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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Cooking in cast iron


This morning a 25% coupon showed up in my mail box for...
Lodge Logic cast iron skillets from World Market! (As a World Market Explorer member I receive emailed offers; you can sign up here. I do it for the occasional wine discount.)
I would love to run out and buy a skillet, but I really need* a whole set of cast iron. My only cast iron pot is an enormous dutch oven. In a perfect world I would also have a smaller dutch oven, three high-sided skillets in various sizes (WITH LIDS), and a saucepan.
I have not made these purchases because cast iron is hard to find and expensive, and it's not a need right now. We have a set of pots and pans which has the unique ability to burn everything placed inside, yet takes an hour to boil water thanks to crappy heat dispersion, all while super-heating the handle to the detriment of the chef. Once these pans bite the dust (one handle is partially detached; another pan has developed an odd dark silver crust that scares me), I will start buying cast iron. It's my cookware of choice, and here is why:
- It retains and conducts heat so well that you can use less energy (I turn my stove off a few minutes before food is cooked).
- It cooks evenly and browns perfectly
- It is naturally non-stick
- You shouldn't put it in the dishwasher, but stuck food slides easily off a well-seasoned surface.
- If you end up eating a little pan (we all do at some point), you just got your daily dose of iron - not your daily dose of toxic copper or Teflon.
- It is safe for stove, oven, and fire (and honestly you CAN put it in the dishwasher if you have to).
- It is low-maintenance. Despite complex info on "curing" or "seasoning" your cast iron, most pots will regularly cure themselves, simply from normal use (but do cure a new pan at least once and never cure with oil, always solid fat).
- It looks hard-core and awesome as a serving dish.
- It's resilient and tough. My parents bought cast iron when they got married and I learned to cook with it. It's still in use at their house over 30 years and nine kids after it was purchased!
Are you a cast-iron fan? What are you cooking in these days? And don't say microwaveable tupperware or I'll openly mock you! (J/K)
*strongly desire. And I may have sent a link for some nice pans to the hubby. My birthday is coming up!

6 comments:

  1. okay your hubby should be so happy that you want PANS for your birthday! ;)

    I break out my cast iron (usually only) on camping trips and a one steak recipe I have.

    YAY for you & your 25% off coupon!!

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  2. I don't have any cast iron pans but have thought I should get at least one sometime. I know they last forever and lots of people like to cook with them...hope you get your pans!

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  3. I'm so checking out that World Market Explorer, wine discounts are fabulous!
    My mom has a few cast iron pots. I think they are well worth it and they are awesome to cook with! It's too bad you can't have another shower for your anniversary after X number of years so you can receive gifts from a registry again, like towels, pots, sheets, etc!
    Here we have flea markets, antique shows and yard sales I wonder if you would be able to find them in any of those venues and maybe save a little $$

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  4. I love my cast iron! I have a dutch oven, a big skillet, and a little skillet that my parents gave me- they and my grandparents both had full sets and once my parents combined households with my grandparents to take care of them, I got a lot of nice surplus kitchen stuff. I don't cook in them all that often though b/c they are really heavy and I already have a couple really nice pots (they're the double layer kind- it's hard to burn anything in those things.)
    But don't be too envious, I have the absolute worst knives on the face of the planet.

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  5. I'm a stainless steel girl. Cast iron sort of grosses me out, honestly, becasuse it's so porous. I'm a little OCD about my dishes, so a seasoned pan doesn't really do me well.

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  6. I have some Emerrill (spelling? - too lazy to google) pans that I bought at bed, bath, and beyond. They are stainless steel and I sort of hate them... But they do the trick. When I bought them, it came w/ a hefty cast iron pan but I actually gave it to my brother becasue I have never used cast iron.... He recently told me I really should take it back as it rocks and would be a great option for me since I don't have a grill but this pan sort of has teh grill marks for the bottom surface if that makes any sense?

    In my dream world, I would have All-Clad pans, but they cost an arm & a leg, and I kind of like having all of my appendages... and I would also like a gas stove instead of my stupid flat top electric one... but oh well. Not about to go out & drop a lot of money on a stove when mine works fine enough...

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