Cast Iron Frying Pans

[Bogframe]

I have one 8"cast-iron frying pan (not skillet) with an absolutely smooth bottom ie: no ridges, bumps, etc. I've been looking for a 12", 8"skillet and a smaller one for single burgers, but I haven't had any luck. Do any of you know where I can lay my hands on one?

[tentoze]

Haven't really been in the market for one in ages, since they have the life-span of U-235, but unless they've gotten really rare, I'd think you could walk into any of the Megalo-Mart type places and get them.

[jeffw]

Try here.Very respectable stuff w/a good reputation.& it's not the cheap Chinese crap from Wal Mart.


http://www.lodgemfg.com/

[Urizen]

New? I saw a good selection at Bass Pro Shops (Lodge brand) the last time I was there, shopping for camping equipment. Not cheap.

Check thrift stores and flea markets, and good luck!

[RichPA]

I'll second the Lodge rec; Williams Sonoma carries some of their stuff, I think.

[mhardy6647]

There was an excellent article on cast iron cookware at the NY Times (or maybe WSJ?) several weeks ago. Worth seeking out, if they'll let you see it gratis. The author noted that the Lodge stuff is still US made and (yet more important) made of good cast iron.

Great stuff for cooking, although we use our cast iron Dutch oven far more often than our cast iron skillet.

[fotno]

Wally-World sells Lodge (least they do down here). I've bought three or four pieces from them. Dutch oven is my next cast-iron purchase Mark, I've wanted one since I moved out on my own.

[Fisherdude]

I'll second the Lodge rec; Williams Sonoma carries some of their stuff, I think.

Bingo.

Here's the most important thing about using your cast iron skillet/pan.

After you have it seasoned, NEVER clean it with soap. Run hot water in it and scrub it with any kind of a scrubby pad thingy until it's clean. Then dry it, or just put it on a stove burner for a minute or so until it gets warm enough to dry.

If you do this, things won't stick, and you'll just love it. If you clean it with soap, the next thing you cook in it will have to be taken out with a cold chisel. :yes:

[fotno]

Bingo.

Here's the most important thing about using your cast iron skillet/pan.

After you have it seasoned, NEVER clean it with soap. Run hot water in it and scrub it with any kind of a scrubby pad thingy until it's clean. Then dry it, or just put it on a stove burner for a minute or so until it gets warm enough to dry.

If you do this, things won't stick, and you'll just love it. If you clean it with soap, the next thing you cook in it will have to be taken out with a cold chisel. :yes:

Exactly right - All that seasoning will just go to waste.

[Urizen]

Exactly right - All that seasoning will just go to waste.

Yep. That is what makes cast iron so good for camping. No soap to gunk up those pristine streams when you wash 'em. :yes:

[tentoze]

Exactly right - All that seasoning will just go to waste.

I know this is the universally accepted wisdom regarding cleaing cast-iron cookware, but I'll be damned if I could live with just rinsing off one my C-I skillets with only water after some of things I cook in it. I have one that was a hand-me-down from my mom that I'm sure is at LEAST 60 years old, and I can attest that a nuclear blast wouldn't affect the seasoning of it, much less a decent scrubbing with Dawn after frying up some chikken and making pan gravy in it.

[fotno]

I know this is the universally accepted wisdom regarding cleaing cast-iron cookware, but I'll be damned if I could live with just rinsing off one my C-I skillets with only water after some of things I cook in it. I have one that was a hand-me-down from my mom that I'm sure is at LEAST 60 years old, and I can attest that a nuclear blast wouldn't affect the seasoning of it, much less a decent scrubbing with Dawn after frying up some chikken and making pan gravy in it.

Once it's built up a really thick layer you could probably sand-blast it and still have seasoning. It's just that first year or so that it's so easily removed by soap. I use really hot water (boiling) for a final rinse once I've scrubbed mine clean (I'm a little germOphobic when it comes to food prep). I use a super stiff bristle brush to clean off any food stuffs, then hit it with a dose of the boiling water a leave to soak a minute. Then on a stove eye to dry it.

