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Cast Iron Cooking; Foods to ALLWAYS Cook on using Cast Iron!

6K views 56 replies 18 participants last post by  bigwheel 
#1 ·
For your good as well as the the good of your cookware always cook the following foods on Cast Iron;

Bacon! Bacon tastes better when cooked on cast iron and the bacon fats will help keep the cast iron seasoned and conditioned.

Steaks! Nothing sears a steak like a cast iron skillet and the seasonings as well as the fats help to keep the cookware in top notch condition.

Pancakes! For me, pancakes cooked on low heat on a well seasoned skillet are simply the best! The first batch always goes to the dogs, but every batch after gets better and better! Lightly crunchy/carmelized on the edges and golden brown and delicious!

What are your best/favorite foods to cook on cast iron?
 
#2 ·
Bacon, Sausage, and Pork Chops are best in a cast iron skillet. I like to do my cornbread in cast Iron as well. Nothing better.
 
#5 · (Edited)
We wear out our iron on cornbread..fired okry and fried tates. The Warden has been cooking bacon in the oven laid out on parrchment paper lined cookie sheet for the past few years since the oldest boy in the food bidness taught her how to do it. Not as flavorful by a certain percentage point..but not near as messy and less of a good odor hanging in the house for two days and more rational looking slices. Can still retrieve a bit of grease for other uses. Now my Mama used hers for everything but we skip it for some stuff. Now will caution from a vast pool of trial and error and listening to smart folks..dont cook anything slightly acidic. Cast iron is highly reactive...similar to bare aluminum. It makes the food taste funny and gives a person too much iron...unless they need iron such as most cute young ladies. Course nobody needs to taste or ingest aluminum. That causes Alzheimers and other such things. Such foods to avoid include any thimg with tomatoes..vinegar...wine..lemon juice..blah blah blah. Chil and spahgetti sauce surely. Fine for baking cakes.
 
#7 ·
I have a full set of the Chicom Iron from Academy sports cost forty bucks and came in a cool wooden box. Still use most of it. I was the hired gun to cooke my special Pineapple upside down and various dump cakes in my big Dutch Oven at severa; bbq contests. My wife won a ribbon for her dump cake but she cooked it in the oven which is cheating. lol.
 
#8 ·
I use my cast iron pans often. Mine are TN USA made by Lodge.
 
#11 ·
Just fried some pork chops in my Cast Iron Lodge pan. cooked to perfection.
 
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#12 ·
My Mama fried thin pork chops in her big cast iron skillet half a day in Crisco to make sure it killed all the worms. They were tasty but closer to a meaty chicharoni maybe. lol. Love em like that. But since I am now a health conscious fat boy..I likes to take a big old fat one and hook up my remote reading temp gauge to the middle of it and slam it between the maxed out heating elements of my non stick GE brand George Foreman Clone grill and pull it quick when the gauge says 150..which takes about five mins or so. Hit it with whatever seasoning you like while its still hot. Or you can season it in advance but that messes it up. lol. Its pretty dang painless. If you get it much past 150 it turns into pine. Lean meat don't lend itself well to extended cooking times. My Mama didnt know that. lol
 
#14 ·
DH makes some mean gumbos and ALWAYS uses his cast iron skillet to make the roux. It's a beautiful process to watch-- flour and fat slowly turning color just to the point where you think it's going to burn but NO! Perfect.

View attachment 101855
Goose Gumbo
Awesome Marica! Making a roux in a cast iron is indeed the BEST!

(Slippy's Roux tip of the day; Spread your flour on parchment paper or foil on a cookie sheet, add a shake or two of onion salt and cayenne pepper and bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes before you start your roux.)
 
#17 ·
What are your best/favorite foods to cook on cast iron?
YES!

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I have a goodly number of pieces collected over the years from yards sales and antique stores when they were reasonable (read cheap here).
A different way of cookin from your Wally's colorized thin stamped thingamajigs.
 
#24 ·
Another reason you shall never take my cast Iron pans. Corn bread. Will be served right along side fish tonight.
 

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#27 · (Edited)
Oooh yeah! Instead of rubbing with lard or oil I use a whole stick of butter, just put it in the pan and into the oven until it starts to bubbling.
Pull the pan out and pour your batter right in the middle and watch the butter swell up around the side and roll over the batter towards the center.
Put the pan back in the oven and bake for your recipe's prescribed time. Nuttin' better!
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Edit: Cast Iron is great for frying up some cabbage & sausage too.
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#34 ·
I used to cook most everything in a cast iron pan. I was fat and had man boobs at the time.

I'm slim now and use non-stick cookware. Sacrifices had to be made.
Don't forget that when the food runs out the fat guys with man boobs will out live you.:tango_face_grin:
 
#33 · (Edited)
My CI is no stranger to water. I prepare all sorts of food in it.... including good ol' mac n cheese.

Food Ingredient Recipe Cuisine Dish


Fryin' up a mess o' hash browns tonight.
 
#39 ·
That line is usually funny when it's used in the correct context, like when two people are either bickering back and forth or find a common ground on something and keep commenting on it.

That was not the case here so.....sorry.
 
#44 ·
@Annie

I believe that what @Robie and @hawgrider are saying is that recipes that have liquid or even some acids do not adversely affect the seasonings of the Cast Iron cookware.

I've cooked tomato based stews and gumbos variants in my cast iron dutch oven and did not notice any negative affects. I "TRY" and regularly season/re-season my cast iron cookware and the few things that I would NOT in CI is Boil Water, Warm Tomato Soup or cook my famous Spaghetti Sauce in a cast iron cookware. 95% of what I cook on CI is meat and meat based recipes.

The enamel coated ones are also excellent and in my opinion conduct heat even better than non enamel cast iron which makes them better for stews, gumbos, soups etc. Tonight I may cook a ribeye using an enamaled CI skillet and do a taste test...
 
#53 ·
This evening Made meat balls in one of the cast iron pans golden brown out side tender inside.
 
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