stainless steel?

[clutter-bug]

Hello Todd,

Do you think the spring arm can hold the weight of the griddle. I have a HUGE cast iron griddle with a little groove running all around the edge to a grease collect cup, and it's awesome. I'd much rather use that than anything if you think the spring arm can hold it.

BTW, I got a 1941 yellow BZ from Frank Grogins and Antique Stove Rescue in MA, thanks to your encouragement after our phone call, and I have 3 Lisk Roasters, too.
Take care,
~~~Joslyn

[maryopal]

In past conversations, the consensu was that there should not be a problem sitting the cast iron griddle on over your existing griddle. However, you should not try to use the lever mechanisum to lift the cast iron griddle up when lighting the burner.

[BlueBeetle]

According to this article, cast iron sounds like a better alternative to stainless steel:

[url="http://www.ewg.org/news/story.php?id=5362"]http://www.ewg.org/news/story.php?id=5362[/url]

In Search of a Pan That Lets Cooks Forget About Teflon
By: Marian Burros
New York Times
June 7, 2006

LIKE many home cooks, I have sent my nonstick skillets to the moldy recesses of my basement, where they have joined the 1950's aluminum pots and the Dru casseroles (Dutch enamel coated cast iron, now eBay collectibles).

What led to this step were unsettling reports that an overheated Teflon-coated pan may release toxic gases. DuPont, the manufacturer of Teflon, says that its pans are safe and that their surfaces won't decompose, possibly releasing the gas, until the pan's temperature reaches 680 degrees. Some scientists say that an empty pan left on a burner set on high reaches 700 degrees in as little as three minutes. All pans with nonstick coatings are subject to the same problems, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy organization. I banished the skillets last year and spent months dithering over what to buy while making do with the pans I had left: a large Revere Ware skillet with a concave bottom; a small, warped hand-me-down from my mother; and a medium All-Clad in fine shape.

A few passes at online pot sellers made matters worse: there are too many choices. Finally, after consulting the ratings from Consumer Reports and Cook's Illustrated and calling several experts, I decided to do a test of my own, using the most highly recommended pans, along with a few of my own choices.

While Teflon lets manufacturers make inexpensive pans usable, uncoated cheap pans have hot spots, so cheaper pans ? other than cast iron ? were never considered.

The most important characteristic was how close the pans came to having the nonstick qualities people love about Teflon. Can they saut? and brown, even without oil? Almost as important, how easy are they to clean?

There were eight pans in the test, most of them 12 inches in diameter: All-Clad with an aluminum core, All-Clad with a copper core, Bourgeat copper; De Buyer carbon steel; Calphalon anodized aluminum; seasoned and unseasoned Lodge cast iron and Le Creuset enameled cast iron.

All-Clad was one of the top choices of most experts, but did not do well in my tests because sometimes food stuck to the pans and cleaning them was difficult. Top chefs with whom I spoke agreed. "All of my All-Clad saut? pans have brown spots on the sides and outside, too," said Scott Conant of L'Impero and Alto. "And eggs always stick."

That's the nature of stainless steel, said Harold McGee, author of "On Food and Cooking" (Scribner, 2004) and the scientist who can explain everything that happens in the kitchen. "Things stick to stainless," he said, "and polymerized oil is one of them."

For the two sets of tests, I cooked 6 dozen eggs; 24 pounds of chicken breasts with and without skin; 10 pounds of onions; and 10 pounds of potatoes. In one set of tests, pans were coated with one tablespoon of oil; in the other just a thin film of oil was applied with waxed paper. All the pans were preheated, the oil added and allowed to get hot enough to ripple; the food had lost its refrigerator chill.

With a tablespoon of oil, all of the pans cooked well and evenly. The chicken was nicely browned, the potatoes were crisp, the onions were meltingly sweet and the eggs were nicely done. The difference between cooking in All-Clad with copper and with aluminum is not significant enough for most cooks to make the more expensive copper pan worth the higher price. The Bourgeat copper pan, of course, cooked quickly and evenly, too, but the differences are too subtle in most situations to be worth the extra money.

But with just a film of oil, neither the All-Clad nor the Bourgeat pans cooked chicken or onions without sticking badly. But then, they don't claim to be nonstick. The remaining pans cooked well with just a film of oil.

The Le Creuset pan and the two cast-iron pans produced amazing results. Nothing stuck, including the eggs, and it was quite easy to roll up omelets. There were almost no eggs to scrape up. I don't recommend browning potatoes or onions with a film of oil because they won't have much flavor, but these pans could do it.

The chicken, on the other hand, was moist and browned beautifully, a result you wouldn't get with Teflon-coated pans.

Calphalon did not do as well with just a film of oil: the chicken was nicely browned, but an awful lot of scrambled eggs stayed in the pan.

The carbon steel, an old workhorse that wins the prize for ugly duckling, cooked all the foods, with the exception of the eggs, quite well. Like the Calphalon, this pan had a lot of scrambled egg left in it, and one of the sunny-side-up eggs broke when it was being lifted out of the pan.

The only other difference was that the cast-iron pans, with or without enamel, took longer to heat up and cool down.

But bigger differences became clear when it was time for cleaning, the kitchen job I like least. The All-Clad, even more so than Bourgeat, required serious scrubbing to remove those pesky little brown spots that form when oil leaps up the sides of the pan and sticks. And food does stick to All-Clad sometimes, requiring removal by cleanser and elbow grease.

Cleaning the cast iron, Le Creuset and carbon steel was very easy. Food that clings to them can be easily scrubbed away with a stiff brush or, in the case of Le Creuset, soaked off. (Soap is not recommended for cast iron and carbon steel, but it can be used on the Le Creuset and the Calphalon.) Unlike the Calphalon and carbon steel, the cast-iron and enameled pans are heavy. The handles get hot, so pot holders must be used.

