Stainless Steel skillet

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vilasman1

Senior Cook
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
152
After reading the pan frying thread in the meat forum, I'm wondering why would one have a SS skillet?
 
Some items, like chicken fried steak, come out just fine in a SS skillet. Also, if you make a meat dish with acidic ingredients, the acid can leach metalic ions from the iron, which will give you an off, or metalic taste. Also, when I use it properly, my small SS skillets work great for cooking fried eggs and such. You just have to know how to use them, and that my freind, as you well know, just takes practice.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
Stainless steel is also nice when you need to see if anything is burning on the bottom. When I caramelize onions, I go for a certain color of caramelization of the stuck on bits. With cast iron, I'm flying blind.
 
First of all, as goodweed noted, SS is non-reactive. And, as scott noted, it's easier to see what's going on in the pan. The choice of pan material really depends on several things.

Personally, I prefer SS if I'm going to sear some meat, finish it off in the oven, and then make a pan sauce. SS is better for developing a fond (the brown bits in the bottom of the pan) that are the base (fond means base in French) of the sauce than non-stick. Since it is light in color - it's easier to see how well you are deglazing the pan to make your sauce. SS also has the advantage of quick heating/cooking ... which gives you a little more control over your sauce making.

For chicken fried steak and gravy .... it's always my cast iron skillet.
 
Then there are always those who are medically advised not to use cast iron - the strongest dietary restriction for iron overload disease. Which, BTW, is more common than generally thought and often mistreated as anemia....so if you're tired, truly fatigued with unusual unaccounted for health symptoms, get it checked out. I believe the correct test is Iron saturation - not the normal iron {Fe} drawn on a common chemistry panel.
[Okay, off my kitchen stool...hubby has it and it's a very bad thing - so I try to spread the word.]
 
JRsTXDeb said:
Then there are always those who are medically advised not to use cast iron - the strongest dietary restriction for iron overload disease. Which, BTW, is more common than generally thought and often mistreated as anemia....so if you're tired, truly fatigued with unusual unaccounted for health symptoms, get it checked out. I believe the correct test is Iron saturation - not the normal iron {Fe} drawn on a common chemistry panel.
[Okay, off my kitchen stool...hubby has it and it's a very bad thing - so I try to spread the word.]

I've never heard of this. Can you elaborate, please?
 
Mudbug - iron overload or hemachromatosis [??spelling] is a disease - usually genetic - where iron deposits in the liver, heart and other organs - instead of making the 'normal' circuit - so all that you take in just stays in your body. Hubby found out he had it - then dad and 2 of 3 brothers, 1 sister and a son - also have it. His symptoms were excessive fatigue, hair loss, VERY pale skin, joint aches and pains.
The ONLY treatment at this time is frequent phlebotomy - he should be having a pint of blood tossed at least once a month and more often when he peaks. Females rarely have the problem pre-menopausal because of menstrual periods, but the occasional younger woman will still experience high levels. I heard at one time that as many as 1 in 15 or 20 males of European descent may have the gene...and recently that it is more common in blacks that previously thought.
He's not supposed to have huge amounts of red meat, although they do not forbid it I try to keep it to the occasional steak night out or smaller amounts in soups, pasta etc. And of course none to be cooked on cast iron which will leach out some iron.
It's thought that some of hubby's male relatives who dropped dead with no history probably had iron overload that had affected their heart.
And the babble queen will stop here!
 
thanks - all is well once it's found and treated...I always take an opportunity to spread the word because it's not something they routinely check for and a lot of folks will grab a bottle of iron when having symptoms that may be something else altogether
 
Your "babbling" JRs was exceptionally well done. (FYI, your spelling was very close -- It is spelled hemochromatosis, for those wishing to google and learn more.) Of interest perhaps is that the Center for Disease Control has estimated that one in every 200-250 Americans have hemochromatosis and don't know it.

Obviously, you've had a crash course out of necessity, JRs, and you're a wonderful student -- some of the best "medicine" your husband can receive. The HFE gene marker was discovered in the mid-90s and the genetics folks have begun some experimental trials that will hopefully yield some treatment beyond removing a bag of blood at a time.

My very best wishes to you, your husband and all kith and kin! And thank you for sharing this point.
 

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