My New Lodge Cast Iron Skillet Is Solid Gold
My battered old cast iron skillet did a fine job, but this version is deeper, deep enough to fry chicken without making a huge mess on my stove top. As much as I appreciated how golden, crispy my old pan turned many a bird, I always thought of it as a kind of one trick pony.
Then, I recently got the chance to pick chef Tom's noggin about his favorite uses for cast iron, casting this humble pan in a whole new light.
"It's great for searing steaks and seafood, for cooking hash browns," he said. "You can make wonderful cornbread in it. My wife, Jackie, gets the pan hot in the oven and pours in the batter. It sizzles and makes the best brown crust."
Taking poultry on a different flight path, Tom also likes to do a stove-top version of roast chicken, weighing a whole bird down with the top pan. Like the ultra-moist chicken cooked under a brick diners go cuckoo about in restaurants around the country.
I can wait to experiment with these dishes and continue my hunt for the best fried chicken. Got any cast iron favorites to share?
-- Leslie Kelly
Stephan F- on March 10, 2010 at 11:09 AM
I love to use a CI griddle and frying pan to make pressed sandwiches, particularly grilled cheese, and quesadillas. yum.
Cindy Wambeam on March 10, 2010 at 11:50 AM
I love cornbread done in the cast iron pan, and was always taught to warm the pan first -- actually, to melt the butter or shortening or oil in the pan as it warms, then pour the melted oil into the batter. . . then the batter back into the pan.
My ex-mother-in-law always did her really wonderful upside-down pineapple cake in a cast iron pan, and it was a really delicious cake. The caramel was always just perfect, with little crunchy bits on the side of the cake. Yum!
John on March 10, 2010 at 03:24 PM
Mac and cheese! Oh man it's great. Start it however you like - I make a bechamel, then add the cheese(s) a bit at a time until they melt, then stir that up with the noodles in a big bowl. Then I fetch a nice hot iron skillet out of the oven and pour in that tasty hot mess. The brown crusty part is my favorite thing about mac and cheese, and this way you get it on the top and bottom.
Yeah, I know, I have an extra pan and a bowl to clean. But it's worth it.
Extra credit: pour in half your noodles and cheese sauce, then lay in some leftover pulled pork. Cover it with the rest of the mac/cheese, bake and then think lovingly of me when you eat it.
MCSA Exam on March 10, 2010 at 07:39 PM
Extra credit: pour in half your noodles and cheese sauce, then lay in some leftover pulled pork. Cover it with the rest of the mac/cheese, bake and then think lovingly of me when you eat it.
Jeff on March 11, 2010 at 06:18 AM
I do the same thing as the corn bread where I heat the pan up in the oven but pour a pancake batter in it, that's good too. Oh and you have to make biscuits in a cast iron dutch oven.
memomachine on March 11, 2010 at 06:23 AM
Hmmmm.
Ok here's the thing that irritates me. And it's possible that this is because of ignorance on my part so please educate me if I'm wrong on this:
You can buy dutch ovens that are enameled cast iron with the enameling on the inside cooking surface. I love this because I don't trust teflon and I like the heat characteristics of cast iron.
But I have yet to find enameled cast iron skillets with the enameling on the cooking surface.
Enamel on the outside, sure. Enamel on the inside? Not so much.
Are there any? And if someone could point me to them I'd appreciate it.
Rusty Bill on March 11, 2010 at 06:25 AM
On the simpler side, I have a six-inch cast iron skillet that I use (mostly) to make fried egg sandwiches. Cooks quickly and evenly.
Porkov on March 11, 2010 at 06:29 AM
Nickel-plated cast ironware - expensive but worth it.
http://www.olvidacookware.com/
Steve H. on March 11, 2010 at 06:31 AM
A cast iron skillet is essential for good fajitas.
Angus Long on March 11, 2010 at 06:35 AM
Leslie:
Oh my goodness -- nobody's mentioned the great "cast iron pizza hack" yet?
There is now only one primary purpose for my 12" cast iron... Le pizza:
http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/01/recipe-vaughns-perfect-skillet-pizza/34064/
Don on March 11, 2010 at 06:36 AM
Memomachine,
Would this do? http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontina-3-qt.-Cast-Iron-Covered-Braiser-Green/5716475
I have a Tramontina dutch oven, works fine. Cheap Chinese knockoff LeCreuset, maybe a bit heavier than the genuine article but works just as well.
Randy on March 11, 2010 at 06:43 AM
I have several LeCreuset pieces with enamel on the inside. I think Lodge's new line of enameled CI also has some with internal enamel.
Roux on March 11, 2010 at 06:48 AM
When my grandmother died 20 years ago, while everyone else was vying for the furniture and jewels I made sure I got most of her cast iron skillets, dutch oven, etc... I cook in it almost every day. Sure the cleanup is a little tough but it's worth it.
