<p>How do you like your cast iron? What are the advantages to using it?</p>
<p>I have four hand-me down cast iron skillets of my mom’s and grandmother’s that are World War II vintage. Though the salt-and-oil cleaning process is optimum, my pans have all suffered soap more than once over four generations of cooks, and have managed to survive 70 years or more. Cast iron needs to be re-seasoned from time to time anyway, as a general maintenance practice.</p>
<p>Sounds like a Wok.</p>
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<p>I love cast iron cookware. It’s superbly cheap-- my 9" workhorse skillet set me back about $20, and it’ll last forever.</p>
<p>I like cast iron because it holds the heat really well, nothing sticks to it, the cookware gets better the more you use it, and everything cooks really evenly, even on my apartment’s low-quality electric range. It’s not tremendously responsive like aluminum is, so if I’m distracted and working a lot of pots and pans at the same time, I’m less liable to burn something. It’s kind of the cooking equivalent of driving the decades-old family land yacht that’s lasted forever-- heavy, and doesn’t brake really quickly, but incredibly reliable, and you can pass it off to your kids when they need a skillet some day.</p>
<p>I don’t like cast iron because it’s a little more high maintenance… You can’t use soap on it. You have to know the cast iron care ground rules when you use it. Also, it’s kind of cumbersome to store (the one I use a lot lives on the stovetop full-time).</p>
<p>Still, it’s great for grilling things, sauteeing things, searing things… I even cook cornbread in it. My dutch oven’s cast iron, too, and cooks cobblers like a dream.</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>Found this article about cast iron cookware and thought to pass it along
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/07/dining/07mini.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/07/dining/07mini.html</a></p>
<p>Do you make cobblers in your dutch oven? Care to share the recipe?</p>
<p>Here’s my favorite, and it’s not even my own. It’s called blackberry grunt:</p>
<p>[Blackberry</a> Grunt Recipe : Alton Brown : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/blackberry-grunt-recipe/index.html]Blackberry”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/blackberry-grunt-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>Being both an engineer and an amateur gourmand, I’m a Good Eats devotee, so I picked this recipe up from Alton Brown. It’s a little more biscuit-y than a cobbler, but it’s like fresh biscuits and jam and it’s delicious.</p>
<p>Thanks, alibarr, Consolation & orchestramom re: the iron skillet cookware cleaning (really like the kosher salt idea–feels a little cleaner that just wiping it). Thanks for the link Kelowna.</p>
<p>Mom60–part of our wedding registry was at Williams Sonoma. I rarely use (whatever) we got…since then, I can’t justify the prices when I’m not a gourmand!</p>
<p>My grandpa had a pre-World War II cast iron skillet. Nothing ever stuck to it; grandpa would just wipe it with a wad of newspaper to remove the bacon grease or lard - the main ingredients in his Ukrainian dishes, that’s all. The cast iron dutch oven which was grandpa’s favorite piece of cookware became the dog’s dish then its handle fell off. :)</p>
<p>I know this isn’t canonical, but for those of you who are thinking of using cast iron but can’t imagine never washing with soap – go ahead. You can still cook great dishes - I sear london broil, brown chicken, saute vegetables, dry-cook kasha in mine all the time. I wash it out with soap and warm water when I’m done, I dry it by heating on the stove, and it all works out just fine.</p>
<p>I often clean my cast iron with soap. If I scrub the finish off, I oil it lightly and season it a bit on the stove. It’s the only thing I’ll use for pancakes. I love it, and I love that you can stick it in the oven. Cornbread is good in it too.</p>
<p>Cast iron for me! I have several sizes and use it constantly. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll even chuck it in the dishwasher, but you’ve got to understand that we have a huge family and homeschool, so most of our meals are at home. The cast iron gets used constantly and is so well-seasoned it would take a nuclear blast to damage it :-)</p>
<p>Why do I like it? It never sticks, it almost never burns, it holds the heat for a long time, it can be used to serve in if you’re doing something “Western”, it can put used in the oven or on the stove or moved between them, it helps with my anemia, it never breaks, it never needs replacing, and yes, you can use it on a flat-top range, too. I <em>love</em> it.</p>
<p>Wow, I am really hooked now 
Will be shopping local T.J. Max this weekend for an iron skillet.
We do own a dutch oven but have been using it only outdoors, on a campfire when we go camping.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned copper pans for sauteing (sp) ???</p>
<p>A couple more cast iron recommendations: I really like Lodge products. Also, don’t do what I did and buy a 12" skillet. It’s just way too heavy to do anything with, and I never used it. I gave it to my brother, and now <em>he</em> never uses it.</p>
<p>Copper’s kind of the creme de la creme of cookware, but you have to polish it regularly, kind of like silver, and it’s just breathtakingly expensive.</p>
<p>I love cast iron for skillets and dutch ovens–I agree about Lodge–but it doesn’t make sense for saucepans.</p>
<p>For that you need something non-reactive, lighter, and with a quicker response.</p>
<p>Old-fashioned lined copper pans like the French ones they have at Williams-Sonoma are great, but they are very high maintenance. And if you scrape the lining, which you will inevitably do, eventually they will need to be sent off to be retinned.</p>
<p>Therefore I would recommend having two different kinds of saucepans: no-frills professional cookware for boiling and blanching and the like, of the kind that you can get at restaurant supply stores (make sure to buy the rubber handle sleeve thingie!), and the higher-quality heavy-bottomed kind with a tight-fitting lid for more delicate sauces and cooking rice and other items that need the tight fit. They are made by All-Clad, Chaudiere, Cuisinart, et al. I’ve gotten great Cuisinart stuff at Marshalls and TJ Maxx.</p>
<p>Bought an iron skillet this weekend. Lodge - came pre-seasoned. But bacon did stick tom it Guess will have to pre-season more. Washed it later with salt mixture, but H insisted I should just wipe it clean ! With a newspaper ??? :)</p>
<p>With a paper towel.</p>
<p>I did the kosher salt plus water & paper towel clean & it worked great on my iron skillet! Thanks!!</p>
<p>Looked at the Lodge site. Also channel surfing saw enameled cast iron skillets on one of the shopping channels. What is the pros and cons of the enamel baked cast iron versus regular cast iron.</p>
<p>Enameled cast iron skillets have all of the head conduction capabilities of regular cast iron but none of the maintenance requirements, but it’s prone to chipping. Where it chips and breaks through the layer of enamel to expose the cast iron, it’ll rust.</p>