I have a hand me down as well Toze, that I don't mind a bit to wash in soap and water. But whatever you do, don't wash them in an automatic dishwasher. It'll strip em down to the iron in a heartbeat.

[cubdog]

The best cast iron available IMO is found at antique stores, flea markets etc. Look for old Griswald or early Wagner. Some of these pieces are highly collectable and can sell for hundreds of dollars. However most common sizes can be had for less than $25 and will by far out perform the new stuff. There is a wealth of information on how to recondition these if needed.

cubdog

[Fisherdude]

Well, just to clarify...

There really isn't a "layer", as in a layer of crud. You can't really scrape anything off.

The cast iron surface is rough. The most recommended method of seasoning is to coat the surface of the pan with vegetable oil, and heat until it's smoking. Let cool. Scrub with a scrubby pad and plain hot water. This gets you started, so that the first time you cook with it it won't stick (very much).

A well seasoned pan has a very thin layer of carbonized oils in the pores and nooks & crannies of the cast iron surface. This is what keeps foods from sticking.

"I know this is the universally accepted wisdom regarding cleaing cast-iron cookware, but I'll be damned if I could live with just rinsing off one my C-I skillets with only water after some of things I cook in it." (Toze)

As far as anyone having second thoughts about the sanitary aspect of not using soap, keep in mind that heating anything to 212 degrees F or higher will sterilize it, and the temp of the average skillet is 350-500, depending on what you're doing in it.

Believe me, it's sterile.

"That is what makes cast iron so good for camping." (Urizen)

Well, yeah, except for the carrying part! :D

[outlawmws]

Yep, Good cast iron gear is great, but there are some older aluminum pots that make the teflon lined stuff look sick. I bought some at a yard sale and made replacement handles for camping to save weight, and WOW, is this stuff easy to clean. Cooks well too. I have one that is about 3" deep and 12" or so wide. great for spagetti sause! most is Wagner Magnalite, but I have my grandmothers Guardian griddle as well. I'll take these over Reverware, or any brand teflon coated stuff. :thmbsp:

I have 2 aluminum dutch ovens, but have never seek the stackable type in aluminum. They are missing a good bet...

I may modify one of the lids to make it stackable for the second one, :scratch2:

[Bogframe]

I had/still have one my grandmother passed on to me. She probably bought it around 1920 when she got married to my grandfather. My wife thought she was doing me a favor one day when I was at work, and went at it with an SOS pad. When I got home, she proudly showed me how she "cleaned that disgusting frying pan of yours". I didn't yell. I walked around the block for an hour, but I didn't yell. It's reseasoned now, but nowhere near what it used to be. Thanks everyone for letting her know I'm not the only one who won't let soap anywhere NEAR the CI.

[Gibsonian]

If one must soap cast iron because of germphobia or other fears, you should get something different than cast iron.

[tentoze]

If one must soap cast iron because of germphobia or other fears, you should get something different than cast iron.

And frying pan snobbery is the height of tedium. I'll exit this thread with a quote from a wise man:

"There are 365 ways to wash dishes."

[mhardy6647]

I hesitated to share this bon mot earlier 'cause I am fuzzy on the details, but what the heck?

When this thread first appeared, it reminded me that, a year or two ago, there was a guy somewhere here in Massachusetts who killed his mother because she had washed his cast-iron skillet with soap and water! I do realize that many take their cast iron quite seriously, but that seemed a bit over the top.

... and, yes, this guy was, like, an older, unmarried man... living at home with Mom. Probably a quiet guy; kept to himself mostly...

I think he bludgeoned her with the aforementioned skillet :-O

[Squidward]

I find a ton of CI at the thrifts where I look for gear. It's everywhere. Learn how to get some rust off & reseason, you'll be gold.

[rlwagoner]

I'm confused, frying pan (not skillet), what the hell does that mean? All these years I thought a skillet WAS a fryin' pan! Hahahahahaha!!!! Wooooohooooo!

[Bogframe]

Simply put, a frying pan has higher sides than a skillet.

