Cast iron skillets

[Steelshooter]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

[DougGuy]

Actually the chain mail is a good cleaner, it won't scrub off any seasoning and it gets off the burned on bits. I put a bit of warm water in a pan, bunch the chain mail up and run it around a few times then dump the water, wipe the pan dry and oil it a little bit.

I like cooking in cast iron cause no laboratory made chemically bonded coatings come off in my food, baked goods come out with a golden brown crispy crust, let alone the crust a seasoned cast iron skillet puts on cornbread. Cooking in cast iron infuses iron into the diet, and there is a certain nostaligic love for doing things the old way, not unlike hunting with or shooting with black powder. Or casting one's own boolits..

[Shopdog]

Right now in a very neat "stack" is 10 CI skillets on the maple BB counter. Right next to a 3 stack of Calphalon SS skillets( non coated stainless). These are all working pans. Short of beating on them with a ballpean hammer,there ain't a whole lot that you can do to hurt them. The main advantage for me,using these over newer coated pans is this indestructible nature. The Calphalon is for acidic cooking and certain other products where CI needs a pass/break.

The CI has a slight advantage over the Calphs when browning,looking for the "crisp" and also goes from stove top to oven a little better.

[jonp]

I bought a couple of cheap cast iron skillets from Sportsman Guide and WalMart. Bottoms are very rough but after seasoning seem to work ok. Im debating a session with a grinder sander to smooth one out but I dont know. Yes or no on this?

[anothernewb]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

There has been some talk that people with anemia or iron deficiencies can benefit from food cooked in cast iron. but is it accurate? I can't say. What I can say is that no one ever ingested microplastics or teflon from a cast iron pan. I can also say in personal experience meat seared/browned in a cast iron pan is far superior to the aluminiun or other zamak pans out there. The heat holding properties of the cast produce a better more even sear (and IMO tasted better - but again probably due to the coatings on other pans) Although in truth, I have to say that some of the heavy stainless with the encapsulated bottoms also don't do that bad.. especially once you let them get a good brown/black carbon coating on them like an old baking sheet. The people that scour stainless pans back to shiny never see the benefits. They can be made to season up much like a cast iron if you let them.

I think much of the cooking benefit simply comes from the mass of the pan. look at any "professional" series pan. they all have added mass somewhere. That mass translates into much more even heating. IMO just like engines, there's no replacement for displacement. I think the other advantage comes from longevity. Many people are still using their cast from a century ago. most of the modern wonder pans go into landfills or recycling after perhaps only 5 years.

[WILCO]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

Simply put, healthier cooking, added iron to your food with pure joy.

[jimlj]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

I like the flavor of anything cooked in cast iron better than the new wonder pans. Perhaps is has more to do with were I do most of my cast iron cooking (outdoors and while camping) than the actual flavor. I'm a bit afraid to cook with cast on my wife's glass top electric range.
I like cast iron maybe for the same reason I like my '66 Mustang and drive my '79 F250 Ford instead of several new trucks I've owned and sold.
Perhaps I like cast iron for the same reason I'd sooner shoot a SKS rifle than a AR15.
There is nothing better than bread cooked in a cast iron Dutch oven, and as DougGuy pointed out you haven't had good corn bread unless it's been cooked in a cast iron pan.

[Tom W.]

Before Lori went on some strange diet she used to make cornbread baked in a CI skillet.... And it was delicious!

[jonp]

Before Lori went on some strange diet she used to make cornbread baked in a CI skillet.... And it was delicious!

Must be on the same diet I am on. After losing 20lbs I added carbs on the weekend in a moderate way and the weight is steady. Tell Lori that when she reaches the weight she wants to experiment with adding a little here and there. I just had some corn bread baked in cast iron in the oven with chili during the snowstorm this weekend. mmmmm.............

[dpoe001]

I have managed to get a lot of old cast iron skillets, my nephew worked in a scrap yard.He would set them to the side of the building, and when he got 3 or 4 he would call me i would buy them for scrap prices.Most of them were very cruddy rusty i would take them to work and sand blast them,bring them home and scrub them in very hot water then coat them in oil and heat in oven several times,then on my next day off fry up bacon in them.all of them are working really good now.My neighbors wonder about me when I'm outside at 7am cooking on my coleman and the side burner on my grill.

[toallmy]

I have been keeping a eye on this thread , and have decided to try my hand at seasoning a cast iron skillet . So today wile visiting with my mother I became the proud owner of 2 smaller old rusty skillets as test subjects . It seems she had picked them up at a yard sale a few years ago and they were left setting out side of a shed in the back yard every since . She picked up 4 for 10 bucks but she is not shore what happened to the other 2 larger ones .
Here is a funny story to explain how my wife feels about cast iron , when my wife and I got married and set up house I went to our local hardware store and ordered 2 nice large new skillets , and they seemed to disappear
. Years later she told me she gave them away because they were very heavy and everything burned in them . So we will see how this goes this time it's been 25-30 years .

[WheelgunConvert]

Just fry a pound of bacon in it drain then overheat till it smokes. Put some grease back in. The blacker with carbon the better the non stick.

Like the above except put it on the propane grill and bring it up to 450-500 then turn the grill off and let it set until cool. Then wipe the whole thing down with more bacon grease and do it again.

Lodge makes a hard silicone scraper for cleaning the pots. Do not soak it in soapy water or scour.
Dry it over low heat and wipe it down with a light coat of vegetable oil for storage.

[Wag]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

Everything tastes better when cooked in cast iron.

A few years ago, I read somewhere that they're discovering that the non-stick coatings used for the new pans can gradually wear off and cause liver damage. I don't remember where I read it, and never really did a lot of research on it.

