When I was in the USA some time ago I cooked a steak in a pan made of anodized aluminium. The brand was Calphalon, which isn't sold where I live.
The pan performed better than a cast iron pan, IIRC. No wonder, since it was made of quite thick aluminium, which has a higher thermal mass than iron. (It also has a better conductivity, but that matters less if you warm up the cast iron pan properly.) At the same time the aluminium pan was lighter than a cast iron pan. The aluminium was anodized, so it wasn't reactive.
This anodized aluminium pan seems the ideal pan to me for steaks etc. But, as I said, I've used it only a few times and I have to import it from the USA.
So I was wondering: is my impression correct that anodized aluminium is even better for steaks etc. than cast iron? And is there a catch which I'm not aware of?
The pan performed better than a cast iron pan, IIRC. No wonder, since it was made of quite thick aluminium, which has a higher thermal mass than iron. (It also has a better conductivity, but that matters less if you warm up the cast iron pan properly.) At the same time the aluminium pan was lighter than a cast iron pan. The aluminium was anodized, so it wasn't reactive.
This anodized aluminium pan seems the ideal pan to me for steaks etc. But, as I said, I've used it only a few times and I have to import it from the USA.
So I was wondering: is my impression correct that anodized aluminium is even better for steaks etc. than cast iron? And is there a catch which I'm not aware of?