These are the real reasons that I use my cast iron skillet to cook most everything.
The opposite of fussy, Cast Iron is the one sort of pan you should own if you only own one.
This is the first cast iron skillet I ever owned. At eighteen years she is the young filly in my cast iron stable that now includes a few vintage pieces from grandma. Grandma was kinder to her cast iron. See the crust on the underside? That’s from cooking over an open flame, on a campfire, in the woods.
And that’s why I love it—cast iron is tough. Not your modern-day iPhone Crossfit tough but pioneer woman I can plow a field and nurse a baby at the same time tough. This obsidian angel has been burnt, soaked, scrubbed, and scalded. Last night I used it for a one pan chicken dinner, this morning I fried eggs. Stove top, oven, campfire: this pan can go anywhere but the dishwasher (and even that would do no lasting harm).
When I was a teenager I got scolded for using soap on a cast iron pan, as if that one encounter with suds had rendered the pan useless for generations to come. This led to way too many years thinking they were like the wicked witch of the west or Gremlins. Certainly soap is to be avoided but I’d rather re-season the pan than have it smell like fish for weeks on end (yes, I use it to fry up salmon cakes), and I’ve found that a quick scrub doesn’t actually harm the seasoning. It’s IRON, like the superhero and the triathlon, one bout with soap isn’t going to wash away years of hard work. Don’t believe me? Believe my pan, it doesn’t lie.
Tough means versatile and that is the best reason to use cast iron. From cakes to Quiche to eggs over a campfire my cast iron has never let me down.
No new recipe today but here are a few links to inspire you to break out the cast iron, just don’t break the glass top stove.
From a Beautiful Mess: Deep Dish Cast Iron Pizza
My own: Cast Iron Quiche
Haha I also use soap sometimes!! Sometimes you just gotta get it extra clean… Hasn’t caused an issue for me yet!
I know that somedays my pan isn’t perfectly non-stick but yes sometimes you just gotta 😉
Wow, there I was, feeling very blue Christmassy, languidly clicking through foodgawker, ready to laugh at some people’s idea of nourishment, and I found your blog. I am also a Portlander, although probably a generation older than you, and it just made me happy to read what you have to say. My memory of cast iron: being an Air Force brat, baby-sitting some very southern children on base, and hearing from my mother the next day that washing their cast iron skillet was a heinous crime. Well, actually, a colonel’s wife was probably more polite than to put it that way, but I thought they should be glad I did the dishes. And I need to quit being afraid of cast iron pans, except now I can’t afford one.
And now you’ve made my day. There is comfort in knowing I wasn’t alone being chastised for washing the cat iron. THank you for sharing!