I don’t understand why cast iron pans would have the natural textured (pebble-grained, to me) cooking surface. It seems to me it would be hard to use.
I have several cast iron skillets, all with a machined smooth cooking surface, which I think are great. But when I browse in stores nowadays, it seems all I can find are pans with the textured cooking surface. I can’t imagine hoping to get a fried egg completely on spatula with that type surface. It seems to me that in some cases cleaning it would be major pain. I’ve never bought one because I look at them and think, “That’s stupid.”
Or maybe I’m ignorant. Is there some reason, other than being cheap, that the manufacturers don’t machine the cooking surface smooth? Can you actually get a fried egg to slide on the textured surface? Am I missing something here?
What the heck are you talking about? Pebbled? I’ve never seen a cast iron pan with a pebbled surface. Any chance you’re just talking about not-totally-mirror-smooth? Or actually pebbled?
I just spend some Google time and I can’t find anything like what you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the normal non-polished surface of an unseasoned cast iron pan, then you need to keep in mind that they’re unseasoned. Seasoning a pan lays down a surface of hardened oil and carbon. Nature’s teflon.
So the seasoning fills in the little bumps and valleys enough to make it workable? I’m aware of seasoning making it slick, I just always assumed it would still be too rough to successfully manipulate a fried egg.
The simple answer is don’t do eggs in cast iron. I have a non-stick pan for eggs and the like, and use the cast-iron for stuff that can be scraped and the like. But a well-seasoned pan can do eggs if you are careful.
I, too, greatly prefer the machined-smooth frying pans.
If you can’t find a new one that you like, buy a used one. I acquired a really nice 10.5" and a spare 8.5" at thrift shops and sidewalk sales in the last few years.
I do ALL my eggiwegs in a cast iron pan. I prefer buying old pans from like Salvation Armies and joints like that, but I have seasoned new pans as well. Best. Eggiweg. Surface. Evar. Ask any chicken.
Interestingly, some time ago there was an article in National Geographic about the history of gold and it’s various creative and scientific uses & applications, and the authors had some gold supplier loan them enough gold to cast a small frying pan. It supposedly made the most (naturally) non-stick, even heating pan the authors ever used, and fried eggs were done to a perfection they had never seen before.
Thanks for the replies. Now where do get me one o’ them gold pans?
I have bought some pans used – mainly to get the machined cooking surface. I see no reason to not cook eggs in them, especially if they have the machined surface. And I understand why the natural surface texture isn’t quite smooth.
What I don’t understand is why the cooking surface isn’t machined smooth on every cast iron skillet made. It seems to me natural texture surface = adequate, machined smooth surface = perfect. Easier to cook on. Easier to clean. Why would any self-respecting manufacturer engage in bragging about their wonderful cast iron and not machine them? Why would anyone buy one that was not machined?
I don’t grasp why the manufacturers seem content to issue what I perceive as an inferior product, going so far as to not even make the superior version available for those who want it, when it’s such an easy thing for the manufacturer to do. And I don’t grasp why consumers haven’t soundly rejected the non-machined pans, and insisted on buying only the machined ones. Those are the questions that keep me up at night.
A smooth surface doesn’t matter to me in cast iron. I use other, lighter pans for eggs and the like. If it needs to be flipped, tossed or otherwise moved about, a stainless-steel sauté pan is the tool for me. In my cast iron I cook sausage, which I like to seize and stick to the pan (for gravy) and chili and stew and the like where a perfectly smooth surface is meaningless. Besides, can you even season a machined-smooth cast-iron skillet correctly?
On the customer side, I’d say it’s inertia or lack of knowledge. Before I saw this thread, I thought all cast-iron skillets had that nubbly texture. My mom’s skillet is sandcast, and so was my grandmother’s. The only thing I use it for is their cornbread recipe. So if I were looking for a skillet, I wouldn’t even think to look for a machined one.
We have three “nubby” cast iron skillets. One of them was given to us by Rhiannon8404’s grandmother. She had received it as a wedding gift; it must be around 70 years old now. I make a complete mess when I cook eggs in them, but Rhiannon has no problem. She has even made omelettes on quite a few occasions.
Although they do have a natural texture, they are all almost mirror smooth now, just through repeated use. They are the only skillets we own, and get used on a daily basis. Having owned a number of stainless steel, and non-stick (both cheap and very expensive) skillets over the years, I’ve yet to find anything that works better than old fashioned cast iron. To me, machined surfaces, or pre-seasoning, are just messing with perfection.
