Why I Love Cast Iron Cookware - Part 2

On Monday I shared how my love for my cast iron skillets began, but I didn't tell you yet, what is so great about them.

Here are some of my favorite things about my cast iron cookware:

Image via WikipediaCornbread: Nothing - and I mean nothing - cooks cornbread like a cast iron skillet. Crusty, golden brown, with the perfect rise in the center, it's how I am used to eating cornbread since I was a kid, and bearing almost no resemblance to the pale soggy stuff I once tried making in a regular baking pan (pre-cast iron skillet days).

Eggs: While the first few times I cooked scrambled eggs in my new skillets, I ended up with an egg-lining which had to be scrubbed off, now that they're well seasoned, they make absolutely perfect eggs in mere seconds. The trick is to make sure the pans is well-coated with butter (a very thin coating is fine - I probably use just over a teaspoon in the large pan), and that it is nice and hot before you add the eggs. Then wait a few seconds before stirring, until the bottom layer is cooked, and don't stir too much.

Pancakes: Pancakes are a bit heavy for me (I don't do well with a lot of grain, I've discovered), but I do make them once in a while. They always were just okay - sometimes they turned out doughy in the middle and other times they seemed to burn easily (or sometimes both).... Until I made them for the first time in my cast iron skillet - Wow! Perfectly risen, done all the way through, and lovely golden brown on both sides - not even a hint of sticking either, even when I added bananas (see pictures below for an example from my most recent batch). I may start making pancakes more often now, especially since I get awesome local maple syrup in my CSA share every month.

Pancake cooking in my cast iron skillet.

Yum! Banana pancakes with butter & local maple syrup.

Bacon: If you want to successfully cook the above items in your cast iron skillet, I would recommend cooking bacon in it from time to time. Other fatty meat (ham, etc.) would probably work too, but I've found bacon seems to be the best for seasoning the pan. Plus, for some reason it seems to spatter less than in a steel pan, and it doesn't leave any stuck on residue like it used to in my stainless steel skillets. (You've got to watch it though, as the cast iron gets so hot that it will burn pretty quickly.)

If you want to try out cast iron cookware for yourself, I've listed a couple of handy pieces below (you can find more at http://www.newholisticliving.com/cookingfromscratch.html), but you'll also want to check back next week when I'll share some tips for maintaining your cast iron cookware in good condition, and making sure you get the most out of it, so it will give you a lifetime of good service!

A Few Popular Pieces of Cast Iron Cookware:

Lodge 8" Cast Iron Skillet

Lodge 12" Cast Iron Skillet

Lodge L5MS3 5-Inch Miniature Skillet

Lodge 7 Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven

   

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!