More on the Lodge Cast Iron Grill
Last month, I posted a review on the Lodge Sportsmans Grill (LSG). Yesterday, I got an email from a reader named John. He wrote:
I recently got the Lodge grill due to my need for a grill. Your review was very handy in explaining what to expect (I ordered via Amazon). I even bought cinder blocks and tiles to create a very similar setup (see attached photo)!
Here is the picture of John’s cinder block setup and mine for comparison below it.
The LSG gets extremely hot, and it’s very important to have some kind of surface below it that cannot be damaged. If you place one of these grills on a wooden deck surface, it will definitely leave burn marks. Patio stones, cinder blocks, etc. provide good protection. Plus, it gets the grill off the ground which is easier on one’s back!
John asked a few questions in his email which are in bold below, followed by my answers.
I used it once and am trying to figure out how to clean the parts other than the grill top, which I cleaned inside. I will try the aluminum foil tip next time (I forget to line it before using). I read some guy used a shop vac.
The shop vac is ideal. Small shop vacs are available that would be perfect even if only used for the LSG (assuming you grill enough to justify the purchase). When I clean mine, though, I remove the top grill and set it aside. Usually the fire grate still has coals on it, although these are really nothing more than ash themselves. I try to carefully pick this up to include as much of the ash as possible and pour this off into a trash bag (it’s very important to make sure none of the coals are still live!). Then, I take off the draft door and the fire door and simply turn the fire bowl over, dumping out any loose ash. I also keep a little brush inside one of the cinder block holes that I use to brush out extra ash. It’s really not a big deal if there’s a coating of ash remaining on the sides. As long as the grill is not getting wet, the ash is not going to harm the inside of the fire bowl. However, ash can be very corrosive on cast iron if it gets wet. Of course, keeping any cast iron item out of a wet environment should be assumed anyway.
At the end of last summer, I gave the fire bowl a really good thorough cleaning with hot water and a scraper. Grease will build up and carbonize on the sides and in the bottom. This itself will not really hurt the grill, so I don’t worry about it during the summer months of prime grilling. At the end of this year, after two years of use, I may put the fire bowl in the oven and turn on the cleaning cycle. Afterwards, everything but the top grill can be repainted with black stovepipe paint to look as good as new.
How do you light the coals? I used a chimney starter and transferred them over when they turned gray. But I realize that probably didn't give enough time for the cast grill to get hot enough.
If you don’t use a chimney starter, the other obvious is charcoal lighter fluid. Some feel that lighter fluid can affect the taste of grilled food. This is definitely true if the lighter fluid is a cheaper brand. It may not be as true with some brands. Regardless, it’s worth the effort to experiment. Most folks like a chimney starter. When using one of these, after putting the coals on top of the fire grate, place the top grill in place and let it sit for at least ten minutes before placing anything on the grill. This should give it enough time to heat up.
Any tips on the using the draft door?
I always have the draft door slightly open to allow air to circulate underneath the coals. This allows them to stay very hot while cooking; but if the coals are too hot, I close the door to allow less oxygen to get to the coals.
This is probably completely obvious, but the product descriptions say there are 2 adjustable levels. Do they mean you flip the top grill over (so the feet are sticking up)? Or is there some other way that I didn't notice to change the height?
I hope that helps some. I know that John is going to enjoy his grill. I am sold on the LSG, and will never purchase any other grill unless I simply get a second one to use beside the first one!
Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.
Lodge Mfg. Expands Web Presence with YouTube & Twitter
So, if I’m going to add a new piece of cast iron cookware to what we already have, I have to justify it. That means, I have to ask if we really need it, if we really will use it. Just last week we had some guest over for dinner. I noticed one of our guests staring at the growing number of items on our baker’s rack. She turned to me and said, “I just realized--you actually use all this cast iron!” Looking at the assorted skillets, dutch ovens, cornstick pans, sizzle skillets, loaf pans, and more, I asked “What do you mean?” She said, “Well, a lot of people who collect something like this just do so to show it off, but you actually cook with all this.”
Of course I do!
What’s more, the great majority of the cast iron we own was made by Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Oh, I also have a couple of Camp Chef items, and I have no idea who made my prize skillets handed down from my grandmother which are at least seventy years old if not much older. But the first skillet which was my very own was made my Lodge. In fact, the three skillets that permanently reside on our stove are the two skillets I inherited from my grandmother and my own Lodge skillet--the first cast iron I ever owned, given as a gift from my mother in the mid-nineties.
I honestly have nothing against other cast iron companies. In fact, I welcome quality cast iron in any form, regardless of its source. But Lodge has been very good to me, and I’ve been able to make food over the years that simply wouldn’t have tasted quite as good in other kinds of pans.
All that to say, I’m very pleased to notice that Lodge Manufacturing has been expanding their web presence lately. For the longest time, they’ve had a top quality website--an indispensable source for finding that right cast iron tool for a particular cooking need. My normal habit is to find it first on the Lodge site, and then I often order it from Amazon.com.
There are also some pages about Lodge cast iron on FaceBook, but I’m not sure if they are official or not. Perhaps someone from Lodge will let us know.
Lodge has been around since 1896, and they are still family owned. They are also the only remaining cast iron company with a foundry in the United States to my knowledge. So, I’m very impressed that a company with such traditional roots can also stay up to date with current technology in an effort to to communicate with their customers.
Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.
Confessions of a Tabasco
Addict Aficionado
It’s a thin line, isn’t it?
No doubt some regular readers of this website can identify with the dilemma of distinction when it comes to cast iron. Most who are really “into” cast iron would like to think of themselves as aficionados, but deep down they know how strong the pull of “just one more piece” of the black iron can really be.
In the end, I opted for aficionado because addict has such negative connotations. An addiction to something often results in very negative results for the person directly involved and for those around him or her. I’ve never known my predilection for Tabasco to be harmful for myself or anyone around me. I don’t use enough to cause stomach ulcers. I’ve never accidentally splashed Tabasco in the eyes of the person sitting next to me at dinner. No one’s ever caught me drinking it straight from the bottle (I assure you, I’ve never done that!).
And yet, I nearly always carry it with me. Stop me any day of the week and I usually have a miniature 1/8 oz. bottle (or two) in my pocket. During winter months when I can wear a jacket, I usually carry a full 2 oz. bottle. Besides carrying it on my person and having it in plentiful supply at home, I keep a bottle in my filing cabinet at my office and during cooler months when there’s no danger of it going bad (Tabasco turns brown when it’s old or left in a hot vehicle for days), I keep a bottle stashed in my truck. In fact, my truck has its own “I Love Tabasco” sticker on the bumper. I have one bottle that always remains on my stovetop (you may have noticed it in some of the pictures on this site), and a completely separate bottle for the dinner table.
On a rare occasion away from home when I don’t have a bottle on me or if my miniature bottles are empty, I’m not beyond stopping at a supermarket or convenience store to grab a bottle before meeting a friend for lunch even knowing I have brand new, unopened bottles at home. When buying a bottle from a convenient store, I carefully open the box and hold the bottle up to the light to determine if the hue of red is just right. I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes a grocery item can sit on a convenient store shelf too long to be of quality.
Further, I’m always careful not to run out of Tabasco and keep a solid supply in stock at home. Below is a photograph taken in April of my current supply at that point. You may or may not know that Tabasco comes in six flavors. Although I prefer what is often referred to as the “original red,” every variety is represented in the picture along with Tabasco flavored soy and teriyaki sauce.
The picture above doesn’t even account for my current stock of about 50 miniatures that I have in the freezer. I keep them in the freezer because I usually buy them in large supply and I’ve noticed that the miniatures seem to expire faster than Tabasco in larger bottles.
