Cooking in Cast Iron

Dutch Oven Brisket

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-11-25T21:09:03-05:00

Posted by Kathy Mansfield

Cast Iron Required:

5 quart dutch oven (kitchen, not outdoor)
cast iron trivet

Ingredients:

2-3 pound flat brisket
2 shallots, sliced thin
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. thyme
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. Sherry

A while back Rick posted information on the Cooking in Cast Iron website about converting cooking times and temperatures from slow cookers to cast iron dutch ovens. He encouraged me to try one of my brisket recipes to test out the conversion chart. Well, my brisket recipe is one of my prized cooking secrets. The recipe was handed down by my mom, and it produces the most tender brisket ever. The brisket cooks slowly (8 hours) in a low temperature oven (225) wrapped in foil. Mmmmm good. I wasn’t sure I was ready to alter those winning steps. So, I figured I would try my second best brisket recipe—this one from one of our slow cooker cookbooks.

I picked up a brisket at the grocery store last week and put it in the freezer, not knowing when I might try the oven version of this slow cooker success story. When Rick had to work late last night, I decided to try my experiment. I grabbed the slow cooker cookbook and quickly found the “Brisket in Ale” recipe I had used before. Unfortunately, I didn’t have some of the main ingredients. So, off to the pantry I went in search of substitutes. I was bound and determined to see if these conversion numbers were really accurate.

I began the process by preheating the oven to 325. Based on the conversion chart, this was the temperature to use if the slow cooker recipe called for 10 hours at a low setting, except in a dutch oven the brisket should be done after just 2 1/2 hours. I must admit I was pretty skeptical. I placed our new dutch oven trivet in the bottom of the 5 quart dutch oven and laid the 2 pound brisket on top, fatty side down. Next I added the hodge podge of ingredients I was able to gather together from around the kitchen: one large shallot, chopped; 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon of thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt sprinkled on top of the brisket; 1 can cream of mushroom soup mixed with 8 oz. of Sherry cooking wine spread on top. I put the lid on and put the brisket in the oven and set the timer for 2 1/2 hours.

I must admit that I had my doubts about the brisket being even close to done after that short amount of time. So, when the timer went off, I didn’t event check under the lid. I left everything in for another 30 minutes just to be sure.

Was the brisket going to be cooked through? Even if it was cooked all the way, would it be tender? Would the miscellaneous ingredients I added to the mix be tasty? I should have never doubted. I raised the lid and smelled the delicious aroma of brisket and gravy. One touch with a fork let me know the meat was just as tender as the slow cooking technique I had used for years. And the taste? Let’s just say that I’ve written down all of those cobbled together ingredients so that I can make this recipe again!

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, or you can contact Kathy directly at kathy@cookingincastiron.com.

Recent Cast Iron Acquisitions

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-08-08T16:44:07-04:00

Posted by Rick Mansfield

Last month, Kathy and I took a day trip to Tennessee, and while we were in Sevierville made the required stop for any cast iron aficionado at the Lodge Cast Iron Outlet Store. This is the second time we had been to a Lodge outlet store, with the previous visit made to the store in South Pittsburg, where Lodge is headquartered. If you’re into cast iron like us (and if you’re reading this, you probably are), you know that visiting one of these stores is akin to a religious experience.

Lodge has four factory stores, and of the two we’ve visited so far, the Sevierville store was clearly the nicer one. It was larger than the South Pittsburg location and had high ceilings and lots of bare wood walls and displays. It almost felt like being in a log cabin, but it was brighter and more open than your average cabin. It was a thrill to walk into a store dedicated to cast iron and see shopping carts. I immediately grabbed one, although we did not have a clear plan for what we were going to purchase.

As we went along, spending about an hour in the store, Kathy and I walked up and down every aisle, making certain we had missed nothing. We called a family member as well as a friend of the family asking them if they needed us to get them anything while we were there. They both enthusiastically gave us their “orders.” Some of the items we picked up were novelties such as a Lodge baseball cap. It’s black with the Lodge logo on the front and the words “1896 * USA” on the back. I also got one of those rust eraser sticks I’d heard about, but have not had a chance to use. I’ve got a couple of old cast iron chicken fryers that need cleaning up. I’ll be certain to write about my results with the eraser when I’ve had a chance to try it out.

