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How to Season and Care for Your Cast Iron Cookware
· Author: John Francis
You have a skillet that came from your mom, and before that your grandma, and has now
fallen into your hands. So how do you take care of it, use it, clean it, and get the best
taste possible from it? I hope to answer some of those questions in this article.
I love my cast iron skillets, passed down from my Mom; I remember her using them to make
delicious fried chicken dinners, cornbread to go with our Great Northern beans and the
best popcorn. The only thing I didn?t remember is just what she did to keep those skillets
nice. I do remember her drying them slowly on the stove and then coating them with some
sort of grease. Now we would use a thin coat of cooking oil or a pan spray.
That is called seasoning and is important in the care and use of cast iron to prevent rust
and create a natural non-stick cooking surface. Even if your inherited skillet or Dutch
oven has been neglected and rusty, you can restore it by seasoning it again.
The more you use your cast iron the better seasoned it becomes. A black shiny skillet is a
well-seasoned utensil and the one that will give the best flavor. Seasoning is done both
for the inside and the outside of your cast iron, and even the lid must be seasoned.
Here?s a hint to make your cast iron shiny again is to fry bacon and similar fatty meats.
It will help it become seasoned faster and give you that shiny black non-stick interior
you are working for.
Here are the steps to seasoning your cast iron utensils.
1. First, wash with hot, soapy water and stiff brush.
2. Rinse and dry
3. Apply a thin coat of shortening both inside and out
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line oven rack with foil to catch drips
5. Put cookware upside down on the upper rack of your oven and bake for one hour.
6. Let the cookware cool before taking it out of the oven.
7. Store it in a cool, dry place and allow air to circulate around it
8. Never wash in a dishwasher.
After using your cast iron, rinse with hot water and no soap. Dry it thoroughly and coat
it with a think coat of cooking oil, shortening or pan spray.
Types
of Cookware: Pots and Pans
Pots and pans make the most essential part of your cookware. There are lots of various
types available for each particular cooking method or a few different methods.
Skillet/frying pan has a flat bottom with short sides that are flared or sloped, which
makes it easier to toss and turn food with a spatula. The pan is usually made of a
responsive to heat material such as lined copper, stainless steel with a copper or
aluminum core, anodized aluminum or cast iron. Non-stick surface is also popular in such
pans. They are available in different sizes and generally come with a cover.
Roasting pan is usually of a rectangular shape with low sides allowing the heat from the
oven to expose the entire surface of the meat. Roasting pan is generally used with a rack
to prevent the meat from sitting in its own juices and stewing instead of browning. The
pans are available made of different materials including stainless steel, aluminum with
non-stick surface, clay and granite.
Saucepan is a round pot with high straight sides and a flat bottom, can be used for
several purposes, such as cooking soup, stewing vegetables, making sauces. There are a few
styles to suit special purposes. A saucepan known as a Windsor has sides that flare out
and another known as a saucier has sides that are rounded. There are also different sizes
and materials of saucepans. Most of them have a snug fitting cover.
Stir-fry pan is a round, deep pan that may have straight sides with a slightly rounded
base or more commonly a round base that slopes out and upward. Sizes and handle length can
vary to match the cooking process. Heat is evenly distributed across the base while the
sloping sides make it easier to stir and turn the ingredients.
Wok is a bowl shaped version of stir-fry pan, best for quick cooking food over high heat.
It is available with rounded or flat bottom. Some varieties of woks have one long handle,
some have two short handles and others have a long handle on one side and a short one on
the opposite side. The materials used are carbon steel, cast iron, and metals with
non-stick coating.
Stockpot is a deep, tall, straight-sided pot with two big, loop handles. It is used for
simmering large amount of liquid, such as stock, soup and stews, but also works well for
thick soups, chili and for boiling pasta. Sometimes comes along with pasta insert ? made
of stainless steel perforated insert that fits inside a stockpot and acts as a colander
for draining pasta.
Grill pan is a heavy metal pan that consists of ridges spaced evenly across the bottom,
that closely simulate the grilling process when cooking various meats and foods. Can be
with shallow sides or with deeper sides similar to a frying pan. Many grill pans are made
of cast iron and are available in different shapes and sizes.
Double boiler consists of two pans - one inside of the other. The bottom pan contains hot
water and the top pan holds the ingredients that are being cooked. Generally used for
making delicate sauces that have a tendency to separate if cooked on direct heat. Double
boilers can be made of stainless steel, enameled steel, glass and aluminum.
Fondue pot is a type of cookware that consists of a pot with a heat source such as a
portable cooking fuel or an electrical heating element placed directly below the pot that
is used for a food preparation process known as fondues (?fondue? is a French term meaning
?to melt?). The heat source melts or fully warms the contents (usually cheese, chocolate,
wine or other ingredients) so that food can be dipped into the pot and either cooked or
coated with its contents and eaten as an appetizer or part of a meal.