[Shain]

Obvious question... :scratch2:


What do you cook in them? (that comes out the best)

[outlawmws]

Simply put, a frying pan has higher sides than a skillet.

doesn't look very differnt to me... :scratch2:

skillet (http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=482&f=2397)

[Bogframe]

This is a skillet, and next to it, a frying pan :)

[tentoze]

This is a skillet, and next to it, a frying pan :)

In the southern U.S. where I grew up, I never heard of any distinction between the two terms.

[rlwagoner]

Amen brother. We always said either the deep one or the shallow one. Which was different from the big one and the little one. Hahahahaha! You can call 'em whatever you want, don't change what they are! Or what ya cook in 'em! It's all good!

As to what you cook in 'em. Fried chicken, catfish, country ham, you can make biscuits in them, too. All sorts of stuff. Even heat retention is the key. And, the heavier weight the better.

[outlawmws]

Webster's New World: Skillet: n. A pan for frying. :D "Frypan"

Went to Wagner's site and no reference to Fying pans, just skillets.

Crate and barrel, mostly Frying pans, all low sided (http://www.crateandbarrel.com/search.aspx?query=frying%20pan&ShowXItems=250) :D

The words appear to be interchangable. :scratch2:


:nono:

[gonzo]

Find an OLD hardware store,Wolf's in my home town carried all sizes.Not the mini box stores but the old school real deal.

[Cloth Ears]

This is a skillet, and next to it, a frying pan :)
In Aus, the 'skillet' is what we call a frying pan, the one on the right would be a saucepan (whether CI or not).

A skillet is used to talk about something with pretty much no sides (1" max). Makes draining off fat/oil easy. Great for pancakes.

My chef mates reckon that the 2 terms are actually the same thing, but that in the US, it generally used to indicate where you came from (skillet was used in the 'midland states', fry pan or frying pan everywhere else). The term skillet survives due to good marketing only

[outlawmws]

SNIP

A skillet is used to talk about something with pretty much no sides (1" max). Makes draining off fat/oil easy. Great for pancakes.

SNIP

If that's a skillet down under, whats a griddle? (What you describe is commonly called a griddle here)

[Cloth Ears]

I've heard the term on American TV, but not here.

Would that be like a hot-plate, with no handle or sides (ribbed or unribbed)?

[Bogframe]

I've heard the term on American TV, but not here.

Would that be like a hot-plate, with no handle or sides (ribbed or unribbed)?
As far as I know, a griddle has no sides, and a hot plate is an electric single stove burner.

[fotno]

The CI "Griddles" I'm familiar with have almost no side at all, just a ridge that runs the circumference of the piece, mebbe 1/4" to 1/2" in height.

FWIW - I never heard the word skillet growing up except in films, or TV shows. Here in NC where practically everyone cooked with cast iron, they were all referred to as frying pans (sometimes using the cast in number to differentiate which one was called for in recipes - I.E. #5, #8 etc.). I own one very similar to the lidded unit Bogframe illustrated, and it is just the thing for frying chicken, way better than the shorter sided models I grew up with. The front handle on mine makes handling the beast a lot easier.

[outlawmws]

Yep a griddle only has enough of a side or lip to keep grease from running off.

Pics: The aluminum one is identical to the one I got from my mom, who got it from my grandparents.

I also have an aluminum version of the Rectangular CI one for camping, but the Octagonal one (Made by Guardian) is my fav. :thmbsp:

[Cloth Ears]

I haven't seen anything like those 2 pics you posted, outlawmws. But my mother has what fotno and bogframe described as a griddle (without the handles), which sits over 2 of the gas jets on the stove, and that's what we call a hotplate. Also, same principle, but the flat or ribbed metal plate you use on a barbeque is also called a hotplate.

[fotno]

Yep, Cloth Ears, that'd be a griddle on this side of the pond. The etymology of the word is pretty interesting though;
From Miriam-Webster (online)
grid·dle Pronunciation: 'gri-d&l Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gredil gridiron, from Old North French, from Latin craticulum, diminutive of cratis wickerwork -- more at HURDLE
: a flat metal surface or pan on which food is cooked by dry heat

[Sansui Louie]

Harbor Freight Tools has a lot of cast iron, very inexpensive. It's from China, no doubt, but it's pretty hard to screw up cast iron.