I was especially excited to find the cast iron casserole dish pictured to the left. To my knowledge, these are not sold on the Lodge website, although Lodge sells an enameled version of the same pan. This one, however, is non-enameled, bare cast iron (although pre-seasoned). A few months ago, I featured the larger enameled cast iron broaster pan in one of my posts, but this smaller cast iron casserole dish was something I’d been wanting for a long time.

Also pictured here is a cabbage casserole which was the first recipe we tried in the new cast iron casserole pan. I plan on featuring this recipe a few months from now as we get closer to New Year’s, but if you can’t wait until then, be certain to shoot me an email requesting it.

I’d also been wanting a lid for our cast iron wok for quite a while. I realize you may be thinking that a lid is not customarily used with a wok, and I’d have to agree with you completely. But let me explain why I wanted one.

When Kathy and I cook dinner using our Lodge cast iron wok (see my original review here), we usually cook enough food for our dinner and then have enough food for leftover lunch the next day. You have to realize that this is not customarily the way woks are used. Most of the time a wok will be used to cook just enough food for one meal. So, if there are four people eating, the food in the wok will be divvied out among them with none leftover. But Kathy and I regularly need to make enough food so that we can take our lunch to work with us.

So, if we pack our lunches right away, we run the risk of our food for that night’s meal getting cold. But if we leave the food in the wok, it tends to lose too much moisture while we’re eating. Therefore, I needed a lid!

A few months back, I emailed customer service at Lodge asking them if they made a lid for the wok. They do not, which didn’t surprise me. However, I was told that the 14” camping dutch oven lid fits perfectly. So, while in the store, I found one of these rather large lids and carried it over to a display where a few woks were sitting. I set the lid on top of the wok, and I was delighted to see that it fits perfectly! It’s almost as if the lid was especially designed for the wok.

So, our cast iron collection has grown a little bit more. Because we have limited room, I decided long ago that I was not going to collect cast iron simply to collect it, although some people greatly enjoy doing that. Instead, all of our cast iron is what like like to call “in use” cast iron. We actually do use everything we have. I’ve shown a picture of our cast iron display rack before, but it’s a bit more full since the last photos I posted.

What you see here is almost every piece of cast iron we own. Other than what you see here, I also have my main cast iron skillet that has a permanent place on the stove top. It the first cast iron piece I got back in the nineties. It is a Lodge 10.25" skillet that I received back before they began adding the extra grip handle and before everything came pre-seasoned.

I also have Kathy’s grandmother’s chicken fryers (two) in the back room waiting for me to find the time to clean them up and get them back into normal use. I don’t yet know what brand they are, but I look forward to trying to figure that out. My only other not-pictured cast iron item is a Wagnerware cornstick pan which I will have to take that rust eraser to before I can re-season it and get it back into working order.

Finally, pictured below are a few shots of the same rack above, but slightly enlarged so that you can see some of the items we have. I’m not showing these items to show off. I know of many cast iron collectors whose inventories are larger than ours. However, I also know that true cast iron aficionados enjoy looking at other folks’ cast iron. So, enjoy and feel free to post any questions or comments in the comment selection of this post.

Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.

Queenie's Peach Cobbler/Looking at the World through Cast Iron Lenses

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-07-12T21:13:05-04:00

Posted by Rick Mansfield

Do you look at the world through cast iron lenses?

That is, when you go to a restaurant or perhaps to dinner at a friend’s house, do you think when the food is served, “You know, I bet this would taste even better if it were cooked in cast iron”?

I admit I do this. In fact, when I make old family recipes, I chuck the directions to use a glass dish, and I usually cook in cast iron instead. You think that green bean casserole is good in a Pyrex dish? You’ve not had green bean casserole until you’ve had it cooked in cast iron. If skillet fries taste best in cast iron, think of how good your uncle’s hash brown casserole will taste. I’ve got two cast iron pans specifically for casseroles, but if you don’t, a cast iron skillet will work just as well.

My cast iron ~~obsession~~ preference makes me re-read all those great family recipes that I ate growing up and rethink them using cast iron. One of those recipes that I applied to cast iron recently was my grandmother’s peach cobbler. You might remember a while back when I posted her cornbread recipe, “Queenie’s Cornbread,” and if you liked that, wait until you try her peach cobbler.

