Cooking with Cast Iron

I know that I am going to be preaching to the choir but nevertheless I am going to sing the praises of cast iron for cooking.

Recently I acquired a set of three cast iron skillets made by Wagner in the USA and although being of a Gypsy family and cast iron was used by my grandmother and mother in the form of the big iron pot and the griddles and skillets that hung from the “kettle iron”, I never used it myself, always haven chosen to go for the lighter options, such as enameled steel pans and pots.

Now, having laid my hands on this set rather cheaply as the prices for such cook ware go here, brand new, via a Charity Shop here in the UK, and having seasoned them, of a fashion, and begun to use them I am starting to become a convert.

First of you need very little fat for cooking and secondly the food seems to taste so much better.

For the first few times I made the mistake of immediately running the pan under the water tap of hot water (not a good idea, I have been told) and then using a metal scourer to get off the food residue. All that is, however, so I find now, required it to let the skillet cool by itself and any food residue can just be wiped off nearly.

Wow! I am beginning to love the stuff. Well, in fact that is an understatement. The problem is, however, that, generally, cast iron cookware of the kind that this set of three skillets are, are extremely difficult to come by here in the UK and when one can get them are extremely expensive.

If any readers have tips and hints for others that are looking to use cast iron cookware for cooking, baking, etc. please feel free to share them via the comments section. You may also, if you have an article or such on cast iron cookware – your own article please and not one taken from somewhere else (copyright infringements could cost us, I am afraid) – you are most welcome to submit such via the email link.

Now, let's here it for the cast iron pans and pots.

© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008