The cast iron pan appreciation thread

[TuxDave]

Apparantly I need to use my cast iron pan more. Mine has been mostly used for steak and bacon+eggs

 

[highland145]

Can someone show me how to have sex with it?

Put your man part on the chopping board and smash away until you pass out.

 

[Anubis]

on the steak comment, i generally prefer a grilled steak but the skillet is excellent for making a blackened steak with some melted blu on it

 

[Imp]

Never used one before, but I saw one at Crate & Barrel that piqued my interest.

I'll have to get one soon just for shits and giggles.

 

[Iron Woode]

I am debating getting a 15" pan to go with my 12" pan.

Mmm, pizza.

I also use it to make hamburger helper.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I have some gumbo on in a cast iron dutch oven right now actually.

 

[PricklyPete]

I couldn't agree with you more...best cooking apparatus ever. It is a permanent fixture on one of our burners...we literally don't remove it. Use, clean, oil...never moved.

 

[MJinZ]

Do these things kick ass or what?

Things you can do with a cast iron pan:
-Oven cooked steaks
-Deep dish pizza
-fajitas
-hashbrowns
-pie in a pinch
-pan fried tators
-pancakes
-long simmered meals like indian food
and the list goes on...

And to top it off they are virtually indestructable. Forks..knives...pizza cutters...whatever. No teflon coating to be careful with. When you are done cooking just scrape it out, rinse it down and slap a little oil back on it.

My teflon pans have lasted about 3-4 years before my wife destroys them. The cast iron pan I have is older than me and has been passed down to it's third generation.

In the age of $200 Cephalon pans I thought I had to throw a shout out to the cast iron oldies but goodies.

This post brought to you by a heaping plate of hasbrowns, bacon and eggs made up this morning in my beloved cast iron pan.

Don't you get a little too much Fe in your diet?

Maybe better than eating Teflon.

 

[Modelworks]

I have a set that has been in my family since before 1900. You can tell they were hand forged by the way the handle is formed. It doesn't look anything like the ones now. It has a carbon coating on it that is probably 1/4 inch thick so nothing sticks. All those years of people using it with lard really seasoned it well.

A word of warning to people not used to cooking with it. You need to use lower temps than what you use with other cookware. It conducts heat very well and once hot it stays hot long after you remove it from the burner. For cooking things like eggs I get the skillet hot and once I add the eggs to the skillet I turn off the burner and the stored heat will finish the cooking.

When my grandma was making out her will and asked what we each wanted, we all said the cast iron cookware at the same time.

Don't worry about getting too much iron from it. Most people are iron deficient and cooking in it with something acidic like tomatoes which leeches out the most iron only adds about 8-10mg of Fe.

 

[daishi5]

We just got a cast iron pan as a wedding present, and I have never used one before. You are not supposed to clean them with soap? And you are supposed to oil them when you are done? Someone needs to explain to me the secrets of this type of pan so I can get the most out of it.

 

[Anubis]

We just got a cast iron pan as a wedding present, and I have never used one before. You are not supposed to clean them with soap? And you are supposed to oil them when you are done? Someone needs to explain to me the secrets of this type of pan so I can get the most out of it.

google

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

 

[Modelworks]

We just got a cast iron pan as a wedding present, and I have never used one before. You are not supposed to clean them with soap? And you are supposed to oil them when you are done? Someone needs to explain to me the secrets of this type of pan so I can get the most out of it.

Here is what I do:
Rub it down with lard or some type of animal fat grease. Place it in a 400F oven for about an hour. It may smoke like crazy but that is the point.
Let it cool and wipe it down with a damp cloth and it is ready to use.

The more you use it the better it will work. It builds up layers of carbon that will make it nonstick . Foods high in acid will take off some of the carbon so don't use it everyday for tomato sauce type foods. When its dirty you can wash it with soap and water just like any pan, but it must be dried right away . Don't let it sit out to dry because it will rust.

 

[DrPizza]

To dry it, just toss it back on the burner for a minute.

 

[NetWareHead]

Another vote for cast iron. I have 4 of them of different sizes. I have built up a layer of season in them that I can actually make pancakes and even crepes on them with minimal oil. Such a great tool, I use them for practically everything.

