Can you cook anything in cast iron?
There’s a long history of cooking with cast iron. But, the fact that make me fall in love with cast iron is a cast iron skillet which is 90 years old.
My grandmother was not any chef, but she knew thousands of recipes and hundreds of different cooking pots are showcased in her kitchen. Now she is no more, but her kitchen make us feel that she’s still cooking in the kitchen.
I’m watching this topcellent piece of cooking pot from my age of urinating in bed, but the first time I came to know about it when I enrolled in a culinary arts program. Anyway, let’s see what can you cook in a cast iron skillet.
What You Can Cook In Your Cast-Iron
The first thing I learned to cook is pancake. You can cook it in a cast iron griddle pan. Despite having couples of cast iron in my grandmother’s kitchen, I bought a new one. Nobody in our family wants to see any erosion in these ancestral utensils as a result of use.
So, I bought a new one. I just learned a recipe and arranged everything needed to cook that recipe. I started showing off my cooking talent. Had no time to season it and I also didn’t know about seasoning it.
I had also tried to cook so many other recipes. Lemon chicken, tomato soup, green mango porridge and several other self invented recipes had been cooked with my newly purchased cast iron.
Some of my self invented recipes were good and some were not so tasty. I was enjoying the cooking. But, one day a small rift appeared in my belief that cast iron can last for hundred years. I noticed that my skillet was getting rusty. It also lost its smoothness.
I started blaming the brand and shared the fact with my chef in the class. Then I come to know almost everything about cast iron. I’ve come to know that I shouldn’t cook lemon, tomato or any other acidic food in my cast iron pan. Yea, you can not cook anything in cast iron.
What You Shouldn’t Cook In Your Cast-Iron
You shouldn’t cook acidic foods, sticky foods, omelets, desserts and delicate fish in your cast iron if you want your cast iron pan last for decades to come. It’s not dangerous to cook those foods in a cast iron skillet. But, if you do so, your cast iron will get rusty as well as your food will lose original taste.
Acidic foods like lemon juice or tomato sauce breaks down the cast iron and the absorbing power of cast iron is very strong. So, if you cook fish in your cast iron, the next few items you cook in it will smell like fish.
You might think that why should you buy/use a cast iron when you can cook essentially the same recipes with any non-stick pan. But, if you use it, you’ll find that this skillet is really as amazing as everyone says.
However, it requires a bit more care and of course a cast iron deserves it. You’ll know it if you use it. From oven to stove top, you can use it everywhere. From chicken wings to lobster, you can cook everything in it. You just need to season it before you start cooking with it.
And seasoning a cast iron is not so difficult. Create a layer on your skillet with fat, put it on your oven upside down and bake it at a high temperature for an hour. After finish seasoning you’ll see that your cast iron skillet becomes more shiny. Seasoning also creates a coating on the skillet that makes it non sticky. If you use it daily, you should season it once a week.
Sometimes it’s heard that cast iron shouldn’t be washed. But, it’s not true. You can wash it. Whenever you need to wash it, you should wash it with hot water. You can also use mild soap. But, if you use rough detergent and rub it with metal scrubber, the shiny and non sticky emollient will be vanished.
One more thing you should be careful about is that never store your cast iron until you dry it thoroughly. After every wash, dry it and then oil it using a tissue paper, then wrap it with a plastic and then put it back in the cabinet. Oh yea, you don’t need to be so careful if you use it daily. In that case, just use it, wash it, dry it and hang it on the kitchen wall.
While cooking meat in cast iron, sometimes you might get it sticking. It happens because of high temperature. If the temperature level becomes too high before the meat getting brown, it’ll be sticking.
If it’s happened to your cast iron pan or if you burn any food, it’ll require a bit more attention to be cleaned properly and making a simple mistake while cleaning may damage your skillet. Whether you need to clean it or want to know more about using a cast iron skillet, this article will make you smile-
