Originally posted by Lori4squaremom: If you are fortunate enough to find any pre-seasoned, OLD cast iron in thrift stores, estate sales, etc, OR for that matter ANY castiron pieces, even if they're rusted, they are pretty easy to restore.
I got mine at Thriftown...
It is only 10" across. Since I often cook for 15 people, I need bigger pans and need 3 of them going.
Denise
Posts: 8722 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
Brie, I am so glad you like your new cast iron. I LOVE my cast iron! I still need to add a good cast iron skillet, and then my collection will be pretty complete. I have a 10 inch frypan, a 12 inch fry pan, and a 6(?) quart dutch oven....I want to add a griddle, and then I'll be good
If you are fortunate enough to find any pre-seasoned, OLD cast iron in thrift stores, estate sales, etc, OR for that matter ANY castiron pieces, even if they're rusted, they are pretty easy to restore. The skillets I have are from my maternal grandmother. I have ruined the seasoning in both of them a couple of times, and now have them restored to their previous beautiful condition.
I keep mine on the top rack of my oven. Always have. I've never had problems with rust.
Blessings,
Lori
Re-committing myself to a healthy lifestyle that will include regular (and increasing) exercise, and following the baby steps rule on food. 6/17/08
Posts: 3149 | Location: California | Registered: March 11, 2004
Originally posted by MaryJo: Welcome to the cast iron club Bee!!
I have 3 and I love them. My tip for you.....after cleaning and drying ( I put mine on the gas burner of the stove to dry). I spray with a little pam spray and store with a paper towel inside to avoid any rust.
Enjoy it and eat in good health!!!!!! MJ
I know a lot of people oil their pans before putting them up but in my family we have never done that and have never had any problem with rust. We do make sure it is very very dry before putting it away. I suppose if you lived in a very humid climate it might be necessary.
"Live your life so that you are not afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."
Posts: 4067 | Location: NE Atlanta (Chamblee, Doraville, Norcross, Duluth) | Registered: March 15, 2004
Yard sales and thrift shops are a great place to pick up these great pots and pans. I Have found many and some pretty rusted that I have been able to scrub down and re-season back to it's original state with no hint of rust coming back. I am looking for a medium size dutch oven set this year. Hope you enjoy!!!!
By Renee Schettler Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 2, 2003; Page F01
All you cooks who covet a gleaming designer skillet with a sleek nonstick surface and a $140 price tag, I have two words for you.
Cast iron.
If you think cast-iron cookware is as old-fashioned as fried chicken and corn bread, hear me out.
When I lug out my cast-iron skillet, I'm thinking of eggs cracked atop a jumble of crisped jamon serrano and sauteed asparagus with shaved Pecorino Romano on top.
Bitter spring greens wilted with toasted almonds and warm red grapes in garlic-infused oil.
Toasted quesadillas oozing with manchego cheese and boozy sauteed mushrooms.
Salmon fillets crusted with rosemary and orange zest that are first seared then finished in the oven.
Butter-braised sugar snaps topped with pea shoots and fleur de sel.
Chicken under a brick.
And a the world's best seared steak with a perfectly blackened crust and an impossibly juicy center.
I do everything in it but boil water.
My cast-iron infatuation was forged out of necessity. As a college graduate lacking any job prospects, I turned to a $10 cast-iron workhorse when it was the only piece of cookware I could afford.
And though I now own a modest set of pots and pans, they go largely unused.
Not only does my smoking-hot, 10-inch, cast-iron skillet make the perfect steak, but it has supplanted my need for just about every other type of pan. It makes pancakes (who needs a griddle?), boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or a saute pan?), fried eggs (bye-bye, nonstick skillet), an entire roast chicken (forget that odd-size roasting pan), crisp yet airy pizza crust (no unwieldy, pricey pizza stone) and even apple pie (no more seeking out the perfect deep-dish pie plate).
It withstands high temperatures, it maintains and evenly distributes all range of lower temperatures, it lends a unique crust to seared anything and is virtually indestructible.
With fancy-schmancy nonstick skillets, unless great restraint is shown, that pristine polytetrafluoroethylene surface doesn't remain scratchless for long. (What hurried cook hasn't inadvertently taken a metal spatula or fork to the sleek surface? And who wants to consume microscopic particles of polytetrafluoroethylene in their Pommes Anna?) An inexpensive cast-iron skillet can be scratched, poked and prodded and then easily re-seasoned to a slick, slippery nonstick surface.
Even more damaging to these flimsy skillets is high heat. Hike a burner on an average home range up to high and the temperature can reach between 500 and 600 degrees. A nonstick coating begins to break down at 500 degrees. What good is that?
Aluminum saute pans don't fare much better. Though the metal doesn't begin to actually melt until 800 degrees, it softens and warps much sooner.
Cast-iron cookware? It melts at 2,500 degrees, which means it can go safely from stovetop to oven.
