CAST-IRON Pan Cooking

[/pine]

I love the way my handed down cast iron pans cook...but I rarely use them because they take so long to heat up...
FWIW...
Iron pans have to be "seasoned" correctly to be basically stick free...and to maintain the "seasoning" you are not supposed to use typical (grease cutting) detergent...so you have to be careful if someone else is helping out doing dishes...!...I was also taught that they should be dried with heat after cleaning rather than than a towel/air etc...

 

[OneMan]

I love making breakfast (bacon and eggs) corn bread and grits on a CI pan outside on the side burner of the grill especially if it has snowed the night before. We have a covered outside porch.

 

[phiferpharm]

My fiancee loves the old cast iron plans she inherited from her grandmother, uses them all the time. I bought her some Lodge CI pans to round out her collection, she hates them and won't use them. I have no idea what the difference is, she can't explain it, but they sit tucked away in a bottom drawer, used only one time each.

My wife says the same thing and loves the hand -me-down, but not the newer stuff. Here's part of the answer about the difference between old and new: -

" The Reality: The material may be the same, but the production methods have changed. In the old days, cast iron pans were produced by casting in sand-based molds, then polishing the resulting pebbly surfaces until smooth. Vintage cast iron tends to have a satiny smooth finish. By the 1950s, as production scaled up and was streamlined, this final polishing step was dropped from the process. The result? Modern cast iron retains that bumpy, pebbly surface.

The difference is more minor than you may think. So long as you've seasoned your pan properly, both vintage and modern cast iron should take on a nice non-stick surface, but your modern cast iron will never be quite as non-stick as the vintage stuff."

 

[sseelhoff]

Love my cast iron. Use the skillets often. We use the dutch oven when we camp. Someone posted the link to Byron's site. His recipes are great. We have made a lot of them.

 

[RobertN]

I have seen a big difference between Lodge and "other" brands which are much less expensive and imported. At least in Dutch ovens. We got our son a 10" camp Dutch oven a few years back; I think it was Stansport. It is ok, but not for cobblers etc where you want no stick. Or Lodge(12") is much nicer finish.

We picked up Lodge 12" for the Scout troop; they are holding up great considering the boys do not care for them like I would our own(I take my own on camputs with them).

My wife says the same thing and loves the hand -me-down, but not the newer stuff. Here's part of the answer about the difference between old and new: -

" The Reality: The material may be the same, but the production methods have changed. In the old days, cast iron pans were produced by casting in sand-based molds, then polishing the resulting pebbly surfaces until smooth. Vintage cast iron tends to have a satiny smooth finish. By the 1950s, as production scaled up and was streamlined, this final polishing step was dropped from the process. The result? Modern cast iron retains that bumpy, pebbly surface.

The difference is more minor than you may think. So long as you've seasoned your pan properly, both vintage and modern cast iron should take on a nice non-stick surface, but your modern cast iron will never be quite as non-stick as the vintage stuff."

 

[Daver1963]

If you want to search the antique or second hand stores for good cast iron look for Griswold. That's good stuff.
For cooking steaks in the winter we use the Lodge reversible griddle/grill.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We use cast iron skillets and dutch ovens.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

There's no question the OLD CI is smoother than the new CI and of the new CI, nothing is better than Lodge. All the "other" brands normally found are from china and are REALLY rough... I have NO use for it!

I love my old CI! even though I do have some Lodge that is usable...

SR

 

[aczlan]

I frequently do eggs in my CI pan. I take the eggs out, wipe out the eggs from the sides (adding a little water if needed to steam off anything that was stuck), then put back the pan on the stove where I wipe the inside down with a little oil (just enough to leave a sheen) and let it sit till cool.

Aaron Z

 

[SPIKER]

Those cheap CI pans can be sanded smooth, just be sure to use proper sane paper with garnet or black oxide paper NOT aluminum oxide paper. There are some flap wheels that can be used also to smooth it out polish it some but you need to "Blast" it so the surface is slightly rough to open up the pores to accept lard seasoning. )do not use silica based sand to blast it use bead or garnet or slag.



M