Of course, I should point out that I never actually ate this peach cobbler at my grandmothers house when she was alive. But my mother made it regularly and always referred to it as her “Mom’s Peach Cobbler.” In the copy of the recipe I received, which had the title just mentioned at the top of the page, the directions simply called for a “casserole” dish. But this goes back to my previously mentioned point—I was certain this would go better in cast iron!

In fact, the recipe itself isn’t all that different from the cobblers we’ve made while camping, using a dutch oven placed directly on top of live coals. One of the best features of those great campout cobblers is the crust that forms in the cast iron. Therefore, I was fairly certain that I could (forgive me for saying this!) improve on my grandmother’s recipe.

At our church, my Sunday school class has a potluck brunch every first Sunday of the month. So two weeks ago, I decided to make my grandmother’s peach cobbler, but not in a glass dish, but in cast iron! Now, my wife, Kathy, who doesn’t like peaches (odd, isn’t she?), asked if I’d also make one using apples instead. The recipe is pretty versatile, so the picture at the beginning of this post has apple on the left and peach on the right. To make the cobbler even more special, I made the original peach recipe specifically in my grandmother’s skillet that was handed down to me years ago. It is a BS&R and is at least 70 years old if not older. I used my Lodge skillet that I got in the nineties for the apple cobbler.

Needless to say, both cobblers were a hit, but the peach cobbler was completely gone when the apple cobbler was only half eaten. But by the end of our class, both pans were empty. Cast iron is definitely superior to the standard casserole dish for this recipe as you probably imagine. I encourage you to join me in looking at your world through cast iron lenses!

So, here is Queenie’s recipe for peach cobbler. It’s very easy, so very basic and so very good. Enjoy!

Queenie’s Peach Cobbler

Cast Iron Required:
10.25" Cast Iron Skillet

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 can of sliced peaches, don't drain

Directions:
Melt a stick of butter in a cast iron skilet.

Mix a cup of sugar, a cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, two teaspoons of baking powder, 1 cup whole milk.

Pour in 10.25" cast iron skillet and add one large can of sliced peaches (don’t drain).

Bake at 350° 30-40 minutes.

MacGourmet users, click image to download recipe (or simply drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box).

Rick plans to post more of his grandmother’s recipes in the future, so check back often. Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.

Veggie Tales II

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-06-26T21:26:19-04:00

Posted by Kathy Mansfield

Vegetables? Yuck! That’s been my usual response when offered vegetables for any meal, unless they were potatoes or green beans. But, recently I’ve widened my pallet. Rick made a semi-New Year’s resolution to eat more vegetables, especially those he has never tried. Since I live here, too, that meant that I would end up having to try them, as well.

My in-laws were recently on an asparagus kick, so when we visited them earlier this year we were served this “new-to-us” vegetable several times. After we returned to Kentucky, Rick found a recipe for asparagus that we could prepare in cast iron. Although asparagus is not my favorite dish, this turn-her-nose-up-at-green-vegetables-girl has actually requested this particular asparagus recipe for dinner more than once.

PAN-GRILLED GLAZED ASPARAGUS
(adapted from "Mustard-and-Mayonnaise Glazed Asparagus" by Nate Appleman, Food & Wine, June, 2009)

Cast Iron Required:
10.25” cast iron grill pan

Ingredients

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup coarse grain mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. thick asparagus, trimmed

Directions
In a shallow dish, whisk the mayonnaise with the mustard, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the asparagus and turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Heat a cast iron grill pan over a medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until the spears are tender and lightly blistered in spots—about 6 minutes. Serve the asparagus hot or at room temperature.
MacGourmet users, click image to download recipe (or simply drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box).

I was reluctant to try the next new vegetable Rick made. He announced proudly one day that he had bought brussels sprouts and had found a recipe to try with them. Nothing about that announcement sounded good to me. But, lo and behold, Rick found a way for me to like brussels sprouts—sautéed in cast iron! A key to this recipe for me is the fresh grated Parmesan cheese. I have always thought that most things taste better with cheese, and I’ve learned that most things taste better when cooked in cast iron. I put one tiny brussels sprout on my plate, knowing how disappointed Rick would be if I didn’t at least try one. It looked like a small cabbage. I closed my eyes and popped it in my mouth. I was pleasantly surprised! Who knew that I would start liking brussels sprouts at the age of 43?

