You can't simmer and reduce a sauce in a cast iron skillet, correct?

[Anonymous]

I love my Lodge skillet because it gives me a great sear on chops and similar meats.

I want to try a recipe tonight that calls for searing the meat, then throwing several ingredients in the fat/juices, reducing, and simmering for 20 minutes or so.

Forgive this novice question, but, you're not encouraged to use cast iron for simmering, right? Something about iron taste + risk of rust, IIRC.

So would you just not start out the night in the cast iron and use a different pan to begin with, for searing? (a shame) Or use 2 pans, or ?

[Anonymous]

You can simmer in cast iron. Just make sure that you wash and dry your pan well and give it a little coat of oil afterwards.

If you sear and then switch to a different pan and reduce in the other pan, you won't get all the seared bits, which is the point of the sauce!

[Anonymous]

Oh hells no. I use my cast iron all the time for simmering, braising, reducing and other liquid-centered cooking. Stuff tastes great and the seasoning of the cast iron holds up fine. In fact, if you're cooking with tomatoes or other acidic stuff, some of the iron will actually leach out of the metal and into the sauce, boosting its iron content but not changing the flavor (or the pan) for the worse in any way.

[Anonymous]

"If you sear and then switch to a different pan and reduce in the other pan, you won't get all the seared bits, which is the point of the sauce! "

Fond.

[Anonymous]

I use mine! It's great. Haven't had any problems. I lightly oil afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP here. So I did use my cast iron skillet to simmer and reduce sauce, and it worked out beautifully. thanks all.

However I cooked the meat too long and it was tough But the sauce was delicious.