Kentucky Bob on March 11, 2010 at 06:51 AM
How else do you make cornbread if not in an iron skillet? Sheesh... next thing y'all be telling us to put sugar in it.
vb on March 11, 2010 at 06:58 AM
Does anyone have any experience with cast iron skillets on ceramic cooktops. I can't go to a gas stove, and I wonder easy it is to control the temperature of cast iron on my stove.
Hank on March 11, 2010 at 07:04 AM
Couldn't agree more. My skillet collection includes my grandmother's 15" (too big for my hi-tek stove-top) my mother-in-law's 10" which I use for just about everything (she used to make Irish soda-bread in it), an 8", a 6" a 3 qt dutch oven (great for chili), and a ridged stove-top grill. The rest of my cookware is Le Cruset, including a couple of 7" skillets which are no match for the cast iron.
By the way, the cast iron costs about a third or less than the fancier brands, and, in my experience, cooks just as well (the only thing better may be copperware).
Stan on March 11, 2010 at 07:22 AM
Just remember not to put the skillet in soapy water. That takes out the seasoning and causes things to stick. If that happens, just heat the pan to where it is hot, but not red hot and put a bit of vegetable oil in it. Crisco works good too. A lot of old timers used lard to do the same thing. Get a paper towel to spread and wipe out the excess oil. Be sure to spread the oil up on the sides too. Turn off the heat and let cool.
If the skillet has caked on grease on it and it looks unsightly, it can be cleaned off. To clean the skillet off, just place it in a campfire and heat it (usually red hot) until all the grease burns off. Take the skillet out of the fire and let cool down by air for about 20 minutes, then re-season it. NEVER put a red hot cast iron skillet in water, as it will crack it or even explode.
David Murphy on March 11, 2010 at 07:39 AM
Breakfast eggs in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, of course, are standard. But I do them in the oven.
The eggs are whipped into a froth and poured into an already hot skillet. Skillet size is picked to have the eggs be about an inch deep. Adding cooked sausage or bacon, grated cheese, chopped pepper, etc. is optional. Or maybe adding half the eggs, layering on a piece of Oscar Mayer sandwich ham, and then adding the rest of the eggs is the plan for today.
The eggs pop out of the skillet or, if I'm home alone, can be just eaten from the skillet. (Yeah, I'm a barbarian if left without civilizing influences of others.)
Adding a plop of salsa to the top of the eggs is regionally optional; i.e., required in Texas but forbidden in New Hampshire.
Paul in NJ on March 11, 2010 at 07:40 AM
Porkov sez: "Nickel-plated cast ironware - expensive but worth it."
I love this line from the website: "Aside from all its positive attributes, it has no memory. You can cook onions, wash it out, then cook scrambled eggs, God bless America there will be no onion flavor."
You're not kidding about it being expensive, though.
Kathy Deupree on March 11, 2010 at 08:25 AM
Memomachine: I have a LeCreuset skillet with enamel inside that acts as non-stick. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I rarely cook anything NOT in cast iron. I've got two regular cast iron skillets - one that we bought when we first got married and the other inherited from my mother - and the LeCreuset. Those and the LeCreuset dutch oven cover most recipes. We always have a teflon skillet available, and my saucepans are also the LC enameled cast iron - in a flush moment I bought a set and I've never regretted it.
Can't wait to try the mac & cheese!
Jack on March 11, 2010 at 09:10 AM
All Lodge cast iron in our house. I gave up the hideously expensive stainless steel designer cookware and went all cast iron. Nothing better. Now I watch for cast iron in thrift stores and Goodwill.
Andrea on March 11, 2010 at 09:58 AM
You still can get good deals on old cast iron on eBay. The prices are cheaper than several years ago. There are good instructions on the web on how to restore a rusty old pan. No need to buy the outrageously priced 'collector' pieces.
Yes you can use these pans on ceramic cooktops. Read your cooktop's instructions about pan size vs. burner size (mine says no pans larger than 1 inch more than burner size, and no sliding of the pans on the burner lest the glass scratches). Black Iron Dude cooks on a ceramic top: http://blackirondude.blogspot.com/2010/03/just-how-good-is-seasoning-on-lodge-pre.html
RR Ryan on March 11, 2010 at 11:32 AM
I was doing spring cleaning this past month and finally got to the kitchen. We had so many pots and pans that it was impossible to find anything. I kept the Rachel Ray set I bought last year, along with the copper Revere set my boyfriend's mother gave him when he got his first apartment and a hideous set of cheap stainless. I think it was his ex-boyfriend's, so it stayed. Other than that, the cast iron was the only thing I saved. It makes the best fried anything. Cornbread is a breeze and I can't wait to make pineapple upside down cake. The best part: just rinse under hot water and wipe it out. It's the original teflon!
Bob on March 11, 2010 at 01:34 PM
My wife took her "seasoned" cast iron to her college art department and had them sandblast it clean. One can make it new over and over again.
Sigivald on March 11, 2010 at 02:30 PM
"Everything you want to cook in a pan".
IF you're doing an omelet, maybe go teflon.