A cast-iron skillet is THE only pan for making cornbread
The Basics Series: The Cast Iron Pan
Fall is time to bring in a new member of the family to your kitchen. I say family not in the sense of the word as a blood relative-but moreover a family member that will be with you for the rest of your life and perhaps for that of your offspring. This new family member will be as trusted as your grandparents and as giving to your inner self as a glass of fine Kentucky Bourbon. Take this new family member in your hands-admire its heft-the dark glow of the material-the sticky coating covering the surface that will cook a thick slice of sugar cured bacon, a ham steak or a few fried local eggs. Touch this living history and hold it in your hands. Feel the weight. What is this history? Simply put, your new family member is a Cast Iron Pan. If you take the time to season it properly, it will become part of your family. Shrimp n’ Grits will be stirred and greens cooked low and slow until they release their inner liquids- their pot likker‘. No chemicals or electronically bonded non-stick stirring devices will ever touch it. Only my old hand crafted wooden spoons will touch the inside of my new cast iron pan, and if used correctly, this pan will last a lifetime and then some. Right now it is dull gray, but given a bath of pork belly or some slowly caramelized onions,the pan will take on a glow of contentment. The time taken now to gain the darkest seasoning will pay off throughout the pan’s long life. When you craft a BLT years from now, the pan will welcome the bacon like an old friend.
My old cast iron pan came from near Savannah, Georgia out in the real Low Country. Yemassee to be exact. I received it as a gift from a former client who was giving away her kitchen mementos. She said that this cast iron pan had been to “Montana and back, mostly on foot” Her family’s family cooked in it she said. It was used to make many a meal over the years. It is not a fancy pan, but it does have a non-stick finish that shines! I cooked for her a few times- she asked me if I liked cast iron since I always wanted to cook out of that one pan. I remember replying that it was all I used at home in Charleston. Then it became mine…This kind of history places my cast iron pan in the annals of early culinary history. Many an egg slipped into this pan not knowing that someday another fried egg would slip out… a century or so in the future. To think of a perfect little chicken, frying gently in my cast iron pan, brined in salt water, then battered in seasoned buttermilk and panko Japanese bread crumbs, or the bacon that cooks low and slow until crispy for my late season heirloom tomato BLT sandwich, or even the perfect cornbread that was made in it almost 150 years prior-gives me pause…
The standards of Southern Cooking in this pan, has always mesmerized me with its inner energy and the flavors contained deeply within. Some of these memories are passed on in the form of stories. Others are passed on to future generations in the form of passing a cherished cast iron pan on to another generation. The non-stick coating only comes from years and years of cooking low and slow. Blackening a piece of freshly caught Brook Trout will not make you a better fisherman, but it will make you a better cook. It is as if this pan has a memory all its own. The pan is not a fancy “space age technology” non-stick pan, nor is it made of fine French Copper. It’s not made of stainless steel either. But lift it into your hand and connect with the campfire, the washing of that pan (once it has completely cooled) in an ice-cold stream, or just being re-seasoned with memory after memory-in the form of flavor over the years. Yes, this pan has a memory. Many a fine dinner has cooked within its walls for good times and not so good times-the flavors contained within tell a different story each time it is used. This story connects us with a simpler time, before the old cast iron pan in your cupboard was thrown out to make room for non-stick. Little did they know that this pan and all that came before it, was non-stick due to its own inner sense of duty-to cook foods made with love and the care of cooking, not just to feed, but to fulfill a greater cause as well. George Washington it is said, cooked in cast iron. His soldiers who inhabited the woods behind my home during the winter of 1778 used cast iron to cook what little they ate. Soldiers were “boiling their boots for soup.” It must have been a fragrant pot of broth! I honor them by cooking my own meals in this new cast iron pan that I hold in my hand.
A New Cast Iron Pan/New Pan Seasoning.
