Cast Iron Skillets, pans dutch ovens, pone platters. Best cooking ever?

This would have been a good poll, but I can't post one.

BUT! Those of you who enjoy cooking, is or has there ever been anything better than a black well seasoned piece of cast iron cookery?



And if you are new to them here's a nice recipe on seasoning new ones (I think most of mine are close to having a centennial about now). http://blog.shak-shuka.com/shakshuka/2009/04/amidst-all-the-concern-we-as-parents-have-about-the-utensils-bottles-and-bowls-that-our-children-use-there-is-another-area.html

... but what's a "pone platter"?

Oh, and welcome to DU.

Git you some pot likker and corn pones and you are good to go.

(For those not familiar with pot liquor, it's the liquid left over from your greens)

We hand them down like heirlooms in my family, and rusting one out is a disaster, though I actually heard on The Splendid Table recently that if you accidentally rust one you can help it by first scrubbing off all the rust you can, then fill it over and over with canola oil and heat it to very hot, change the oil, heat, etc. over a period of days. If you treasure them it's not too much trouble.

Well, a couple of ways, actually..

You can scrub the pan with steel wool, then preheat your oven to 500 degrees or higher. Place the pan in the oven for one hour so it gets really hot. Take the pan out, then wipe it down with a rag or some paper towels coated with lard then let it cool...

Another way, if you live somewhere where this is feasible, is to start a small bonfire and place the pans directly in the fire once it gets hot. Leave the pans in the fire for an hour or so, then take them out and wipe them down and let them cool as described above. This is a good way to spend a nice cool day outside, and to make it not seem like work, you can invite friends over for a cookout, or cook hotdogs and/or marshmallows with your family...


Peace,

Ghost

:hi:

That people were gonna throw out. Mom would re-season them in the oven, with vegetable oil - but you need a day when it's just warm enough to open the kitchen to the weather. It works ace! And I bet you can weld one if it's preheated in the fire - and re-heated, then left to cool in the ashes (or in vermiculite or oil-dri)

Oh yeah - use a cast iron, small frypan as a baking dish, for store-bought buiscuits. Helped convince my wife I was marryin' material...

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Not in MY house, it's not.
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H-m-m-m... greens.
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Perhaps I spoke too hastily.
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Cool user name,Randall.

things but not everything. I alternate between that and my stainless steel.

cast iron for eggs, bacon, sausage, caramelized onions, grilled cheeses, the frying stage of polenta, lots of other things that are gently browned...

stainless steel for long-simmering greens (turnips, etc.), especially when they are in an acidic sauce (tomato-based, vinegar, etc.), and also for super-high heat/flash frying.

-app

I was raised on it!

Or fry bacon.

I'd never cooked in enamel-coated cast iron before this year. Now in my fantasy kitchen, I would cook with nothing else.

I'm testing every shred of family devotion trying to get someone to haul my 15+ pound dutch oven to New Zealand for me though.

and I love, love, love it ... except for the fact that I can't lift it when it's full.

I love love love my cast iron skillet. Is there anything it can't do?

HOLEE CRAP was it delicious. And the house smelled like heaven.

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Yes.
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Eight-years-old, out for a LONG Cub Scout hike through deep snow
in Michigan. Come to a clearing in the woods.
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We cooked hot dogs over a hastily-, shiveringly-built campfire.
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On STICKS.
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Can't think of cookware, appliance, or gadget that I've used
since that can compete with a stick in the snow in the woods.
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Wanda Jackson "Big Iron Skillet"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siIf9vkdNZ4

Guy Clark, "Home Grown Tomaters"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QzLIjL1u4