Have you ever cooked with a non-stick skillet and had the non-stick surface flake off after a few months? That super slick surface is made up of many harmful chemicals that should absolutely not be eaten! What’s the alternative to cheap-o, toxic frying pans? Your grandma’s grandma had the secret in her kitchen- Cast Iron! You might be thinking ‘Hey isn’t cast iron archaic cookware from the pioneer days?’. Well, yeah, but they had the right idea, cook with heavily oiled metal and never have nasty non-stick chemicals peeling off into your food. Cast iron cookware has been used for generations because it literally lasts that long! It’s also fully recyclable since it’s one big hunk of iron which can be melted down by a scrap yard. You can nab a high quality cast iron skillet for under $20 and it will probably have at least a 10 year warranty. What other frying pan can top that?
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[tags]cast iron, cast iron cookware, green, cooking, DIY, ryanishungry[/tags]
Oh, that one rocked. You know what else is cool? You can buy excellent cast-iron cookware for a few bucks per piece at garage and yard sales everywhere. You find some that’s crappy, but lot of people have taken great care of their cast-iron, too. So you can get some that is generations old and keep it in the cycle, or get some nice new stuff and season it yourself. Hooray for this show!
yes i totally check thrift stores for cast iron too.
it tends to sometimes be rusty
but that’s nothing a little steel wool won’t fix!
I love this post because I love cast iron. It is naturally non-stick and non-toxic. Did you know that not only is teflon unhealthy when it flakes off but the fumes given off from an empty hot teflon pan can also be harmful?
Loved this! I’ve been sketched out by teflon for years. I heard the fumes will kill pet birds. Urban myth? Maybe so, but if I’m cooking, it’s gotta be cast iron! Great show, this is my brain on Ryan is hungry: Totally delighted!
hey beth!
i too love cast iron! once you know how to use it, it’s all anyone needs!
i even bake in mine, can’t do that with a regular frying pan either!
thanks for watching
-ryanne
if you find an old nasty-crusty cast iron skillet they are easy to clean. put the skillet in your fireplace or fire circle, a park BBQ might work with plenty of brikets. Start a fire over the skillet and let the fire/glowing ash burn off the nastyness. then clean same with a scrubbing pad, coat with veggy oil and bake in your oven @ 400 degrees for one (1) hour, turn off heat & let sit in-situ until cool. it will be as new
pop
It’s good to hear that those rusty old iron skillets that you find in Goodwills can be restored. Makes sense.
Another alternative, and a bit easier to clean, is a regular stainless steel pan. I have a heavy-duty one I got from the Bowery for $12; I’ve used it almost every day for the past 2 years and it still has a lot of life left in it. No nasty coatings, really easy to cook with, and you can stick it in the oven. The handle doesn’t get hot either.
Another way to clean cast iron, and what the Chinese do with woks, is heat it on the stove with water. Heating makes the food particles come off easily without scrubbing. Then, just wipe it dry with a clean towel.
I’ve actually been trying to cook some lately and, in fact, been frustrated by our regular non-non-stick pans, and Maureen tells me that we can’t get the non-stick kind because they are unhealthy, just as Ryanne said.
I did not realize there is an option of “creating” a non-stick healthy pan with cast iron. I am so going to try this out and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Great and practical video!
thanks for the advice diana, i also love straight aluminum cookware. it’s really sturdy and also uses no chemicals.
richard, yes experimentation is best! like diana said, aluminum is another option. use oil too, olive oil is actually really great for you so you don’t have to skimp!
-ry
gread video with the basics on cast iron. it is the awesomest stuff!
not to be whiney, but you really ought to cut in some new footage where the pan is not so hot that it smokes and burns the egg. i love cast iron but if i didn’t know better, that part would make me want to stay away.
yeah, we did cook the egg at a high heat.
you make a good point. Shows you how hot those pans can get so quickly. Also, showed how the eggs didn’t stick to the pan even under those extreme conditions.
Love the video and lots of great ideas in the comments. My wife and I actually inherited our cast iron set from her grandmother and we will NEVER go back to teflon, we prefer to use only the natural chemicals from plants and animals.
I used to do the bake-in-the-oven trick but it never seemed to work for me. The best advice I got was from the Frugal Gourmet (aka the anal retentive chef). Clean your skillet any way you choose (I used a drill with a wire brush attachment on some of the nastier pieces). Heat it on the stove on high until very hot. Pour a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil (or bacon grease if you have any-reduce,reuse,recycle!) into the pan and swirl it around. It will smoke so have an open window or dash outside to avoid setting off fire alarms. Let it cool so you can pour and wipe out the residue. Repeat twice and you will have a bomb-proof skillet. The only time you may need to re-season is if you often cook with very acidic foods like tomatoes. Even when food does end up sticking I can soak it in hot water, scrub it with a brush (NO SOAP) and it comes clean. My favorite part is putting a couple drops of oil in the pan and rubbing it all over the beautiful black metal until it shines once more.