My off-grid cabin is stocked with HFT cast iron....big fry pans, small, skillets, pancake/bacon grilles, dutch ovens. The stuff is bulletproof.

RIGHT after cooking or frying, dump the gunk, wipe out well with paper towel, spray with PAM or lightly coat with oil on paper towel, heat it up again, cool, wipe clean and put away. For burned on or stubborn crud, boil SOAPLESS water in the pan, then do above process.

[Dynacoman]

In my household they're call Cast Iron Flying pans. :D

[Cloth Ears]

RIGHT after cooking or frying, dump the gunk, wipe out well with paper towel, spray with PAM or lightly coat with oil on paper towel, heat it up again, cool, wipe clean and put away. For burned on or stubborn crud, boil SOAPLESS water in the pan, then do above process.
Agreed, for the first 10 years. But, being a bit of a Luddite, I believe a well-seasoned pan is not really affected by a bit of soap after that. As long as it's me doing it to my own pans...

[TocoTamer]

Most any hardware store has them and ya won't spend an arm&leg for them.
:thmbsp:

[KingBubba]

I too would go for the vintage cast iron. Griswold is indeed a collector item but for a reason. They made a great product. I see this stuff at Flea Markets and sometimes at thrift stores. If you can find it at a thrift store the price will usually be a lot more reasonable.

[Fisherdude]

There's a huge difference between quality cast iron cookware and junk.

More consistent surface texture, better casting process produces smaller "grain" in the cast metal which transfers heat better, fewer voids in the metal.

The better ones are worth the cost.

Btw, no soap. Ever.

[kbott]

I wash my pans after every use then wipe dry and spray down with aerosol cooking spray.

http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/3121/castiron0002mediumou7.jpg

[wineslob]

Great thread ! I own about 6-7 "skillets" or "frying pans" whatever floats ur boat.
The 12 quart Dutch Oven is the greatest invention..........ever. Everything from steaks to chickens to game hens comes out great in them, especially dumplings.

[meggy]

Target's got em:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-6/qid=1176503511/ref=sr_1_6/601-5262652-5016919?ie=UTF8&asin=B000FBSRXQ

What chemical from DuPont hell they "pre-season" them with, I dunno.

[jimfet]

Give me stainless steel with a copper bottom anyday. Grew up on cast iron cookware and a witches caldron.

[6thumbs]

You never hear the word skillet in a proffesional kitchen ,,anyway i have 3 old cast iron fry pans very heavy bought used a long time ago don,t use them any more i,ll see if i can find them drop me an e-mail ,, as far as cleaning mine ,i use to turn down the heat add some water ,a low boil will loosen most crud ,wipe em out add a little oil because they will surface rust and put em away

[Andyman]

Well, here's one you guys will love............

That atrocity aside, my buddy's mom had a real nice one she used to cook up LOTS of bacon in when I was a teen. But I seem to remember it having really thick sides with a reverse taper to them. Then again, it was like 40 years ago..............

[Yamaha1]

Pure Wagner cast iron utensils, can't be beat, totally safe.

[www.records]

I have 3 old Griswold skillets. My favorite is the big chicken fryer skillet. Really tall sides on it. Bought it at a yardsale years ago for $3 and I have gotten most of my moneys worth out of it. I have a couple of Wagners too and they can be bought for less money than a good Griswold.

[VinylHanger]

I heard Emeril use the word skillet the other night.:scratch2:

[jimfet]

If me, Emeril and a cast iron skillet were in a room together, all you would hear would be BAM!

[hdrl1935]

Damn, I love Cast Iron Skillets. I love to cook cornbread in them. How my mother always seasoned them was a heavy layer of crisco in it, and it went in the oven at like 400 degrees for a few hours, with a repeat. Worked great after then.
-Derek:music: