Cooking with cast iron

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:34 am

Seriously...is there anything better? I've been doing most of my cooking on a large cast iron skillet these days. Let me tell you: A properly seasoned cast iron pan is far better than any non-stick cookware you can buy. It heats better and more evenly, and it seems nothing will stick to it. It is virtually indestructible, so you can use all manner of utensils on it. It is also relatively inexpensive compared to the higher-end stuff. Downsides? Heavy and you have to use pot handles.

Today I scored an 8" skillet and a 10" skillet to add to my 14" one. I also have a cast iron Dutch oven. This stuff out-performs our very expensive aluminum-core stainless laminate pans by a mile. I hate non-stick cookware, but my wife loves it. Our stainless cookware is non-stick, but she bought a couple of cheap aluminum fry pans with Teflon. They are so scratched now. Hopefully I can convince her to use the cast stuff.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:00 am

I've been thinking about going back to cast iron, because our skillets are all shitty, thin things, and they've all warped badly, so all the cooking oil ends up only at the edges, where the heat isn't. [Some because I used to wash them while they were still pretty hot; I've since stopped doing that, but the damage is done.] But my luck with cast iron wasn't great before, even though the pans were seasoned properly. I think maybe the problem was that I wasn't using enough oil? I'm pretty sure I had no idea what I was doing at the time.

The other thing I've thought of is some thick-bottomed stainless steel pans like Paul and Iantha's. They did well, and their bottoms didn't warp too badly when mistreated, and I found as long as I used oil, they didn't stick particularly much. What's the benefit of cast iron over stainless steel? Keeping in mind particularly that I'd be buying the crappiest iteration of each!

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:05 am

Our stainless cookware is really good stuff, with no Teflon, so you can scour it with Barkeeper's Friend (a great scouring agent, BTW..it'll get just about anything off). It doesn't warp even when there's a significant temperature differential between the water and the pan. However, it is not as good as cast iron.

The thing with cast iron, is that you never, ever clean it with soap. Just warm water and a scouring pad (or sand, if you're camping), chore boy, etc. No cleaning agents of any kind...if you do, you have to re-season it. Seasoning takes a while. While I buy Lodge Logic brand cast iron, which is supposed to be pre-seasoned and ready to go, it is not. You always want to use some oil/butter/margarine when cooking. Eventually, there will be enough oil in the pan to make it non-stick. What you don't want to do is, get a bare pan with no food cooking in it, hot enough to reach the smoke point of the oils/fats embedded into it...this will degrade the non-stick properties, and you'll have to re-season again.

It will rust if you hand dry it after cleaning, but not if you throw it back on the burner for a few seconds to evaporate any water.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:25 am

Well, we never scour anything, anyway - I perpetuate my laziness and hatred of dishwashing through soaking, rather than superior scrubbers - so we're good with pretty much anything, as far as that goes, but what is it that makes the cast iron better than the stainless steel? Do you know if there's a price difference? It just occurred to me that I've been stupidly assuming cast iron would be cheaper, when I don't have any evidence or reason to support that conclusion.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:34 am

3278 wrote:Well, we never scour anything, anyway - I perpetuate my laziness and hatred of dishwashing through soaking, rather than superior scrubbers - so we're good with pretty much anything, as far as that goes, but what is it that makes the cast iron better than the stainless steel? Do you know if there's a price difference? It just occurred to me that I've been stupidly assuming cast iron would be cheaper, when I don't have any evidence or reason to support that conclusion.

You don't want to soak cast iron for very long, otherwise it will rust. Cast iron tends to heat more uniformly than most other metals and, due to it's inherent non-stickedness when properly seasoned, cleans easily. Since there's no Teflon to scratch or flake off, and because you generally don't /have/ to scour after cooking it if it's properly seasoned, it's much easier to cook with and clean. Straight-up stainless, with no Teflon coating, is a bitch to keep shit from sticking/burning/etc. without the use of more oil/butter/etc., and it looks like crap if you don't use a scouring agent on it once and a while. Cast iron lasts forever, there are generally no cosmetic wear-and-tear issues, and it's much tougher to gouge than stainless.

For a price comparison, my Cooks multi-ply 8" skillet is $32.03 on Overstock.com. My Lodge Logic 8" skillet is only $10.

