Cast Iron

[IM4given]

Chocolate Gravy cooked in an Iron Skillet

Melt a stick of butter in an iron skillet, then mix together 4 tablespoons each of cocoa and self-rising flour (using all-purpose flour won't produce the same taste) and sugar, and stir it into the melted butter until dissolved. Slowly add 2 cups whole milk. Turn up the heat, and stir constantly until desired consistency is reached. Then serve over hot buttered biscuits or toast.

Lisa Stauffer's variation: Melt 1/2 stick margarine or butter in an iron skillet. Mix 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 1/2 heaping teaspoons cocoa (eating spoons, not measuring spoons) together, then add to melted margarine. Stir until dry ingredients are moist. Add 1 1/2 cups milk. Cook at medium heat until it starts to thicken. At this stage it's pudding or fudge sauce. For pie, add 2 egg yolks by first putting a little of the hot pudding into the beaten yolks and mixing it before adding to skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Pour into pre-baked pie shell. Make meringue with remaining 2 egg whites to top pie and bake/broil briefly to brown peaks of meringue.

"Making it in an iron skillet is the key," she says. "Otherwise, it's plain old chocolate pudding."

[HappyChristian]

I use cast iron almost exclusively. I do have other pans, but I like my cast iron best. I have several different sized skillets and a Dutch oven. When they are seasoned properly, they don't stick, and they are easy to clean. One time one of my skillets had some rust in it and I asked my dad how to remove it. He said to bury it in dirt. :lol I didn't do that (I wasn't in a position to be able to get outside and dig a hole), but I did re-season it and the rust cleared right up.

I, too, make cornbread in my cast iron skillet. It just adds something to the crust that no other baking pan can. Since I have a few different sizes, I can make as large or small a pan as my DH wants, and everybody's happy. :drool

[John81]

All I can say is that for those who haven't tasted most foods cooked in cast iron, you just don't know what you are missing!!! :hungry:

[Flourgirl]

I use cast iron almost exclusively. I do have other pans, but I like my cast iron best. I have several different sized skillets and a Dutch oven. When they are seasoned properly, they don't stick, and they are easy to clean. One time one of my skillets had some rust in it and I asked my dad how to remove it. He said to bury it in dirt. :lol I didn't do that (I wasn't in a position to be able to get outside and dig a hole), but I did re-season it and the rust cleared right up.

I, too, make cornbread in my cast iron skillet. It just adds something to the crust that no other baking pan can. Since I have a few different sizes, I can make as large or small a pan as my DH wants, and everybody's happy. :drool

Thanks for the tip on the rust.... my new muffin pan has a tiny bit of rust... I think hubby did not dry it good :uuhm: The dirt part is interesting.... I wonder if it really works :puzzled:

[kevinmiller]

We had cornbread tonight. My mom made them in a muffin pan with blueberries in them. :hungry:

[4meHeDied]

How can you use a skillet for making gravy, biscuits and cornbread?

You really didn't ask that did you?

[4meHeDied]

All I can say is that for those who haven't tasted most foods cooked in cast iron, you just don't know what you are missing!!!

:amen:

[HappyChristian]

Thanks for the tip on the rust.... my new muffin pan has a tiny bit of rust... I think hubby did not dry it good :uuhm: The dirt part is interesting.... I wonder if it really works :puzzled:

Flourgirl, when I got my first pans, I was taught to season them with peanut oil. I only had regular oil, so I used that. You rub the oil all over, inside and out, kind of rub it in so it's not dripping. Them you have to bake it in. You don't want to do that in the winter, because it gets smelly and smoky!!! I always had to open everything. Also, when I dry my skillets, I dry them on a burner on the stove - gets the water completely out of them.

I don't know if the dirt thing works, but my dad is an old farm boy from WVA, and he knows a lot of strange things that really work!!

[CJP56]

Cast iron skillets are the best. With proper care, they will last through several generations. They also put minute amounts of iron into the food, and that is good for you. CJP56

[John81]

My Mom had a set of cast iron skillets. I learned to cook using those and I washed them many a times over the years growing up. I was supposed to get them when Mom passed away (my sister hates cast iron) but we can't find them anywhere. Dad thinks they might have accidently been tossed out at some time. :sad

[PreacherBen]

I don't hardly cook at all, but my wife and girls cook in our cast iron cookware all the time. We own 2 dutch ovens, 2- 12" skillets, 2- 8" skillets, 1- 6" skillet, a muffin pan, a corn cob shaped corn bread pan, and a griddle, all well seasoned.

You can make just about anything in cast iron cookware, even cakes. I think it would be a profitable venture for any cook to learn how to use these gems. Cast iron will last a lifetime and beyond.

The other day, I was going to by my wife a cast iron cookbook at the Tractor Supply Company. I was there buying feed for the livestock.

To me, IMHO, cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet, cannot be beat. :hungry:

[John81]

I don't hardly cook at all, but my wife and girls cook in our cast iron cookware all the time. We own 2 dutch ovens, 2- 12" skillets, 2- 8" skillets, 1- 6" skillet, a muffin pan, a corn cob shaped corn bread pan, and a griddle, all well seasoned.

You can make just about anything in cast iron cookware, even cakes. I think it would be a profitable venture for any cook to learn how to use these gems. Cast iron will last a lifetime and beyond.

The other day, I was going to by my wife a cast iron cookbook at the Tractor Supply Company. I was there buying feed for the livestock.

To me, IMHO, cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet, cannot be beat.

:hungry:

[PreacherBen]

CJP56 said:
Cast iron skillets are the best. With proper care, they will last through several generations. They also put minute amounts of iron into the food, and that is good for you.

I heard a sermon by our beloved and departed Lester Roloff and he was giving cooking in Aluminum cookware the dickens! He said it is sin! One might say, "That is crazy," but he said, aluminum cookware leaks small amounts of aluminum into your food and it slowly poisons you, and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you are sinning against the Lord in not taking care of your body.

I don't want to get off track of this good thread on cast iron cookware, but I thought that was interesting.

[Chelle]

I love cooking in a cast-iron skillet, but I do have a question: what's the best way to clean them?

Also, do any of you own enameled cast-iron cookware?

[John81]

I clean cast iron skillets with hot water and Dawn. :tum