GOLDEN-CRUSTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS
(adapted from the recipe by Heidi Swanson in her book Super Natural Cooking)

Cast Iron Required:
10.25” or 12” cast iron skillet with lid

Ingredients

24 small brussels sprouts
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for rubbing
fine grain sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions
Trim the stem ends of the brussels sprouts and remove any raggedy outer leaves. Cut in half from stem to top and gently rub in olive oil, keeping it intact. Heat the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 10.25" or 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat. Don't overcook the skillet, or the outsides of the brussels sprouts will cook too quickly. Place the brussels sprouts in the skillet, flat side down, sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt, cover and cook for about 5 minutes.

The bottoms of the sprouts should only show a hint of browning. Cut into or taste one of the sprouts to gauge whether they're tender throughout. If not, cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Once just tender, uncover, turn up the heat, and cook until the flat sides are deep brown and caramelized. use a metal spatula to toss them once or twice to get some browning on the rounded side. Use a spatula to toss them once or twice to get some browning on the rounded side. Season with more salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a dusting of grated cheese.

Best if served immediately.

MacGourmet users, click image to download recipe (or simply drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box).

A coupon book arrived in the mail the next week with a few recipes thrown in, one of which featured zucchini—another green vegetable I had never tried. This time I was going to take the lead and surprise Rick with my new find. The zucchini casserole was easy to make and featured fresh Parmesan. We were out, so I substituted Parmesano Regianno. Mmmm-mmmm, good!

SKILLET ZUCCHINI GRATIN

Cast Iron Required:
10 1/4” Cast Iron Skillet

Ingredients

5-6 medium zucchini
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup heavy cream
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Heat cream in a small saucepan with garlic and thyme just until it starts to boil. Remove and set aside.

Slice zucchini in 1/8-inch thick rounds.

In a buttered 10.25" cast iron skillet, layer zucchini, salt, pepper, sprinkles of Parmesan cheese, panko bread crumbs, drizzles of heavy cream. Repeat layers until the pan is almost full. Finish the top with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

MacGourmet users, click image to download recipe (or simply drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box).

I think I’m seeing a pattern here: cast iron plus cheese makes vegetables that will please!

For more of Kathy’s vegetable recipes, see her first Veggie Tales post from last year.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, or you can contact Kathy directly at kathy@cookingincastiron.com.

Joanna Pruess on QVC Tonight

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-03-02T13:03:50-05:00

Joanna Pruess, author of the The Griswold and Wagner Cast Iron Cookbook, will appear on Kitchen Ideas on QVC tonight at 9 PM EST.

If you haven’t seen Joanna’s book, be certain to read my review. It is perhaps the best cast iron themed cookbook I’ve ever seen. We liked it so much that after we bought ours, we bought three more to give as Christmas gifts last year.

Be sure to catch Joanna on QVC tonight and if you don’t already have her book, you may want to order one.

Why Cast Iron? Five Reasons

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-02-01T09:39:02-05:00

Posted by Rick Mansfield

Every now and then, someone asks me--“So what’s the big deal about cast iron?” There are plenty of other pans around. Plenty of other ways to cook. Why should someone entertain the use of cast iron cookware to begin with?

Here are a few reasons to use cast iron. Maybe you’ve been toying with the idea of cooking in cast iron for a while, and this will help to push you over.

(1) Cooking in Cast Iron Makes Food Tastes Great. It’s easy to talk about food that tastes good, but I only hear about cookware that makes food taste better from folks who have switched to cast iron. Cast iron distributes heat evenly over the cooking surface, second only to copper pans. But cast iron has an advantage because its unique properties affects the texture of food cooked in it. Anyone who’s ever eaten a properly cooked piece of cornbread from a cast iron skillet can testify to this. Maybe it’s true that copper conducts heat better, but I never hear anyone bragging about cornbread made in a copper pan! I’ve begun cooking casseroles in cast iron for this very reason, but even sauteed vegetables and meats cooked with a light amount of olive oil produce results that pans of other materials simply cannot match.

(2) Cooking in Cast Iron Is Healthy. This is true for a number of reasons. First, cast iron pans are a great way to get trace amounts of iron into your diet (see the first question and answer here). Many have pointed to the rise of other materials for cookware (aluminum, chemically treated non-stick pans, etc.) in the mid-twentieth century as a direct correlation to the rise in people being diagnosed with iron deficiencies today.

