painlessWheel

No, aluminum retains heat better. As you said cast-iron's thickness is what's doing the heat retention, not the material.

https://www.makeitfrom.com/compare/6061-AlMg1SiCu-3.3214-H20...

For most day-to-day cooking where you're ingredients are in direct contact with the pan over a burner (sautés, searing etc) heat retention can actually be bad (it's difficult to adjust the temperature). For specific tasks, cast iron excels, that's why you don't see a lot of copper deep fryers.

(This is mentioned in the 2 experiments that person runs in their kitchen that you posted)

Aluminum actually has about twice the heat capacity (separate from conductivity) as cast iron.

> the main benefit of cast-iron cookware is its thick, heat-retaining material

The main benefit was that cast-iron could be made before steel was invented, it does not retain heat better than aluminum alloys. Cast-iron pans heat less evenly and must be made thicker than their aluminum counterparts.

Many stainless pans will have cast-iron handles because it conducts heat worse than steel or aluminum, and will not get hot to the touch as quickly.