Cast iron cookware is a favorite of many, especially people who appreciate things that last. It’s the pan of choice when you’re searing a steak or making a one-pan meal, but it’s not the go-to pan for every occasion.
Cast iron is incredibly durable, but it has to be properly seasoned to seal the surface and keep food from sticking. Seasoning your pan also helps prevent your cast iron from rusting.
There’s some controversy about the porosity of cast iron pans, but anyone who has cooked with cast iron knows that it develops a relationship with the food cooked in it.
The food and the cast iron interact, and certain types of food just don’t go well with this type of cookware.
Smelly Foods Like Fish
Whether or not cast iron is porous, its surface is rough, and flavors get trapped no matter how well you clean your pan. Smelly foods like fish, stinky cheeses, and garlic can make your cast iron pan smell weird the next few times you use it.
Flaky fish can also easily fall apart in a cast iron pan.
Cast iron holds onto the strong flavors of some types of food, imparting them into your next dish. If you mostly use your cast iron pan for cooking savory dishes and searing steaks, you probably won’t mind if it has a slight garlic flavor. You may not even notice, especially if you add a lot of garlic to your meals.
It’s a different story when a cast iron pan used to cook fish gives your steak a fishy flavor. Some cooks prefer to dedicate a cast iron pan just for cooking fish and avoid using it for anything else.
Sticky Foods Like Eggs and Desserts
A properly seasoned cast iron pan that is well cared for is a completely different cooking surface than a brand new cast iron pan or one that has just been restored.
It’s possible to cook fried eggs in a seasoned cast iron pan, but it’s not the best pan for the job.
Related: How To Restore A Cast Iron You Bought At Garage Sales
Other sticky foods like desserts, including brownies and cakes, can make a mess out of your cast iron pan. On the other hand, cast iron is a great choice for baking cornbread.
Acidic Foods Like Tomatoes
Acidic foods can react with the metal in your pan, making your meals taste metallic.
That’s why many people recommend avoiding cooking foods like tomatoes, marinaras, and marinated meats in cast iron.
How do acidic foods affect cast iron pans? The acid in foods with a low pH, like tomatoes, vinegar, and wine, breaks apart the molecules in the metal.
The longer your acidic food is in the pan, the more metal molecules get into your food.
That doesn’t mean you can’t cook acidic foods in cast iron. However, adding a few cherry tomatoes to your one-pan dinner, especially if you’re using a well-seasoned pan, is much different than simmering a pot of spaghetti sauce.
If you decide to use your cast iron for some slightly acidic foods, clean it immediately after use. If you make a mistake, you can always clean and reseason your pan to restore it.
Foods That Turn Color Like Vegetables
Have you ever cooked a pan of fried potatoes in cast iron and had them turn gray or black on you?
That happens because of the carbon deposits on cast iron pans, especially ones that aren’t properly seasoned. However, vegetables can be roasted in a properly seasoned cast iron pan.
Cast iron is perfect for achieving the Maillard reaction, which is when the sugars and amino acids combine to give foods a browned color and roasted flavor.
At any rate, the strange coloring of vegetables cooked in cast iron won’t hurt you, but most people find it less than appealing. So, when frying up eggplant or cooking a batch of caramelized onions, reach for a different type of cookware.
Cleaning Your Cast Iron
Fortunately, if you cook any of these foods in your cast iron pan and things turn nasty, you don’t have to throw out your good cast iron pan.
Properly seasoned cast iron is easy to clean, but there are some misconceptions about what is seasoning and what isn’t.
The caked-on gunk on some cast iron pans is not seasoning, it’s burnt on food. Seasoning is polymerized oil that coats your cast iron pan, sealing the surface and protecting it from moisture and rust.
Here are some household products to clean cast iron that won’t harm your seasoning. If your seasoning does get damaged, simply reseason your pan.
Baking Soda
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is technically another type of salt. It’s a common household cleaning product used to clean cast iron.
Put a layer of baking soda on the bottom of your pan and use a scouring pad to remove caked-on carbon layers. Add a little water, scrub some more, and rinse.
If your pan is extremely gross, boil it with water, add a pinch of baking soda, and let it soak for a bit. Then, scrub and dry it before reseasoning your pan.
⇒ Why You Should Sprinkle Baking Soda on Your Feet
Salt Scrub
The abrasive nature of salt makes it the perfect cleaning product for cast iron. You can use any type of salt, but Kosher salt works well because of the larger particles.
To clean cast iron with a salt scrub, pour a heaping tablespoon into your pan and use a paper towel to rub the surface thoroughly. When it’s clean, remove the salt and wipe the pan down with some vegetable oil.
