Cast iron cookware questions...

Mongo

Mongo

Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
8,969
Greetings all, my cheepo crappy teflon frypan bit the dust this week. I would like to get a good cast iron fry pan. But first, questions...
What is/are some of the best brands, and where do I find them?
How do you "season" the pans?
How do you clean them once they have been seasoned?
Do I need a Dutch Oven too? How in the heck do you use them?... in the oven, on the stove-top?
Do you need to use a non-stick spray like "Pam" when you cook with these?
My predominant usage will be for frying my eggs in the morning... I HATE it when they stick, so non-stickage is very important to me. But I'm hating the teflon thing... it worries me when I smell that "odor" if the pan gets too hot. Just what is going into my food???? :confused:

Thank you in advance for your answers and opinions,
Mongo
 
My best cast iron cookware I got second hand and consists of all skillets. There are a number of brands and I think Griswold is best known. I've never worked with new cast iron but probably they come with first time seasoning instructions. I just keep mine oiled with vegetable oil and they're good to go. The secret of cooking (IMO) is to heat up the skillet with medium heat, and then cut it back to low, otherwise the food burns or cooks too fast. There are a few web sites I recall seeing that have more information for you if you do a search for cast iron cookware.
I always wanted a dutch oven and cast iron coffee pot, but managed to live without them. A very important thing to remember is to only lightly clean the cast iron with fresh water, no soap. Dry well, and lightly oil. If you're lucky you can probably find used cast iron cookware at yard sales...I think a well used piece beats fooling with a new one. :thumbup: :)
 
The best brand of cast iron cooking stuff is Lodge. This is a very old american company and their products are much better than any other. All the rest at this time I think are chinese. A chemist explained about curing cast iron . He said the best is to use soy oil .You are actually forming a polymer with the oil. You wash them out with hot soapy water but don't soak. You can always redo the curing.You can use a bit of your favorite cooking oil when you use it. The dutch oven is a very useful item but if you don't do that type of cooking you won't need it .Dutch ovens are usually used for stews but can be used for bread and even pie !!...www.lodgemfg.com
 
Hi Mongo.

I have some old Lodge brand cast iron cookwear. It is well made and inexpensive too.

Seasoning is done by baking the pieces while they are coated in oil. I use peanut oil but most anything other than olive oil will work. Olive oil smokes at too low of a temperature.

Once seasoned, try to avoid using soap for cleaning because if you do the piece will need to be seasoned again. I clean mine by heating them up very hot the putting hot water in and lightly scraping with a spatula. The pan should be hot enough that the water "dances", not just boils. After cleaning, apply a light coating of oil.

Dutch ovens are very versatile. You can bake, fry, braise, boil, and saute with them. I have a large Le Creuset (enamel coated cast iron) dutch oven now but my Lodge dutch oven has seen a lot of good use.

I never use non-stick spray. A little oil in a well seasoned pan will keep things from sticking. Just heat up the pan first, then put the oil in just before the food.

Cast iron cookwear is great stuff.
 
Lodge makes great stuff. Wagner is good too, but I don't know if they're still in business.

When new, cast iron is very pourous. So you don't want to use soap or chemicals when cleaning. After the pan gets a good 'layer' covering it, I wash it with the normal dishes. Many hard-core cast-iron users never use soap on their's.

To 'season' cast iron, coat the new pan with cooking oil and put it in the oven on low. The oil will seep into the pores.

As far as long-term care, cast iron is a piece of cake. Dry it quickly after washing or it will rust. Cooking meat or cooking with vegetable oils will keep the pans plenty oiled and build up a great protective coating over time.

Dutch oven cooking is generally done outdoors. It's a standard cooking method for Boy Scouts and can be used for stews, pizza, deserts, etc. You build a fire, pulling out the hot coals and piling them around and on top of the Dutch oven.

I have an 8 Qt Wagner Dutch Oven that's made for stovetop cooking - unlike outdoor-use Dutch ovens, this one has a glass lid and no legs.

Here's another idea, Le Creuset cookware from France, as CMD mentioned. It's made of cast iron with an enamel coating. In my opinion, this is the very best cookware available. Nothing sticks to it, and it heats up just like cast iron.

Best Wishes,
Bob
 
Thanks for the link Mete... just spent about 45 minutes there! I think I'm gonna get me a mess of Lodge Logic.
 
I regularly use a little 6" cast iron skillet (old Mexican no name brand), I do use oil or a non-stick spray, it's a joy to use and great for making round shaped fried eggs.

I have heard that before you season cast iron for the first time you should give it a good soap and water wash, rinse throughly, let dry and warm over a fire to make sure all water evaporates, then season it with oil as has been mentioned.

I have seasoned mine several times over the years because someone has washed it with abrasive pads or steel wool. I wash it with soapy water and a sponge, soft brush or loofah, I do rinse well and dry.

I also have a dutch oven or whatever you call the Mexican equivalent, it is black, spherical shaped with three legs, likely designed to use over a fire, I call it my "witch pot", truth is I seasoned it but have never used it, maybe I should do some Halloween cooking with it.

Luis
 
Camp Chef also makes good ones as does Lodge. Griswold and Wagner are no longer in production.

Phil
 
Amen on the Lodge Cast Iron cookwear. Yes you do have to season them by oiling them and baking them at a low oven temperature and never leave it in dishwater overnight or you'll have a rusty pan. Cooks great and can be an instant weapon.
 
