Cooking With Cast Iron

The cast iron frying pan, or as it is more commonly referred to, a cast iron skillet, has been a super popular implement for cooking for hundreds of years.  Of course, cast iron cookware comes in many more shapes and sizes that just a skillet.  Dutch ovens are very prominent, as are woks, griddles, hibachis, muffin pans, cauldrons and many other styles.

Cooking with cast iron is great for all types of food. A few examples being: stews, cornbread, deep frying, pancakes, bacon, egg dishes, desserts - really anything! Folks who use cast iron cookware regularly absolutely swear by it fanatically. They wouldn't use anything else.

Here are a few of the great deals on Cast Iron Cookware right now on eBay:

You can use new pans or old. As long as the cast iron pan has no cracks or big nicks, you can easily clean it, then season it, and use it for a long as you would like.

Benefits of Cooking With Cast Iron:

• The pans are non-stick once they are properly seasoned. Food should slide out.

• They can add iron to your diet.

• They are clear of toxic chemicals, as opposed to Teflon and the like that have been reported as carcinogenic.

• They are fairly inexpensive.

• The pans are indestructible and last a lifetime as long as you are cautious (i.e. don't put a bunch of cold water on a real hot cast iron pan, it could crack.)

• They withstand and maintain very high cooking temperatures.

• They heat evenly.

More benefits are that cast iron cookware performs equally well in the oven, on the stove top and over an open campfire.  They're good with gas or an electric range, but be a little more careful with electric because the burners do not necessarily heat evenly.

Seasoning Your Cast Iron Pan

Almost everyone knows you have to season cast iron cookware, but most don't realize how easy it is.  If you buy an older, used pan, it may already be perfectly seasoned.  Also,  several brands of cast iron come preseasoned these days eliminating the need to even think about it.

But if you are in a position to season a cast iron vessel, you will simply need to coat it lightly with some oil or fat and bake it at a high temperature (500 ° F) for a half hour or a little longer.  Doing this several times will really create a lasting seasoning effect on the pan. You absolutely want to apply thin coats of oil. The pan will end up looking dry, not oily, but you can trust the oil is cooked in. Some folks also recommend rubbing the pan with salt as part of the seasoning process, but many discard this as unnecessary.

Newer pans tend to have a rough surface requiring more work to properly season them. If food is sticking, it is because the surface is not glassy smooth. Buying a used, older pan can be a great idea because the older pans tend to be made better than the newer ones. eBay has a huge supply of older cast iron pans made by Griswold (recommended) and other vendors.

To help your seasoning efforts and to maintain your pan allow allow it to get hot before adding oil or food.  And, just know that if your pan is sticking, it is not seasoned well enough.

Cleaning Your Cast Iron Pan

When it comes to cleaning your cast iron cookware, you want to throw out all of your customary dishwashing ideas and practices.

Here are some cleaning cast iron DOs and DON'Ts:

• Do not ever put a cast iron pan in the dishwasher.

• Do not soak the cookware is water.

• Do rinse it out quickly with soapy water (use of soap is controversial, not because it causes any harm, but because it serves no beneficial purpose)

• Dry it right away with paper towels or even better…

• Heat the vessel on the stove until all moisture is evaporated.  You do want to keep moisture away from your cast iron cookware or it will rust.

That's it!

To take care of any rust spots, simply scour them off with steel wool and re-season. Your pan is good to go.

Health Effects of Using Cast Iron

Cooking with cast iron can increase the amount of iron on your diet, expecially if you are cooking acidic foods (i.e. tomato sauce).  This is great for folks with iron deficiencies in their bodies, but not good for those with too much iron. So it is a consideration.

The increased iron appears to be the only added benefit of cast iron cooking. The avoidance of toxins from using other types of cookware can also be seen as a health benefit of cooking with cast iron.

Brands to Look For

The most popular of cast iron cookware are Griswold, which is considered top of the line, and Wagner which comes in second. Other noted brands are Lodge and Wright, among many others.

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