But, everything still tastes better cooked in cast iron.

And some of the non-stick pans are being made with coated aluminum. As soon as the non-stick coating gets scratched or starts to wear off, then you're subject to the problems associated with having aluminum in your food/diet. Along with the aforementioned non-stick coating.

And still, evertthing tastes better when cooked in cast iron.

The only real downside to cast iron is that it's a bit more work to take care of and you have to learn how to do it. My engineer father-in-law refused to listen to me when I told him the cast iron isn't supposed to go into the dishwasher and isn't supposed to be washed with dishsoap. Finally had to ban him from using it to cook and made him buy his own dang cast iron. Of course, he never could figure out why his food never really tasted as good as mine.

Of course, everything tastes better when cooked in cast iron.



--Wag--

[DerekP Houston]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

Never wears out, the coating can be replaced instead of teflon bits getting in your food, sears much better/cooks more even, iron added to food if you have anemic family members (wife). I've used the same griswold/wagners for a decade now where I used to replace my pans every 6 months to a year due to wearing them out. Same as getting a high quality chef knife, get a good one and stop replacing the chinese ****.

[WILCO]

Don't know if I've ever shared this, but I do love cast iron cookware.

Use it every day.

[Char-Gar]

So after 80 posts on what to do with cast iron skillets, can I ask what are the advantages of using cast iron over using modern non stick skillets?

I am taking that as a serious question. Cast iron cooks better because of even heating and heat retention in the iron. Food cooked in cast iron also seems to taste better.

You can cook on anything, including an old metal drum lid (I have done it), but cast iron seems to do the best. The French make the high end Le Cruset line of cookware, that is cast iron with an exterior enamel finish. It works very well with easier cleanup.

I have one the Le Cruset extra large "goose pots" and once you get it on or in the stove will feed a family reunion. Now getting it on the stove or in the oven almost requires a crane.

You can buy, high end Chef's stainless cookware by Viking, All-Clad and others that often use laminated metals to try and produce the cooking quality of cast iron without the weight and clean up issues. While some of these other products cooks well, nothing is superior to cast iron. Even the most skilled chef, when cooking a pan fried/grilled steak will haul out the cast iron.

[Char-Gar]

I have been keeping a eye on this thread , and have decided to try my hand at seasoning a cast iron skillet . So today wile visiting with my mother I became the proud owner of 2 smaller old rusty skillets as test subjects . It seems she had picked them up at a yard sale a few years ago and they were left setting out side of a shed in the back yard every since . She picked up 4 for 10 bucks but she is not shore what happened to the other 2 larger ones .
Here is a funny story to explain how my wife feels about cast iron , when my wife and I got married and set up house I went to our local hardware store and ordered 2 nice large new skillets , and they seemed to disappear
. Years later she told me she gave them away because they were very heavy and everything burned in them . So we will see how this goes this time it's been 25-30 years .

At my last church (St.Luke's UMC, Corpus Christi TX) I told folks I was a cast iron nut. Folks started to go into their garages etc. and bring me all their rusty cast iron. They quite using it because it became to heavy.

I cleaned and reseasoned it all, stocked up my kids and put the rest out in my office, for any one to take. I gave away several dozen cast iron pots and pans and most are still in use today.

Cast iron is never to far gone to be reclamed. A few feet from where I sit is a large cast iron pot, that a fellow found under the crawl space of a house he was remodeling. It is a Chili Pot deluxe.

[Tom W.]

My late wife bought an enameled Lodge CI pot that I used to make chili in. I'd put the burner on low and fill it with whatever struck my fancy that day. It was always delicious...... One day before she passed she turned on the burner under it and passed out. I got home in time to prevent a house fire and revived her, but that pot was ruined. I couldn't do anything to help it out......

[Char-Gar]

My late wife bought an enameled Lodge CI pot that I used to make chili in. I'd put the burner on low and fill it with whatever struck my fancy that day. It was always delicious...... One day before she passed she turned on the burner under it and passed out. I got home in time to prevent a house fire and revived her, but that pot was ruined. I couldn't do anything to help it out......

One night, with my family on vacation in a cabin, I cooked in my large cast iron chicken fryer, washed it and put it on the stove to dry. I forgot about it and woke up to a light in the kitchen about 3 AM. I went in to the kitchen and found the cast iron glowing bright cherry red. I turned off the burner and went to bed, thinking the chicken fryer was done for.

In the morning, the season was done for and the pot covered with a fine ash. After a re-season, I am still using it 40 years later.

[toallmy]

Well I'm not shore how the story will end but I'm doing it . I took my 2 new to me rusty pans out and gave them a good scrubbing , than I took a wire brush on a grinder to them I completely removed all the rust and burned on carbon . Wile wire brushing them - as the burned on carbon came out I was left with pits but I did not go any further because I can always go back to the grinder if the pits are a problem . Well yesterday I set out to try my hand at seasoning them after a very viscous scrubbing they got a light coating of Crisco and heated on a burner until they started smoking afterwards allowed to cool , 4 times I did the same thing . Then in the evening I used the oven twice with a light coating of Crisco at 400 allowing complete cooling each time . Well the bottom of the skillets are sort of a red brown color not the deep black , but I cooked a few eggs in them this morning although they stuck when attempting to flip them they cleaned up easily . So I suppose this is going to be a work in progress hopefully the end product will be a few pans of fried potatoes with onions slightly blackened and browned in margarine .
If all else fails I will use the grinder on them , and start over . I guess ether way I win because every day I'm going to fry something .