Cooking with Cast Iron

Those words alone could be intimidating. I saw my grandmother using those heavy skillets day after day. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.
I was your modern cook. I wanted the non-stick pans, well, because they were the BEST.... Right?

And, non-stick is what I got, except after a year or so of constant use, it no longer was non-stick. The scariest thing about that is we ATE the stuff that made it non-stick... YIKES!!!

I used to have a cast iron skillet long ago, but it ended up in the yard for the kids to play with. I loved watching them trying to carry it from one place to another. At, one time I believe I saw Syd and Bro carrying it together..TEAM WORK GUY!!!


But, not long ago, I decide I wanted to try to cook with it again. I had been seeing different blogs and recipes where it suggested using a cast iron pan of some sorts. However, I didn't know there were all these different kinds.

I trucked on to a place where I knew I could find a cast iron to try out and bought me a brand stinking new one. Oh, did you notice I had one in the yard. But, that on was dirty and I was NEVER going to use it again... NEVER, NEVER, EVER!!!!!  I had put my foot down.

That is why I bought the new one!!  When I got it home I knew I would need to know how to use it, and by use it I mean season it, which I didn't know that needed to be done. Now my journey began. I read this blog and this website and they all pretty much said the same thing. I followed the instructions to a T, making sure to cross every one and dot every I. I found that I absolutely love cooking with it. The heat is spread more evenly and every thing cooks at the same time. You know how some pans, one side of the pan may cook better than the other side and you are constantly shifting your food all around in the pan. Just for your info. I can't stand to do that. It drives me crazy. I ain't got time to stand there and move food around.

When my hubby found out that I had bought a new one he gently asked about the one in the yard, the one I secretly wish had been thrown away, that is just laying there getting all rusty. Precisely I said it is all rusty and I don't think you would want me to cook our food in that old nasty thing.

Until, I found out you can RESTORE old cast iron pans. What??? You can!!! And, my NEVER turned into bring that nasty thang to me and let me see if I can get it back to where it needs to be.. USEABLE!!

I took me a while but, I finally did it. I have two now that I use all the time.

The how to, to Cast Iron

coat the skillet with cooking oil and baking it in a 350° F oven for an hour or two.

And after every use wipe out with a coarse salt and coat in oil again.

You won't get a nice and shiny one right off the bat, but the more you use it the more it will start to look pristine.