Additionally, I have no qualms about taking any of my cast iron cookware car camping. My wife would kill me if I took our "nice" stainless...

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:59 am

Cast Iron is the ONLY way to make cornbread, by the way.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:04 am

I only have a couple of cast iron items, just for use on the gas burner of the bbq or under the cover of the grill for smoking/baking stuff. Our house is not plumbed for gas, so the electric stove can't seem to get the pan more than medium high, never to smoke point.

All of my cast iron was bought at the goodwill for under $10 each. I love the fact that I can rinse the pan out as soon as I pull the food out, then let the pan dry either under the broiler, or just put it back on the flame until dry. Let cool, then put away

Raygun · Post by **Raygun** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:09 am

Yeah, I have a cast iron pan that I use almost exclusively for breaded pork chops and Chicken Parmesan. I love that pan. We also have a couple of heavy-bottomed stainless steel pans that I use or sauteeing and braising. They're great.

Pretty much the only thing I use the aluminum non-stick pans for is bacon and eggs or instant rice/pasta mixes, but we've kind of gotten away from cooking that way, so I don't use them much any more.

AtemHutlrt · Post by **AtemHutlrt** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:14 am

I also have some nice steel pans, but I use the cast iron set way more often. The stainless really are a pain to clean, fairly easy to damage and just don't seem to cook as evenly as iron. The only real advantage [as far as I can tell] is that they're a lot lighter, and so easier to saute with.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:50 am

sinsual wrote:I only have a couple of cast iron items, just for use on the gas burner of the bbq or under the cover of the grill for smoking/baking stuff. Our house is not plumbed for gas, so the electric stove can't seem to get the pan more than medium high, never to smoke point.

I do not have a gas stove, just electric. My stove gets very, very hot...well above what is necessary to hit the smoke point of things like olive oil, butter, canola, etc. You might have a problem with your burners. Doesn't seem like an electric stove would have heating problems, but there are all sorts of things in there that can cause it to underheat.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:56 am

UncleJoseph wrote:
sinsual wrote:I only have a couple of cast iron items, just for use on the gas burner of the bbq or under the cover of the grill for smoking/baking stuff. Our house is not plumbed for gas, so the electric stove can't seem to get the pan more than medium high, never to smoke point.
I do not have a gas stove, just electric. My stove gets very, very hot...well above what is necessary to hit the smoke point of things like olive oil, butter, canola, etc. You might have a problem with your burners. Doesn't seem like an electric stove would have heating problems, but there are all sorts of things in there that can cause it to underheat.

It only under heats the cast iron.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:00 am

sinsual wrote:It only under heats the cast iron.

That is a very odd problem...seems like it should heat cast iron as much as it can heat any other metal. My stove does not have any trouble heating my 14" skillet well above any useful range of temperatures.

WillyGilligan · Post by **WillyGilligan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:50 am

We've been using cast iron for almost a decade to help deal with my wife's anemia. The only issue I have is that I can't be lazy and put the skillets in the dishwasher, and I may not season them enough. Love the things, and if you ever have to stop a ninja attack while you're cooking your eggs, you'll be a lot happier defending your hearth with the cast iron then some teflon piece of tinfoil.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:58 am

Fun fact, the kid who killed Richard the Lionhearted was using a cast iron frying pan as a shield while using a crossbow to shoot Richard.

AtemHutlrt · Post by **AtemHutlrt** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:39 am

It's worth overstating how awesome it is to cook with a giant piece of fucking iron. Sure, some Namby Pamby aluminum bullshit with a flimsy Teflon coating may be suitable for a delicate handmaiden with a nervous disposition, but men? Men cook with iron.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:32 pm

sinsual wrote:It only under heats the cast iron.

Dude, that is weird. Does it do this on every burner, or just one of them? The thing is, if the burner will reach 300 degrees, it'll heat whatever's on it to 300 degrees, given sufficient time to pass the heat through; it'd be fantastically odd for it to get 300 degrees, but then only raise the temperature of what was on it to 150, without there being some kind of insulation involved.

Nicephorus · Post by **Nicephorus** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:57 pm

I don't always use cast iron as the heaviness is annoying for some things. I also use nonstick for eggs and a small number of things with little or no oil. The hot handle doesnt' bother me as my stainless steel skillet lost its handle a few years ago and I haven't got around to replacing it - I got used to no handle and grabbing it with a hot pad.