I noticed that my new pan is covered in heavy gunk, is it ready to use? The simple answer is no. You must season it before you use it. The sticky gunk is a food safe coating, but would you want to eat that in your food? I don’t recommend it and nor shall you. First you must remove the packing grease that has been sprayed on the pan. To do this you first should heat the oven to 500 degrees. It seems very hot but there is a reason for that. You need to burn that coating off the new pan before you can season it. Put something like another baking dish on the bottom rack of your oven, the top rack will hold your new cast iron pan upsides down. Let it rest in the 500 degree oven for a few hours. Make sure your windows are open. Remove from the oven with an absolutely dry towel or two. Wipe your new family member inside and out carefully with a kitchen towel using the fat of your choice. The pan will smoke immediately. Keep those windows open, pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea. Seasoning that first day takes many hours. Turn oven down to 250 and leave it be until the evening, replenishing the fat using a rag as needed. How long will it take to be non-stick? How about a few years… it takes that long to set the seasoning.
The next day caramelize a bunch of onions in that pan.. The next day cook some butternut squash in it. Chose your dinners carefully and when you cook in the pan, do so with love. Always smile when you use this new pan- but do not be afraid to show the tears of emotion around it.
The pan will appreciate your feelings and so will I. This process of seasoning will take many years- do not hurry or rush. Never, ever use soap on your cast iron pan. Soap will stick to the pan and make everything you cook taste of soap. If you burn something in the pan, take some sea salt and rub it into a paste with a bit of water and scrub away the burn, then re-season as described above. A pan takes time to become an heirloom, a trusted friend in your pantry. There is much for the pan to remember before it becomes your best friend. Trust your instincts and cook with passion. The results will sing of the energy contained deep in your new cast iron pan and it will reward you with perfect bacon and a slippery non-stick coating for years to come.
Wild River Review contributing editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year as a research assistant in visual thinking at The Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. He worked for many years in the corporate world.
Ham steak cooked in another cast iron pan
His column on food, wine and life, Wild Table appears daily in the online magazine, Wild River Review. In addition to Wild River Review, Warren writes for NJMYWay.com and SLOWFOODNNJ.org. He has upcoming work in Edible Jersey Magazine on the topic of Organic and Biodynamic Wine and upcoming submissions for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Ed., 2. February brings an article to NJ Savvy Living. Please follow his moving about and drinkin’ ’round on Twitter @ jockeyhollow.
Trust your instincts and cook with passion!
You can support Warren’s work on Wild River Review, and his column, Wild Table by making a donation: Wild River Review, PO Box 53, Stockton, NJ 08559. Wild River Review is an international website and 501c3 non-profit organization so your donation may be tax deductible.
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Play the right music and your pan will remember. My friend MB says Bill Evans is the ticket to great cooking and eating
This is the New Home of Wild Table.
Once again I can say I am not surprised at the content of Warren’s article(s). You bring such passion when you write, and you are writing about the things you love.
Never in my wildest dream would I ever think about cooking in a cast iron pot . Always thought that was what my grandma used…..& yes she did….& so her food was absolutely delicious!!!!
Thanks again Warren and keep those wonderful articles coming our way….
Comment by Lucia Mendella — October 21, 2009 @ 10:05 am
Fabulous writing, and very appropiate for autumn. Thank you for instruction on how to tenderly ‘ease in’ an new family member. I want more cast iron and have been skiddish about “breaking one in.” You have made it seem so easy, and put love in your instruction besides. We need more loving rituals/traditions in our lives, and you have given inspiration for one!
I am spoiled, as I have my great-grandmother’s iron dutch oven. The beautifully blackened and smooth metal on this precious pot gleams, as I take great care with cleaning, cooking and storing it. My cast iron vessel made its way from Nova Scotia in 1914 into the hills/mining towns of WV. When my mother handed it down to me and told family stories and descriptions of dishes she remembered from this wonderful pot, I felt very connected to relatives I never met.
