down a little next time. Your total cook time will go up a little bit but, scorching the bottom crust will be reduced.

Overall it sounds like you had a great cook. It sure looks good.