Why I Love Cast Iron Cookware - Part 1

Growing up, my mom had a set of skillets which saw more use than any other cooking pot or utensil in the house. Seemingly indestructible, they were heavy, hot, and black, and so non-stick you could even fry potatoes and eggs in them and they'd come right out. (She still uses them to this day, and they are at least 30 years old.)

In college I began collecting my own set of cookware - looking mainly for cheap and light to suit my then rather nomadic lifestyle. I started out with a cheap but pretty set of "nonstick" pots & pans with an enameled exterior, which I found in some cheap cookwares catalog. The "nonstick" coating promptly peeled off within just a couple of years (it's scary to think how much of it I probably ingested, but at least I have the comfort of knowing it was surely not Teflon, which would have held up a lot longer). This left my pretty set of flimsy pans basically unusable, so unfortunately they soon found their way to a trash bin.

Image via WikipediaMy next set was a step up - a gift of a set of basic stainless steel Revere Ware, most of which I still use almost daily. The set came with a heavy steel non-stick skillet, which held up and served me well for many years, although it was a bit slow to heat. Although it never peeled off, the nonstick interior gradually lost its "non-stickiness" after 7 or 8 years. I guess that's a fairly good run for a non-stick pan that's not super expensive, but I needed something better this time, and had become more and more leery of the "nonstick" coatings, having read many things about their potential unhealthiness.

So, a couple of years ago, I decided to look into cast iron. My main hesitations were two-fold:

1. Heaviness/Space Considerations: I have a very small kitchen right now, and would not want to be heaving my big cast iron pans up and down in and out of storage, which meant one would probably have to be kept on the (very small) stovetop.

2. Would they really be nonstick? My sister got one a few years ago, and said it took her about 2 years to get it seasoned properly, and foods stuck terribly for quite a while.

Image via WikipediaBut finally I set these concerns aside (my beautiful set of heavy-bottomed stainless steel Italian cookware I had recently found on sale was (and is) quite lovely, but the skillets stick like the dickens if you're not careful and add lots of oil), and got a small and a large pre-seasoned Lodge cast iron skillet - which ran me less than $27 for the two of them. The small one sits on a shelf in the pantry with the other pots and pans, and the large one indeed makes its home on a corner of the stovetop, but its convenience and frequency of use justifies the use of space.

My second concern has also proven unfounded. The pans did stick a little bit the first few times I used them. My first couple of experiences with eggs were less than stellar, But I would say probably within 2-3 months, these problems ceased, and they only continue to get better. Now (just over a year later), my cast iron pans are absolutely awesome!

Check back Wednesday to find out why I love my cast iron skillets so, and Friday I'll share one of my favorite recipes I use them for!