There are also serious questions raised about the danger of cooking surfaces such as teflon when used at high temperatures (see MSNBC: “Teflon Chemical Cancer Risks Downplayed”). It is well known that fumes from teflon pans (and possibly other chemically treated non-stick surfaces) can cause the death of birds kept as family pets (see “The Silent Killer” by Joanie Doss).

Aluminum pans aren’t necessarily safe either. Though a definite causal relationship has not yet been established, a common factor seen in Alzheimer’s patients are aluminum strands found in the brain (see Alzheimer’s Society: “Aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease”). Whether aluminum cookware is one of the factors in this is yet unknown, but some believe that heating foods at high heat in aluminum pans causes the metal to leech into foods. Note also that aluminum pans are almost universally used in restaurants where food is usually cooked quickly at very high temperatures.

On the other hand, cooking in cast iron negatively affects only an extremely small portion of the population--those who suffer from too much iron in the blood. This condition is referred to as hemochromatosis. This is not an issue for the average person, and for those who suffer from too much iron in the blood, I’d still recommend enameled cast iron for all the other reasons mentioned here.

Another healthy aspect of cooking in cast iron is that it is so enjoyable, you will be encouraged to cook at home more often, which is always healthier than eating out or warming up pre-packed foods in the oven.

(3) Cooking in Cast Iron is Versatile. Not only that, it’s durable as well. What other kind of cookware can move so effortlessly between the stove top and the campfire? Today, cast iron can be found in use from all sorts of people--from the gourmet chef to the campfire cook.

Although cast iron is making a strong return to America’s kitchens, it never left the campsite. It was cast iron that sustained America from the earliest pilgrims to the pioneers who traveled west. Cast iron is hardy and very difficult to permanently damage unless it’s downright abused. I’ve easily used some of the same pans in my kitchen when we’ve gone camping as well. Although most campers will want to obtain dutch ovens specific to the campfire, a lot of us can confess to throwing regular dutch ovens in the fire, too, with no harm coming to them because of it.

(4) Cooking in Cast Iron Is Responsible. You’ll want to see my post “Green Iron: The Environmental Benefits of Cooking in Cast Iron,” but needless to say, cast iron is perhaps the most environmentally friendly kind of cookware available. When treated well (and often even when not!) cast iron can last for generations. I regularly use my grandmother’s skillets (one of which is pictured to the right) which are at least 70 years old, but that’s nothing. There are cast iron pans from the 19th century still in regular use today! Older pots than that are around, too, and if most of them weren’t in museums, they would still cook just fine.

Before we started using cast iron as our main cookware, there’s no telling how many other pans we eventually wore out and then threw out. Non-stick heating surfaces on those other pans eventually started flaking, so we’d throw them out. But after switching to cast iron a few years ago, I fully expect to be using the same pans--including my grandmother’s--for at least another three or four decades (assuming I live that long). After that, I will pass them on to others, which leads to the next benefit of cooking in cast iron...

(5) Cooking in Cast Iron Creates a Legacy. In his book Dutch Ovens Chronicled, John Ragsdale points out that Mary Washington (the mother of George Washington) included her cast iron collection in her will (see p. 28). I’ve already mentioned that I regularly use two of my grandmother’s skillets and still assume I will be doing so when they are well over a century old.

We also have a couple of cast iron chicken fryers left to us from Kathy’s grandmother that I’m in the process of restoring. According to Kathy’s mother, her father used to often clean these pans by throwing them into a fire in the back yard!

Now think about it for a second. Do you really think that your aluminum pans, your chemically-treated non-stick pans, or your electric skillet will be in use too many years from now? Is there any chance you'd be able to will them to your family members? Would you even want to?

With cast iron, it's a different story.

When done with thought and care, the preparation and eating of meals together can be very intimate and memorable occasions. In today’s busy society, too often people don’t take the time to make a meal from scratch and sit around the table together. When I make my grandmother’s cornbread (see recipe here) in her skillet, I think of all the times I sat at her table eating her wonderful foods. That skillet is forever tied to her memory. I can’t use it without thinking of her. If I had to only keep one item in my cast iron collection, I would choose that one.

One day I will pass on my cast iron to others. I hope that when they use them, they will think of me and the good times we had sitting around the dinner table.

