Does anyone use their cast iron at home?

[Laredo]

Every time we cook.

[Joanne]

I think that the label above my avitar would give my answer....

I made pizza in my DO last night. I use my cast iron skillet on the stove top all the time. I use my mom's Wagner chicken skillet (actually 2 skillets, one acts as a lid for the other) for chicken. And of course, the dutch ovens for everything.

Joanne

[Joseph]

We all talked about, and missed you two last weekend at Parvin.

Thanks, Len - we missed you guys too. I think I'm just about healed up enough that I can probably move the teardrop - just in time to put it up for winter.

I collect 1950s 'French' ovens (enameled cast iron) that I cook with indoors either on top of the stove or in the oven.

Cool! I had to Google it before I was sure what you are talking about, but Kate has a couple of pieces of enameled cast iron that I really love. She also has a neat little square frying pan, maybe 9", that she uses all the time, I think it's a Griswold.

Old iron is really the only way to go for skillets - the new stuff is so rough on the cooking surface that I can't imagine being able to fry an egg or a pancake without making a mess. But the old stuff makes me wonder why they bothered inventing teflon - seasoned cast iron is the original "no stick" surface!

Joseph

[Nitetimes]

Use ours all the time. I have 2 skillets, a 10 & an 8 and a round 10" griddle that reside on the stove all the time and a couple more in the cupboard including a 14"er that resides in the oven for lack of any place else to store it.
I think there are only 2 other non cast iron skillets in the kitchen and they rarely get used.

[bledsoe3]

I set the DO table up in the garage and cook out there.

[AmyH]

If you have two cast-iron fry pans, you can make a great panini. Just heat both pans up, put your sandwich inside one, and put the other one on top. Who needs an expensive panini press.

Great idea! I never even thought of trying that to make panini sandwiches. Now I'll have to give it a try. I have a cast iron hobo pie iron that I have been known to use over the gas stove in the kitchen. Makes a great grilled cheese sandwich.

[b.bodemer]

Oh yeah..............two of the favorite pieces are used regularly. They need to now go on my td checklist so I don't leave home without them!

Barb

[mb82]

I used to use mine all the time. Then we got one of those flattop cooktops( you know the hallogen ones) found out after we got it that you can't use cast iron on it because it will scratch the top of the cooktop So the cast iron has been relegated to camp cooking and the occational heated by the grill stuff. I miss my cast iron

[Dale M.]

Lest see.... Dutch Oven (2), Skillets (9), and 2 Grilling Pans, Deep Fat Fryer (1), Chicken Fryer with Lid ( extra deep frying pan), assorted Corn Bread molds, Ebelskiever Pans (Swedish pancakes) (2) ...

Any one may get uses 3-5 times a week.....

Dale

[Gaelen]

mb82...on the Food Network shows, a couple of the chefs have flat top ceramic cooktops--and they use enameled cast iron a lot.
They usually use Le Creuset, but there are other more reasonably priced brands out there--I hunt down the vintage stuff from Dru Holland to keep some check on my addictions, but there is also Descoware, Staub, Martha Stewart CI at KMart, Emerilware, Rachel Ray and Mario Batali have their own cast iron lines--heck, I think even Target has a line of enameled CI. Oh, and at any Marshalls/TJ Maxx, you can usually pick up American Kitchens enameled cast iron. Just make sure the pan has got a flat, all-enamel base and doesn't have a non-enameled 'ring' around the bottom. The enamel won't scratch the cooktop, but the non-enameled surface will kill it.

Enameled cast iron cooks a little differently than unenameled stuff, but it's non-reactive so you can make acidic sauces without damaging the surface. Other than that, it works very well, won't scratch your stove and cleans up very easily.

Now that I think about it, a number of these companies also make flat enameled heat diffusers to enable more even heating on older cooktops. You could probably put one of those on your smoothtop burner, and then use non-enameled cast iron on top of the enameled heat diffuser.

[dmb90260]

I used to use mine all the time. Then we got one of those flattop cooktops( you know the hallogen ones) found out after we got it that you can't use cast iron on it because it will scratch the top of the cooktop So the cast iron has been relegated to camp cooking and the occational heated by the grill stuff. I miss my cast iron

Can't you make a ring of teflon or something for it to rest on and cook?
I know nothing of halgon stoves.

[mb82]

We are going to get some enamel cookware but my skillets and dutch oven have cooked so many meals for me I am having a hard time thinking about getting replacements. We are going to start with an enamel dutch oven since we used to use that fairly often but it won't be the same.

[Gaelen]

We are going to get some enamel cookware but my skillets and dutch oven have cooked so many meals for me I am having a hard time thinking about getting replacements. We are going to start with an enamel dutch oven since we used to use that fairly often but it won't be the same.

mb82, don't think of the new stuff as replacements. Think of the new stuff as enhancements. Sometimes, you gotta upgrade your equipment to function effectively in newer surroundings. Sure, non-enameled CI has been around for a long time, but (don't anyone shoot me now...) it's not absolutely perfect for everything 24/7.

There's a thing that happens to overused cookware called 'pan fatigue.' I've had it happen in commercial kitchens with NSF stamped cookware--and had it happen at home with a couple of pans that I literally used to death. Usually happens to a skillet...one day, the metal gives out and it just explodes under the current insult (usually temperature change). The first time it happened to me, I was a little crushed...and then I realized that pans DO eventually wear out. And even before they wear out, not every pan is perfect for every single thing. Your non-enameled CI will still cook well for you on other cook surfaces...but if you want the best out of your smooth top, you're going to have to buy enameled CI (or something else) that works with your new 21st century surface. Think of it as an extension of your kitchen's versatility, not a retirement party for equipment that is still usable but no longer the best for that situation.

[dreadcptflint]

How do you fry chicken with out it? Seriously, we started using cast iron after Alton Brown used it on Good Eats. I don't think that my sweetie can live with out it.

[Gaelen]

How do you fry chicken with out it?

Restaurants fry chicken in deep fryers...no CI in sight. And some of it's actually pretty good. Seriously.

My Grandmother's cast iron skillet died (pan fatique). It was very old, brought with her from England. I wanted to replace it with something easier to maintain that would give me the same results. I found a second hand enameled Le Creuset skillet, and later found my first french oven. I now fry chicken in a french oven, one of the easiest and cleanest ways to do it. The pan is deep enough to safely heat a nice quantity of oil plus the food, the sides are tall enough to contain the spatter, and the enameled CI gives the same kind of controlled even heating as non-enameled CI...but is a heckuva lot lower maintenance than the non-enameled stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I like my Camp Chef DO. And I've had a lot of fun learning how to cook over an open fire with it. But when I'm frying chicken in the house, the french oven is my tool of choice. Mileage varies.