Question: Cooking with cast iron

[Joanne]

I found three real nice little 8 inch pans that I think are Wagners at a garage sale for a buck a piece, all got restored and all are in use.

Nice find! A lot of folks just don't have any interest in iron cookware and let it go for a song. I'm glad that you "rescued" them.

Joanne

 

[Black Dog]

That is one of the benefits of cast iron. Even when misused, they can be stripped down and reseasoned. I've heard of husbands and wives getting into knock-down drag-out fights over the iron. I love my ovens and skillets, but ultimately they are just cast iron that can take a ton of abuse and turn out just fine.

My mom has this old cookbook called Chinese Wokery or something like that. The first chapter of the book is about how to properly care for your wok and it tells a story about a young man who brought his new bride home to have dinner with his mother. Mom cooked dinner and they all ate, then the new bride offered to clean up. She spend hours and hours in the kitchen cleaning, so mom went in to see what she was doing only to discover that the young bride had been scrubbing and scrubbing all the precious black seasoning off of her generations old wok.

 

[verdesardog]

I have a 100 year old griswald cast iron waffle iron the can only works well over an open flame, makes for great camping waffles!

 

[Joanne]

I have a 100 year old griswald cast iron waffle iron the can only works well over an open flame, makes for great camping waffles!

At some of the gatherings I used to attend, we would have "waffle-offs". A number of us would make waffles and all the attendees would go from camp site to camp site tasting the various waffles. Then they voted for the best waffle maker. It was a lot of fun.

Joanne

 

[verdesardog]

At some of the gatherings I used to attend, we would have "waffle-offs". A number of us would make waffles and all the attendees would go from camp site to camp site tasting the various waffles. Then they voted for the best waffle maker. It was a lot of fun.

Joanne

My waffle recipe includes mesquite meal..... nothing else like it in the world....yum!

 

[taugust]

I use flax oil (I work in a chemical analysis equipment training lab).
Instead of a chemist's reason, read this lady's: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

I do this too. I read the article as well. Combined with a high temp seasoning technique, and the seasoning is very hard and durable. Not like the factory seasoning that can easily be damaged. Adding the rapid stove-top technique (from Joanne's forum) for building up layers on the inside bottom of the pot, and the pots and pans are now very well seasoned.

 

[taugust]

My waffle recipe includes mesquite meal..... nothing else like it in the world....yum!

Can you share the recipe? And a source for the mesquite meal? Sounds interesting.

 

[Joanne]

Although this was all done in the back yard, there's no reason that you can't do a whole Thanksgiving meal outdoors. In fact we've done it many years in the past and will again in the future.

 

[Switch]

Just wondering if anyone is using cast iron for cooking and if so could you suggest a brand name that has worked well. We are looking for a few suggestions pertaining to cooking techniques using the cast iron sets as well.

What do you do to maintain the durability and longevity of your cast iron cooking sets. Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks!

We use cast iron fajita skillets for breakfasts like pancakes, omelettes, or bacon & eggs. We have never eaten a cold breakfast since we added these to our kit.

Anything you want to eat hot will STAY hot in these skillets and the narrow form factor and low height makes them fit easier on narrow stoves and easier to pack. They are also great for fajitas.

Oh, and clean up is easy with a little hot water and copper scrubbers. If you use oil (or bacon grease) when you cook you'll never need to season. Also don't use soap unless you plan to season again right away.

 

[Gatordoc]

I use flax oil (I work in a chemical analysis equipment training lab).
Instead of a chemist's reason, read this lady's: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Thanks for posting this, Bill! Very informative and jives with other cast-iron related nerdery I have been reading up on lately.
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Buried in the comments of the above blog post is a link to Cooking for Engineers. I haven't dug around it at all yet, but I suspect there will be more science-based cooking-related information to nerd-out on.
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Like (I'm guessing) many ExPo folks, I was first introduced to cast iron cooking in the 'Scouts as a kid making camp meals - especially dutch oven cobbler. I didn't start using cast iron at home until a few years ago when I bought a 10" lodge skillet to make a corn bread recipe. It turned out amazingly well, and shortly thereafter I started experimenting with using my skillet for other things. Much like a college romance, experimenting led to a handful of absolute disasters, some phenomenal successes and discoveries, and resulted in a long-term relationship. :chef:
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I've been building my collection over the past several years and now have 10-15 pieces (I think; I've honestly lost count) - most of which get used regularly. The only time I consistently cook with non-cast iron now is when making pasta, soup, boxed mac 'n cheese for the kids, etc...
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My favorites, which get used several times a week, are a 10" skillet, a cast iron pizza pan, and a reversible griddle/grill. I use the skillet for just about anything, the pizza pan in the same way you'd use a baking stone or cookie sheet, and the griddle/grill for everything from eggs & pancakes for breakfast to steaks when I don't feel like grilling outside. Haven't had issues with sticking since I first got 'em. I'm also a huge fan of the Lodge enameled Panini pan and matching press. Both work exceedingly well, look handsome when left on the range top, and clean up well after gooey messes that result from the requisite amount of cheese to make a good Panini. A 6 quart (camp) dutch oven comes with and does all of the heavy lifting when camping, as well as the aforementioned 10" skillet.
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The "difficult" care and feeding of cast iron is greatly exaggerated by people who can't be bothered to educate themselves and take a little time to learn how to do it right, or lazy people who would rather replace a cheap Teflon pan every year or two, rather than invest a little love into some good cast iron which will last several lifetimes.

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

I'm the cook at our house.

There's a big skillet, little skillet and a round griddle that are used almost every day.

They hop into the kitchen box when it's time to go play

 

[emtmark]

I may be harassed but every "new" piece I pick up gets all the old crap burnt off, sand blasted then ground on with 2" sanding discs. It's really cut down on the seasoning times and stick factor.
In daily use are a camp chef combo or "4 in 1". No name 8" circle griddle and a 16" griswold skillet. Love them converted most of my friends and family and give a rescued skillet to each couple whose wedding I attend. Cast iron forever

 

[Scoutman]

I may be harassed but every "new" piece I pick up gets all the old crap burnt off, sand blasted then ground on with 2" sanding discs. It's really cut down on the seasoning times and stick factor.
In daily use are a camp chef combo or "4 in 1". No name 8" circle griddle and a 16" griswold skillet. Love them converted most of my friends and family and give a rescued skillet to each couple whose wedding I attend. Cast iron forever

I've thought about doing that same thing to mine. All the rough texture sure would make it a bit easier to wipe/scrub out when cleaning and oiling.

 

[emtmark]

What's the worst that can happen lol. Give it a try )

(Fasten your seatbelts)

I also use, exclusively, metal utensils and sharpen my spatulas :willynilly:

That said I had a friend confront Froglube at shot show about their claim that it could be used to season cast iron. You can't, I tried lol Hahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[keane]

My wife and I started using cast iron 6 years ago for camping. With in a year it moved to the kitchen. And now all our pans are cast, and a assortment of ceramic coated cast woks and other cookware. For oil on them we mostly use avocado oil, it doesn't seam to smoke as much.