Anyone cook with a Cast Iron Skillet?

[alf]

I was casually looking around for one over the holidays but they were all sold out where i looked. Went to the gun show this weekend saw on on a table for $12.

Offered $10 and went home with a 1952 S&W M40, 100 rounds of .38 Special and a cast iron skillet

Checked out the brand name and such on the web, turns out that people actually collect these things, it is an old Wagner. Who da thunk?

Important thing is it COOKS GREAT. Better than all that expensive alum and non stick stuff that i am tossing out. As good as the hand hammered carbon steel wok i snaged from my moms restaurant years ago...

It is ugly like the wok but the food actually tastes better, heats evenly and nothing sticks.

[dd74]

I do. I love 'em. Good for the forearms, too.

[onlycafe]

makes the best damned fried chicken you ever will have. i have a few that wouldn't give up even if jack bauer was looking for them.

[lonewolf]

used them for years.
i have 4 different size ones and one flat that is for pancakes ,crepes ect.

[Flatbutt1]

they are the only ones I use. getting them well seasoned is obviously the key so when you find an old one, they're geat.

[Joeaksa]

As well have used them for years. Once they get hot, they stay hot forever.

Excellent for blackening things like fish or chicken.

[David]

They also add a little iron to your diet which is usually a good thing.

[kach22i]

I've been using mine since 1985, certain foods like eggs without a lot of bacon fat and pancakes pick up little black crunchy things things and can dry out, so It's use is limited to the other 90% of what I cook.

Garlic Toast:
Crush several cloves of garlic into a small bowl. Add several scoops of butter or margerine and mix together. Spread generously onto bread, something healthy hearty and whole grain is prefered. You may want to apply to one side only as the bread will toast without butter on the iron pan.

Make sure the pan is well heated and lay the buttered side face down. Lower the heat and wait, you may have to rotate 90 degrees. Flip over when one side is done and enjoy.

Note-1: The next thing you cook may pick up some garlic flavor even after washing and oiling.

Note-2: You may want to disconnect your smoke alarm when using this pan.

Note-3: Preheating the pan intensely and adding a low flame oil like olive oil may result in a colorful display of flame. Sesame oil and Canola oil work very well.

[Big Ed]

I need to get one of these but need a primer on seasoning and use. Advice?

[masraum]

Originally posted by kach22i
I've been using mine since 1985, certain foods like eggs without a lot of bacon fat and pancakes pick up little black crunchy things things and can dry out, so It's use is limited to the other 90% of what I cook.

Garlic Toast:
Crush several cloves of garlic into a small bowl. Add several scoops of butter or margerine and mix together. Spread generously onto bread, something healthy hearty and whole grain is prefered. You may want to apply to one side only as the bread will toast without butter on the iron pan.

Make sure the pan is well heated and lay the buttered side face down. Lower the heat and wait, you may have to rotate 90 degrees. Flip over when one side is done and enjoy.

Note-1: The next thing you cook may pick up some garlic flavor even after washing and oiling.

Note-2: You may want to disconnect your smoke alarm when using this pan.

Note-3: Preheating the pan intensely and adding a low flame oil like olive oil may result in a colorful display of flame. Sesame oil and Canola oil work very well.

I wouldn't expect a cast iron skillet to smoke unless you are burning something in it. I also wouldn't expect to get stuff in your food from the skillet.

[David]

Originally posted by masraum
I also wouldn't expect to get stuff in your food from the skillet.

I wouldn't think so either with a well seasoned pan, but apparently there's evidence that it does add iron.

[Tim Walsh]

I've gone one and love it for some things.
They make great steaks.. get the skillet screaming hot toss in your favorite room temperature steak for about 30 seconds on each side to put a nice sear on it, then take the skillet with steak and toss it into the oven until done to taste.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

There is NOTHING like cooking in old cast iron. We have four standard skillets and one that leaves grill marks. Good woks are cast iron that will have a nice bell sound when banged. We've got one of them too!

We also use glass cookware. Looking for non-reactive substances to cook with.

Hate the aluminium and such...

[fastpat]

Yes, we use a cast iron skillet for things that cook better in one. Our favorite pans and pots are the Chantal enamel on steel. They cook much like cast iron, with a better surface for cleaning. They have a stainless steel trim ring on the edge to avoid chipping, and a glass lid with stainless edge. Not cheap, but fine stuff. We make chili and pot roast in our 9 quart pot.

[Overpaid Slacker]

Best steak you might ever cook requires a cast iron skillet.
I've got 2 skillets and one flat "pancake" pan.

Seasoning -- rub lard into every surface of a cast iron pan, place in 300 deg oven (with catch pan underneath) for 2 hours or so. When you take it out, wipe off excess fat.

You can re-season pans. The key is never, ever use soap to clean the pan. I clean mine by throwing a handful of coarse kosher salt into the pan (while still hot... like while you're letting your steak stand for 5 minutes) and rubbing it around the pan with a couple of wadded up paper towels.

Other pans have their uses (gotta have a wok, a saucier and a dutch oven), but none of them match the cast iron for versatility and even cooking.

JP

[many944s]

Originally posted by Big Ed
I need to get one of these but need a primer on seasoning and use. Advice?

Best way to season cast iron...
1-remove all rust (I usually sand blast with black sand)
2-cover entire piece with vegetable oil
3-place in oven and bake at 350 degrees
4-re-oil while baking until entire piece is golden brown from
baked down oil.


A few of my distant relatives were "Griswolds" They made cast iron items in Erie Pa, for several years until they merged with the Wagner Ware company. There are alot of people out there that collect cast iron! Some stick to Griswold, some to Wagner, some just collect anything they can find!

My wife always gives me grief, that the house can never blow away from a tornado or the such due to all th cast iron in our house

Collecting can be fun, but if you begin collecting the obscure, it can get pretty expensive!

just my $.02.

-Nick

[legion]

I have that exact frying pan. I LOVE it. It is the single best implement ever invented for browning meat.

[NICKG]

i try to use cast iron pans as much as possibvle...i prefer not eating teflon

[kach22i]

Originally posted by masraum
I wouldn't expect a cast iron skillet to smoke unless you are burning something in it. I also wouldn't expect to get stuff in your food from the skillet.

True, but exceeding the temperature range of the oil you are using is easy to do with a gas stove top and a phone call that pulls you away.

Even a well seasoned pan has stuff on the outer lip (outside) that can find it's way inside. Even stuff on the bottom and chip away and pop up into the pan without you seeing it if moving the pan around.

I use the pan for making pop corn too, no hydrogenated oils like the microwave stuff.

[ben parrish]

As said before, NEVER USE SOAP!! NEVER PUT IN A DISHWASHER!! DON"T USE HOT WATER TO CLEAN!! Avoid any food with high acid content like tomato's or lemons. Also, I think 350 is too hot for seasoning..250 is better and liquid vegetable oil is OK; Crisco solid vegetable oil is preferred. Pork fat is the BEST.
I have used cast iron for years; being Southern, I think it is bred into us.
I searched for years for a lid for my favorite skillet I got from my Grandmother. The pan must be 100 years old. Found it in an antique store and it has really made the pan much more versitle.
Cast iron cookware is great and will out last you if it is cared for. I even use it on my sailboat.