Cast iron cookware -- Do you use it?

I like to cook, but I only discovered cast iron a few years ago.

Before then I'd always equated cast iron with camping out. However, once I started using the skillets in regular cooking I quickly found myself hooked. The heating is just so uniform in cast iron, it seems to make the food taste better.

I bought a few skillets from our grocery store ---- all Lodge, of course. I also bought a Dutch Oven - excellent for stews and roasts (and other stuff). Then I picked up a couple of old skillets from an antique store - they're smoother in finish than the Lodge ones.

Seasoning is easy, and once it's seasoned these things are as nonstick as any Teflon lined cookware.

So, who else uses cast iron cookware? Where did you get yours from?

Been using cast iron most of my life. We have three different size skillets, two pots, and a dutch oven. They were my grandmothers, handed down to my mother, handed down to me. My wife tried some of that so called coated crap one time, but it was discarded long ago.

Nothing taste better than sweet cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Well Johnny, you'll have to share your cornbread recipe with me now. My wife is a big fan. She usually uses the store-bought mixes, but I'm assuming that's not what you do.

I will have to ask my dear wife. She is the cook in our home. I do heat up a mean can of soup though.

Been using them all my life as did my mom and dad. I like to avoid non-stick coatings. The cast iron will last indefinitely with minimal care. My mom still uses some fry pans from my great grandmother that were purchased in the early 1900s.

I use cast iron and carbon or blue steel skillets. The blue steel pans aren't as heavy as cast iron.

The great thing about these pans is that they get more non-stick over time, and they are actually pretty inexpensive.

(06-13-2012, 09:03 AM)yohannrjm Wrote: Well Johnny, you'll have to share your cornbread recipe with me now. My wife is a big fan. She usually uses the store-bought mixes, but I'm assuming that's not what you do.

Here you go. I believe she uses a 10" skillet for this.

Ingredients:

1 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preparation Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Spoon a dollop of vegetable shortening in skillet, and place in oven during preheating time.

3. Combine dry ingredients. Add egg, milk, and oil to dry ingredients, mix well.

4. Remove pan from oven (be careful, it will be very hot) and pour batter into skillet.

5. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

I've used cast iron my entire life.

Once one realizes "don't use detergent" and only mild use of water and that but rarely, it works fine.

We bought a set when we were first married many many years ago and still have it. I can't say that for the expensive non-stick pans we've gone through over the years.

Johnny -

Thanks (and thank your good wife) for the recipe. I'll be trying that soon.

Cast iron (French) frying pans (and one Le Creuset casserole), which never see detergent, but all sauce pans are 18/10 stainless steel. SS is just more common over here. Posh people have copper pans.

Johnny -

I made the cornbread this evening. I really liked it, as did the family. Quick, easy and tasty.....and best of all - not too sweet.

I may play around with the recipe in the future. There are a few things I want to try.

Thanks again.

we use a couple of cast iron fry pans all the time. easy to use, no mess clean up, built like tanks.

we picked ours up at a big box store (Canadian Tire), Lodge brand i believe.

they are preseasoned, but that doesn't mean squat to a cast iron. only way to season it is to use over and over and over and over.

ours are like glass now, they have a nice thick sheen on them, and nothing sticks.

(06-13-2012, 03:24 PM)yohannrjm Wrote: Johnny -

I made the cornbread this evening. I really liked it, as did the family. Quick, easy and tasty.....and best of all - not too sweet.

I may play around with the recipe in the future. There are a few things I want to try.

Thanks again.

Wow! You're fast. There are all types of things you can do with that. The wife uses that same recipe but layers it with cream corn, precooked ground beef or sausage, and jalapeno peppers (sliced) to make some spicy Mexican cornbread. A meal all by itself.

Cornbread and a big glass of milk. Not much better (well except for Mexican Cornbread)

I love my cast iton skillet and I use it for about everything except when I use my cast iron dutch oven, kettle or waffle maker. I also use something other then cast iron when I poach my eggs. I have a new fangled poacher pan for that.

Been using cast iron all my life. Have every size frying pan from the largest down to one that a single egg will fill.

Most are Griswold or Wagner. Have a couple early ones with gate marks (casting lines) that are mid 19th century.

One will get used every day for something like hash browns, re-fried beans, etc. They are very decent all round pans.

Absolutely. Always have. Once they are seasoned well, to me there is nothing better than food prepared in cast iron. We have numerous skillets, a couple of pots, and a dutch oven. The dutch oven is the best thing in the world for preparing pot roast and it doubles as the best popcorn popper we've ever used.

I've heard that if one uses cast iron there is seldom any need for iron supplements. I don't know if that's true though.

My wife has the whole kit and kaboodle of them hung from the rafters over our stove. I call it her "pot patch"

Is it surprising that folks who prefer to use old technology for shaving also would cook in cast iron?

I have a number of pieces, all Lodge, ranging from an 8" skillet to "Godzilla" otherwise known as the Lodge 15" skillet. There are the usual dishes that cast iron excels at - corn bread, pot roast, pork chops. However there are a few other great uses for cast iron cookware.

After watching a few pizza stones crack into oblivion, I picked up the Lodge 14" pizza pan. No more cracked stones and the thermal mass of the pan makes supreme pizza. It is also superb at roasting vegetables. Liberally sprinkle with olive oil, rosemary and a iittle sea salt -450 degree oven and you have perfection.

I have a 5 qt chicken fryer that excels at stirfrys. Again the thermal mass of the pan retains the high heat that stir frying calls for. Where most Woks drop down in temperature as different ingredients are added, the cast iron keeps searing each addition of stirfry ingredients.

We use cast iron and have for all of our married life - 36 years. Currently, we have about a half dozen pans and a dutch oven. Nothing cooks as well as a cast iron pan. Whether cooking on the stove top, in the oven or over an open fire cast iron gets the job done.

I love my cast iron cookware. I always thought of it as an annoyance that caused a lot of sticking, until I learned that my mother should not have been using dish soap on it.

My best and most commonly used cast iron is my two sided griddle/grill pan. Hamburgers, steaks, french toast or pancakes, it handles it all with aplomb. The only complaint I have is a small incompatibility between the pan and my burners; the pan is always at a slight tilt.

I have a carbon steel wok that I have started treating similarly, and with similar great results. It's a big beast of a thing, almost restaurant sized, and gets nice and hot.