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.
Mark Bittman, December 7, 2005
Cast iron cookware is one of the few cooking utensils of the past that has never outlived its usefulness. Its not hard to imagine why your grandmother may have kept hold of her cast iron pots and pans. They are easily the most reliable tools a cook can have, and the least expensive. They last for generations.
However, the most crucial benefit to using cast iron is its heat regulation. It holds a temperature a good while after you've turned the heat off, or taken the dish off the fire. Its that heat regulation that got me hooked to cooking with cast iron. Cast iron cookware makes you listen, smell, and connect with the food you're cooking, which is why I believe cooking with cast iron is a form of alchemy.
A Little History
When you eat dishes cooked in a cast iron pot, their flavor is unmistakable, nutritious and delectable. More important, you're taking a bite of history, legacy and tradition that's economical and if you have a Lodge cast iron frying pan, Dutch oven, grill or griddle -- you're buying American.
Cast iron cookware, namely woks and cauldrons, were present in China around 513 AD. Cast iron pots were first used in Europe in the 12th century. New immigrants from Europe brought these cast iron pots and pans with them to America as early as the 17th century, and with them cooking techniques--primarily over open flame--for a wide variety of soups, stews, roasts, breads and desserts.
Seasoning and Care
If you recently purchased a cast iron pan, particularly anything made by Lodge, chances are it has been pre-seasoned and ready for immediate first use. But even with Lodge's pre-seasoning, you will want to rub the inside and outside of your cast iron with oil and put it in a 350 degree oven for an hour, to get a good first protective layer that you will cultivate with time.
I would also recommend doing some frying in a new pan. It will build up the seasoning beautifully, particularly if you do not use harsh detergents or metal scrubbers on your cookware. You shouldn't do that to cast iron anyway. The most effective seasoning for my new cast iron frying pan came from roasting whole chickens the Zuni Cafe method, a recipe which I will provide, along with others below.
Cooking with Cast Iron: Heat Regulation and Control, and the Mastery of Your Senses
The recipes I'll be sharing all involve a bit of sensory magic and management, meaning you need to be there and pay attention to the phases of caramelization and browning and the doneness of your food as it cooks. You need your eyes ears and your nose when you cook, and cast iron is a great vessel to sharpen those cooking senses.
I'm going to start with a potato dish that is perfect for breakfast, a nice brunch dish or dinner side.
Pan-fried Lemony-Garlic Potato Galette
1-2 large potatoes
pinch salt
garlic powder
1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
pepper
2 tsp. fresh lemon peel
1/4 c. olive oil
Shred potatoes on a coarse grater. I use a box grater and grate by hand. Place shredded potatoes in a colander, rinse and let drain, or you can accelerate this part of the process by putting the shreds into your salad spinner. Whichever way you choose, make sure to get rid of excess moisture from the potato rinsing, which if left in will prevent a crispy golden crust.
Combine potatoes with the onion, lemon peel, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside and put a 10 inch cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan while it is heating. Let the pan and the oil get hot before you put in the potato mixture. Once the potatoes are in, wait until you hear the full sound of sizzling of your potatoes. Turn the heat down from medium hot to medium or medium low.
The potatoes will fill the pan, but once they start cooking and the mass of the galette shrinks down, you're close to flipping it to brown on the other side. BEFORE YOU DO, look at the side that's been cooking to see 1) if it comes away freely from the pan; and 2) if its formed an even, crisp golden-brown crust on the bottom. If its met both those criteria, you're ready to flip. Remember to add more olive oil to the pan once you've flipped the galette, to ensure even browning and a consistent crust.
Always check your heat while the potatoes are cooking, that way you won't end up with scorched parts, which can happen, given the onions in this recipe.
I love galettes with a nice green salad with a lemon vinaigrette for brunch, or with a couple of eggs sunny-side up, perfectly fried in my cast iron griddle.
My next recipe comes by special request from a fellow Kossack who wants to know about stovetop braises and stews. So here we go:
Basic Pot Roast
3-5 lbs. medium chuck roast
flour for dredging
salt
pepper
1 whole onion, quartered
1 head of garlic, whole, with top sliced off.
3 carrots, diced
two ribs celery, sliced into 1/2" pieces
6-8 cups beef or chicken stock
1 cup wine (whatever is available: red, white, Madeira, vermouth)
3 bay leaves
olive oil for sauteing
Heat a large Dutch oven on the stove on medium high heat. Add 2 Tbs olive oil. Dredge the roast in flour seasoned with salt and brown the meat in the Dutch oven. When all sides are brown, remove meat from heat and place on a plate. Pour off excess fat, leaving a slight layer of oil and the pot "fond" (caramelized meat and blood bits) intact.
