Scoooore!

[pinto]

I've been Jonesing for cast iron skillets for a while. Have trolled the thrift shops to no avail. Finally saw an on-line clearance from JC Penney - 3 skillets - 7", 8" and 10" - for 19.99. They came today.

The real, heavy duty thing. Rinsed, oiled and seasoned them this afternoon and made the first steak 'n onion in the big one.

'Course I had to pay shipping from a Reno warehouse, but finally some cooking tools I can use and abuse for a lifetime. :evilgrin:

[htuttle]

1. Cast iron is honest when you cook on it.

My two 10" skillets used to be my workhorses. I got one at a St Vincent de Paul store, and my wife found another on the curb during the annual student exodus.

They were my workhorses, that is, until I got myself a very, very nice Bodum Chambord cast-iron wok last year. My wife rounded out my tools with a 2 1/2 quart cast iron sauce pot from ebay.

She got me some 'Nordic Ware' sauce pans and a small skillet off ebay, too -- it's some sort of enamel-covered cast iron, but I kind of prefer the bare metal for cooking on.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. A cast iron wok

Some say those are the gold standard. I don't know because I never used one. But I'd love to try it.

[pinto]

4. Me too.

[Warpy]

6. They're useful mostly in reastaurants

because once they heat up, they retain that heat through successive stir fry dishes. You don't have to wait to heat the thing up, just cook, dump, cook, dump, with just a quick wipe out in between. It's also superior for deep frying since it will keep the oil at temperature when you dump cold food into it.

I prefer a rolled steel wok for the cooking I do because it heats quickly and responds quickly when I raise and lower the flame. I don't do that much deep frying these days, but it's adequate for the little I do.

Just know the type of cooking you are going to do before you get a wok. I prefer the Chinese grocery cheapies to anything else I've tried. Electric woks are utterly useless and a stainless steel job with a copper bottom was next to last in my cooking tests years ago.

The one I have now is a big Szechuan style with a rolled steel handle on one side.

[pinto]

3. The enamel covered iron ware make great soup, stew, pot roast pots.

I had a few once, big ones. They're great for long cooking. Hold an even heat.

[pinto]

5. Your wife has it right. The basic tools are always best in the kitchen, no?

Everything else is everything else. I'm so oddly pleased with these three skillets...lol. I still have to figure out what to put in 'em.

[eleny]

7. They make such good steak

Congrats on your find and the happy cooking.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I love my cast iron skillets. They are so well seasoned that my daughter calls them "Mom's teflon".

There is nothing that works better for fried potatoes or cornbread.