Cast Iron Skillets

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  1. Captain Redbeard profile image60
    Captain Redbeardposted 12 years ago

    I love my cast iron skillet however am tired of how freaking hot it gets and thus the constant temperature control I have to do when cooking. For instance, I just got done making some apple buckwheat pancakes for the kids and my kitchen is smokey, I had to have the fan on and by the last one I made had the gas on the burner all they way down to the lowest setting because the pan was so hot! Drives me nuts! Usually I don't have a big problem with it, just when making pancakes or crepes or.......eggs unless I turn the burner off in between making over easy eggs. Anyway, that's my rant.

  2. Cagsil profile image69
    Cagsilposted 12 years ago

    Wouldn't it be best to have the heat on low to begin with and give the pan a few minutes to heat up before cooking, instead of turning the burner on a higher heat to heat up the pan/skillet.

    Secondly, you should be using a pot holder or a glove of some kind to handle the pan with. wink

  3. Greek One profile image62
    Greek Oneposted 12 years ago

    why not just get married and let the wife worry about that kinda stuff?

    http://us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/joebelanger/joebelanger0905/joebelanger090500034/4864121-a-mother-gets-ready-to-swing-her-frying-pan-in-anger.jpg

    1. profile image0
      Home Girlposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think this woman of yours, Greek One, had enough of it... big_smile

      1. Greek One profile image62
        Greek Oneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        ...and that was just on our first date! smile

  4. profile image0
    Home Girlposted 12 years ago

    If your frying pan is made of a good quality material with thick and heavy bottom it is NOT going to burn that easily and that fast. I have several frying pans and only two I can actually use for pancakes.
    Several tips:
    First of all it should be heavy. If it is light, it is garbage and everything - EVERYTHING will be burning in it.
    Heat a clean pan on a high for a couple of minutes until it's hot, THEN put some oil on it, heat it with oil a minute or so more. If I do not want a lot of oil, I usually just wipe it with a piece of a paper towel with some oil on it really good(carefully, it's hot!), and then I heat the pan still on high temperature, but do not wait until it starts burning, as soon as you feel it's hot - turn temperature on medium and cook whatever you like. After couple of pancakes I usually cook on almost dry surface but never on high. Oil should not burn when you cook and you can do that if you put minimum of it on a frying pan all the time.
    But you need a good (not cheap) pan that's the main point and you need to heat it really good WITH OIL, and don't buy teflon, it's crap and it can be bad for your health. If you do a lot of cooking you have to invest into good quality material in your kitchen. It will save a lot of your time and frustration.

    1. Captain Redbeard profile image60
      Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I threw out all my teflon years ago, all I have are cast iron skillets now. Maybe the issue is the quality. I never have problems with anything except pancakes, eggs and crepes. Those are the ones I have issues with. Any brand name suggestions?

    2. Aficionada profile image79
      Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      +1, HomeGirl.  Great advice on seasoning the skillet!

      I don't have experience with low-quality cast-iron skillets, so I don't know the details of that issue.  But I do know that what usually smokes is the oil.  Different oils have different smoke points, with unrefined oils having a lower smoke point than refined oils (even lower than butter, which is pretty low).

      I will guess that a low-quality skillet would allow the oil, whichever one it is, to reach its smoke point faster than a high-quality skillet would.

  5. habee profile image93
    habeeposted 12 years ago

    I cook with the black iron skillet that was once my grandmother's. I love it!!

    1. profile image0
      Home Girlposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Our grandmothers never had a chance to use crappy, made in China frying pans/skillets they are selling now. Nobody was making that sh*t, they did not have teflon to cover it up, I guess.

  6. galleryofgrace profile image70
    galleryofgraceposted 12 years ago

    It's a known fact that men cannot cook with cast iron skillets. Or maybe it's just a personality trait. They want everything "right now" instant gratification. So they mistakenly think that a hotter pan will cook quicker. Doesn't work with old fashioned cast iron. Once the pan is hot- lower the temperature and you 'll be fine. The oil should never reach the burning point and anyway there really should only be enough oil in the pan when cooking pancakes to barely wet the pan.Just enough to make it shine. A good seasoned pan will cook pancakes without oil.

    1. Captain Redbeard profile image60
      Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, you're just proof that no matter what forum you go into on Hub Pages that there is some loud mouth that thinks they can walk on people because they don't have to see them face to face and can hide behind a computer screen. Last time I checked men have been leading the race with cuisine cooking for the last thousand years, am I one of these, no I am not!! Facts are facts "GalleryofGrace" of which your gallery seemed to be lacking before you commented on this thread.

  7. Sally's Trove profile image78
    Sally's Troveposted 12 years ago

    This is such a cool (hot) thread.

    If a pan is cast iron, it's cast iron and nothing else. As others have said, it needs to be seasoned, which means cured with oil/fat over a long time and with low to medium heat.

    I've cured new and rusted iron skillets and pots for years. Scrub a new pan out well with hot water and soap, rinse thoroughly and dry. Take some bacon fat or vegetable oil (not olive oil), coat the pan inside and out, and place it in the oven on a rack at about 300 F for an hour or so. Then saturate a paper towel with more fat and smear that on the hot pan. Bake for another hour. Then wipe off the excess fat with a clean paper towel, turn off the oven, and let the pan sit for a few hours.

    You might have to repeat this process a few times until you get a nice black finish to the cast iron pan.

    Oh crap, I think I should write a Hub about this. Or maybe someone else should.

    A well-seasoned cast iron pan is a cook's delight.

  8. Wesman Todd Shaw profile image81
    Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

    I need a cast iron skillet.  I'm wondering what kind of stuff I'm putting into my body with all of my no stick skillets......

 
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