Perhaps you have a cast iron pan or pot from a family member who has now passed on. Take that pan down, relive some memories and create some new ones.

Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.

New to Cast Iron (A Guest Post)

Rick@cookingincastiron.com — 2010-01-24T01:40:27-05:00

Guest Post from Chris Morin

[Note from Rick: Today’s post is from Chris Morin, who discovered the benefits of cast iron in recent months. Chris and I had corresponded a few times, and I asked him if he would write down some of his thoughts about being a brand new cast iron aficionado. Below he describes how his discovery of cooking on a cast iron grill led him to the discovery of the benefits of the cast iron skillet and other cookware.]

About one year ago, my wife and I talked about activities we could do together. We have three wonderful children ranging in age from six to sixteen. Most of our activities revolve around them. After discussing some alternatives, we settled on cooking together. Throughout our marriage, my wife has done the lion’s share of the cooking. My part was outside on the grill. Like most suburbanites, my affiliation with the grill had been recreational at best; and my wife’s cooking compensated for my occasional burnt offerings. If we were to cook together, I had some learning to do.

Since the bulk of my cooking experience was outside, I started educating myself on grilling. That led us to buy a new grill. Our old Weber kettle grill was way past its prime. I purchased it used from a family member about twelve years earlier and it was already fifteen years old. I was not going to just head down to the local big box chain store and buy the first grill I saw; so it was time to do some research.

My research resulted in out purchasing a grill with cast iron grates. I read in various online forums people’s love of these grills. They raved about how well cast iron seared the meat, retained heat and was naturally non-stick. Neither my wife nor I had any experience with cast iron, but the enthusiasm of other owners sold us. We made our purchase. I had some initial trepidation with the grill as I had to season the grates. Once again, I turned to the online forums for instructions. After a few blazing fires and a few applications of oil, my grates had a deep, even black patina and the interior of the grill had a nice mahogany color. I had done my job and done it well.

We started cooking in earnest. Steaks, chops, chickens, burgers, brats and hot dogs all went on the grill. Soon, I was also raving about the virtues of cast iron. I was also paying closer attention to how I was grilling the meat. Direct heat, indirect heat, and Mesquite wood chunks soaked in water became part of our vocabulary. Now my contributions to our meals were more enjoyable. The real proof was in the comments from my family and requests for more food from outside.

That led us to consider other foods we could prepare outside using charcoal and fire. The cast iron grates got us thinking about other cast iron tools. If we were to cook things like eggs and pancakes, we needed other cooking surfaces. Once again, I turned to the Internet to research the best cast iron.

Some explanation about how I interact with my tools is in order. I am someone who needs to be as passionate about the tools I use as I am about the activity in which they are used. My work is all on computers and I am passionate about computers from Apple. I also have a passion for writing, so I am equally passionate about the pens and journals I use. My new passion for cooking required tools that would complement and not hinder that passion.

My research resulted in finding Rick Mansfield’s site Cooking in Cast Iron. There I saw he used quite a few pieces from Lodge Manufacturing. Other reading confirmed Lodge to be a quality brand of cast iron that had the bonus of being American made and environmentally friendly.

Our first purchase was a cast iron griddle. Soon, we were enjoying more than lunch and dinner prepared with charcoal and cast iron. Breakfast was even more enjoyable when prepared with these elemental tools. My wife and I have since added several pieces of cast iron to our arsenal of cookware. Old copper-bottom and artificial non-stick cookware was retired. In their place, we are discovering the added taste benefits provided by cast iron. Almost everything we make tastes better when prepared in cast iron cookware. Our family finds new enjoyment in old standby recipes. Pot roast tastes better from a cast iron Dutch oven than it did in our old aluminum pot. Cornbread is much, much better from a cast iron skillet than our non-stick cake pans. The list goes on and on.

My wife and I found an added bonus. Not only are we spending more time together cooking but also we are learning together. We ask, “What about this recipe,” or “What about that recipe?” Invariably, we just try it and discover one more meal that tastes better when prepared in cast iron. When we went on vacation to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we took our cast iron with us. We were so excited to plan all the meals we would cook outside using only the utensils we took with us. Everything turned out wonderfully delicious.

Needless to say, my wife and I are now cast iron converts and look forward to new culinary discoveries with great anticipation.

Feel free to interact with Chris in the comments below.