Cooking with cast iron
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Anonymous
| Does anyone here cook exclusively with cast iron on the stove top? What types and sizes of pans do you recommend? |
Anonymous
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Not exclusively, but my cast iron skillet is the one item which doesn't leave the stove top ever.
I use it for pan frying anything. Lodge skillet. Maybe 9"? I use it because you need very minimal oil (I cook a chicken breast in there with no oil at all). I also have a creuset enamaled cast iron dutch oven. |
Anonymous
| Oh, and both of those can go in the oven, too. |
Anonymous
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Everything EXCEPT cream sauces or acidic (tomato or vinegar or lemon) sauces.
I only use nonstick for extremely delicate fish. |
Anonymous
Why not cream sauces or acidic sauces? |
Anonymous
| Definitely not exclusively but my 9 inch lodge skillet is one of my favorite pans. If I wanted a second cast iron pan I would get the lodge Dutch oven. But for the majority of cooking I prefer the iron to be clad in something, either stainless steel or enamel. |
Anonymous
Why do you prefer for the iron to be clad in something for the majority of your cooking? |
Anonymous
| 1 large cast iron skillet, 1 large le creuset dutch oven, and 1 large saucepan = 95 percent of my cooking. |
Anonymous
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I have a vintage Wagner 9" cast iron skillet from the 1880s (thank you EBay!) that never leaves the stove. It's absolutely beautiful and I've cooked everything in it (including tomatoes--no problem at all). Perfect size. I also have an old 11" (thank you antique store!) that is just too big to be very useful. I covet a 6-7" for omelettes. So I'd recommend a 9 and a 6. Enjoy!
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Anonymous
Iron reacts with acids, high temperatures speed the reaction(and may add an iron taste to your meal). More likely will expose the cast iron and cause some rust b/t use. So the next time you use it, you get rusty taste. The enamel coated cast iron is more popular for braising, stewing and use of acids. As for the cream sauces and delicate fish, people cook that all the time in cast iron with no problems. (Not right or wrong) Just look up recipes for cast iron, lots of cream based stuff. Once the seasoning/carbon forms, it's a non stick surface. I got a large 12" and small one 9". The small is for corn bread. The trick is to preheat the pan to 375 or what every the recipe calls for, melt the butter for the batter in the pan, mix up your batter using the butter from the pan, keep the pan hot, pour the batter in the hot pan(it should sizzle as it goes into the pan). Cook as per the recipe. When it comes out, you have that nice buttery crust on the cornbread. |
Anonymous
Well, first of all, I misspoke. Most of the stainless steel pans I have are clad aluminum, not clad iron. I like those pans for a couple of reasons: 1) They are much lighter. They're easier to get out of the cabinet and easier to move around on the stove. When I saute, for example, I use my wrist to toss the food, which is much harder to do in cast iron. 2) They heat more evenly/rapidly. Lodge is excellent at maintaining its temperature but not as good at heating evenly. If you don't want hot spots, you need to warm it more slowly. 3) I can clean them with lots of soap, or put them in the dishwasher. Neither works great with cast iron. The reasons I'd prefer to have an enamel-clad dutch oven are: 1) When I'm using a dutch oven, I almost always have tomatoes or wine or something else acidic in there. I don't like cooking acidic things in cast iron because it can wreck the seasoning and add a metalic taste to the dish; and 2) I like to put the dutch oven in the dishwasher. Also, while I kind of appreciate the rustic charm of cast iron, stainless steel and enamel both look better, in my opinion. The main reason I use a Lodge pan, on the other hand, is when I want the pan to keep its temperature well, such as for making fried chicken, searing a steak, or making skillet cornbread. |
Anonymous
| This is so helpful. Thank you all. |
Anonymous
| I should say it is helpful except for the fact that it's making me hungry thinking about that cornbread. . . . |
Anonymous
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One more cast iron lover here. PPs pretty much covered it.
The most useful single pan, I think, is the 10" skillet. It never leaves the stovetop. I only got it a couple of years ago, before that I mainly used the 12" skillet (which I've had since my 20s--I got it on the theory that you can always cook for one in a huge pan, but you can't cook for 6 or 8 people in a little pan). That 12" sure seems heavy now by comparison. Only thing about that cornbread--shouldn't you be using bacon fat instead of butter? 
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Anonymous
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P.S. There was discussion in the Food chat today about doing eggs in cast iron. I do all my eggs in cast iron, including omelettes and scrambled. Never a problem. (The pans are very well seasoned.)
I hear from a lot of people that this is BS and that eggs turn into a holy mess. I think those folks have their heat way too high for eggs. On my electric coil top, I do eggs on about 4. (Sometimes 3, sometimes 5.) With gas this would be a low-medium flame. If you blast them on medium high, sure they'll stick, and they'll also generally be pretty hard to handle. With low-medium heat they're very manageable and come out great every time. (Provided your pan is seasoned properly.) |