I had a craving for fajitas this weekend. But I didn’t want to go to some mid-scale Tex-Mex restaurant and pay $20 for a serving with too many onions and bell peppers and not enough meat, that doesn’t come with enough tortillas, and which barely includes enough guacamole for one taco. I wanted to make them myself. And I knew that that would require a cast iron skillet. I’ve never owned one before, but I’ve read about them from time to time and I felt like I was ready to take on the responsibility of caring for such an insistent piece of cookware, so I went to the store and plopped down $20 for a piece of cookware that feels heavy enough to kill someone with.
It came pre-seasoned, but I followed the directions I found online and seasoned it myself twice before cooking in it. The fajitas came out great, and didn’t stick to the pan at all. There was a bit of leftover carbon afterward that I had some difficulty cleaning off with a standard kitchen sponge, though it didn’t seem to make a difference when I cooked a second batch the next night.
I think I have the basics down when it comes to this thing. Let it preheat on the burner for at least 10-20 minutes, don’t turn it up higher than medium (I have an electric stove), wash it out immediately after use with a soft sponge and hot water without soap, dry it by putting it back on the burner on low heat, and rub a smidgen of oil into it before putting it away.
My big question is, what to do next with this thing? Can the Teeming Millions recommend any dishes in particular that will come out much better when cooked on cast iron as opposed to your typical cheap aluminum skillet? Any useful pointers for using them on electric stovetops, which I understand is not ideal? Any good tips on getting rid of those stubborn bits of carbon that just won’t free themselves from the bottom of the pan, that you’re afraid to go to town on for fear of ruining the seasoning?
I don’t worry about little carbon deposits early on. You need to use it for a while to get it fully seasoned. You can use salt as an abrasive once in a while to smooth out the surface, but if you’re keeping it well oiled it will usually smooth itself out over time.
As for what to do? Use it as you would any frying pan, and also use it as a baking pan. It will be great for oven pizza after preheating in the oven, the same for corn bread mentioned above.
Keep in mind that everyone has their own preferred means of seasoning, cleaning, and cooking with cast iron. And every one of them will be correct.
Ha, you want to season your cast iron? This is the bee’s knee’s suing faxseed oil. Technique has been widely copied but this is the blog post that I think started it all. I learned about this from Cook’s Illustrated
We have 7 or 8 cast iron skillets, from 4 inches up to 15, and use them every single day, for pretty much anything (since they are the only skillets we own). You can use them for anything that you would use an aluminum pan, as well as quite a few things that you would otherwise put in a casserole or baking dish.
FWIW, once your pan is well seasoned, don’t be afraid of the myth that soap harms the seasoning. The thing is, the oil becomes a polymer and is very highly resistant to soap, and the soap won’t hurt anything at all.
But for the love of God, don’t use scouring powder.
As said above, though, I generally use salt as an abrasive, or one of those plastic abrasive woven pads.
Besides cornbread, my two favorite specialized uses for the iron skillets are pineapple upside down cake, and any food that takes well to a nice sear (steaks especially.) My cast iron ranges from pretty damned old to vintage to bona fide antique, so it’s possible that you’ll need to work up a little more seasoning before using it with an acidic fruit like pineapple, but I love the crunchy top (bottom) of caramelized pineapple that comes from starting with a preheated heavy pan. Mostly, I just use my cast iron for anything I’d use any other skillet for. And I only pre-heat if the food I’m cooking calls for it - so, yes for cornbread or searing a steak, but not for cooking bacon, and just bringing up to proper temperature for things like scrambled eggs (that is, no need for an extended period of heating before beginning to cook.)
(And please pardon my ignorance, but why limit the heat to medium when using your new skillet on an electric stove? I use mine on a gas stove now, but have used electric in the past - the thing I like about cast iron is that I can use high heat, for things like searing.)
I use cast iron for very nearly everything. But my favorites are for searing off a nice juicy, thick steak and finishing it in a very hot oven and making home-fries. But really, you can do nearly anything in one that you can do in a normal pan, just better.
Some do recommend staying away from tomato based dishes due to the acid, and I follow that for the most part for my skillets, but I cook tomato sauce and chili in my Dutch oven regularly and just take extra care to heat/oil it when I’m done.
My favorite cleaning utensil is a flat bottomed wooden spoon/spatula thing I bought from a friend’s Pampered Chef party. Run some water and just scrape the nasties off. Occasionally I’ll use some kosher salt if something is really caked/burned on there.
Mine sits on my stove top and I use it for everything. I roast veggies in it in the oven, I bake spatchcocked chicken in it; I make meatloaf in it. Basically, anything that I’m going to saute, bake, or broil I do it in my cast iron skillet. You’ll find that you will want different size ones for different uses.
There seems to be two schools of cast iron care - the treat it like a precious object and follow all the rules to maintain the seasoning, and the treat it like a piece of really useful cookware and don’t sweat too much about ‘the rules’.
I’m of the second school. I have multiple pans in various sizes and use my cast iron for just about everything. If stuff does stick and I have to soak or scrub the pan, I may end up stripping the seasoning, but it’s easy enough to get it back with a quick swipe of oil, or just cooking up some bacon for breakfast.
Pizza has been mentioned a couple of times. I have a cast iron pizza pan, which works great for baking my pies, but I’ve found cast iron skillets to be the best way to reheat leftover pizza. Put the pizza in the pan over low heat without preheating, and cover. In just a few minutes you’ll have crisped up the bottom nicely and melted the cheese. Using the cover, you get better results than reheating in the oven, and without the bother of having to heat up the whole kitchen.
Get a 50-cent plastic scraper (ours is like 4" x 4", square with rounded corners) to clean the pan with. Seriously, it’s the best value for money you can spend in the kitchen. Way better than a scrubby sponge and lasts forever.
For cooking suggestion, sear salmon fillet in a very hot skillet, then pop the skillet into the oven to finish cooking through (marinating the fillet in olive oil and balsamic vinegar beforehand is nice).