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Lead me to the land of the cast iron skillet recipes

Jammer

Jammer

Garlic is great
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Location
Fremont
Moto(s)
Yamaha FJR1300
My son gave me a cast iron skillet for Christmas and I've never owned one. Please tell me about the care n feeding of cast iron and any recipes that you enjoy that work for two adults. Thanks
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Don’t be sucked into the whole you have to grind the casting smooth bs. anything you do start with a coating of olive oil and a tab of butter. Season and Sear your meat reduce heat and cover.i do a mean chicken piccata and it always tastes petter in the cast iron.

Brand new pan? Very mild warm water and soap from there on out course salt and oil to clean the pan.
 
You list an FJR. You know how to use a freaking skillet man!

I use chain mail to clean mine, and oil and heat after every use. I have the whole set always on the stove and in the oven.

Best cookware
 
That 13.25" is a nice versatile size. To build a base on the skillet dice some potatoes and fry with olive oil.

RECIPES and Care... Smithey Cast Iron

With regard to the following below, I say: Au Contraire. I found the smooth finished skillet is significantly better in both cook top performance and maintenance!
"Don’t be sucked into the whole you have to grind the casting smooth bs."

I have four old pieces that my Mother had, 12" (Made in USA), 10" (Lodge), and a 10" and 8" (Made in Taiwan) skillets. The 12" and 10" Lodge got the most use. (They never get used anymore.) Then about 2018 I started buying Smithey cast iron pieces mostly for my Daughter, who had gotten rid of all her "coated" cookware. Back in 2013-2014, I had ditched all my "coated" and aluminum stuff and started purchasing Blu Skillets Ironware - carbon steel fry pans, French skillets and gratins so I didn't need a lot of cast iron pieces. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve to using carbon steel or cast iron cookware versus the "non-stick coated" stuff.
Seasoning the carbon steel and cast iron are pretty much the same.
This Smithey Double Burner Griddle is a workhorse, it pretty much resides on the stove top and is used everyday.
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Double Burner Griddle.png



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I have a glass cook top and found that using copper diffuser plates improves heat distribution across the pan bottoms.
Got mine here: Bellacopper
 
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Cast iron is a lovely cooking surface, and you already have plenty of advice about seasoning. I'll refrain from piling on.

The element that is missing from almost all conversation about cast iron has to do with heat conductivity. If you look it up, and Google makes this easy, cast iron has significantly lower heat conductivity than other common cookware (copper and aluminum primarily). What this means is, if you do not have a very diffuse heat source, such as an oven, or a large gas burner, or (as was common when cast iron was king) a camp fire, you will suffer from hot spots. And cold spots.

My practice when using my cast griddle is to preheat it in the oven first, then move it to the stove top when it's time to make the pancakes. Substitute "your cookware" for griddle and "your food" for pancakes in the previous sentence, and you'll be golden.
 
mjj said:
Cast iron is a lovely cooking surface, and you already have plenty of advice about seasoning. I'll refrain from piling on.

The element that is missing from almost all conversation about cast iron has to do with heat conductivity. If you look it up, and Google makes this easy, cast iron has significantly lower heat conductivity than other common cookware (copper and aluminum primarily). What this means is, if you do not have a very diffuse heat source, such as an oven, or a large gas burner, or (as was common when cast iron was king) a camp fire, you will suffer from hot spots. And cold spots.

My practice when using my cast griddle is to preheat it in the oven first, then move it to the stove top when it's time to make the pancakes. Substitute "your cookware" for griddle and "your food" for pancakes in the previous sentence, and you'll be golden.
Click to expand...
Cast iron does take a bit longer to pre-heat but it also retains "it's" heat a lot longer than regular steel pans / skillets.
 
I love my cast iron. I remember one time i was camping in Red Rock State Park outside of Las Vegas. It's a huge rock climbing place and the campground was full of people cookling up their freeze dried dinners. I roasted a goddam chicken in my dutch oven. I walked throught he camp to go to the bathroom and could smell it all the way there and back. It was glorious.

#1 rule. Don't worry about it.
#2 rule, Keep it seasoned
 
My wife has that fancy stuff. I worked long at hard at not having to use it. :teeth
 
Welcome to the club! Your advice is to never clean with soap. Easiest to clean immediately while hot. There are plastic scrapers made to clean them or boil water to loosen stuff and salt or green scrubbies. Always dry in low oven or stovetop and re-oil as needed. Never put up wet. Best to use neutral high heat oil like grapeseed to finish. Cook bacon in oven to really get a good oiling. Most new items are pre-finished in the factory or can be oiled hourly at low heat in oven until saturated. Older ones need upkeep. We have one that made nothing but cornbread for 5 generations. It is smooth and shiny like a black mirror. Have way too many cast iron pieces, like 50. Every shape of muffin, the hibachi and even the fire tripod with hanging Dutch oven. At some point my guy got into his head that I needed them. Now he is giving me the enameled cast iron which is more amenable to acidic foods like spaghetti sauce. He doesn’t get the hint that kitchenware has never been what I want.
Oh and What kind of recipes are you interested in? Start with a small spatchcocked chicken?
 
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This is my opinion, so take it for what it's worth, but I believe the machine-finished pans are just a gimmick.
 
There are even YT vids showing that you can over-sand a cast iron. If you put a 2000grit finish on the iron and don’t clean and etch it well, the seasoning won’t stick.
 
Hmm, my guy knows a guy with Lodge (thus our half-off). 🤔Will try to find out the skinny. Weirdly this year’s gift is a long panini type griddle with enameled outside. Not Teflon but definitely pre-seasoned. I find the pre-seasoned ones have a decidedly rougher texture than the older ones and that they seem to smoothe with normal use.
 
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