How long have I been a Tabasco aficionado? I don’t know. That’s hard to say. That’s like asking someone when he or she started liking chocolate. I do remember as a child watching my father add Tabasco to the ketchup he ate his French fries with. I picked that habit up quick enough. Probably it was some point in the nineties that I discovered the miniature bottles and began carrying Tabasco with me regularly. But I often carried it on occasion a decade earlier. I know by college (twenty years ago), I often carried it with me--perhaps not quite obsessively as I do today. But I distinctly remember sitting around a table with some friends and one of girls said, “Rick, please put the lid on that Tabasco. It’s burning my nose!” I also remember a Texaco station (of all places!) in my hometown of Ruston, Louisiana, that offered the best biscuits and sausage gravy I could find anywhere. One day I discovered while adding black pepper to my gravy that taking a bite of the food, followed by a quick chaser of black coffee created the most unusual and exquisite sensation in my mouth. It wasn’t just taste--as good as that was--it was somatic, a physical sensation. I knew I could make my new gravy “crack” even better. The next day I came back with a bottle of Tabasco in hand. Rather than adding black pepper, I added Tabasco. Incredible! Words cannot properly describe the ecstatic sensation of Tabasco-laced biscuits and gravy with black coffee. To this day, I will only eat biscuits and gravy if Tabasco is handy.
At this point, you may be wondering a couple of things (at minimum). You might wonder why I would carry bottles with me when most restaurants carry Tabasco. Well, I’m surprised at how often some people just don’t know the difference between Tabasco and other hot sauces. Not too long ago, I was in one particular local eating establishment that serves Louisiana food, and as I looked around the tables, while I found a variety of hot sauces, there was no Tabasco to be seen. I asked the waitress, “Do you have ‘real’ Tabasco?” She looked at me dumbfounded and said, “What do you mean? All of them are real.” In her mind any hot sauce was Tabasco--no doubt a misconception that the McIlhenny Company, the makers of Tabasco, would highly object to. Some restaurants simply don’t take such things as seriously as they should. Some will opt to buy a case of whatever hot sauce their supplier sells the cheapest. And I’ve also had occasion to ask for a bottle of Tabasco in a restaurant only to be handed a bottle which although contained the Tabasco label, was filled with a noxious looking brown liquid--a telltale sign that the bottle is quite old.
Tip: if you’ve ever had your own bottle of Tabasco go brown, throw it out and buy a new bottle. I recommend that most people keep Tabasco in the refrigerator. It will definitely last longer. I don’t have this problem--even with keeping a bottle on the stove next to high temperatures. I tend to simply use it long before it would go bad.
I’m also a Tabasco purist. All those other brands simply don’t cut it for me. The McIlhenny family has been making Tabasco essentially the same way since 1868. There are only three ingredients in original red Tabasco: tabasco peppers, salt, and vinegar. There’s no “xanthan gum” (whatever that is) or food coloring added like in many other hot sauces.
While most food companies from the 19th century (such as Heinz) have been sold long ago to large corporations, Tabasco is still made by the same family. In addition to the quality of the product itself, there’s something very attractive to me about the fact that the family still runs the company, that a person can still go to Avery Island, Louisiana, to see how the sauce is produced. It’s very much like another company I admire for similar reasons: Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. They are the only US based cast iron foundry left, and they are still run by descendants of their founder.
You may also be wondering what my wife, Kathy, thinks of my obsession with Tabasco. A few weeks back, without her knowledge, I ordered a six-bottle Tabasco caddy--the same kind you might see in a restaurant--and put it right in the center of our dining room table before she got home.
A few years ago, before Kathy came home from work one day, I placed a lime green iMac on kitchen counter next to the bread machine. I figured it would be handy for recipes, checking email, or looking up something quickly on the internet. I created a screensaver that rotated a few hundred family pictures. I wasn’t sure what she’d think, but I was almost certain she would say, “That’s not staying in my kitchen!” However, to my surprise, when she walked in and saw it, she exclaimed, “I love it!” It’s still there to this day.
So when Kathy saw the six-bottle Tabasco caddy in the middle of our dining room table, rather than saying “That’s not staying on my dining room table!” she instead declared, “I love it!”
No, Kathy is not the Tabasco aficionado I am. While I often cook with Tabasco--something Kathy never objects to--you won’t ever see her adding an extra dash of Tabasco to her eggs on Saturday morning. In fact, the only variety of Tabasco I’ve seen her use to any significant degree is the new Tabasco Sweet & Spicy sauce. It happens to be the mildest of all the Tabasco varieties. It’s very good with Asian food or as a dipping sauce. Other than that, Kathy doesn’t use a lot of Tabasco.
Now, you may thinking “That Rick--he really likes hot food.” Really, that’s not true. I’m not a chili-head. I can’t stand to eat food that’s been spiced so much all of its flavor is lost. Believe it or not, I like the “mild” sauce at Taco Bell, simply because I prefer its flavor over the hotter varieties.
Yes, I admit that I’ve got a higher tolerance for spicy food that some. Adding Tabasco to one’s food for most of one’s life will do that. But that’s not the point. I don’t put Tabasco on everything. We made breakfast at home this past Saturday morning, and while I added Tabasco to my eggs (eggs just don’t seem right otherwise), I didn’t add them to my grits. I did, however, add cayenne pepper to my grits. What’s the difference? Well, the vinegar in Tabasco would offset the flavor of the grits, but the red pepper by itself added a little kick without overwhelming the taste.
Historically, I rarely ever add original red Tabasco to Mexican food, although I have discovered that the new Chipotle Tabasco is quite good and have added it lately. But I can’t imagine the aforementioned eggs without Tabasco. A tuna fish sandwich not flavored with Tabasco? Well, you might as well leave out the tuna as well! I find Tabasco greatly enhances any food with cream--whether clam chowder or the dressing for a Caesar salad.
Here’s the thing--Tabasco brings two qualities to food: flavor and spice. For me, I use Tabasco instead of black pepper in my food. Yes, that’s right--the same way you add pepper to your food, I simply add Tabasco. You will not see me seasoning my food first with pepper and then with Tabasco. That’s overkill. Early advertisements for Tabasco a century ago often referred to it as “liquid pepper.” That’s exactly how I use it.
There’s a scale for measuring how hot a pepper is known as Scoville units. Original Red Tabasco sauce measures only about 2500-5000 on this scale. Compare that with habanero-based sauces which can measure almost twice that (there is a habanero-flavored variety of Tabasco who indeed do like their food extremely hot). Regular Tabasco is not hot enough to hurt anyone when used properly in normal amounts. There may also be health benefits to it as seen in one recent study (scroll down to the sixth paragraph).
And here’s what’s interesting, if you read a book like Shane Bernard’s Tabasco: An Illustrated History
,
notice than none of the early advertising for
Tabasco was about how spicy Tabasco might be, how
hot it was. For me, and I believe
historically for the product, Tabasco is not about
heat so much as it’s about flavor. In
fact, looking at the historical ads in Shane’s
book, I don’t know if the McIlhenny Company ever
promoted Tabasco as something hot until
the famous Superbowl mosquito commercial.
I like Tabasco so much that I considered creating another website devoted to Tabasco. However, keeping two websites current is enough for now. Instead of yet a third site to write for, I believe I’ll simply add the occasional Tabasco post here on Cooking in Cast Iron. After all, the subjects of Tabasco and cast iron are certainly not mutually exclusive.
For more information on the history of Tabasco I suggest the following:
• Shane Bernard’s Tabasco: An Illustrated History
• Tabasco.com: “History Tent”
Want to discuss Tabasco more? Want to share your own experiences? Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.
Review: Lodge Sportsman's Grill
Therefore, I want to revisit some of what I wrote last year on Amazon, making a few modifications and updates now that I’ve had this little cast iron wonder for a little over a year.
I've always been particular to charcoal grilling over gas. But in my adult life, I've previously been satisfied getting the cheapest charcoal grill available and using it until it fell apart. Now, however, since I have the Lodge cast iron Sportsman's Grill (from this point forward, simply LSG), I anticipate that this will be the last grill I ever own. Because it's cast iron, as long as it's well cared for, it should last a lifetime.
My wife got me this grill for an anniversary present. Having developed a passion for cooking in cast iron like many of you, I had been eyeing it for quite some time. When it arrived, it came in a box unassembled, but I had it put together within a couple of minutes. All of the pieces simply stay in place with gravity with the exception of the bottom which is screwed into the fire bowl.
I enjoyed this grill so much last year, I believe we
grilled out more last summer and fall than in the
previous five or so years combined. While almost
anything can be cooked to perfection on the LSG, I’ve
also since discovered Omaha Steaks. We enjoyed them so
much last year, we had to adjust our monthly grocery
budget just to make sure we could place at least one
modest order a month. I’ve known for a while that their
steaks and burgers are great, but on Memorial Day
earlier this week, I also discovered that Omaha Steaks
also carries some of the best hot dogs and brats I’ve
ever tasted. The brats were much more flavorful than
many I’ve tried, and the hot dogs were three times the
size of a normal frankfurter with great taste to boot.
Three brats, four
burgers, and one ribeye--merely part of all that we grilled on Memorial
Day this year.
Here are some things I've
discovered over the last year or so cooking on my Lodge
Sportsman’s Grill:
1. If you're going to use this grill a lot, you
don't want to have it sitting on the ground.
Or at least I don't with my sore back! So rather than
finding some weatherproof pre-made table, I constructed
a little grilling platform out of cinder blocks and
patio stones. As you can see in the pictures, it looks
much more attractive than it sounds. The materials cost
me merely $17 and I guarantee you I have a more sturdy
grilling area than anything I could have purchased.
There’s no strong wind that’s going to blow over this
grilling stand! Plus, I can temporarily stow tongs and
spatulas in the open spaces of the cinder blocks.
2. Because cast
iron heats evenly, the entire top grill is
hot. I don't have to worry about colds spots
on the grill as I've had to in the past assuming that
I’ve distributed the charcoal fairly evenly. I read
about one user of the LSG spraying the grill with olive
oil-flavored Pam, which I often do, too. And with the
oil based marinade I sometimes use, food sizzles when I
set it down on this grill, just like when I put it in a
cast iron skillet. I never get tired of the sound of
cast iron sizzle whether it comes from a skillet or the
LSG.
3. Speaking of a cast iron skillet, this grill
is the best of both worlds. The grates of the
top grill are flat on top and the slits are fairly
narrow. It really is like grilling and cooking in a
skillet combined. By oiling the grill before use, I've
yet to have anything stick to it. And the slots are
much more narrow than grills I've used in the past, so
the danger of a burger falling through into the coals
are a thing of the past.
4. The LSG will cook just about anything you
throw on it. I’ve cooked steaks, burgers,
chicken, pork chops, brats, hot dogs and more. I really
like the control I get over the food. So many times
with a traditional charcoal grill, I've scorched food
if I wasn't paying attention. Because this is made of
cast iron and because of the flat cooking surface, it's
much easier to control the cooking. Pork chops I cooked
on the grill were nicely browned on the outside, but
not burnt and juicy inside. The burgers were perfectly
done as well. It's much easier to control the fire on
this grill than others I've used.
5. Warning: be careful with perfectly round hot
dogs. There's no side to the grill surface and
a round hot dog can simply roll off if you're not
careful. Hot dogs that are a bit squared are much
easier to control, and it helps to not crowd them so
that they can be turned over. Notice the attractive
brown (but not black and scorched!) stripes. Another
solution as suggested by Greg on Black Iron Dude is to
simply turn the top grill upside down so that there’s a
small protrusion at the edges to keep your dogs from
falling off. I haven’t tried this yet, but now I wonder
why I hadn’t thought of that!
6. Don’t think that this grill is not up to
cooking for large groups--it is! My wife was
concerned that the grill was so small that we wouldn't
be able to adequately entertain guests. As you can see
here and in the pictures in our gallery, I
easily fit eight quarter pound burgers from Omaha
Steaks on the grill. That's perfectly adequate for
any entertaining that we will do, and even if we
have more folks over, two or three rounds of eight
won't take that long.
7. Due to the LSG's flat surface on top, I
could easily cook in a skillet or dutch oven on top of
this grill without the pan wobbling. I’ve
cooked food in 8” skillets, 10 1/4” skillets, sizzle
skillets, and even dutch ovens. It’s the perfect grill
to take camping as it allows for a wide diversity in
what kinds of food can be prepared.
