Aluminum or Cast Iron Cauldron.
Aluminum or Cast Iron Cauldron.
Hello.
There is no single answer, which cauldron is better cast iron or aluminum. There are many criteria by which one can judge, but there are even more judgments regarding each of the criteria. Often the same parameter of a cauldron, for different users, is both a disadvantage and an advantage at the same time. And which cauldron is better in such a paradigm, aluminum or cast iron? And which cauldron is better to choose, with a flat or a round bottom? Let's try to understand each of the points.
1. Which cauldron is better aluminum or cast iron.
A cast-iron cauldron is more willing to forgive mistakes, and the food in it burns less. An aluminum pot, on the other hand, allows you to better and faster regulate the temperature, gives you more options when cooking than cast iron, but requires you to be more agile, especially if you cook with wood.
Most sincerely believe that a cast-iron cauldron is better than an aluminum counterpart.
It so happened by chance that it was the cast-iron cauldron that gained popularity, but who said that it is better than aluminum?
Depending on the quality of the cast iron, food left in the cauldron for several hours can taste rusty. When storing food in an aluminum cauldron, you can also feel an unpleasant aftertaste.
2. What volume of a cauldron to choose.
If you cook little food in a large cauldron, then the bottom of the dish will be relatively flat. In fact, the cooking process will not differ from cooking in a saj or even in a frying pan! Also, for the size of a large cauldron, you need a larger hearth or oven, more oil consumption for frying and more firewood consumption.
3. Which lid is better for a cauldron: aluminum or cast iron.
It is more rational to use a lid for a cauldron made of thin aluminum, or even better to close it with a wooden board. A heavy cast-iron lid will only work better when baking in a cauldron, but the shape of the cauldron openly hints that it is better to choose some other type of dishes for baking.
4. What shape of the bottom is better to choose for a cauldron: a sphere or a plane.
An aluminum or cast iron pot, but with a flat bottom, allows you to deep fry more meat at the same time and is better suited for this task. A cauldron with a flat bottom is easier to put on the floor, it is more stable, it turns over less and in general it is better and more practical to use.
True, it is more convenient and better to work with a slotted spoon in a bowl with a spherical bottom, but an aluminum or cast-iron cauldron is not at all obliged to have a spherical surface!
5. Which cauldron is better for a home, for a gas or electric stove?
For a home gas or electric stove, it is better to take a cauldron with a flat bottom and a volume of no more than 5-6 liters (this is about 3-4 kg of cast iron, or 1.5-2 kg of aluminum). Otherwise, the power of the household stove will not be enough to heat a larger volume of metal to the desired temperature.
6. What weight of an aluminum or cast iron cauldron is better to choose?
The amount of heat that the material “absorbs” depends only on its mass and the heat capacity of the product as a whole. What weight of an aluminum or cast-iron cauldron is better to choose, no one will definitely tell you. It all depends on the preferences of the chef. Therefore, if you know what heat capacity of the metal you need, then buy dishes of a specific weight, and if not, then it doesn’t matter what wall thickness your cauldron has.
7. What size of hearth for a cauldron is better to choose.
It should be understood that cast iron has a very low thermal conductivity, therefore, in order to better warm up the walls of the cauldron, it is advised to “plant” it in a furnace or hearth “up to the ears”. Aluminum does not have such problems with thermal conductivity, it can be immersed in the hearth halfway, and a full cauldron of pilaf is cooked.
8. The quality of casting an aluminum or cast iron cauldron.
Only the relative high cost of aluminum did not make high-quality Soviet dishes as popular as products made from cheaper cast iron for the poor.
Modern marketing claims that an old cast-iron cauldron cast in a garage is better than a modern one and raises handicraft casting to the level of art, devaluing the high-quality geometry of modern aluminum utensils. And modern cast iron too!
9. Firing a cast-iron or aluminum cauldron.
The preparation of an aluminum cauldron in 99% of cases comes down to two stages. First you need to thoroughly wash the new aluminum cauldron in hot water with detergent. And then, to give a film of aluminum oxides, you need to pour sunflower oil so that it covers the bottom, add a tablespoon of table salt and put the cauldron on fire. It is worth calcining until the smell of burnt oil appears and until the color of the aluminum changes.
Thank you for attention!
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