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

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.

222
I just use the size pawn I need that is used for everything. The cornbread just comes right out. No muss, no fuss!