When camping, the LSG can
be used with a dutch oven as an alternative to placing
the dutch oven directly into live coals.
“Mountain Man Breakfast”
made in a dutch oven on top of the LSG.
Baked beans in a rolling
boil right next to hamburgers. The beans are in a 10
1/4 Lodge skillet
Cheeseburgers and corn on
the cob (yeah, I know that’s not a cast iron pan, but
it wasn’t my pan!)
Mushrooms & onions in
olive oil on a sizzle skillet
8. To clean the top
grill, I've used a stiff plastic brush and the nylon
scrapers you can get from any Pampered Chef rep for
cleaning a baking stone. As with any cast
iron, you don't want to use soap as it can strip the
seasoning or even leave a soap taste. I simply take the
top grill to the kitchen sink and scrub it down with
the brush and hot water. I use the scraper to get any
food between the slots. It can be a bit tedious to
clean between every groove, but it's really not
difficult to clean.
9. It may not be clear from the pictures, but
the coals sit on a removable fire grate about an inch
and a half above the bottom of the grill. This
allows for air flow under the coals via an adjustable
draft door. As the coals turn to ash, some will fall
through the grate.
10. For cleaning the bottom part below the fire
grate, I've experimented with lining the bottom with
aluminum foil to make removing the ashes a bit
easier. I did this a lot when I first bought
the grill, but I do it less often now. If you try this,
you want to be careful not to let the foil block the
vent behind the draft door so that you can have air
circulating under your coals. After I lift out the
ashes, I've simply been sweeping out the ash dust that
remains. As with any grill you don't want to leave
heavy amounts of ash in place as it can become
corrosive if it mixes with moisture.
11. As mentioned above, I clean the top grill
like I would any cast iron skillet. If
necessary, the grill top could even be re-seasoned in
the oven or perhaps simply by covering it in a thin
layer of lard or other cooking oil and placing it over
hot coals. I haven’t had a need to do this yet, but I
don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
12. For the start of this year’s grilling, I
covered the bottom part of the grill with black
stovepipe paint. The idea of painting cast
iron would certainly be taboo for many, and I would
agree if we were talking about the cooking surface.
However, everything below the top grill--the fire bowl,
the bottom, the fire grate, the fire door, the draft
door--never comes into direct contact with food.
Interestingly, when a LSG arrives brand new, every
piece of the grill is covered in Lodge’s pre-seasoning.
Again, this makes perfect sense for the top grill, but
not for the rest of the grill. By this spring, the
bottom part of my grill had lost all the pre-seasoning
in quite a few places (the grill does get extremely
hot, after all). I even had a couple of minor rust
spots. While I could have simply re-seasoned it, this
seemed neither practical or necessary. Instead, I
cleaned everything really well before my first grilling
of the year, and then I covered everything except the
top grill with black stovepipe paint that is good for
up to 1200° Fahrenheit. I am very pleased with the
results and the painted grill makes it look brand new
again. If this is something I need to do every year or
two, I don’t mind at all. And my hunch is the paint
will act as a better protection from weather than the
mere pre-seasoning from Lodge.
This is a shot of my
grill that I took last week. Even though I’ve had it
for over a year, it still looks
brand new because I completely painted everything but
the top grill with black stovetop paint.
13. If you're going to keep the grill outside,
you must get the Lodge Sportsman's Grill
Cover. The cover is long enough for the
elastic bottom to fit under the legs of the grill
keeping water out from all sides in the case of rain.
Outside of that, I’d recommend bringing the grill
inside if it’s not going to be used for a while,
perhaps during the winter months.
14. For travel, I purchased a couple of extra
patio stones that I'm keeping in the back of my
truck. This grill is portable enough that I’ve
taken it with me on a number of occasions. But what do
you do if you’re through tailgating and the grill is
still hot? The extra patio stones were the answer. This
way when the grill is hot after I've cooked with it, I
won't have to worry about the hot feet eating through
the liner in the bed of my truck. I can simply set it
on the patio stones.
