Don't Buy a Cast Iron Skillet Until You Watch This

Ten-inch versus twelve-inch cast iron: a ten-inch skillet cooks for one or two people and a twelve-inch cooks for a family, so buy the twelve. I'm Wes Fordham. I cooked on the line for forty years, from 1979 to 2019, most of those years on the same black cast iron skillet I bought my first year. A cook doesn't buy his tools. He earns them. This video is the ten things I check, in the order I check them, so you can pick up any pan in any store or flea market and know in about a minute whether it's worth your money. WHAT YOU NEED one ten-inch skillet for one or two people one twelve-inch skillet for a family a helper handle on most twelve-inch pans something flat: a shelf, a store counter, or a piece of glass a ruler or the edge of a credit card good light: a window or your phone's flashlight half white vinegar and half water for rust oil Here is what you will learn: ✔ A ten-inch pan lets a family of four down every night ✔ Crowding steams food instead of browning it; cold food needs room ✔ A twelve-inch American skillet weighs just over seven pounds empty ✔ Vintage pans were thinner: ten inches at four to four and a half pounds ✔ Press the rim in a few spots; if it rocks the bottom is warped ✔ A pan that spins like a top has bowed in the middle ✔ Cracks start at the rim and run straight down the sidewall ✔ A scratch stays on the surface, a crack goes all the way through ✔ Orange surface rust is mostly cosmetic; soak it and scrub it off You do not need a two hundred dollar skillet. You need to know what to look at. What pan did your mother or grandmother keep on the stove, and what did she cook in it? Keep it hot. Keep it oiled. Keep it simple. Chapters: 0:00 - The $200 Skillet Mistake 2:50 - Weight and Handle Comfort 5:51 - Testing for Cracks 8:51 - Rough Surface Is Normal 11:40 - Skip Painted Pans 14:35 - Check Sold Prices #castiron #cookware #kitchenskills