Nonstick Cast Iron | breakawaycook
I came across this post and had to share. I adore my cast iron, but I know a lot of people are leery about it.
Nonstick Cast IronFebruary 24th, 2008 Posted in Cooking Accessories
I used to loathe cast iron pans. The only ones I had experience with were neglected, sad ones with rust patches and untold grime. Ugh. And then there was the need to season them first, to not use dish soap on them, to oil them after use, etc. Way too many downsides! Besides, what was wrong with Teflon-coated cheapo pans?
I went through years and years of cheap Teflon in Japan, which is what everyone uses. They’re good for about a year of heavy use, but then just get too scruffy, with the Teflon coming off in flakes (and into the food - yuck).
But replacing pans so often felt so wrong; has anyone ever had that sick feeling of chucking what used to be a perfectly good pan into the garbage?
I gradually began to experiment with all kinds of pans - woks, copper, aluminum, stainless, enameled cast iron, and good old-fashioned cast iron.
* Woks, though incredibly useful and versatile, were difficult to store and took up too much space on my tiny stove.
* Copper is absurdly difficult to care for, as I found out after spending some $300 on a pan and never using it because I couldn’t deal with it.
* Aluminum doesn’t work for me - it feels too flimsy and gets hot spots.
* Stainless is a good choice for many types of cooking; I don’t know how I’d survive without my mighty All-Clad Dutch oven, despite my dig at AllClad in the previous post. But for everyday pans, not for me.
* Enameled cast iron is pretty great; it is essentially just cast iron (and thus very heavy) with a coating applied to it that makes it stick-resistant, and the enameling process makes the pan nonreactive to acids, which is a huge plus. I’m slowly growing more and more impressed with the enameled cast irons pans I’m seeing.
It took me a while to warm up to regular cast iron; After cooking in the kitchen of my friend Lucelle, who only uses cast iron, I was hooked; her pans were truly nonstick - I’ve never seen such nonstick pans! Yes, you can’t use soap on them, she said. Big deal. Just rinse them under very hot water and wipe with a scrubby. And after it’s washed, cast iron needs a few drops of vegetable (or other) oil and a quick wipe with a small corner of paper towel.
What about “seasoning”? Most cast iron pans sold today come preseasoned, but it’s really not a big deal. If you do need to season one, simply pour about a quarter-inch of vegetable oil into the pan and bake it at 375 degrees for about an hour. That’s it! But if you care for it as I described above, this shouldn’t even be necessary. I now cook almost exclusively with cast iron. It’s ideal for cooking meats (the heat is very even, and it retains heat incredibly efficiently), vegetables, eggs, pasta sauces . . . just about everything, really. It also goes from stovetop to oven or broiler beautifully.
For such performance one would expect a pricetag to go with it, but these iron workhorses-which can last for generations-are among the cheapest cookware items you can buy. A ten-inch beauty retails for about $15. I’ve since purchased all the ones photographed above, from the manhole-cover-like 15-incher to the little ramekin-like pots (ideal for baked eggs).
Any other cast iron fans out there? What’s your favorite dish to cook in it?
From The Breakaway Cook
Nonstick Cast IronFebruary 24th, 2008 Posted in Cooking Accessories
I used to loathe cast iron pans. The only ones I had experience with were neglected, sad ones with rust patches and untold grime. Ugh. And then there was the need to season them first, to not use dish soap on them, to oil them after use, etc. Way too many downsides! Besides, what was wrong with Teflon-coated cheapo pans?
I went through years and years of cheap Teflon in Japan, which is what everyone uses. They’re good for about a year of heavy use, but then just get too scruffy, with the Teflon coming off in flakes (and into the food - yuck).
But replacing pans so often felt so wrong; has anyone ever had that sick feeling of chucking what used to be a perfectly good pan into the garbage?
I gradually began to experiment with all kinds of pans - woks, copper, aluminum, stainless, enameled cast iron, and good old-fashioned cast iron.
* Woks, though incredibly useful and versatile, were difficult to store and took up too much space on my tiny stove.
* Copper is absurdly difficult to care for, as I found out after spending some $300 on a pan and never using it because I couldn’t deal with it.
* Aluminum doesn’t work for me - it feels too flimsy and gets hot spots.
* Stainless is a good choice for many types of cooking; I don’t know how I’d survive without my mighty All-Clad Dutch oven, despite my dig at AllClad in the previous post. But for everyday pans, not for me.
* Enameled cast iron is pretty great; it is essentially just cast iron (and thus very heavy) with a coating applied to it that makes it stick-resistant, and the enameling process makes the pan nonreactive to acids, which is a huge plus. I’m slowly growing more and more impressed with the enameled cast irons pans I’m seeing.
It took me a while to warm up to regular cast iron; After cooking in the kitchen of my friend Lucelle, who only uses cast iron, I was hooked; her pans were truly nonstick - I’ve never seen such nonstick pans! Yes, you can’t use soap on them, she said. Big deal. Just rinse them under very hot water and wipe with a scrubby. And after it’s washed, cast iron needs a few drops of vegetable (or other) oil and a quick wipe with a small corner of paper towel.
What about “seasoning”? Most cast iron pans sold today come preseasoned, but it’s really not a big deal. If you do need to season one, simply pour about a quarter-inch of vegetable oil into the pan and bake it at 375 degrees for about an hour. That’s it! But if you care for it as I described above, this shouldn’t even be necessary. I now cook almost exclusively with cast iron. It’s ideal for cooking meats (the heat is very even, and it retains heat incredibly efficiently), vegetables, eggs, pasta sauces . . . just about everything, really. It also goes from stovetop to oven or broiler beautifully.
For such performance one would expect a pricetag to go with it, but these iron workhorses-which can last for generations-are among the cheapest cookware items you can buy. A ten-inch beauty retails for about $15. I’ve since purchased all the ones photographed above, from the manhole-cover-like 15-incher to the little ramekin-like pots (ideal for baked eggs).
Any other cast iron fans out there? What’s your favorite dish to cook in it?
From The Breakaway Cook