Have you ever had a piece of cast iron cookware? Maybe you do, but is pushed to the back of your pan storage growing dust? Or maybe you cant seem to stop your cast iron products from rusting? With this ultimate guide for cast iron, I will show why you should own at least one piece of cast iron cookware. I also will explain how to care for your cast iron cookware so you don’t have to deal with rust. Finally I will provide you with some of my top picks for any type of cast iron cookware you could ever want.
Quick Navigation for the Ultimate Guide
How to care for your cast iron.
Taking care of your cast iron cookware is incredibly important. If you want your cast iron to last decades you must properly season it. When I say season I don’t mean you must put salt and pepper on your cookware before putting it away. The seasoning process for cast iron means simply putting a layer of oil or fat on the pan before storage. This layer of oil or fat actually provides the cast iron cookware a nonstick surface during cooking! To properly season your cast iron follow these five simple steps.
- First if the cookware has stuck on food, wash it normally with soap and water being sure to remove all food.
- Second with low heat warm the cookware until all the excess water has evaporated.
- Third place a small amount oil of your choice (olive oil is my favorite) onto the cookware.
- Fourth using a clean towel or paper-towel spread the oil over the cooking surface of the cookware.
- Fifth allow the cookware to cool before storing.
Nutritional Benefits
There are actually surprising benefits for using cast iron cookware. Studies have shown that cooking with cast iron can introduce a measurable amount of dietary iron into your food. This can be an extremely important source of iron for people with anemia or who’s diet is lacking iron, such as vegans. However on the other hand, if you suffer from Hemochromatosis (an overload of iron in your blood.) you should avoid using cast iron cookware. The amount of iron that your cookware can produce varies greatly with many factors. Some of the more common factors are cooking time, acidity and age of the cookware. During one study the iron content of spaghetti was shown to increase over 843% after being cooked in a cast iron skillet.
They don’t make a cast iron option for me!
This statement is absolutely false. Almost every type of cookware imaginable can be found in cast iron. From skillets to pots and even wok’s can be found in cast iron. With these quick links, you can jump right to the type of cookware you would like to get in cast iron.
Skillet
Grill Pan
Pot
Dutch Oven
Grill/Griddle
Baking Pan
Loaf Pan
Muffin Tin
Wok
Corn-stick Pan
Cake Pan
In Conclusion to the Ultimate Guide for Cast Iron
With this guide I should have given you plenty of reason to brush off your old cast iron cookware. Or even to go seek some new additions to your cast iron cookware collection. Although if you haven’t found a type of cast iron cookware you were looking for here though. I encourage you to leave me a comment and I will update my list of cookware to include your selections in this Ultimate Guide for Cast Iron!