I had been telling My Sweetie for quite awhile about the issues of non-stick cookware. He thought I was loony. He thought I was paranoid. He thought I was wrong.
Then Alton Brown did an episode on proving whether or not some kitchen myths were wrong. He did a segment on non-stick cookware. He proved me right.
My Sweetie smiled at me and said, "Wow. Did you hear what Alton said? Let's get rid of our non-stick cookware. Is that ok with you?"
Sigh.
Anyway, we decided to go with cast iron and have been using it for almost everything for just about a year. It works great. The clean up is similar to using stoneware. The surface becomes non-stick after you've used it awhile. The health benefits are nice. The fact that they last forever is fun (just in case I have little financial inheritance to leave my children... they'll each get a piece of cast iron cookware! yippee!). Enameled covered cast iron is also great for pots. I don't like them, personally, for pan cooking because they need to have a good amount of liquid in them. I LOVE my enameled cast iron dutch oven for all my pot needs (I have a 7qt, but we have quite a few people to feed).
I asked for Lodge pieces for Christmas (so did Pioneer Woman, because... ya' know, we're so much alike) and also picked up a few pieces at yard sales this spring.
I will admit it takes a bit of getting used to, but I really like them and they Work for Me.
Check our We are THAT Family for other ideas on all kinds of things.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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14 comments:
I housesat for a friend many years ago - and she had a cast iron skillet that I LOVED. I used it as often as I could while I was there. I've been casually looking for a cast iron skillet, and now I want to look a little bit more seriously. Thanks for sharing this information!
so, care to do a "Cast Iron for Dummies" post or email in the near future??
I have access to what appears to be good cast iron, any shape/size I could imagine and then some. Where should I start???
The "regular" pots/pans here last a few months before they warp, dent, scratch, etc. and with the oddity of cooking on propane, which seems somehow hotter than natural gas, I'm ready for a "fix". Suggestions????
Don't want to burst your bubble GFG..but Alton also needs to research cast iron as well.
As we have and found that
316L Stainless steal (the surgical kind)is the most sanitary, healthy cooking surface in any cookware manufactured worldwide.
This stainless steel provides the maximum resistance to chemical reactions with the salts, acids, and alkalins in food being prepared. This insures that the food being served to our family contains no metal byproducts from chemical reactions with metals in the cooking process.
And the side benefits is maximum nutrition is maintained and the time and energy savings are real.
However don't passout at the cost of one of thier sets, it comes with a lifetime warrenty and ours has already has paid for itself many times over.
Which is why I will never cook in or with anything else..especially that non-stick stuff!
Saladmaster alone does not have to exaggerate, mislead, or inflate the claims being made in regard to quality, performance, and value.
The truth about Saladmaster is astounding enough.
Here's the company that doesn't sell the cheap stainless steal.
http://www.saladmaster.com/index.nws
Wow! I've never heard of Alton Brown. But I did know about the cookware. My shoulder issues keep me from being able to use cast iron. So we use stainless steel. I'm sure cast iron is better, but it's too heavy for me. Thanks for the post. It's good information. Lisa~
Debbie- glad to be helpful
Heather- I might just do that!
Dawn- no bubble burst since Alton didn't mention cast iron, just talked about the hazards of non-stick PLUS I didn't speak against stainless steel, which is another good option. I prefer the cast iron for other reasons, but stainless steel is another good choice. I'm glad you enjoy yours!
I'm with you Mindy, I LOVE our cast iron! I like them esp. during pregnancy because of the extra iron I get!
Heather cast iron does great on propane, I lived in Mexico for several years and used ours with propane and really liked the results (it was hard for me to go back to the electric when we moved back here :)
So GFG....
I have the Lodge dutch oven (5qt...I think - the lid inverts to be a small skillet) that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. What other pieces would you suggest??
Faith- Ok, I have more than a few pans. I'm not the best at promptly washing them (just being honest), so I like that I have more than a couple. I have to serve eight, so I like my really big one. I would rec having a medium pan and a large one in addition to the one you have that doubles as a lid. Mine are big enough that I can use them for pancakes and such if I want.
Have you seasoned them yet? Just cook bacon in them for four days in a row or so and that'll do the trick. ;-) Or grease them up really good. Most people use veg oil to season, but I don't. I use evoo.
I'm telling you one of the ones I got at a garage sale is soooo smooth, it's totally non-stick. Very nice. Oh! And baking cornbread in one- yummy!!
Other Qs?
How do you store them? We have 2 cast-iron skillets that we love, but we've been keeping them on the stovetop because, between the weight and the greasiness (don't want to get grease on the bottom of another pot by stacking them and then have a small grease fire!), we can't put them in the drawer with the other pots. So our others are stainless steel.
I thought this comment was funny:
This insures that the food being served to our family contains no metal byproducts from chemical reactions with metals in the cooking process.
because the health benefit of cast iron is that some of the iron is drawn into your food which is good for you, but "metal byproduct" sounds like something awful, doesn't it?
Becca,
Great Q! We bought a plastic coated metal rack to put in our pantry where I keep the pans. That way I can stack a bit. I don't keep my pans too greasy. I keep my pots in a separate cabinet, so I don't have to worry about stacking with anything other than cast iron. Would that help? A separate cabinet and plastic/metal rack? Does that make sense to you or only to me who can picture the whole thing already?
(I might do a whole 'nuther post so I can put photos up.)
P.S. Becca, yes I did think it was funny.
That makes sense, but in my house the "pantry" is down in the basement and the kitchen storage space is pretty small; we only have drawers under the counter, no bottom cabinets. We have thought about putting the pots in the dishwasher since it doesn't work, and I guess that's what we'll do if we get any more big pots and can stop the kid from thinking the dishwasher is for toy storage! :) Thanks for the explanation.
Becca, I can't figure out how to contact you via your site (that's not a blog ;-)), so I guess I'll post here again.
Hmm... ok, panty in the basement. No cabinets. Only drawers. Wowza. Would you have enough space to put them when you need the oven for cooking with other things if you kept the cast iron in the oven? Could you hang them up somewhere (even along a wall), being sure to not grease them too much after cleaning? I think they look very homey and cool, but I'm odd.
Could you build a bigger kitchen? (just kidding)
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