I’m a big fan; I’ve had one since college. Here’s a good guide to myths about them.
14 thoughts on “Cast-Iron Pans”
Somewhat related, wondering if you were able to sample a good cup of coffee (or coffee-equivalent) on your recent travels abroad.
Always heard they were good. This article makes them seem like a pain.
They have to be treated reasonably as described in the article, certainly not a lot of effort. They are heavy – mine came from my mother when she decided it was too much for her arthritic hands, it’s roughly as old as I am. Unlike Teflon you can fix a damaged surface and re-season it, then you’re good to go for another decade. You do need to cook with some oil or butter.
I have never kept a Teflon coated pan more than five years, you can easily ruin the Teflon coating by scratching it or with too much heat.
You can sometimes resurrect a teflon coated pan by stripping the teflon and seasoning like it was cast iron.
All I know is that in a humid environment cast iron rusts, seasoned or no. I can only guess that daily use might be enough to protect it.
Cast iron is all I use for frying and I don’t wash it nearly as much as suggested by the article. I do use a stainless steel pan for roasting spices as the flavors tend to stick around in cast iron.
For some reason when I first saw this blog post title, I thought it said “Cast Iron Pants”…
~Jon
That’s what I meant to write.
I literally almost have a ton of cast iron. 8″ – 10″ – 12 1/2″ – 15 1/4″ skillets Plus one deep one for fried chicken. The largest one is used for making apple rolls, a recipe found in a Marlboro recipe book from chuck wagon cook recipes. A couple dutch ovens, a square ribbed grill pan, and two griddles.
Have used them a lot and the kids argue over who gets them when I am gone…
That sounds like an impressive collection. The article talked about the differences between ones manufactured the old way and the new way, do you have a preference?
Lodge, Wagner and Griswold are the big names. A lot of people say the older pans are smoother, but to me it just seems it is 50 years of seasoning that made it smoother. I have cooked with all three of these and found that as long as they are kept properly seasoned they all worked the same for me. I can cook scrambled eggs in cast with minor sticking with my pans… although for omlets I do you the non stick..
Here is that cook book .. some really killer recipes for cast iron, it was from 1981 been using it ever since.
There’s no better surface than iron for cornbread.
If you have any of the several genes for hemochromatosis ( there are several; 23 and me can tell you) do not use an iron skillet. Those genes, for some reason, are most prevalent among northwest Europeans ( most particularly Scandinavians) and Bantu southern Africans.
Somewhat related, wondering if you were able to sample a good cup of coffee (or coffee-equivalent) on your recent travels abroad.
Always heard they were good. This article makes them seem like a pain.
They have to be treated reasonably as described in the article, certainly not a lot of effort. They are heavy – mine came from my mother when she decided it was too much for her arthritic hands, it’s roughly as old as I am. Unlike Teflon you can fix a damaged surface and re-season it, then you’re good to go for another decade. You do need to cook with some oil or butter.
I have never kept a Teflon coated pan more than five years, you can easily ruin the Teflon coating by scratching it or with too much heat.
You can sometimes resurrect a teflon coated pan by stripping the teflon and seasoning like it was cast iron.
All I know is that in a humid environment cast iron rusts, seasoned or no. I can only guess that daily use might be enough to protect it.
Cast iron is all I use for frying and I don’t wash it nearly as much as suggested by the article. I do use a stainless steel pan for roasting spices as the flavors tend to stick around in cast iron.
For some reason when I first saw this blog post title, I thought it said “Cast Iron Pants”…
~Jon
That’s what I meant to write.
I literally almost have a ton of cast iron. 8″ – 10″ – 12 1/2″ – 15 1/4″ skillets Plus one deep one for fried chicken. The largest one is used for making apple rolls, a recipe found in a Marlboro recipe book from chuck wagon cook recipes. A couple dutch ovens, a square ribbed grill pan, and two griddles.
Have used them a lot and the kids argue over who gets them when I am gone…
That sounds like an impressive collection. The article talked about the differences between ones manufactured the old way and the new way, do you have a preference?
Lodge, Wagner and Griswold are the big names. A lot of people say the older pans are smoother, but to me it just seems it is 50 years of seasoning that made it smoother. I have cooked with all three of these and found that as long as they are kept properly seasoned they all worked the same for me. I can cook scrambled eggs in cast with minor sticking with my pans… although for omlets I do you the non stick..
Here is that cook book .. some really killer recipes for cast iron, it was from 1981 been using it ever since.
https://www.amazon.com/Chuckwagon-Cooking-Marlboro-Country-Recipes/dp/B0010L1Y2Q
There’s no better surface than iron for cornbread.
If you have any of the several genes for hemochromatosis ( there are several; 23 and me can tell you) do not use an iron skillet. Those genes, for some reason, are most prevalent among northwest Europeans ( most particularly Scandinavians) and Bantu southern Africans.