Unless you cook something very greasy like bacon, I only rinse it with hot water and sponge and then put on the stove. When the pan starts smoking, i turn off the heat and let it cool. The layer of seasoning I've built up is on par with teflon.

 

[ElFenix]

Here is what I do:
Rub it down with lard or some type of animal fat grease. Place it in a 400F oven for about an hour. It may smoke like crazy but that is the point.
Let it cool and wipe it down with a damp cloth and it is ready to use.

The more you use it the better it will work. It builds up layers of carbon that will make it nonstick . Foods high in acid will take off some of the carbon so don't use it everyday for tomato sauce type foods. When its dirty you can wash it with soap and water just like any pan, but it must be dried right away . Don't let it sit out to dry because it will rust.

the soap will take off the seasoning you've put on there. coarse salt wiped with a paper towel is better if there's something stuck in there. if there's nothing stuck just some water is fine.

 

[DrPizza]

Also, for what it's worth, for anyone who hasn't used a cast iron pan before, it's worth finding the videos on Youtube that has Alton Brown describing getting a cast iron pan & cooking a steak in it.

I was one of the ones who would have said "I prefer the grilled taste..." Screw that! I won't go back to the grill to cook steaks anymore. In fact, maybe today I'll go down to the grocery store & buy some bulk beef - the entire strip loin (bigger than an alternator.) Then, over the next week or so, I can cut off hunks of beef for steaks & eat steak every day.

Ever since starting out cooking steaks, I've experimented with more and more things in that pan. I've found that bacon seems to cook a lot better in there than in our non-stick pans. Like other people have mentioned, it's become a perpetual fixture atop the stove. Cook, rinse & wipe out, and reoil. Usually, you still have to use a potholder even after it's done being washed.

 

[daishi5]

google

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

I just got the pan last night, and this thread was here this morning, I thought it was a sign from the cast iron god.

It seems to be good luck that I saw this, otherwise I would have been using it like any other pan.

 

[vi edit]

I can almost hear your arteries hardening from here.

BAH! Nothing a good dose of exercise and manual labor won't fix.

Good to see there's some genuine love for these things. I fear it will be a lost relic in future generations.

 

[40Hands]

Mine might as well be permanent fixture on top of my stove since I rarely use any other pan.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Well as far as future generations go, when some archeologist digs up our remains, we may be dust and dirt, but I bet those pans will survive just fine.

 

[KeithTalent]

Mine might as well be permanent fixture on top of my stove since I rarely use any other pan.

Mine is. I just leave it on one of the back burners, since I use it more than anything else. Plus it looks nice, so no need to put it away.

KT

 

[TraumaRN]

BAH! Nothing a good dose of exercise and manual labor won't fix.

Good to see there's some genuine love for these things. I fear it will be a lost relic in future generations.

Thanks to this thread I now have a 2 pound shoulder roast braising in the cast iron with fresh herbs from the garden

 

[Modelworks]

the soap will take off the seasoning you've put on there. coarse salt wiped with a paper towel is better if there's something stuck in there. if there's nothing stuck just some water is fine.

Salt is the old method because all they had to clean them originally was salt or sand or lye. Lye is where the don't wash cast iron idea comes from and it will remove the coating, but not many people use lye for washing today . Dish soap contains nothing that will remove the coating unless you intend to soak the pan for a half hour +, just wiping it with a soapy cloth will not do damage. Putting it in the dishwasher is another story where the heat + detergent will do damage. Leaving oil contaminated with food on the surface can cause bacteria to grow and is why the laws say restaurants cannot use only salt to clean cast iron.

 

[vi edit]

I have to confess that there is another cast iron device in the kitchen that steals some cooking duties from my pan. My gas stove has one of those big burners in the middle that is like 14" long and 4" across. It has an iron griddle that fits over it. Best. Grilled. Cheese. Ever. And it makes pancakes like nobodies business. I'll have that running pancakes and then doing scrambled egss & bacon in the pan.

Damn I love breakfast.

 

[vi edit]

Thanks to this thread I now have a 2 pound shoulder roast braising in the cast iron with fresh herbs from the garden

Sounds freaking delicious. I'll bring a bottle of wine...when's eating time?

:awe: