Old is new again: Cooking with cast iron
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In this day of accelerated invention, there is no shortage of kitchen gadgets aimed at draining your wallet; plump with the promise of halving your meal time prep, allowing you to cook with zero mess, or accomplishing surgical cuts with the push of a button.
If you are anything at all like me, you must work hard to stifle a giggle watching late-night infomercials in which the frazzled cook finds it impossible (and frustrating) not to pour his/her tomato sauce all over the stovetop until the life-saving gadget is presented. Somehow in the following shot it is ‘nothing but net’ as the now serene cook seamlessly pours the sauce through a ‘technologically inspired new kitchen tool.’ You guessed it, a funnel.
Truly you need very few tools and gadgets to accomplish great cuisine. And they have all been around for eons.
What you do have should be well made and should be well maintained.
I would say it is worthwhile to have a few good knives, a cutting board of decent size (I personally like wooden boards), a few stainless bowls and a small number of pots and pans of differing size that should be ‘heavy bottomed.’ As infamous celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has quipped: “If you smash someone’s head with a pot, it shouldn’t dent.”
When it comes to heavy pots, and kitchenware that has stood the test of time, look no further than a good cast iron pan. I am sure my grandmother would smile at the fervour hipster chefs bring to scouring garage sales looking for cast iron treasure. Treated well, a pan will survive literally generations of cooks. I have my grandmother’s. My wife has her mother’s. Our boys will get them next.
There is really nothing else like cast iron cooking to get an even and perfect sear on proteins.
Many people describe the reason inaccurately by stating that cast iron pans are very good conductors of heat. This is not true. Aluminum or stainless pans will heat much more quickly, but what cast iron has is great volumetric heat capacity, which simply means that once a cast iron pan gets hot it stays hot.
I once worked in a small kitchen where a lone cast iron pan was left on a low burner all night and wiped in between orders of fish searing for the entire service. Consistent sear every time and no pileup of single pans. Just remember to allow ample time for your cast iron to get to a good, even heat.
Another wonderful property of cast iron is that it has high emissivity (sounds frisky), which simply means that the pans expel a good deal of heat energy from the pan in the form of radiation, so you are not just cooking the surface of the food, you are cooking a good deal of food above it. This property makes it perfect for items such as rösti potatoes, baked whole chickens or cornbread.
But even though these pans are ‘old school,’ there are still some important tips to consider before you will feel their full benefit in your kitchen.
Paramount among these tips is that your cast iron pan must be ‘seasoned’ before using. This step is twofold these days as the newer cast iron pans are lacking the benefit of a finishing sanding process which took the pebble texture from the pan’s surface in days’ past, so the pan should be baked with a half-inch of salt over the entire surface for a couple of hours in a hot oven. Wipe out the salt and then bake the pan with a layer of oil, such as grapeseed oil. Repeat a few times and your pan will be good to go.
It is a myth that the pan can not be washed. Simply make sure to dry it thoroughly and then re-apply some oil to the entire surface and gently wipe with a kitchen towel.
You have just discovered the oldest, best kitchen gadget of all. — Ross Midgley moved from P.E.I. to Niagara in 1999. Since then he has held the lead position in several of the region’s top kitchens. He is passionate about his family, all things Niagara and good rock ’n’ roll. He can be reached at chefrmidgley1968@gmail.com.