Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Educate me on cast iron

I see many of you cook on cast iron and say its the best. What is it about cast iron that makes food so good?

Heats fairly evenly and holds the heat well= predictability and good heat control.

They release food well when seasoned.

Nostalgia.

Agree with MM.

First of all, they're durable. A couple of my Griswolds are ~ 100 yrs old. Mine will probably be around long after I'm gone.

They heat evenly, darn near without fail.

You can get them squealing hot without worry of ruining them. Some things I make in them require that, like my Righteous Ribeye post or Sam's Blackened Redfish. I'm not saying you can't do either recipe with something else, but the process is easier with cast iron.

They typically do not warp and you can reseason them, if needed.

Word to the wise from someone who has done it. Don't grab the handle with your bare hand when cooking. They do transfer heat well.

To me, there is nothing but, cast iron.

Nostalgia, I just like cooking with the older stuff. Regardless of how technology is they haven't made anything as good as well seasoned cast iron . And the newer stuff definitely won't last as long. I have Griswold and Wagner stuff plus some lesser known brands that work just as well as it did when it was made 100 years ago.

I have several Griswold & Warner skillets that I routinely use on my glass cooktop. and decided one day to "scan" them with my infrared digital pyrometer and found as much as 100 degree differences at various points on their cooking surfaces prior to fryin' up various foods. WOW ! I was surprised.Surprised to observe the center was not always the hottest. Someday when I'm outside frying chicken on the propane burner I'll have to run that test again.

No teflon.

not much else to add. They just plain work. Are they best for everything? Of course not. No single type pan is, but the cast iron provides great value, long life, and a lot of satisfaction.
One big plus is that it easily goes between campfire and indoor stove.

Thanks guys!

Just throw a hand full of flour in the bottom, spread evenly, and heat it up. You'll see the hot spots. America's test kitchen recommends putting them in a cold oven and setting the heat to 500f to heat them evenly.

ATK: The Truth About Cast Iron


That said, my Griswold/Wagner pans are my favorites.

Interesting read and bears our my layman testing. That said, I've actually decreased my usage of CI and gone back to some decent non stick that my wife bought me and relegated my CI to oven work and frying chikken over a propane burner out on the deck.

CI dutch oven on the glass cook top still gets a lot of use tho'

No criticism here but do a Fire search on CI and you will find so much valuable information!! It's a CI gold mine!!

Should have made that or included in the one sticky that we foodies have been granted.

My bad!!

After you've bought a couple or three cast iron skillets and learned to use them, then it is time to get started on the real deal; Camp Dutch Ovens.



Patio or elk and deer camp, you can't beat 'em.

L.W.

i won't use coated pans.
either cast iron or stainless
revere ware for me. no aluminum.

+1

I use CI, Revere Ware, and a couple of Pyrex casserole dishes.

I know there's some high dollar ceramic stuff out there but I'm not a good enough cook to tell the difference.

Dear Lord, help me to smite my jealousy.

May want to avoid tomato based recipes until your pan is well seasoned or if you don't tolerate an iron/metallic taste well.

No kidding. Gonna be a bitch to rotate the coal/oven on the bottom though...

Cast is all the wifey will use

Thanks for the replies everyone

For me, the ONLY downfall of cast is time. can heat a revere skillet up and be cooking in a matter of minutes. the cast takes a while to get up to cooking temperature.

Use them every day. Most times several times a day. Everything from eggs and fried potatoes to steak, fish, and cornbread. Got an old #8 Erie and an old Wagner that's a touch bigger that are the daily users, and an old #12 that's used for larger amounts of fried potatoes. The Wagner was used for fried potatoes and eggs this morning and the Erie was used for seared back strap in olive oil and butter this evening. Rarely use an aluminum pan.

Don't overlook cornbread in a cast skillet. The best!

and don't overlook desserts either. Cast iron is great for all sorts of cakes, pies, cobblers and such.

Yep. The only drawback to cast iron is the weight for some women.

Does anyone have a skillet other than cast, over ten years old they still use?

