Ralph_Cramden
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What's Cooking? Show us Your Plated Food Photos!
- Thread starter Helicopter
- Start date
spinach, and haddock? looks goood.
you had me at pinot.
Ralph_Cramden
Major Contributor
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2020
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- 2,608
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- 3,526
OP
Helicopter
Major Contributor
- Thread Starter
- #104
Yes indeed.
I wonder about the difference between the deBuyer Mineral B and Matfer's carbon steel pans? I have one of the latter and it's excellent, but you have me curious...
Californian red wine, never tasted one. I like the combination with the salmon. White wine is for summer
https://www.thespruceeats.com/carbon-steel-vs-cast-iron-pans-what-s-the-difference-4796603
If I have to guess, I would say that carbon steel seats between cast iron and inox in terms of heat capacity, so perhaps it's suitable for both uses, "fast" and "slow" cooking. They say cast iron favors the maillard reaction (don't ask me why because my chemistry it's buried), which gives meat and fish a special color and taste, that restaurant touch, and also "seals" the piece, so it doesn't lose any of its fluids. When I got my de buyer and cooked the first hamburger I was literally shocked, finally I got this restaurant touch, without doing anything special really. I've recently bought another one suited for crêpes. I also have a new 28 cm de buyer carbon steel pan for rice and general purposes, but I haven't tried that yet.
Ken1951
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Already pulled this up on Google, interested as I can't find steaks down here in B'burg.
They have a Carbon Plus series and the Mineral B series, which they state it's made 99% iron. The Lodge is vitrified, like the Le creuset ones, right? In the place I buy these they put the Lodge and the mineral B in the same category.
OP
Helicopter
Major Contributor
- Thread Starter
- #111
Today's lunch of roadkill offal from the Mineral B:
This is the heart, which I trimmed and sliced, spiced, and pressure steamed in the Instant Pot for 40 minutes, and then sliced into strips and added to some pan fried red onion, jalapeno, and mushrooms for some nice fajitas. As you can see, the pan has a little way to being seasoned, but I can already flip an egg without a spatula. Lots of careful thought went into the design of this to make things slip, slide, and flip nicely. When cool, it always feels like it has a thin layer of butter on it.
I have a ton of Lodge cast iron here, which I adore, but this pan is getting the most use as my new toy in the kitchen. I would say Lodge cast iron is better for slower stuff, and this covers the hot and fast side better. I probably prefer this for most medium because it is faster there too. It is quite heavy compared to Lodge CS, and of course lighter than Lodge CI. I would say it is probably a little heavy for smaller cooks to flip stuff; it is no Aluminum pan.
The Mineral B booklet says it is for medium and hot frying, so I have been trying to stick to those in general. Not sure if it is heat treated, but it has stayed flatter than my (definitely not heat treated) Lodge CI was at this stage in its life.
Time to go grab a big glass of water. Back to work in 10 minutes.
This is the heart, which I trimmed and sliced, spiced, and pressure steamed in the Instant Pot for 40 minutes, and then sliced into strips and added to some pan fried red onion, jalapeno, and mushrooms for some nice fajitas. As you can see, the pan has a little way to being seasoned, but I can already flip an egg without a spatula. Lots of careful thought went into the design of this to make things slip, slide, and flip nicely. When cool, it always feels like it has a thin layer of butter on it.
I have a ton of Lodge cast iron here, which I adore, but this pan is getting the most use as my new toy in the kitchen. I would say Lodge cast iron is better for slower stuff, and this covers the hot and fast side better. I probably prefer this for most medium because it is faster there too. It is quite heavy compared to Lodge CS, and of course lighter than Lodge CI. I would say it is probably a little heavy for smaller cooks to flip stuff; it is no Aluminum pan.
The Mineral B booklet says it is for medium and hot frying, so I have been trying to stick to those in general. Not sure if it is heat treated, but it has stayed flatter than my (definitely not heat treated) Lodge CI was at this stage in its life.
Time to go grab a big glass of water. Back to work in 10 minutes.
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The Lodges we have are not vitrified. Nice black cast iron surfaces, which season beautifully.
OP
Helicopter
Major Contributor
That looks very much like the seasoning and surface of my Matfer. I don't do much flipping in it since it's damn heavy and my forearms do not resemble Popeye's.
My curiosity is overwhelming now, so I think it's time to order a Mineral B just for comparison.
I believe that blackness of the lodge is the seasoning already done by the manufacturer. My brother is a blacksmith and I know from experience that iron pieces gain that black color when immersed into oil at high temperature. Not sure if vitrified it's the word, perhaps it's bluing, but that's the result of some additional treatment for sure.
The difference between the lodge and the mineral B is this and the fact that the lodge is cast, made in a cast, and the mineral B is not, but the material, metallurgically is the same.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
OP
Helicopter
Major Contributor
- Thread Starter
- #116
Definitely a different alloy for DeBuyer Mineral B and Lodge cast iron too as DeBuyer specifies 99% carbon and that is too low for a cast iron alloy. The cast iron will have a lower melting point than the steel.
The production process is definitely the most important difference. The Mineral B pan might be heat treated to add strength after forming, or it might not. I don't know. I am guessing it is because mine has stayed so flat. The Lodge cast iron is not heat treated, with the exception of a special line of products made for restaurants.
The black coating of polymerized cooking oil is called 'seasoning' whether it is done in the factory or at home, and whether it is done through normal use or through a more deliberate separate process. Lodge doesn't quench their cast iron in oil, they coat cold pans in thin layer of oil and bake them in an oven at a modest temperature. Quenching a much hotter pan in oil would result in a different, but also dark finish.
Vitrified is like the Le Creuset stuff, with a permanent ceramic/glass coating.
(Edit to change the initials into words for clarity.)
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Marc v E
Major Contributor
I have the mineral B from DeBuyer. And also a lodge cast iron. The difference between the two is carbon steel vs cast iron. In use steel heats easily, within a minute. Cast iron holds heat longer but takes up to 6 minutes to get to the same heat.
In short: I use the cast iron for simmering a meal or slowly baking meat or giving a smokey flavour, while I use the steel for pancakes, baked eggs etc ( a wok is made of carbon steel too).
BTW: a carbon steel pan is ime the best for making beautifully thin and tasteful pancakes. They are cheap too.
In short: I use the cast iron for simmering a meal or slowly baking meat or giving a smokey flavour, while I use the steel for pancakes, baked eggs etc ( a wok is made of carbon steel too).
BTW: a carbon steel pan is ime the best for making beautifully thin and tasteful pancakes. They are cheap too.
Well, not mine, but the only plated food I could find:
Ditto the Matfer I use- it has stayed absolutely flat, which is more than I can say for the All Clad pans I have.
That's what I do with the mineral B, at 250 C / 482 F with linseed oil.
My mineral B is a year old and I use it almost daily. It's still perfectly flat and I have no reason to believe it will change since I've done everything to it, including forgetting to remove from stove.