Some novitiates to cast-iron are intimidated by the treatment that the pan requires before it can be used -- a concern I've never quite understood since the directions are plainly written on the packaging. But it's a cinch -- and factory-seasoned skillets now appease the time-pressed or the wary. (See box on front page.)...
Ever So Humble, Cast Iron Outshines the Fancy Pans
By MARK BITTMAN
AS cookware becomes more expensive and the kinds available become more varied, it's increasingly clear to me that most "new" pots and pans are about marketing. For most tasks, old-style cookware is best. So these days when I'm asked for a recommendation, I reply with an old-fashioned answer: cast iron.
My personal return to cast iron began less than a year ago when I began to heed the warnings against preheating chemically treated pans and putting them in hot ovens, which could create potentially harmful fumes.
As most experienced cooks know, you can't brown food unless you preheat your skillet, and I frequently transfer food from stove top to oven.
So cast iron is a logical choice, especially in skillets, unless you require gorgeous stainless to make a style point or you can afford copper - which is ideal for sautéing because its heat distribution is incomparable - and the time to care for it. The only disadvantages are that cast iron is heavy (look for skillets with handles on both sides) and it requires a bit of care to keep it seasoned and looking nice.
But cast iron has so many benefits. Well seasoned, it is nearly as nonstick as any manufactured nonstick surface and far more so than stainless, aluminum or even copper pans.
Cast iron is practically free compared with other high-quality pots and pans ($20, say, for a skillet). In addition, it lasts nearly forever: the huge skillet I bought around 1970 for $10 is still going strong.
Furthermore, it is an even distributor of heat, which you will instantly appreciate if switching from stainless steel or aluminum. And you can move it from stove top to oven without a thought.
Cast-iron pans are created by pouring molten iron into sand molds. After the metal solidifies, the sand crust is blasted off, and any rough edges are removed. This is pretty much the way cast iron has been made for centuries.
A couple of variables might influence your buying decision: the purity of the cast iron and the issue of seasoning it.
Lodge, the only domestic maker of cast-iron cookware, uses only "pig-iron ingot and scrap steel converted back into iron" to make its cookware, according to the company's chief executive, Bob Kellermann. Anonymously made imported cast-iron cookware, though often less expensive, offers no such guarantees. In my experience the cheapest cast-iron pans have far more "hot spots."
But the biggest fear most people have about cast iron is the seasoning process. The metal is porous and rough, and until it gains a patina from use it is the opposite of nonstick. Lodge, in an attempt to make this a non-issue, has introduced a line of preseasoned cookware, which now makes up something like 80 percent of its sales.
But I'd rather control the process: seasoning is simple, and maintaining it is even simpler. To season a new pan wash it well and dry it. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you warm the pan gently over low heat on top of the stove. Using a brush or a paper towel, spread a tablespoon or so of a fresh neutral oil like corn or grape seed in the pan; the surface should be evenly covered, with no excess. Put the pan in the oven, bake it for about an hour and let it cool in the oven.
That's it.
It's helpful if the first few uses of the pan involve oil, like sautéeing or deep-frying. If you care for the pan properly, it will darken with use and become increasingly smooth, beautiful and easy to cook in.
Once the pan is seasoned, routine washing can almost always be done with a scouring pad, not steel wool or anything else that will damage the seasoning (although the worst that can happen is that the pan will have to be reseasoned).
Despite many recommendations to the contrary, a little mild soap won't tear off the seasoning.
Cast iron can rust of course, but never if you dry it after washing and keep it out of rain and floods. If rust does appear, scour it off with steel wool or sandpaper, and reseason.
Cast iron really struts its stuff when you want to get a pan good and hot and keep it that way. For "grilling" a steak indoors, it can't be beat. Ridged cast-iron "grill pans" are good for two reasons: They raise the meat slightly above the surface, which promotes browning by preventing escaping liquids from contacting the meat, and they leave grill marks, which are attractive if nothing else.
Cast iron is as good at browning as any other cookware, and its mass lets it hold a steady temperature so well that it is perfect for deep- or shallow-frying.
But braising in cast iron, especially with acidic ingredients like tomato or wine, may degrade the seasoning slightly. In extreme cases, you may have to reseason the pan; more likely, you'll just have to treat it to a light coating of oil and a few minutes of warming.
In any case, this isn't a bad routine. Every so often I wash my cast-iron skillet and put it over low heat. When the water begins to evaporate I wipe it dry and spread a little oil over its surface with a paper towel. I leave the skillet over the heat a few more minutes and wipe it out again.
Yes, this is maintenance, and most cookware is maintenance-free. But it seems a small price to pay for inexpensive, high-performing, safe, nonstick pans. When it comes to cookware, new is not necessarily better.
I have 3 and I love them. My tip for you.....after cleaning and drying ( I put mine on the gas burner of the stove to dry). I spray with a little pam spray and store with a paper towel inside to avoid any rust.
Enjoy it and eat in good health!!!!!! MJ
Posts: 1381 | Location: West Florida | Registered: March 12, 2004
Welcome to the cast iron club Bee!! 