I love cooking in iron. This dutch oven must have been made by Ronco —it bakes bread/cornbread, makes beans, does cassoulets I even did a rough clafouti.
Each time I lovingly re-season, and rub, rub, rub.
So, tonight…out to the apple trees and gather what is left and make a wonderful, warm dish –maybe apples, sausage, kraut and potatoes? (Not very Maritimey, I know)
Now I just may take the plunge and get a new pan, or prowl about for an antique skillet to adopt.
Thanks for the supper idea!
Comment by Jo G — October 21, 2009 @ 11:20 am
When I got my first apartment – many years ago – the first thing my mother bought me was a cast iron pan at a garage sale. I have since inherited hers. All are better toady than when new.They truly do have a memory – and create more daily.
As do you Warren.
Thank you.
Comment by eddieo — October 21, 2009 @ 11:34 am
If circumstances allow one and only one cooking vessel, a cast iron skillet is the most versatile. No, it won’t do everything, but it’s greatest limitation is the cook’s imagination and skill.
Viking Range, top or bottom? Open campfire? Yes, indeed, and anything in between.
But G-d help you if you take steel wool to its seasoning. I made that mistake only once; my grandmother was not amused.
Comment by Peter Leitner — October 21, 2009 @ 11:53 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Warren Bobrow and Warren Bobrow, Warren Bobrow. Warren Bobrow said: discover the hidden language of a cast iron pan: thank you for your comments! wb http://bit.ly/4ebQ64 [...]
Pingback by Tweets that mention The Basics Series: A Cast Iron Pan: full of memories « Wild Table -- Topsy.com — October 21, 2009 @ 11:55 am
@adamengst @jockeyhollow Very nice! We adore our cast iron pans – I can’t name another thing that gets better the more you use it, forever.
Comment by off twitter — October 21, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
Good stuff, Warren. I’ve had my cast-iron frying pan for 20+ years and it can’t be beat for even heating and it works fabulously on our new Induction range. (We have no natural gas in our new San Francisco condo!)
Comment by Bill Sauro — October 21, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
wb – once again, bravo! Perhaps something magical by the Bill Evans Trio playing while the pan seasons?
mb
Comment by Mike B — October 21, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Warren, Great post on the care and feeding of cast iron.
Reading it caused me to reflect on the importantce of cast iron cooking in my life.
when I married, I received a large cast iron frying pan which I lovingly seasoned over many years. Upon my divorce I left it with my former husband so he could cook with it for our sons.
When his mother died last year and he asked if I wanted any mementos of her, the only think I wanted was one of her cast iron frying pans.
Madylene was a throw-back to the 19th c. She could take anything animal or vegetable or fabric from its native state to a consumable/usable state.
The first time I visited her on her farm, she had me grasp a hogs head by the ears while she used an ax to chop open the head so she could make hogs head cheese. She would slice from that block of finished “cheese” and sizzle it in her pan. (Even though I helped her make it, I could never bring myself to eat it or the brains that she liked cooked with eggs.)
She used that same pan to make the most delectable T-Bone steaks ever. The heifer she slaughtered each year would yield enough for her family and mine as we grew. But I digress from the T-Bones which were dredged in seasoned flour, and seared in bacon grease in the same skillet. The whole (skillet and all) was popped into the slow oven to cook the steaks until they were meltingly fork tender.
And speaking of tender, don’t get me started on the dried apple pies that she cooked up in the cast iron pan. She dried her peeled, cored, sliced apples on screens in her yard. Then when pies were on her mind, she stewed the dried apples with spices until they plumped; made biscuit dough, cut circles of it and made turnovers of the dough and apples. These were cooked gently until golden in the pan.
Ah, the glories of cooking in this wonderful utensil. I could go on…but I’d just make myself hungry.
Thank you for regularly supplying me with food for reminiscing.
Comment by Cheryl Smithem — October 21, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
the cast iron pan – a fixture in our kitchen – is living proof that things get better with age – it also never goes gray or gets a wrinkle
beautifully written as always!!