One of the things I like about cast iron is italso works well in the oven/broiler - most other pans are not all metal. Every month or so I make German pancakes, where you saute sliced apples in butter, then pour in the batter and put it in the oven, no need for separate frying and baking dishes.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:29 pm

Nicephorus wrote:One of the things I like about cast iron is italso works well in the oven/broiler...

This is a fantastic option I hadn't considered! Excellent tip!

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:49 pm

Maybe that makes more sense out of Bone's southern cornbread: I personally couldn't figure out how cooking it on the stove was going to work out. Duh.

Raygun · Post by **Raygun** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:45 pm

That's exactly why I use one to make breaded pork chops and Chicken Parmasan. Brown them up on the stove, bake them through in the oven. We also have a cast iron chicken fryer (a high-sided pan with a lid), but I don't use that one as much.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:54 am

3278 wrote:
sinsual wrote:It only under heats the cast iron.
Dude, that is weird. Does it do this on every burner, or just one of them? The thing is, if the burner will reach 300 degrees, it'll heat whatever's on it to 300 degrees, given sufficient time to pass the heat through; it'd be fantastically odd for it to get 300 degrees, but then only raise the temperature of what was on it to 150, without there being some kind of insulation involved.

All of them, the smaller burners have more of a problem of course. I always wrote it off as an effect of mass, since the element does not directly contact the pan, but heats it through the ceramic/glass cook top. The range instructions did advise not to use cast iron or enamel cookware. Enamel because it can burn into the cooktop as my brother in law demonstrated with a brand new enamel tea kettle. The cast iron i assumed was due to weight and possibly scratching the surface.

They are also the quickest cooling surfaces I have ever used.

When the outdoor grill isn't available, I have used the broiler to bring the pan up to searing temp. Sear the meat on one side, set it on a plate seared side down, put the pan back for a minute or two, then sear the other side. Switch from broil to 350, leave the oven door cracked with the pan and meat on the center rack, sometimes tossing rings of onions and tart green apples on top to bake into the meat. After about 5 minutes, close the oven door and cook to desired finish.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:00 pm

Oh, now, hang on a second, then: what kind of cooking surface do you have? There are a few different kinds of "black glass" stoves, and some of them do some pretty weird things.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:53 pm

sinsual wrote:All of them, the smaller burners have more of a problem of course. I always wrote it off as an effect of mass, since the element does not directly contact the pan, but heats it through the ceramic/glass cook top. The range instructions did advise not to use cast iron or enamel cookware. Enamel because it can burn into the cooktop as my brother in law demonstrated with a brand new enamel tea kettle. The cast iron i assumed was due to weight and possibly scratching the surface.

That makes a little more sense now. Are your cast iron pans completely flat on the bottom, or do they have slightly raised centers, or do they have ridges on the bottom? The only thing I can find that speaks to ceramic/glass cook tops has to do with uneven bottoms of cast iron cookware. If they're not completely flat, and that flat surface is in direct contact with the cook top, they have problems heating.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:24 pm

We have several cast irons pans, but we eventually want more, and we'd also like to switch to gas from an electric stove.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:25 pm

Serious Paul wrote:We have several cast irons pans, but we eventually want more, and we'd also like to switch to gas from an electric stove.

Really?! I'm curious why. Most folks I know that are really into cooking want nothing more than to have gas. Heck, I'd kill to have a gas stove. Every electric stove I've used has always been crap compared to gas.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:37 pm

Jeff Hauze wrote:
Serious Paul wrote:We have several cast irons pans, but we eventually want more, and we'd also like to switch to gas from an electric stove.
Really?! I'm curious why. Most folks I know that are really into cooking want nothing more than to have gas. Heck, I'd kill to have a gas stove. Every electric stove I've used has always been crap compared to gas.

Maybe you misread what I said, or i'm misreading what you're saying-but we have an electric range and would like to switch to[/] a gas range.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:42 pm

Hey! Look at that! I'm an idiot!

SumDumQuim · Post by **SumDumQuim** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:20 pm

If you would have just listened to me all those years ago....

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:45 pm

My grandparents gave me an electric skillet, so we won't be getting any cast iron pans for a while. Exact temperatures!