Turn down the heat to medium and add celery, onion, carrots, bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste in the Dutch oven. Stir until ingredients are well mixed together and cook until onions are slightly translucent but not golden. Put the whole head of garlic in the center. Add the meat on top of the veggies, pouring any excess blood or liquid from the resting meat back into the pot. Pour in wine, stock to cover, and put the lid of the Dutch oven on the pot securely. Turn the stove down to medium low and let pot roast simmer for 2 to 2.5 hours.
If you smell a "burnt protein" or "caramel" smell while the pot roast is simmering, check in and turn down the heat. You may also want to add more liquid while its cooking. Pot roast and braises are one of those dishes that really need your senses to be fully engaged to make sure you don't burn your dinner. You should also hear a good simmer. Its not a bubbling boil like fast oatmeal, but a slower, soft regular beat of bubbling. With pot roasting of any kind of tougher meat, the slower the cooking the better, more tender the end product.
Once done, remove roast and head of garlic from the pot to rest. Using a hand blender or upright variety, blend the cooked vegetables and simmered stock until its a smooth sauce. Squeeze out the cooked garlic cloves from the garlic head and blend in, or serve whole with the meat for guests to squeeze on their own servings.
College age Kossacks, new cooks and "youngins'" if you know how to roast a chicken, you will be able to feed yourself in life. This is my favorite roast chicken recipe, used quite often because I get a beautifully, crisp-skinned chicken in about an hour +.
Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken (3 lb. fryer is best - make sure the bagged liver, gizzards and other parts are out of the chicken before you cook!)
salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
two garlic cloves, chopped
pepper
herbs: sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, or basil - whatever you like
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. While oven is heating, slip your fingers underneath the breast skin of the bird, loosening it from the slippery membrane holding it to the flesh. Do the same to the skin at the thigh-leg joint. Place the chopped garlic and herbs under the skin at the breasts and in the leg-thigh areas. Rub skin with a mixture of olive oil and salt.
Place prepared chicken breast-side up in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Place in oven and roast at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. Use a timer. At the end of the 25 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, flip it to its back side up. You may need to use a good strong metal spatula to loosen the whole bird to flip it. You don't want to leave burnt stuck skin on the pan. Roast another 18 minutes at the same temperature. Taking the pan out the oven again, flip the chicken back to breast side up and roast another 15-18 minutes. Using a quick-read thermometer, check the bird's doneness by reading the temperature from the thickest part of the thigh. "Done" dark meat should register 165 degrees.
Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving. I love this dish on a bed of spinach greens. Let the greens soak up the bird's juices, which slightly cooks them.
When I have eaten what I've cooked in my cast iron, the flavor, the quality of the cooked food really is better. Add to that the experience of being connected through the vessel to the alchemical agent of fire. That experience is infused with a grounding and magical power. Cooking with cast iron is a pleasure beyond the pleasure of a good meal. Its also a joy in tradition. If you're still lucky to have and are using legacy cast iron, there is that small, silent acknowledgment of time and memory, appreciation of recipes handed down, and maybe even cooked in the vary same vessel used by your forebear. With the frying pan your mother used to make cornbread, or the big iron kettle your grandfather stirred for hours to make Brunswick stew -- you're grounded in your own personal family history, which is a life-affirming experience.
I want to give a major shout out to The Blackiron Dude who is one serious cat when it comes to cast iron. He's got the goods on history, antiques and cast iron types that not only give some good pointers, but shares good knowledge on the value of the older cast iron pieces you may have inherited in your cookware arsenal as well as how you can re-season and preserve them! Check him out.
Its worth the mild effort it takes to take care of our cast iron pots and pans, because they carry forward meals and memories, and will last you and your family a long, long time. Your cast iron pots and pans are good family friends you can hand down, generation to generation. With each meal I cook in them now, these pots and pans will be infused with layer upon layer of my history and love, embedded in iron, to pass on to the generations to come.
Let me leave you with a little quote from someone who knows cooking and food quite well:
"I still think that one of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few, that I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish, to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world"
M.F.K. Fisher, "The Gastronomical Me"
Before I see you down below in the comments, I humbly bow to BigOkie, whose June diary on cast iron cooking provided a beautiful foundation on which to build my own. Thanks.