On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:39:08 -0700, "Kent" > wrote:

>> Cast iron retains heat better than any other material --
>
>Cast iron skillets retain heat more because of their mass rather than the
>specific heat retention properties of the metal[cast iron, aluminum or
>copper].

Agreed. But since all commercially available cast iron pans have greater mass
than available equivalently sized pans of any other material, that distinction
is of pedantic interest only. Cast iron pans retain more heat.

>>and thus reaches higher temperatures -- useful for cooking things in
>>batches at high heat, searing, or for deep frying.
>
>Heat retention doesn't have anything to do with reaching a higher
>temperature. Head conductivity does.
>Copper conducts heat more than aluminum or cast iron.

Heat retention is just a colloquial term related to heat conductivity. A cast
iron pan has greater thermal mass and thus retains more heat energy than an
equivalently sized pan of aluminum or copper. But with the same surface area,
cast iron will lose heat to the surrounding air at no more than the rate of the
other pan. Thus the cast iron pan will also suffer a smaller temperature drop
for any given cooking load.

It will take cast iron a considerably longer time to reach a given temperature;
that's the primary tradeoff.

-- Larry