Cast-iron Cookery

[Alf]

It's heavy. The handles get hot. It needs special care or foods stick to it like they were epoxied to it. And people can't get enough of it.

Those of us that understand cast iron understand that there is little that cannot be done with it, and that it is the best material for many tasks. Those of us that don't use cast iron may well be put off by the idea of the seasoning ritual or the necessity for hand-washing.

So let's talk cast iron. Questions are welcome. Discussions too. Information as well.

What have you got? What's your favorite recipe? And how do you use your cast iron cookware?

--Al

 

[Alf]

First off, sizing. You will hear references to a "#8 skillet" or "My #3 skillet is the best egg pan I've ever had". What does that even mean?

Rarely, cast iron skillets are sized in inches. The Lodge L17SK3, to give a currently available example, is 17 inches across. The Lodge P10S3 and P12S3 are also sized in inches. More commonly, though, skillets will be marked with a size according to the following (approximate) chart:

1. #3 6-1/2"
2. #5 8"
3. #6 9"
4. #8 10"
5. #10 12"
6. #12 13"
7. #14 15"

The list does extend in both directions and there are intermediate sizes as well. These will be the most common sizes you'll find, at least in my experience.

--Al
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Typo correction

 

[ChaosKitty]

I love cast iron and we had pots and pans that had been passed down for generations same with molds. My brother claimed my mother threw them all away after she passed and I told him I wanted them: I know he lied and probably sold them. Nithing is better to cook in and if you lose electric and have to rely on a wood stove they are the best for even heat and cooking plus regardless of stove you can put them in the oven. I will wash mine then oil them after making some things or at least soak clean them and oil them

 

[Alf]

What I have right now is a #3 BS&R, pre-1960. It's just as slick and black inside as memory says cast iron can be, but it needs me to cook in it a little more so it gets right. I also have a new-made #5 Lodge that does yeoman duty as a sausage skillet, because it's just the right size to brown a couple of brats or Italian sausage. A #8 Lodge, the only one I have with a lid, does nicely for dishes that need a lid once some browning is done and the meal needs to cook under a cover. I also have a 10" Lodge chef's skillet that does a credible job of cooking omelettes and a #10 Lodge that is the right size for bacon.

--Al

 

[ChaosKitty]

I'm impressed, the only thing I really know sizes to are the kettle/buckets and then just barely. I need to rebuild my stash as I have lost most of it but have 2 left, a medium small skillet and a big cook pot

 

[Satanica]

It's so heavy it kills my wrists, so I stopped using mine. My son caught the fever, however, and only uses cast iron. Mostly he uses it to make his breakfast of sausage and egg scramble. His wife now uses it, too. It does cook much better than stainless steel. I wash pots and pans by hand anyway, so that's no problem, except for the weight. For the cast iron I use very hot water and scrub with a wash rag. A wash rag seems to work better than the scrubber pads.

I'll have to measure ours and see what size it is; it's pretty big though. I'm planning on using it to bake in now that it's getting cool enough to use the oven. You do have to get used to it being incredibly hot. My son has a pair of heavy duty leather work gloves that work pretty well.

What all do you cook in yours?

 

[Alf]

I used my chefs skillet to cook some taco meat the other night. (Brown and drain a pound of hamburger, pour in 3/4 cup of water, then stir in some Ortega's taco seasoning.)

--Al

 

[kennasmom]

I have to admit, I thought I was going to read that some women cooked her husband or something lol.

 

[Alf]

:hilarious:

--Al

 

[Keepalowprofile]

I collect cast iron and am ashamed to admit I stopped using it about 20 years ago... But I still collect it.
Currently its all packed in my bus (moving van) as I am moving from Minnesota to California. I am hitting the road on Friday morning.

So back to cast iron. I collect griswold it really all started with trivets. For some reason I liked them and bought everyone I could. Not the ones with tile as I think those are just a decoration. The ones that are solid cast iron. most of my trivets are wilton with only a few griswold and a few more with no makers mark.

My favorite skillet is a griswold and its square with a 3 divided sections. I thinks its called a breakfast skillet. The largest section for potatoes the other two for eggs and bacon/sasuage or what ever meat.

My favorite recipe is packed at the moment but its for a fruit cobbler baked in a cast iron skillet.
(OMG now I want some. I'm tired of fast food and sandwiches. No time to bake or cook while packing to move.)