Last thing: it seems to work better to pre-heat the pan BEFORE adding whatever oil, butter or grease used for cooking my food.
If you haven’t already guessed, I LOVE my cast iron and the only way MY descendants will get it is by prying it from my cold dead hands!
what a good comment. many people don’t do a good job “seasoning” their skillet so they have all the problems of rusting. Many people also can’t help but use soap.
Cast iron is actually the easiest cookware to use and clean.
I grew up using nothing but cast iron cook ware–there were no teflon coated pans. And my 84 year old mother still uses them. I think they’re great, the only drawback is the weight. A large dutch oven with cover (like a big stock pot, sort of) that’s filled with food is almost too heavy to lift. But they have so many great qualities, otherwise. Great video!
I am having a love affair with my big ol’ cast iron skillet. It was the first pan I bought with my own money when I moved into my first apt. I don’t know what possessed me to buy it, because it’s heavy as all hell. Maybe because it was cheap? Not a day goes by that I don’t cook something in it. I love its non-stickiness. Brian put it in the dishwasher two weeks ago and I nearly cried. But I was so happy he actually loaded the washer that I felt I couldn’t scold him about it lest he never load again.
But then I told him anyway. I had to because he came into the kitchen asking “what’s that funny smell?” as I was re-seasoning it in the oven.
it’s good as new!
Yes it’s true, the fumes from teflon will kill pet birds! We only use cast iron or stainless on the stovetop. We just got some antique waffle irons and cleaned and seasoned them, perfect waffles every time! You can even cook with them on a campfire (try doing that with your electric waffle iron!) and they clean up easy with hot water and a stiff brush.
Dave
Hmmm, nice video on how to burn an egg! Eggs should be cooked slowly on low heat so you don’t get the crispy edge syndrome (I know, I am an egg snob!)
I always clean my pans while still hot, run under hot water or pour boiling water into the hot pan. Scrub out with a stiff brush. Put back on the stove and heat again until all the water has evaporated, season with a little oil (we use olive oil). Let the oil spread around while the pan is still hot. Wipe off excess oil with a paper towel and let cool.
Hi there,
I have to admit that sometimes I find the information and blogs posted here to be somewhat humorous. Now before you go thermal and get irritated, let me tell you why…. I grew up in southern Minnesota and I live in South Dakota now. Many of the things that are being “discovered” and blogged about were ways of life when I was growing up.
Now, unfortunately, consumer culture is really eating away at what was a unique place. With the passing of my parent’s generation, much is being lost.
I can remember as a child running with my mom to get the clothes off of the clothes line before it rained. We had a dryer, but it was rarely used if the temp outside was above 50 degrees. (About 7 months of the year) I always liked it when mom washed sheets and let them dry outside…it was the only time I would take a bath willingly! I loved being clean and then crawling into the fresh smelling sheets.
I think I was in my teens before the first “teflon” pan arrived in my house. Mom didn’t really like it because it scratched and then food would be “stuck” in the scratch. I have two cast iron pans and a will not waste my money on anything else. I keep asking for cast iron cookware as a Christmas present each year.
May I share a recipe?
Two Pan, One Knife Eggbake (Quiche)
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Bisquick or Instant Baking Mix
1 Pound of Meat of Choice (ground beef, chicken, or turkey)
You can also use chopped rather than ground meat, if desired
1 Medium Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 8 oz Package of Shredded Cheese of Choice
Salt/Pepper/Spices to taste
Place Bisquick in mixing bowl, add milk and eggs. Beat well and set aside.
Chop onion and green pepper and saute with olive oil in CAST IRON frying pan, add meat and cook until almost done. (Around five minutes for me)
Place 1/2 of cheese on meat/veggie mix. (Don’t let the mix cool) Then pour the liquid mixture over cheese/meat. Spread the rest of the cheese over the top of the liquid.
Place CAST IRON pan into 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Eggbake is done when knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and let rest for 5 minutes. WARNING! CAST IRON pan will be hot and heavy! Use several hot pads to protect hands!.
The great thing about this recipe is that it can be made however you like it. Here are some variations I have tried:
Hawaiian Eggbake-use chopped ham and add pineapple with first layer of cheese (I use mozzarella for this)
Taco Eggbake-use a package of taco seasoning and taco cheese (you have to use the water to get the seasoning right, so saute the meat mixture for 10 minutes to boil off some of the water.
Garden Eggbake-leave out the meat and use whatever veggies you have on hand; peas, peppers, green beans…I use a package of frozen mixed vegetables
Shepherd’s Eggbake-use ground beef, but put one diced potato and some frozen corn in with the onion and pepper
Clean Refrigerator Eggbake-you guessed it, whatever is in the refrigerator. (for advanced palates only!)
You can add whatever seasonings you like, use different cheeses, different oils, flavor packets, etc. It is a very versatile recipe.
Did you know that you can use a dishwasher to help clean cast iron cookware? Yes, you can. You just have to leave the “soap” out. Run the machine without soap and it works fine. You have to remove immediately and wipe dry to keep the rust away, but that is also a good time to reason anyway.
Well, anyway, I am glad to see that much of what is thought of as “old ways” here is treasured there. Keep up the good work!
Hey Drew, I can’t agree more.
For some reason much of this info has been lost. For instance, my parents are baby boomers and never taught us any of this. It was all packaged food, teflon pans, and dryers. So for many younger people, these are like totally new concepts. Back to basics, especially as cheap petroleum energy becomes more scarce. Keep sending us tips.
re; aluminum as an alternative.
Make sure it’s “anodized”.
Aluminum leeching has been long considered a potential health hazard (partic. affecting the brain).
Best bet? Get a cast iron pan…worry free.
http://www.dld123.com/q&a/index.php?cid=98
Good points!
For those who want recipes that show the versatility
of this cookware (not just the obvious) i recently found “Cooking In Cast Iron:yesterday’s Flavors For Today’s Kitchen” by Mara Rogers–lots in there!
My husband has been remodeling the kitchen and built me a new cabinet to get my cast iron skillets out of the oven. As he was lifting them into the new cabinet, he mentioned that we should consider upgrading to “GREEN” skillets, which I’m all for. In an effort to cooperate, I googled green cooking and came up with this site. Wait til I get him to see this! I have had these skillets for 30 years, learned to cook at my mother’s and grandmother’s stove with cast iron. I would rather use my skillets than his fancy teflon-coated omelet skillet any day! Yeah, his is shiny on the outside, but mine is perfect on the INside! And unlike his, I don’t have to buy special utensils either!
I love Cast iron cookware, I have 17 pieces that I use on a regular basis. I have my kitchen done in a country theme, which enables me to store them on top of my fridge and shelves. We make chili and stews in the larger pots. Veggies cook great in them. I baked in my skillets and many other things, meat loaf, cakes, biscuits etc. They cook wonderfully and cleaning is easy. I keep a container of lard to wipe them down with when i heat them to dry. Lard is loaded with vitamin D which fights skin disease, cancer and many other health issues. Cast iron puts a nice sear on food that other metals cannot do. Get a few, and enjoy!
Missy
An addition to comments, Try cooking roast in a cast iron dutch oven. It gives meat a beautiful crust and falls apart with a fork. Add potatoes, carrots ect. Pork tenderloin is fantasic this way.
Enjoy
Agreed. since moving to Virginia, we find a nice piece of inexpensive cast iron every time we go to the Thrift store. Strange how Teflon pans got so popular. They don’t even compare.
HI all,
On my ramblings over this here ‘net thing, I discovered this article:
http://www.viewzone.com/teflon.html
If true, it might be enough to send you screaming from your kitchen! What do you think about this?
Drew
thanks for the link Drew.
yeah, if you do any research on Teflon, none of the info leads me to feel it’s safe. No reason not to use inexpensive and durable cast iron to cook.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that cast iron can crack – which usually happens due to extremes of heat and cold ie cooking over a campfire or pouring cold water into a sizzling hot pan. The frying pan my family had when I was a child turned out to be cracked but was still perfectly usable, it just had a tiny leak. Not really a problem but something to be aware of – even “bombproof” cast iron appreciates some TLC.
wow..i’d love to see a cast iron that cracked. that must be some serious temperature change to do that. i did almost start a kitchen fire recently by putting oil into a pan that was way too hot.
Howdy folks! I’ve been using cast iron cookware since I was a child. My parents were back-to-the-land hippies, and mom taught me to can and cook on a wood cook stove. Nothing compares to good cast iron and wood heat!! I only use lard to season. I’ve tried everything from butter to Crisco to olive oil. Lard rules. I also wanted to point out that in addition to cracking cast iron by temperature changes, cast iron can be shattered (as, strange as it may seem, CI is brittle) by using it on Scouting Camp Outs to pound in tent pegs. Dropping them on concrete is not wise.