What's the difference between the Flat Top and Cast Iron?Updated 3 months ago

What's the Difference Between the Flat Top and Cast Iron?

They're manufactured from similar materials, which gives them similar function, abilities, limitations and care requirements. The Steelmade Flat Top and Cast Iron Skillets are both made from iron-carbon alloys. The key difference is the amount of carbon that each alloy has. 

The Steelmade Flat Top is made from low carbon mild steel, meaning that less than 1% of the alloy is composed of carbon. Cast Iron, on the other hand, has a carbon content of up to 4%. It may not sound like much, but that extra carbon makes Cast Iron far more brittle, have a bumpy, grainier finish, and be less expensive. 

The benefits to the mild steel of the Flat Top is it has much greater tensile strength and because it is much less porous it can be seasoned much easier.

The Cast Iron Myth

Cast Iron has earned the reputation of being the go-to material for skillets with even cooking and good heat retention, and rightfully so in many respects. The problem is, people have been choosing Cast Iron over steel for the wrong reasons. They're comparing apples to oranges! When it comes down to performance in the kitchen, Cast Iron and steel are very similar. 

Why are Cast Iron Skillets So Much Thicker?

The Steelmade Flat Top is made from low carbon mild steel while cast iron cookware are made from iron-carbon alloys. 

The materials used for making both carbon steel and cast iron are similar. Carbon steel clocks in at around 99 percent iron and one percent carbon, while cast iron can contain up to three percent carbon, in addition to iron. This seemingly minute difference in composition actually makes a big difference in how the pans can be shaped. That extra two percent carbon in cast iron makes the material far more brittle than carbon steel — this is why cast iron skillets typically have more angular sides than the rounded sloped edges of carbon steel. Cast iron pans are also, as the name implies, always made by "casting" in a mold, and they tend to have a more irregular, bumpy, grain. Carbon steel pans, on the other hand, are able to be made from large sheets of metal, which makes the resulting pans stronger and less pourous than cast iron.