My best hint is about cleaning a very crusty piece of cast iron. Sometimes you can find a really great piece of cast iron second hand with horrible build up. If you have a fire place or a wood stove you stoke up a good fire and place it in the red hot coals. Leave it there and let the fire go out. In the morning, Get it out and wash it and season it. It will be as good as new.

I love to hunt thrift stores and yard sales. One time I was shopping at my favorite thrift store and found a giant cast iron skillet. It was about 18" I put it in my shopping cart and kept shopping. When it was time to check out I counted the cash I had and realized I had to make a choice between the skillet and some clothes I wanted. (I guess I had a lapse in my sanity.) I put the skillet back and bought the other things. Just as I drove away it struck me what a dumb ass I was and called my brother and asked him to get over there and get it. Well he went and of course it was already gone. I went home and looked up the value and it was $1,500.00 *damn* I have never forgiven myself for that dumb choice I made.

I wish I had pictures to show my cast iron. I used the trivets around the tops of my walls like some people put up wall paper boarder. and the skillets hang around on the walls. It looked pretty cool because My house is an old farm house with lots of wood. I sure hope it looks as cool in my next place.

 

[Alf]

sausage and egg scramble

Roll it up in a large tortilla, top with shredded cheese and salsa, and you've got a breakfast burrito. And add whatever else sounds good -- chopped tomato, diced onion, sour cream, guacamole -- the sky is the limit here.

I forgot to list my comal earlier. I went after it with some 100 grit sandpaper when I got it then reseasoned it with canola oil and put it to work making French toast and pancakes. Eggs are a little sticky on it yet, but the toast and pancakes slide right off. I also works great for making quesadillas.

--Al

 

[Alf]

I'm tired of fast food and sandwiches. No time to bake or cook while packing to move.

Think of what you have to look forward to when you get there

--Al

 

[HelleCat]

Currently, I only have a #8 Lodge skillet. My ex walked out with my small collection of 1960 Griswold. Bastard.

I actually boil mine off if they get sticky. I only use grapeseed oil to season it, it has a higher flash point and really seems to make a perfect coating on the iron.

 

[Krystal]

I have my Grandmother's old ones that I remember her using my whole childhood as well as my father remembering her using them during his whole childhood. I don't use them but I keep them around, as convenient weapons.

I have 4 cast iron frying pans and 4 sons... Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Satanica]

I collect cast iron and am ashamed to admit I stopped using it about 20 years ago... But I still collect it.
Currently its all packed in my bus (moving van) as I am moving from Minnesota to California. I am hitting the road on Friday morning.

So back to cast iron. I collect griswold it really all started with trivets. For some reason I liked them and bought everyone I could. Not the ones with tile as I think those are just a decoration. The ones that are solid cast iron. most of my trivets are wilton with only a few griswold and a few more with no makers mark.

My favorite skillet is a griswold and its square with a 3 divided sections. I thinks its called a breakfast skillet. The largest section for potatoes the other two for eggs and bacon/sasuage or what ever meat.

My favorite recipe is packed at the moment but its for a fruit cobbler baked in a cast iron skillet.
(OMG now I want some. I'm tired of fast food and sandwiches. No time to bake or cook while packing to move.)

My best hint is about cleaning a very crusty piece of cast iron. Sometimes you can find a really great piece of cast iron second hand with horrible build up. If you have a fire place or a wood stove you stoke up a good fire and place it in the red hot coals. Leave it there and let the fire go out. In the morning, Get it out and wash it and season it. It will be as good as new.

I love to hunt thrift stores and yard sales. One time I was shopping at my favorite thrift store and found a giant cast iron skillet. It was about 18" I put it in my shopping cart and kept shopping. When it was time to check out I counted the cash I had and realized I had to make a choice between the skillet and some clothes I wanted. (I guess I had a lapse in my sanity.) I put the skillet back and bought the other things. Just as I drove away it struck me what a dumb ass I was and called my brother and asked him to get over there and get it. Well he went and of course it was already gone. I went home and looked up the value and it was $1,500.00 *damn* I have never forgiven myself for that dumb choice I made.

I wish I had pictures to show my cast iron. I used the trivets around the tops of my walls like some people put up wall paper boarder. and the skillets hang around on the walls. It looked pretty cool because My house is an old farm house with lots of wood. I sure hope it looks as cool in my next place.

