The bottom of a cast iron pan isn’t two dimensional. The very bottom of the bottom is going to see the greatest induction and the most heat, while the food cooking surface gets the least. An aluminum core in there can help move heat from the very bottom to the cooking surface.
Cast iron’s strength in searing has less to do with it’s heat conductivity and much more to do with its heat capacity. When you put a relatively very cold steak onto cast iron, the cast iron pan will impart much more thermal energy into the steak at much less loss of its own temperature than an all-aluminum pan
I guess that kind of makes sense. I guess one way to test this theory is to take IR temp measurement of the inside of the pan and then lift the pan up and quickly take reading on the bottom of the pan. I’ll give that a try the next time I do it and I’ll report back.
Maybe at some point I’ll sear a couple of steaks on each (cast iron vs scanpan) and see what the difference in outcome is.
i read a few arguments recently on why “marinades do nothing” based on some “science based cooking” article from America’s test kitchen. The test that they did was stupid, the results they think they got are wrong and their arguments are in no way scientific.
Because on the electric hob, it drew heat from the heating element (just an electrical resistor, like an incandescent light bulb).The induction hob induces a current in the pan, sort of like turning it into the heating element it was sitting on before.
I’ve got an induction stove. It has got 5 “burners”.
If I place a scanpan and a cast iron on them side by side and turn the burners to the same level, the scanpan will get hotter faster. That seems counterintuitive.
