Cast-Iron: Not Just Your Grandmother’s Frying Pan!

How many of us are still cooking today with our grandmother’s cast-iron skillet? We might think lovingly of grandma or great-grandma standing at the stove, cooking up some delicious morsels as only a Grannie can do. Ever pictured Grannie wielding her skillet as a weapon?  Perhaps she used it to smack an intruder or surly spouse over the head? There is a story in my husband’s family of his grandmother, in a heated argument with her husband over making her leave California to return against her will to the cold, long winters in Montana, knocking him out cold with a cast iron frying pan and leaving with the kids. From what I hear, she was quite a character.

I was reminded of this family tale recently while reading through the June-July issue of Mary Jane’s Farm, one of my absolute favorite magazines. I couldn’t help laughing out loud when I came across page 92, filled with tales of cast-iron cookwear turned weapons. Ah, the dark humor of the modern day homesteading woman. I couldn’t resist sharing them:

Jill Houk, a consulting chef for the Sara Lee corporation, calls her cast-iron skillet her “love tool”. It belonged to her great-grandmother and dates back to the 1920’s. When asked what she uses it for, she replied: “Searing, braising, baking, and as self-defense. That sucker is HEAVY and can knock a kitchen intruder out cold.”

A 70-year old Illinois woman fought off four home invaders with her favorite cast-iron pan. One of them looked at her and said, “Lady, why did you do that?” Her reply? “I hit him again!”

Chef Anthony Bourdain says, “A thin-bottomed pan is useless for anything. A proper saute pan should cause serious head injury if brought down hard against someones skull. If you have any doubts about which will dent – the victim’s head or your pan – then throw that pan right in the trash.”

Another woman reports that her Nana slept with a cast-iron pan and salt next to the bed. She said she would blind an intruder with the salt and then hit him over the head with the frying pan.

A Seattle Times reporter got this reply from a store clerk while shopping for his first cast-iron pan: “My mom bought me one for my wedding 15 years ago. A cast-iron skillet and a rolling pin – two keys to a happy marriage! She said they’ll keep a guy in line.”

One blogger reports, “Hitting my dad in the head with a cast-iron frying pan was how my step-mom got him to stop drinking.”

A big thank you to Mary Jane’s farm for the ode to cast-iron and all the laughs it provided this farm girl!

So, I got to thinking about cast-iron, and thought I’d share some photos of my collection here. Not to make you jealous, but to give an idea of all the possibilities and versatility in the world of cast-iron cooking. Why is cast-iron so exciting you may wonder, aside from being handy as a kitchen weapon? The sturdiness (I’m pretty sure they last forever), the even heat, the lack of nasty things leached into your food like aluminum and Teflon, the versatility of cooking method (stovetop, oven or campfire), and the ease of cleaning are a few benefits I can list right off. If you come across any at a yard sale or thrift store, or have someone ask about gift ideas for you, get yourself some cast-iron cookwear. Here are a few examples of what is out there.

 Everyone is likely familiar with, or owns a basic cast-iron skillet. I have one regular one I use every day that lives on the stove top burner. This was given to me by my grandmother, and revolutionized my cooking experience. No aluminum leaching in the food, no Teflon flaking off, just even heat and easy cleaning ( just swish out while hot with a bristled brush and water. Yes, it comes clean that easily!) I also have another, deeper skillet that comes in handy for frying and making potato skillet dishes. I have been known to bake corn bread and breakfast popovers in it from time to time as well. This one, I believe, came from my husband’s family. Maybe it was the infamous frying pan from the story.

Dutch ovens are another miracle of cast-iron cookwear. Here I have yet another family hand-me-down on the left, and a garage sale purchase on the right. The smaller one we use for baking and cooking in the kitchen, and the larger “spider” dutch oven (named for the three iron legs that stick out of the bottom to hold it up above the coals) we take camping. I have yet to launch into the world of dutch oven baking, but I have big plans.

Then I have my miniature skillets for melting butter and making single serving egg sandwiches. The tiny one comes in handy if I need to melt one or two tablespoons worth. The larger is for when I need to melt more. We don’t have a microwave, so butter melting is as stove-top affair around here. I think these were acquired at some point at a local outdoor store that carries everything. It might have been Tri-State in Moscow, Idaho.

This is the most recent addition to my cast iron collection. I’ve been wanting to make waffles for some time now, but was feeling unsure about the Teflon-coated electric waffle makers. I heard there was a cast-iron model that sat directly on the burner, and when I came across one in Lehman’s Non-Electric Catalogue, I knew I needed one. We had some delicious waffle breakfasts this winter. It’s a bit messy this way, and you have to clean up the burner and stove top after you’re done, but it’s worth the trouble.

These muffin pans were given to me as a gift one year. They likely came from Lehman’s as well, and they make great muffins. You can also make little mini-popovers in them.

Here are some fancier muffin tins. Both are from yard sales, and are likely well-loved. The corn-shaped one is for making traditional cornbread sticks, and the heart-shaped one makes great little muffins for tea and special occasions. They also look good hanging up from my old ladder turned kitchen hanging rack on the ceiling.

Here is a biscuit baking pan I got while I was in college at an outdoor store. It makes big, fluffy sourdough biscuits, and baked eggs. For those of you who have never had baked eggs, just grease a muffin pan, crack one egg in each cup, dash with salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Then bake it at 350 for about 15 minutes. They’re delicious!

This griddle was another great yard sale find. It will fit over two stove burners for indoor cooking, and also works great over the campfire for hotcakes and bacon.

This cast-iron wok was another gift from a relative. I have to confess, I haven’t used it as much as the others. I have limited wok experience in general, but my husband has made some good stir-fries in it.