When you arrive in California the first thing I want you to do is find that recipe, lol. This thread will still be around for you to post the pics. And the recipe. I'm not going to let you forget about that! I love cobbler.

 

[Alf]

The Seasoning Ritual

I only use grapeseed oil to season it

How do you season your cast iron?

I use canola oil to oil my iron cookware. (I found something on-line that recommended flaxseed oil (oil from the same seed that linseed oil is made from but without the chemical solvents and diluents in linseed oil) because of its high level of Omega-3 fatty acids. When I went to get a quart of it, though, I got sticker shock. I went to the other side of the store and got a quart of canola oil for 1/8 the price of the flaxseed oil. Canola oil is 9-11% Omega-3; flaxseed oil is 55%.) I cook in light olive oil, butter, or whatever comes out of the meat. And when I need to do a formal seasoning I scrub the cast iron with soap and a stainless steel scrubber, rinse well, towel dry, heat it lightly on the stove, then oil and bake it at 400 degrees for an hour. I'll repeat the oiling and baking once or twice, then I'll put it back to work.

--Al

 

[HelleCat]

it depends really if I'm going from the silver up, I wait until my groups annual bonfires. I wait until we are left with coals, oil them up and let them cook that off and then let them cool a bit, oil again and leave them until the coals are out.

If I'm staring with preseasoned, I'll use the oven.

 

[DamagedGoods]

So I have a cast iron skillet, and like Satanica said, the thing kills my wrist trying to pick it up and move it around. I haven't used it terribly much, so far I've done fried chicken in it (Looking up fried chicken recipes was what originally lead to my deciding I needed a cast iron skillet.) and steaks and bacon... I think it's an #8 but I could be wrong. I have barely any idea what I'm doing with it. I think I seasoned it, but I don't think I did it right because stuff still sticks to it... I cooked a ribeye with some bacon fat in it that almost made me cry it was so good.

I haven't used it in a couple months, and I'd like to cook some yorkshire pudding in it this weekend (As well as just make more use of it in general, because I do love the way stuff cooks in it.) but I think I need to re-season/complete seasoning it, because there's no way I could cook, say... eggs... in it without having a giant eggy mess stuck to it.

After looking around the interwebs, I've made the mistake of scouring it after it was seasoned, so I believe I've been scrubbing the seasoning back off?

So should I clean it with soapy water and a scrub brush and start over from there?

Oh and to season it, I have crisco, and canola... I've read that they both work... is one better than the other?

 

[DamagedGoods]

Oh and I think I need to make one of these in it:

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-big-pancake-dutch-baby-recipes-from-the-kitchn-5232

 

[WannaBeMaybe]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my cast iron skillet. It's not huge, but big enough for us 4 to have meats cooked in. Would like more, but can only work with one for now. I have a really nice cast iron pot I bought new, but can't for the life of me (and I've tried for ages) get that waxy smell out of it! Ugh!

At any rate, we cook everything in it. And hand wash then re-oil and put into the oven upside down to rest. The over is usually hot from dinner still, or I turn it on for a bit.

Oh, and I have a very special tub of bacon grease I store in the fridge (strained) for special occasions like re-seasoning the skillet!!

Our renters downstairs used one of my pots for making curry in, and I really should go and grab that one for our use as I know it smells amazing and will be well seasoned!

 

[Satanica]

Oh, and I have a very special tub of bacon grease I store in the fridge (strained) for special occasions like re-seasoning the skillet!!

Back in the day everyone (at least in the south) had a container of bacon grease on the stove for seasoning foods, pans, or whatever. I think they even came with canister sets back then.

 

[cubby]

I have 3 cast iron frying pans, all Lodge, an 8 inch, an 11 inch and one that is put up that has to be about 17 inches, I can' t lift it when it's empty, and I've not had any reason to cook 10lbs of ground beef all at once here lately! I Iove my cast iron, nothing better for real southern buttermilk cornbread. Makes a fantastic dark crunchy crust and I love it! Cornbread made in other kind of pan just pales in comparison to cast iron cornbread, tho I still can't make it like my grandmother.

 

[Alf]

After looking around the interwebs, I've made the mistake of scouring it after it was seasoned, so I believe I've been scrubbing the seasoning back off?

I wouldn't be surprised. Lots of people use a brush and hot water -- with no soap -- to clean their cast iron cookware. Others use salt and oil to remove anything that sticks, while others -- like @HelleCat -- pour boiling water in the skillet then heat it to loosen the sticky stuff.

