It hit me one day this week that I should be using my cast iron skillets more often. My daughter (the allergic one) was diagnosed with severe anemia in December and so we've been trying to incorporate more iron into her diet.For some reason, I remembered that I had read that using cast iron in cooking would actually increase the amount of iron in food. I did a quick search and found a great article which shows that "cooking in a cast iron skillet can add significant amounts of iron to your food and into your body."
I was definitely ready to give cast iron another chance. I already have two skillets - one about 12" in diameter, and I'm guessing the other to be about 8". The 12" was given to me new about 10 years ago, while the smaller one was passed down to me by my grandmother. I found a great How-To article on seasoning the skillets and proceeded to do that with both. The smaller one, however, was already well seasoned.
On to the test - I used my skillet to brown with very little oil some breaded chicken balls. The results? Amazing. Each ball was browned nicely and did not stick in the least. (The ultimate test will come when I test my new recipe for Egg-Less French Toast. I'll let you know how it turns out!)
One of the best advantages to cooking with cast iron, IMO, is the low cost of the cookware. I did a quick search online and found Lodge skillets for under $20 each. Since I already have two skillets, I've now got my eye on a Dutch oven and a griddle.
Lodge also makes some nice looking enameled cast iron that is much, much cheaper than Le Creuset (try $53.99 compared to $219.95 for a 6 qt dutch oven). As I have been dreaming of Le Creuset for quite some time, I am happy to find this much cheaper version of cookware.
4 comments:
It's amazing how the Lord works! I have been considering trying my cast iron again... It's been sitting in the garage for a good many years! Like you, I already have the skillets. Thanks for your post! It was the push I needed and reminder to do it this weekend.
Thanks for the tip. I've also been eyeing the Le Creuset dutch ovens.
I love, love, love my cast iron. I use them ALL the time. I have one large traditional Lodge cast iron skillet, the large red enameled Lodge dutch oven (which I use nearly every week during the winter for soups, braising meats, everything! And it is SUPER easy to clean! I received it as a wedding gift and have since given the same dutch oven to my sister for her wedding and my little sister has pre-requested it for her wedding gift, and she's not even dating anyone!) and I am lucky enough to have two smaller Le Creuset pots and one Le Creuset gratin dish that my grandmother gave me from an estate sale (she didn't quite realize the value of the pans! They were just too heavy for her). I have even baked a cake in them!
You can sometimes find good deals on used Le Crueset on ebay or at estate or garage sales, so if you frequent those, check them out. My gratin pan is their turqoise color (which is now discontinued) and I find myself looking for matches for it all the time, but so does everyone else so they amp up the bidding! Their new Carribean color is similar and I might have to add to my collection.
Take good care of your cast iron pans and someday you'll be able to pass them on to your own daughters (which really makes the initial cost of the pan marginal, don't you think? :) Think of it in terms of price per use! :)
Best,
Sarah
I love my cast iron pan!
One quick thing, for some reason very acidic foods and most especially tomato-based things will take the seasoning off the surface very quickly, so it is important to get all the food bits off, make sure your pan is dried quickly and thoroughly, and reseason. Or else it might rust :( I found this out the hard way :( Fortunately, a bit of scrubbing and a good re-seasoning later and my pan was fine. Tomato sauce will pull more iron than other things, so it's ideal if you're trying to add iron to your diet (and the vitamin C in the tomatoes will help the iron be more readily absorbed in your body), it's just that you can't let it sit in your pan, and you need to take extra care with your pan afterward.
Post a Comment