Cast Iron Cooking
Cooking with cast iron has been around for a very long time. The traditional Dutch oven has been around for hundreds of years. Iron cookware was used by early colonists and settlers to America and was well loved due to its extreme versatility and durability. It gained enormous popularity during the 1800’s, and today, it is regaining some of the popularity of the past.
One of the reasons heavy iron is so highly valued is due to its cooking properties, and pots and skillets are made from it are exceptionally versatile. You can use them on the stove top or the oven to cook virtually all of your meals. They are even excellent to use over open fires when camping. This type of cookware is extremely good at conducting heat, and it does so in an even and predictable fashion. Because of this, Professional chefs consider cast iron pots and pans to be precision cooking tools, enabling precise control of cooking temperatures, and allow for even cooking temperatures without hot spots. This is also an old-fashioned way to cook virtually fat free. Properly seasoned, these pans allow food to glide out of much better than any pan that has been made with Teflon so that you do not need to add any extra fats or oils to your foods. This type of cookware is also relatively inexpensive. It will last a lifetime with proper care. It will never warp, doesn’t need special utensils, and cleaning it is actually quite easy. You will not have to buy new pieces every few years, and if you look after them, can easily be passed down to the next generation.
Be sure to season your pots and pans before you use them. Seasoning or curing means filling the pores and voids in the metal with grease of some sort, which provides a smooth, non-stick surface. To do this properly, coat it inside and out with vegetable oil and then heat it in a warm oven for at least an hour. This is important to do because it will give your pans the non-stick surface and without season, the surface will rust every time you wash the pan.
There is some debate over the health benefits of cast iron. Many people feel that it can be hazardous to your health due to the fact that cast iron has been proven to leach iron into foods. For most people, this is not an issue at all. The extra amount of iron will not be enough to create an imbalance and will not have any discernible health effects; good or bad. However, for some people, this leaching can actually be of benefit. Anyone who does not get the recommended amount of iron per day will definitely benefit from this infusion of iron into their food. The opposite is also true for those people suffering from an overabundance of iron naturally. For these people, the use of cast iron is not recommended as excess iron comes with health risks. For the vast majority of people though, the amount of iron leached into foods cooked in cast iron is negligible.
Cooking with cast iron is fun and enjoyable. There are many benefits to choosing to cook this way, such as durability and heat conduction. In my personal opinion, the greatest reason of all to choose cast iron is because food just tastes better when cooked this way. As long as you take the time to care for your cookware properly, you can look forward to enjoying delicious meals for many years to come.
