Did you notice a big difference between the Aldi brand and the bigger name bags, or is it all pretty much the same once it hits the pan? Been thinking about switching over but the store brand stuff always looks kinda icy in the bag.

Marcus sounds like every line cook I ever worked with, they love tearing down the guy who cares about gear. But here's the thing, that screaming hot pan is the whole point. You want that hard sear on the skin side, and a nonstick will never get you that crust because you can't run it hot enough without wrecking the coating. Salmon in a cold-ish nonstick just steams in its own juice no matter how good the fish is. The cast iron is doing a job the nonstick physically cannot do, you just got lazy and stopped heating it long enough.

Spent six months watching YouTube videos on wire routing and still managed to pinch a harness on my first real job. The old guys just know things you can't get from a screen, like how a wire should sit loose enough to move but tight enough to stay put. My attempts looked like a raccoon got into the spool. Funny how 20 minutes with someone who's done it for 30 years beats a whole library.