Comment by julie — October 21, 2009 @ 5:25 pm
Excellent touch with the link to Bill Evans…makes everything in the pan “sing!!”
mb
Comment by Mike B — October 21, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
Dear Warren!
Greetings!
Superlative posting, as usual!
Interestingly enough, cast iron pans are a luxury in Japan!
Apparently top quality have to be imported.
Pity!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles
Comment by Robert-Gilles Martineau — October 21, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
I’ve just recently posted a review about Lodge Cast Iron cookware on my website at http://www.cookwithaloha.com there is a direct link to the article from the “features” box on my home page.
Hope my info helps those first time cast iron cookware cooks.
Comment by Ann Hall Every,CCP — October 22, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
HAVE BEEN COOKING WITH CAST FOR YEARS…ON CAMPFIRE, GAS RANGE AND ELECTRIC BUT LIKE CAMP FIRE AND GAS BETTER…BETTER CONTROL..!
HAVE PANS, GRIDDLE AND TWO THREE 12 INCH LODGE POTS …ALL GREAT TO COOK IN IF YOU LEARN NOT TO DESTROY THE SEASONS…CAN COOK JUST ABOUT EVERY THING…BEST FOR SLOW COOKING…UMMM!!! HAVE FUN !!
Comment by JIM FISKE — October 23, 2009 @ 11:15 pm
That is what I am talking about: the soul food that is available at Reading Terminal Market–Collard greens (do not know about the potlikker). My great grandfather’s family was from Kentucky and my great grandmother (I don’t know beyond Kansas) did all of that Southern style cooking–the fried chicken by tossing the raw pieces in flour and seasonings in a brown paper bag! The chicken was handraised in their family barnyard right out the back kitchen porch and butchered, de-feathered, and cooked starting on Sunday morning before church. By the time we arrived for lunch, their lovely Victorian dining room was all decked out and the food ready to eat. Before we left, we all would visit the orchard and the fields to take home whatever was in season for the coming week. I remember my great grandmother going up on a ladder to pick off fruit and my great grandfather pulling off the ears of corn in the fields. The idea of the farm and what it all meant was totally non-transparent to me as I was raised properly– in a town.
We purchased our foods from the local tradespeople: the butcher, the baker, etc. on account–we shopped and it was delivered to our home —without ever a discussion of money! These businesses put it on our account! In fact for a long time as a child, I figured food was free as I never ever saw anyone pay for it!!!!.I believe that different people in our community were paying different prices as according to how they could pay and which quality they were “given”. A discussion of payment would have been unseemly to my grandmother who put on white gloves to go downtown to shop. How times have changed.
Are you going to the Whiskey Fest????….That looks like quite an event. I would love to export Whiskey. Noel has a friend who is making organic sorghum beer in South Africa and wants us to market it in the US. NJPT
Comment by NJPT — October 26, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
hipgirls: I enjoyed the post, esp the history of your cast iron. We use ours every day, and love it dutifully!
Comment by hipgirls — November 12, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
Great post Warren! I have had one given through family for the past 20 years but have not lavished the attention that you have given yours nor do I know its history. Thanks for the insight.
When does your book come out?
Comment by Peter Romando — November 25, 2009 @ 11:28 am
As a Kentucky girl, all I can say is, “I hear you, praise be the Lord.”
Good post, Warren.
Comment by Jonell Galloway — December 22, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
Warren, I will be linking this piece up to one I wrote, but was waiting to publish. Someone else did it the same week I was planning, so I decided to wait.
Great piece, and I had some ham steaks shipped to me from the Appalachian Mountains and are waiting in the freezer!
Your friend,
Hillbill’Chef E
Comment by Chef E — January 25, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
[...] sold out in half hour, and Mary Lou said I could come cook with her. That’s where the story about the cast iron pan came [...]
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