Metallic
Cookware
Author: James Brown
The two essential features of a cookware are that it should have good thermal
conductivity and that it should be chemically unreactive with the ingredients that are
cooked in it. Metallic cookware are found to possess these essential features and hence
are the most widely used forms of cookware across the globe. They are generally made from
a narrow range of metals. Most metals that exhibit good thermal conductivity are too
reactive to be used in food preparation. Hence selection of the right type of metal for
cookware is crucial. The most popular metals that find usage in cookware are:
Aluminium
Aluminium is a lightweight metal which exhibits very good thermal conductivity. The main
characteristics of aluminium are that it does not rust, and is resistant to many forms of
corrosion. Being a soft metal, it is commonly alloyed with magnesium, copper, or bronze to
increase its strength. It is generally available in sheet, cast or anodized forms. Sheet
aluminum which is spun or stamped into form is commonly used for making baking sheets, pie
plate, cake pans, steamers, pasta pots, skillets etc. Cast aluminium produces a thicker
product than sheet aluminium and is suitable for saucepots, dutch ovens, heavyweight
baking pans etc. However, due to the microscopic pores caused by the casting process, cast
aluminium possesses low thermal conductivity than sheet aluminium. Anodized aluminium, on
the other hand, has the naturally occurring layer of aluminium oxide thickened by an
electrolytic process to create a surface that is hard and non-reactive.
Copper
Copper is a metal which has the unique characteristic of providing good thermal
conductivity, besides ensuring even heating. Due to these advantages, copper cookware has
found a prominant place in Western cooking. The best copper cookware were made out of a
thick layer of copper to ensure good thermal conductivity and a thin layer of tin to
prevent the metal from reacting with acidic foods. However they tend to be heavy,
expensive and requires occasional retinning. Copper cookware are now available with
stainless steel rather than tin linings which last much longer. They are best suited for
high-heat, fast-cooking techniques.
Cast Iron
Cast iron cookware is slow to heat, but once heated, provides even heating. It is cost
effective and can withstand very high temperatures. Being a reactive material, cast iron
is known to react with high acid foods. Cast iron, being a porous material, requires
seasoning before use. Though cast iron cookware can be washed with soap, it should not be
soaked in water or left wet for long.
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron containing a minimum of 11.5 % chromium. It is
resistant to corrosion and does not react with either alkaline or acidic foods. Stainless
steel cookware though are light, cannot be easily scratched or dented. Though stainless
steel finds general acceptance in cookware industry, its main drawback is its relatively
poor heat conductivity. To overcome this, stainless steel cookware is generally made with
a metal insert of copper or aluminium at the base.
James Brown writes about Types
of Cookware and Steel
Cookware
The
Well Stocked Kitchen
Author: James Brown
Every cook dreams of having a kitchen like those you see on TV complete with a pot rack
full of gleaming cookware in every shape and size. While this daydream probably isn?t
entirely realistic, it is possible to have a well stocked kitchen that will fit your every
cooking desire. Before you run out and purchase a set of pots and pans, get a working
knowledge of what types of cookware are best suited to your needs. Use this handy
checklist to see what your kitchen is missing.
Skillets: A skillet is simply a low sided, long handled pan often called a frying pan,
Generally skillets come in four sizes, extra large (12 Inches), large (10 Inches), medium
(8 inches), and small(6 inches). Cookbooks often refer you to certain size skillets, so it
is important to know the measurement of each one. Occasionally you will have a recipe that
requires you to place a skillet in the oven, so it is important to purchase skillets with
handles that can withstand the heat of baking. You can also purchase skillets with
removable handles.
Saucepans: Saucepans come in three sizes (1-, 2-, and 3-quart) and it is a good idea to
have a few in each style for warming soups and making sauces. Saucepans have long handles
and tight fitting lids.
Dutch oven or Kettle: A Dutch oven or kettle is a large heavy stock pot with a tight
fitting lid. Unlike a sauce pan, these pots don?t have a long handle; rather they have two
tight fitting handles along the rim on opposite sides. Dutch ovens are perfect for soups,
stews, and braising meats. Kettles are good when you have a large stew or pot of soup to
make or if you enjoy home canning.
Vegetable steamer: A vegetable steamer is a perforated basket that holds food over boiling
water in a pan in order to steam it rather than boil it. They are available as collapsible
units or solid baskets.
Double boiler: A double broiler is two pans doing the job of one. When using a double
broiler, simply place one on top of the other. Water in the bottom pan simmers gently to
cook or melt the contents in the top pan. This is a great piece of cookware for preparing
delicate sauces or melting candy to make chocolate.
Griddles: A griddle is a flat, rimless pan that converts your stove burner into a smooth
surface for preparing things like pancakes and crepes. The rimless design also makes
flipping pancakes an easy task.
Omelet pans: An omelet pan has specially sloped sides that help to form your egg into the
right shape. This pan also comes with a nonstick surface make it easy to fold and slide
your omelet right from the pan onto your plate.
Grill pans: A grill pan is a special skillet that has deep groves that allow fat to drain
away from your food. The grooves also add lines to the items you cook, making them look
like they have been seared on the barbeque grill. A grill pan also comes in the flat
rimless shape of a skillet.
Woks: A wok is a pan with deep, sloping sides that help keep food pieces in the pan when
you are stir-frying. They are available with rounded or flat bottoms, and sometimes come
in electric versions.
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