15. Yes, you can carry it with the handle, but
it’s only balanced if all extra pieces are
removed. Don’t try to carry this grill by the
handle for any long distance if it is fully assembled.
The grill becomes much lighter and easier to carry if
the top grill, fire door, and draft door are removed
first. Then it remains fairly balanced simply with the
wire handle itself. However, I would note that I was
grilling one time last fall when a sudden downpour
threatened to end our grilling all together for the
day. With the careful help of a friend, we picked up
the grill with live coals and carried it (protecting
our hands with gloves and hot pads) through
the house to the front where I had cover from the rain.
Have questions about the Lodge Sportsman’s Grill? Want to share your own experiences? Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.
Breaking in the New Wok
Kathy and I have been having our own “Asian night” for a while. A few years ago, her brother, Clark, gave me a traditional steel wok. We’ve used it for stir-fry on many occasions, almost always with rice and whatever leftovers were in the refrigerator. Lately, we added a very basic egg drop soup to the menu as well, and at this point I decided I really needed a second wok.
Of course, if I was going to buy a wok myself, knowing that Lodge makes a cast iron wok, I knew this was the one I had to have. In looking at customer comments on Amazon.com and other places, while some folks raved about the Lodge cast iron wok, I also discovered there were wok purists who decried it for being too heavy or that the cast iron was simply not the right kind of metal for stir-fry.
Whatever.
If you’re reading this post, you would probably agree with me that most food is simply better in cast iron! With this assumption in hand, I ordered the Lodge cast iron wok.
My first impression
regarding the new wok was how large it was! In the
picture above, you see it next to a standard 10 1/4”
cast iron skillet. The weight of the cast iron makes
for a pan that stays still. I don’t have to hold on to
one side of it as I stir.
And as I’ve mentioned before, unfortunately, our
current home has an electric range (never again!), but
the diameter of the base is small enough that I can
actually use the wok--as big as it is--from the smaller
burner. As with any wok, by concentrating the heat at
the bottom, food that needs less heat can be pushed to
the sides.
STIR-FRIED RICE
Cast iron required: cast iron wok
When I make stir-fry, I usually start with sesame oil
which I allow to get hot at the bottom of the pan over
a medium heat. The sesame oil will give a dish a nice
Asian flavor. As I mentioned, we often add whatever is
available from leftovers, but if we are including
ingredients like uncooked bacon, shrimp, or even raw
vegetables like onions (green, white, or yellow) or
broccoli, it’s best to add these ingredients first to
the oil. I want to always be careful that any meat is
fully cooked. Any meat or raw vegetables should be
added before the rice which should already be cooked.
When adding broccoli, I generally cook it to a bright
green, but Kathy often wants it cooked a bit longer.
At this point, I will add
in rice that is already cooked. Usually we have
leftover rice from another meal, which is often our
excuse for stir-fry in the first place. Soy sauce is
added to taste. Now the primary purpose is to heat the
rice to the same temperature as the rest of the
ingredients. The final touch is to add a bit of egg. If
raw egg is added to the mixture at this point, it will
simply be lost. A better method is to lightly scramble
a couple of eggs in another, smaller skillet and right
before they are a the point I might serve them as a
breakfast item, I take them and add them to the
stir-fry, mixing them in without mixing them so fine
that they are lost. White pepper and a little more soy
sauce or even sesame oil can be added if necessary to
taste.
EGG DROP SOUP
Cast iron optional, but a wok (steel or cast iron) is a
nice touch
We now use our original steel wok for the egg drop
soup. Technically, you don’t need a wok to make egg
drop soup, but it certainly seems appropriate to make
it in one. The recipe is a very basic one by Rhonda
Parkinson which I found a while back on the internet. Although cast iron
isn’t really required, I include this recipe here
for the sake of completeness. This recipe is basic
and easy to make, and to us, it’s as good or better
than any egg drop soup we’d get in a restaurant.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups chicken broth or stock
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1-2 green onions, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- Salt to taste
- A few drops of sesame oil (optional)
Directions:
In a wok or saucepan, bring the 4 cups of chicken broth to a boil. Add the white pepper and salt, and the sesame oil if using. Cook for about another minute.
