My grandmother's cast iron pan overheated on my glass stove and now I worry about thermal shock

I was preheating her old 1940s skillet at medium heat and heard a ping, now there's a hairline crack across the bottom. Has anyone else experienced this with vintage cast iron on modern cooktops?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth90018d ago

That same thing happened to me with my grandma's old Wagner pan on a glass top. I ended up getting a cast iron heat diffuser from a local kitchen store, and it's helped a ton. You just set it on the burner first, then put the pan on top, and it spreads the heat out more gently. Also started warming mine up on low for a good 5-10 minutes before cranking it up to medium. Sucks about the crack though... vintage pans are special.

davis.noah18d ago

Yeah spreading the heat out more gently" is the key thing you said there. My aunt had this old Griswold that was her pride and joy, she used it on her glass top for years with no issues until she let my cousin borrow it and he didn't know about the slow warm up rule. Ended up with a crack just like yours, but worse, it ran all the way up the side. She was so mad she didn't talk to him for a month. I've started putting a thin dish towel under mine when I preheat it on the stovetop now, sounds weird but it helps cushion the sudden heat change. Vintage iron is just so thin compared to the new stuff, it can't handle the shock of modern burners.