Try finding cast in a thrift shop, good luck.

You go black, you never go back!!hahahahaha

Yes. I have a thick one with nonstick coating that is still going strong after 28 years. It has always been carefully cleaned, and nobody else is allowed to use it. "Don't touch it, don't even look at it" to borrow from the movie Spinal Tap.

Not really as it's a simple matter to pre heat your pan while going about your normal food prep duties.

Never saw the preheating as a chore.

I like hearing the butter squeal when it hits the pan too much.

Yeah. An old cuisinart aluminum core that I use for spaghetti sauce (tall sides) and a farberware (that gets used less frequently).

I've been framed!

Always use lard to season cast iron.

I love cornbread and cast iron, yet ironically haven't tried combining these two loves into a meal.

What's the consensus on the best cornbread pans? The little specialty numbers that have cute shapes, or just a 10" skillet?

Exactly. I turn the burner to the final setting I'll be using (usually somewhere on the low side of medium), then start gathering ingredients and preparing them. It's not rocket surgery.

I have pans that make bars of corn bread that look like ears of corn. I use them once in a while.

Using the recipe on the corn meal bag, a full batch is just right in a 10" skillet. For just the wife and I, a half batch in the 8" skillet is just right.

Heat the skillet in the oven while you preheat the oven, pour it in, and then bake.

I have a sizeable pile of cast iron, but don't have either the ears of corn pan or the eight wedge pan. I'd considered the eight wedge pan because it increases the quantity of browned edges. I'm guessing it'd take two pans to use up a full batch of batter.

Correction; I now have two Lodge 8 slice pans coming.

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I just use the size pawn I need that is used for everything. The cornbread just comes right out. No muss, no fuss!

I wanted an excuse to give Lodge some more of my money. My son and I love cornbread, and I'm a little excited about all those corner pieces I'll be enjoying next week.

Ya gotsta post pics on arrival!

In my kitchen:

Ceramic: Fried eggs, primarily. They slide around, flip, and slide out like SNOT. GREAT pans for this application. Also, crepes, and fried cheese applications.

Regular coated pots and pans: Delicate foods, such as seafood, general steaming, veggies, general low-to-moderate heat sauteing... Sometimes the ceramic can cover these applications too.

Cast Iron (skillets, dutch oven): Deep frying. High heat searing (steaks cooked "black and blue")... Almost any cooking at a campsite. Seared raw ahi. Corn bread/general baking. Fun desserts and the like in the backyard fire pit. Deglasing while making certain dishes. Also, dishes that require a sear followed by oven cooking.

Stuffed pork chops. Preheat cast iron skillet, brown on one side, flip, into preheated 350F oven untill done. One good reason for cast iron.

Drawback, heck if they're too heavy for her then she can't whack you with it!

I was surprised no one mentioned what a nice weapon a CI fry pan can make in a pinch, although I prefer one for its intended use.

Geno

PS, put one in the fridge for a few minutes and use it for an "alarm clock" for the sluggish riser in your house, just slide it between the sheets with them, maybe even on a bare part of the body.

Yes, a stainless pan with a stainless clad aluminum heat sink bottom. Bought in '99 and the whole set of sauce pans, fry pan, and big spaghetti/soup pot are one of the best investments my wife and I made with wedding gift money.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the brand and I'm away from the wife's place for work. I do remember they were a bit "spendy" back then. Similar to the "All Clad" brand.

Geno

PS, back on the cast iron topic, there's nothing quite like a flour tortilla quesadilla nice and toasty from a cast iron comal (griddle).

Put a frozen chunk of meat in a room temp CI skillet to speed thawing, sandwich it between 2 to go faster. Make sure any moisture is taken care of before putting them away.

Not as much available as 10 years ago, but Griswold and Wagner cast iron is still pretty common at the flea markets....

Wife quit using loaf pans and makes her banana bread in a cast iron pan now, 10" maybe? She was fighting the bread not being done in the middle of the loaf, doesn't have that issue now, and I could care less what the shape of the banana bread is in, they all accept a big smear of butter just fine.