Most of the avid dutch oven cookers have taken to a high heat oven for seasoning, not a low oven. Better results faster.

Gas grills work well for seasoning too.

Phil
 
Cast iron cookware seems to be one of those things that aren't made as well as they once were. Go look at some Lodge cast iron skillets and griddles and then go to your local flea market and look at some 50-100 year old Griswold pieces. The quality simply can't compare. The most noticeable feature is the roughness of the finish. The Griswold will be very smooth on the cooking surface in comparison to the extremely rough Lodge. And I think you can see where thats an advantage. Definitely check out second hand cookware.

Mark
 
Well, I ventured into Linens n' Things (:eek: ) and found a few bits of Lodge Logic. I ended up getting a 12" round skillet (and Cindy, if you can wield this thing effectively as a weapon, you got some serious muscles! Is that what they call "country strong"?). I also got a 5 qt. Dutch Oven. Man! I can't wait to start cooking in these things. I have a recipe at work that I will try out this weekend... Green Chile Pork Stew, and if it's good... I'll post it up.
 
Regarding Minjin's comments regarding the finish of Lodge vs older pans such as Griswold or Wagner, I would agree. I have a Griswold and a couple of Wagners as well as a couple of Lodges. The older pans do have a finer surface texture than the Lodges. However, after proper seasoning and use, I don't see the difference. Take a look at http://www.panman.com/ for an excellent procedure for seasoning. I have a hard time telling the difference in cooking between Lodge and say, Wagner. THe lodge pans seem to be a little heavier and can be expected to hold their heat longer.

I have around seven cast iron skillets (garage sales are great) and one cast iron dutch oven of no identifiable heritage. The Dutch oven would be the the last piece of cookware that I would give up. It is extremely versatile.

Regarding cleaning, normally, I just wipe them out with a paper towel. If I cook something sticky, say something that has cheese as an ingredient, I add water a bring to a boil for a while. A mild scrubbing with a wash cloth, no soap, will eventually clean it up.

I could go on and on about this so I think I will.

There are two schools of thought about using soap to clean cast iron cook ware. I think the evidence is that a moderate use of soap is not that bad. Personally, I have not found the need.

Bottom line: I can't imagine why anyone uses anything else. You can get a perfectly good skillet from Lodge for maybe 15$ that does everything you need, and properly treated can be passed to your grandchildren.
 
My favourite two frying pans are cast iron. I loved them so much when I sold my Inn, they were the only two things I took from the kitchen.

To season the pan, wash with dishwash liquid to remove the protective mineral oil. Then put enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan and enough salt to soak it up. Put the pan on the heat on full heat and leave it for 10 minutes until the salt is smoking. The salt stops it catching fire. Leave the pan to cool and empty the salt and oil. Wipe out with paper kitchen towel. Your pan is now seasoned and ready for cooking. Always pre-heat the pan, then add a little oil and then the food to be fried.

After cooking, straight after you put the food on the plate, put the pan under a hot tap and rinse off with a plastic pot brush. No soap, no scouring. Leave to dry and apply a little oil after dinner until next time. Eventually, you will end up witha black shiny, non-stick coating that doesn't need oiling after the rinse. Never put them in a dishwasher!
 
I've also heard that you shouldn't take it to cold water while it is still hot, so I let it cool before washing.

Here's a picture of my skillet and pot, the cover fits both, my wife fried some garlic so there are some leftovers on the skillet:

Luis

f2vtxh.jpg
 
images
Mongo said:
if you can wield this thing effectively as a weapon, you got some serious muscles! Is this what they call "country strong"?).
Click to expand...
Approved by Granny Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies:D :D :D
 
Don Luis said:
I've also heard that you shouldn't take it to cold water while it is still hot, so I let it cool before washing.

Here's a picture of my skillet and pot, the cover fits both, my wife fried some garlic so there are some leftovers on the skillet:

Luis

f2vtxh.jpg
Click to expand...

No other cookware would look that good dirty!:D
 
Hey Guys...

I'll also say Lodge...
I have several, and LOdge is my favorite..I also have Wagnar and a Smart...

I don't use soap in mine either..
If you can't scrape it clean, just put some water in it and boil the nasties soft,, then scrape it out...Some people scrape it,,and put it away.

After it's rinced out,, put it back on the stove,, get'r hot to evaporate any water, then give it a wipe of oil.

NEVER,, and I mean NEVER buy that cheap cast iron made overseas.. They melt down Anything and make frying pans out of it.. So your pan could be made from an old melted down Toyota or something, and could have lead, or a host of other heavy metals leaching out into your food..

Avoid that stuff like the plague.. At yardsales,,just look on the bottom.. If it doesn't say made in USA or Canada,, pass it buy..Sometimes you can find them at yardsales,,but mostly it's junk...

ttyle

Eric...
 
Growing up as a farm kid, cast iron was where the best food came from. A good 12" skillet is the only way to fry chicken. If your lucky enough to have one with a lid, there really isn't much you can't do with 'em. One of the easiest ways to season them (as Grandma told me) was to fry up a pound of bacon. After the bacon is done, get the oil smoking hot, the turn it off and let the grease cool. (Then, of course, you make bacon gravy with baking soda biscuits.)
Always heat the skillet before adding a small amount of oil for cooking. It was the FIRST non-stick skillet if used this way. (BTW, fried 'taters will always stick, but you want them fried until brown and crispy, in bacon grease, of course!)
 
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