The carbon steel and the untreated cast iron must be seasoned, though the process is simple. They must be dried thoroughly and lightly oiled or they will rust.

Cooking certain acidic foods like tomatoes in cast iron changes the taste and color, but it does add iron to the diet.

After all the tests, there was one pan I fell for: Le Creuset. It is easy to clean, and because of its enamel finish, acidic foods can be cooked without changes to color or taste. The cast iron pans were a very close second.

I recommend Le Creuset pans with a matte black enamel interior, not treated with any Teflon-like substance. (The company makes its black and white interior enamel from the same material, and says the black is fired at a higher temperature and withstands higher cooking temperatures.) David Bouley of Bouley and Danube said he uses Le Creuset in his country house because "it is the most reliable."

For cooking fish, one of the most delicate of foods, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin uses cast iron, as does Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington. "We stopped using Teflon a long time ago," he said. "The skin started coming off, and I didn't want to give you a steak with a skin coating."

[stoveman]

What a coincidence! I just bought a castiron griddle at the Uncertain Flea Market yesterday. 5 bucks. Don't know the brand yet. It is smooth on one side with a grease cup all along the long side. And on the other side has the ridges to put the grill marks on a steak. Never seen one with the built in grease cup. I plan on removing the aliminium griddle and setting the castiron one on top of the broiler burner while cooking only.

[fatfutures]

Harbor Freight has one similar(possibly exactly the same) as the one Sam described. They don't always have them in stock but, I do know that they carry them. I don't think they cost more than $7. They aren't as silky smooth as older cast iron is. But, I think if you SUPER season it, should work like a charm.

I've alwasy been a cast iron fan but, I am now simply an addict. I've started adding Griswold pieces to cast iron "collection". I never had ANY idea how smooth old cast iron is! A while back I posted pics of the huge griddle that I purchased on Ebay. It is too big to use in the griddle slot but, fits nicely over two burners. The bottom is recessed almost 2 inches, great for keeping food IN the pan LOL.

[tux_sf]

There is another green & cream range listed currently on eBay:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Antique-CHAMBERS-GAS-STOVE-OVEN-Cream-Green_W0QQitemZ7629668803QQihZ017QQcategoryZ71250QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Antique-CHAMBERS-GAS-STOVE-OVEN-Cream-Green_W0QQitemZ7629668803QQihZ017QQcategoryZ71250QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

I noticed another one of these a couple of weeks back & posted an item on here. Anyway, I bring it up because this type (I suspect they are early 30's, pre-'A') looks like it might have cast iron griddles. The mechanism to lift it is certainly beefier, with a rather serious looking handle on the side of the range to lift it.

I like cast iron too, although the aluminum Chambers griddle seems to perform fine for pancakes & such it is a bear to clean if you happen to get any of your oil scorched. I made some great fried potatoes on mine last night, but I swear I spent more time cleaning it than slicing/frying/eating the potatoes! OK, it was worth it, but still.

--Danny

[ha_asfan]

the best way to clean the aluminum griddle is with amonia. whether the griddle is warm or cold. some amonmia water and a scrubber breaks the hardened oils down almost immediately. still, for perfect cooking results, cast iron and enamel are it...

[tux_sf]

Thanks Ha-
I'll have to break down & buy some ammonia to try it out. I've seen your many postings about the virtues of ammonia for cleaning, but I didn't realize it would attack this kind of heat hardened oil so well. Perhaps I'll get past my aversion to the smell & go back to using it more. I do love products that are simple like that & cut grease really well.

Anyway, has anyone used a soapstone griddle for things like pancakes? I acquired an old one on eBay that I've been happily using in the oven for bread baking (it is a really nice oval one with a tinned steel edge & offset bail handles at either end). The way the stone holds heat is just amazing. But then again, it was used with some of the early retained heat cooking contraptions, so I probably shouldn't be surprised. Combined with the Chambers oven it will stay toasty for HOURS after the gas is off. Even after opening the oven & letting most of the hot air out or removing it from the oven it still remains quite warm for a long time. I wouldn't want to put my heavy soapstone griddle on top of the Chambers griddle, but it sits nicely across 2 burners so I might just have to try it some Sunday morning for pancakes.

--Danny

[Gasseous]

I recently purchased a cast iron griddle made by the lodge company out of Tennessee... It is a too narrow to rest comfortably on the ears at the back. (Where the aluminum griddle sits). I went to the Home Depot and bought a piece of 1" x 1/8" strap. I cut it down to 11" and it fits perfectly across from stop to stop. My griddle rests on it in the back and on the lip in the front. (The same place that my original griddle sits). This works fine for me. I store the strap in the broiler pan when not in use.

I attempted to just sit the griddle on the aluminum griddle as suggested. It took a long time to heat up. When I turned the flame up, it got too hot. Smoked up the folding top and out the front around the top.

Using this strap allows me to put the griddle in place and I can light the flame through the handle in the front. I can also see the flame and turn it down very low. Plenty of heat to cook hamburgers.

Gasseous

[Todd W. White]

I wouldn't set the cast iron griddle on the aluminium one - I would think the amount of heat needed to get the one resting on top could warp the aluminium one below.

I'm planning on leaving the aluminium griddle in place, and, when I want to cook, removing it completely and placing the cast iron one in its' stead.