Me? I use a brush and hot water, with the addition of a Lodge pan scraper to get stuff off and boiling water for stuff that doesn't brush or scrape off.

So should I clean it with soapy water and a scrub brush and start over from there?

It can't hurt. Use a sponge or dish cloth to wash it once you have it reseasoned.

Oh and to season it, I have crisco, and canola... I've read that they both work... is one better than the other?

If you ask a dozen cast-iron cooks what the best oil or grease for seasoning is you'll get 20 different answers. I think the true answer is either "Whatever is closest" or "Whatever is easiest to use".

--Al

 

[Alf]

about 17 inches

Lodge has a 15 inch skillet and a 17 inch skillet on their web site.The 15-inch skillet is a conventional skillet, while the 17-inch skillet is made more like a paella pan, with two loop handles on either side of the pan.

You're right; they're both huge.

--Al

 

[ChaosKitty]

I

It's so heavy it kills my wrists, so I stopped using mine. My son caught the fever, however, and only uses cast iron. Mostly he uses it to make his breakfast of sausage and egg scramble. His wife now uses it, too. It does cook much better than stainless steel. I wash pots and pans by hand anyway, so that's no problem, except for the weight. For the cast iron I use very hot water and scrub with a wash rag. A wash rag seems to work better than the scrubber pads.

I'll have to measure ours and see what size it is; it's pretty big though. I'm planning on using it to bake in now that it's getting cool enough to use the oven. You do have to get used to it being incredibly hot. My son has a pair of heavy duty leather work gloves that work pretty well.

What all do you cook in yours?

cook just about anything in the pan: all my fried and slightly fired breads and biscuits, eggs, sausage and one side stuff if it fits if not have a mega pan [not cast] that I use for multipeople dishes until I get all the sizes again. Beans and ham and such in the big pot, anything along those lines, I clean them the same way as you then pour a little oil or grab a scoop of lard and hand wipe them down on the inside. Always test it even with heavy gloves before really picking it up coz they can get hotter than hell. You can cook with them in the fireplace too [did that when without electric and didn't wanna mess with trying to get the woodstove going, I am not a pro or even a good user of one of those am gonna go over to my friends moms house and watch her as I can get a fire going in under a minute but they say she can get a woodstove in in less than 5]

 

[ChaosKitty]

Lodge has a 15 inch skillet and a 17 inch skillet on their web site.The 15-inch skillet is a conventional skillet, while the 17-inch skillet is made more like a paella pan, with two loop handles on either side of the pan.

You're right; they're both huge.

--Al

I would kill for the 17" [well not really but would highly reccomend it if you can afford it] much more versatile, easier to handle and that 2 inches can make a world of difference

 

[ChaosKitty]

I wouldn't be surprised. Lots of people use a brush and hot water -- with no soap -- to clean their cast iron cookware. Others use salt and oil to remove anything that sticks, while others -- like @HelleCat -- pour boiling water in the skillet then heat it to loosen the sticky stuff.

Me? I use a brush and hot water, with the addition of a Lodge pan scraper to get stuff off and boiling water for stuff that doesn't brush or scrape off.

It can't hurt. Use a sponge or dish cloth to wash it once you have it reseasoned.

If you ask a dozen cast-iron cooks what the best oil or grease for seasoning is you'll get 20 different answers. I think the true answer is either "Whatever is closest" or "Whatever is easiest to use".

--Al

my dads mom only used bacon grease if I have a drether I would always use lard

 

[Alf]

A twelve inch skillet is about as big as I can fit on my stove .

--Al

 

[ChaosKitty]

A twelve inch skillet is about as big as I can fit on my stove .

--Al

oh, we got them flat stoves here [me an neighbors] which I love as you have front to back room if needed and they have to where you have the whole tops all 3 of them.

 

[cubby]

The 15-inch skillet is a conventional skillet,

It must be the 15 incher then, it's in the top of the pantry and I'm really afraid to try to get it down to see by myself, if I got it down I'd never get it back up there and it's too big to sit anywhere else. I use the smaller one the most, I try to save it for my cornbread, but I end up using it anyway.

My first husband used my first small skillet for melting lead to pour into the boys Pinewood Derby cars, I had a fit, he couldn't understand what the problem was, and I was afraid to ever use it again. The dumbass ruined my skillet by melting lead weights in it, and he couldn't figure out why I wouldn't use it again.