Very slowly pour in the eggs in a steady stream. To make shreds, stir the egg rapidly in a clockwise direction for one minute. To make thin streams or ribbons, gently stir the eggs in a clockwise direction until they form.
Garnish with green onion
and serve.
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THAILAND PEANUT PESTO (shown here with optional shrimp & broccoli)
Cast Iron Required: Wok
Another recipe we’ve made recently in the wok is Thailand Peanut Pesto which I found on the Tabasco website. This recipe requires one to make a homemade peanut sauce which is just as good as anything I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Kathy generally doesn’t care for peanut-flavored Asian recipes, but she loves this one.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
- 1/3 cup Tabasco brand Soy Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Original Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/3 cup water
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup sesame oil
- 1 pound bowtie pasta, cooked according to package instructions
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
Directions:
Place peanuts in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. With motor running, add remaining ingredients except pasta and green onions, one at a time, through feeder tube. Process until a thick, smooth paste has formed.
Transfer mixture to a bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Toss with hot cooked pasta and garnish with green onion.
Makes 4 servings.
Try adding vegetables such as steamed broccoli or snow peas to this, or turn it into an entrée by adding cooked chicken or shrimp.
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Ultimately, I’m quite pleased with the cast iron wok from Lodge. It’s heavy so that it doesn’t move on the stovetop while stirring food in it, and everything I’ve cooked in it has been wonderful so far. Whether you are a cast iron aficionado or whether you simply enjoy Asian food, I highly recommend this wok for your cooking enjoyment.
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
Like most kids, I despised vegetables. In fact, I recall living solely on Spaghetti-O’s for a good portion of my growing up years. So, the fact that I will even go near vegetables as an adult is a minor miracle. All this to say, the following cast-iron vegetable dishes must be fairly tasty if I’m willing to put them on my plate. I hope you will enjoy them, too.
Mom’s Squash and Onion Sauté
Mom used to make this dish when I was younger, and I thought it looked absolutely disgusting, so naturally I refused to eat it. At some point in my thirties, I attempted the dish on my own with slight variations (sweetened, caramelized onions, etc.) and found a new favorite. Now Mom actually prefers my recipe!
CAST IRON REQUIRED
• 10 1/4” cast iron skillet
INGREDIENTS
- 4 large yellow squash, peeled and sliced fairly thin
- 1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon sugar or artificial sweetener
- Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in 10 1/4 inch cast iron skillet. Sautee onions until almost caramelized.
Place squash slices on top of onions.
Cover and cook approximately 15 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally to rotate onions to top of pile. Sprinkle sugar (artificial sweeteners such as Splenda work fine, too) after the squash has softened a bit. Add salt to taste. Cook until desired consistency.
(As you can tell from the pictures, I prefer mine cooked down quite a bit). Mmm, mmm, good!
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Wendy’s Quick Green Beans w/ Shallots
My good friend Wendy Smith made this vegetable side for a meal while we were visiting in her home. As with the squash above, I’ve adapted the recipe to a more Southern-style “cooked until soggy” consistency rather than the healthier crunch to the vegetables and added good ole Southern-style non-healthy bacon (leave out the bacon for the healthier version).
CAST IRON REQUIRED
• 10 1/4” cast iron skillet
INGREDIENTS
- 1 package frozen green beans (small or medium bag)
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 slice bacon, cut into tiny pieces
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon sugar or artificial sweetener
- Salt to taste
Heat oil in 10 1/4 inch cast iron skillet for medium bag of beans or 7 inch cast iron skillet for small bag of beans. Sautee chopped shallot and bacon bits until bacon is not quite crisp and shallot is almost opaque.
Add frozen green beans.
Cover and cook over medium low heat until beans are heated through. Sprinkle with sugar (I use Splenda).
Add salt to taste. As with the squash dish above, I tend to cook the beans to a nice, soggy consistency
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Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, or you can contact Kathy directly at kathy@cookingincastiron.com.