to chefs and those who cook with passion... is iron cookware all that great?

Question

i mean does food taste better compared to cooking food in stainless steal? and how do you take care of iron cookware? i am seriously considering acquiring some...

thanks all of you... i will start off with a couple of iron skillets and work from there... all your answers were great so i will put them up for vote....

Answer 1

I use my cast iron every day. Yes it can be hard to take care of if your not familiar with it. Heres how I take care of mine. I take a paper towel and put shortening on it. Rub it on the bottom and sides of my pan. Place in an over on 200 and bake for 1 hour. Take out and put on top of stove to cool. Then put away as usual once cooled. They Cook more evenly and once seasoned they have a better taste with the food prepared. I have a whole set. I got mine from fingerhut. Very inexpensive. They can be put in the over, used on the top of the stove or on an open fire outside. Best investment I ever made. My whole family uses cast iron. I do have stainless steel pots and pans also with copper bottoms and I do use them also. They are good but the food taste much better in cast iron. The copper bottoms have to be cleaned reqularly to keep the heating even. So either way you have to take care of the pans you are using.

Try cast iron and fried chicken or fried fish. You'll never use another pan again. Promise.

Good luck and go out and buy cast iron and season it. It will take several seasonings before you get the actual effects but keep at it. Cast iron will last you many generations.

Answer 2

I've cooked with a number of different types and brands of cookware over the last 30 years or so. For the last 5 I've used Scanpan. I cant fault it. The non stick surfaces are truely brilliant because they are not a surface as such the non stick is a feature of the metal composite used. All of the pieces can go into the Oven at up to 260 cel and are a dream to clean.
They are not cheap but they are also not ridiculously expensive. I got the 7 pieces that cover my entire home needs for just on $750 Aust
That includes
26cm saute pan
1.5 litre saucepan
2.5 litre saucepan
6 Litre casserole/stock pot
26cm Skillet
20cm frypan
45cm Baking pan

Answer 3

Being a former chef in Canada and having used various styles and types of cooking vessels, stainless steel is fine, if it has a copper bottom or cell, iron cast iron , like Le Creuset, which is enamelled iron, they keep there heat, are durable, and last a long time, most can go from stovetop to oven and be used as a serving container.

It can be a bit more expensive, but there are well worth the investment, just choose carefully and make sure you get the true thing.

Answer 4

Hi Gladys, I do not only have cast iron skillets but I do use them and a lot I might add. I don't have a husband or a boyfriend, so I don't have to worry about that either, lol. But then I am not sure that I would want to use something that good on a philandering husband or boyfriend. As far as seasoning it goes, I do season mine once in a great while. But if you keep soap out of them the seasoning will last much longer. I cook just about everything with mine, bacon, eggs, gravy, toast, chicken, hamburgers, steak, sausage, liver, etc. Just what ever comes to my mine that I want to cook in them. I love my case iron skillets more than anything else I have here to cook in. In some cases, they might be a little pricey but they are worth it for as long as they will last. I know I found one some time back that someone had tossed in the trash. I don't know the reason they trashed it, but it didn't matter. It was rusty and had crud in it. I took it home and scrubbed on it good. Got it all cleaned up, seasoned it really good. I have used that skillet now for over 10 years. They just don't wear out!

Answer 5

I LOVE food that was cooked in cast iron pans. The key is not to wash them. You rinse them. They become "seasoned'. The seasoned pans make the best food. The flavor of the food is amazing. Over time, the surface will become a non-stick surface.
My husband and I cook in a cast iron dutch oven all of the time. The taste of the food is much better than when it's cooked in a regular stainless steel pan. There are a lot of cookbooks out there for cast iron cooking. Buy one of those along with some pans. Have fun!

Answer 6

When I moved to Puerto Rico from New York I only brought two pieces of cookware with me. My two well seasoned cast iron skillets, I considered them irreplaceable having 20 years of seasoning.

Answer 7

I love my cast iron skillets. I like to sear my steaks on the stovetop, then I can put it directly in the oven for further cooking.
They need to be treated before you cook with them. Rub it with crisco and put in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. Turn off the oven after an hour and let it cool on it's own. Put foil underneath it so it doesn't drip on your oven.
Cleanup is simple. These pans need to stay seasoned, so rub it with a paper towel to get the big food bits off. If it's really dirty then use hot soap and water and dry immediately. I rarely ever have to wash mine.

Answer 8

I have several cast iron skillets and love them.I use them all the time.Make sure that you season them properly or they will not cook right.Also,I do use dish soap on mine.Make sure you dry them out completely and I take a papertowel with a little oil and rub them before storing.This keeps them from rusting.Once they are seasoned properly and you use them you will find that some things just cook better in them.

Answer 9

I have one cast-iron pan that I mainly use for cooking potatoes. That's all I would recommend it for. Iron cookware can be difficult to take care of; if you don't dry it completely, it rusts. And you should never use soap on it.

Answer 10

Once they're well-seasoned, they're beautiful. Don't get the pre-seasoned stuff, buy the grey stuff and season it yourself. (It'll take a while) They're better than non-stick Teflon when they're seasoned. I like Le Creuset but every one I've had cracks or flakes or rusts but still totally usable. I season my pans every week just because. Can't hurt!