Dish Soap
There are a lot of myths out there about cast iron, and contrary to some, you can use dish soap to clean your pans.
You shouldn’t allow cast iron to soak for long periods, however.
Use a small amount of dish soap and scrub it right away.
Vinegar
If you abuse your cast iron, you’ll probably end up with a rusty pan, which can discolor your food and make it taste weird. Vinegar is one of the best cleaning agents in your pantry, and it works wonders on cast iron to get rid of rust.
Mix a little vinegar with water to rinse your cast iron pan after it’s clean, and it will shine like new.
Cast iron isn’t meant to be the only pan in your collection. Many other types of cookware are better for cooking certain types of food, like fried fish and over easy eggs.
Treating your cast iron right and not expecting it to work for every dish will keep it in the best condition, and it will remain your favorite pan for most of your meals.
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I cook practically everything in a cast iron. The early settlers didn’t have Chinese made non-stick Teflon pans to cook in.
I don’t care for any Teflon coated pans, that coating eventually wears off into the food cooked.
Me too except fried eggs…they always stick. I always wash lightly, put skillet on stove, cover bottom with an oil and heat a little. rub it clean and put it away.
Granny always did that and usually on an eye that was still warm from cooking or in the oven still warm.
If you put enough lard in and get it quite hot before you crack the egg in it doesn’t stick. At all. But it does get a little crispy edges. 😉
cheap cast iron isn’t smooth
Pre-heating the pan properly and using plenty of butter will have your eggs sliding right out of cast iron or stainless steel.
Stick with stainless steel by a quality company, you can not go wrong with it. I switched a while ago with no regrets.
Does it matter anymore as Biden ended the last Alaska drilling program.
Will gas stoves and appliances be next?
Price of gas will go up 3X the current $$$ prices.
The great religion of climate change has come out of the closet. You all must not resist to thr Biden globalist one world religion in America today.
Please God strike these Marxist down for they are the scum of the earth. Who the heck voted these swamp creatures in?
Lots of stupid people
Sorry…the president has no intention of banning gas or propane stoves. It’s some propaganda some weirdos thought up to stir the pot. Get your facts
You are soooo wrong! The folks behind, and using, pervert joe have stated their intentions to ban gas cook stoves.
Why do we have to all go totally electric? Can’t there be both gas and electric technologies in America? Our country is built on choices. Can we imagine total electric this and that. The first big snow storm across the nation would short out a electrical grid system that needs a total upgrade. More likely a resurrection of a new electrical grid with the high wires on telephone poles go underground. Both placement of the cables above or below ground have their pros and cons to construction.
Free energy was a great idea until the early 19th & 20th century “robber baron” decided to monetize electricity. By metering devices to make money and control the public in the mix. The original Nikola Tesla, not Tesla Motors, believed in transmission of free electricity to the world. His business fund managers had their own agenda to make wealth instead. History is eyeopening of what these people did. As long as it is not revisionist type history to distort the true facts.
The green energy new deal is all about globalist control. It is not about making America comfortable in life.
When something is free and abundant, people will WASTE IT.They will take it for granted.
Only when the education of the teacher’s union indoctrinates the kids to waste.
Well the indoctrination of school kids in UN-American ideologies of getting free money, like taxpayer’s paying off their student loans, yes.
They waste their lives on useless college degrees, a waste.
Trade schools are a better bargain that give responsibility to those who want to be productive. Then being a pot smoking jobless slob as seen today.
Waste comes from people not taking responsibilities of their actions. Americans in all social levels of society have gotten sloppy. We look generations ago people would get dressed up to go to work, school or entertainment. Now we have sloppy dressed people it does effect our attitude towards what we do in life.
If you take pride in appearance you take pride and be responsible for what we do.
The degrading of our society has homeless who have given up mentally. Granted there are people being pushed out of their homes. Like seniors because of higher taxes to pay for homeless shelters, illegals and people that want free stuff for “Uncle Sugar.” (Uncle Sam & Sugar Daddy).
On that note:
Waste, what is real waste?
Speaking of waste, NYC mayor Adams says his Sanctuary Blue State can’t handle anymore illegal freeloaders coming to his State.
No kidding what do these politicians think has and will happen until the border wall is finally built?
Sanctuary Blue States run by Demoncrats are a waste of hard earned $ tax $ money of Biden Economics endless Summer $ spending$.
Do we think the American citizenship given out freely to non-citizen’s is a waste?
For decades we got pregnant bitches, drop an anchor baby, then get a free ticket to all American “E” ticket ride of welfare, voting. The whole family and daisy chain relatives, gets a free ride on American taxpayers. American taxpayers don’t get all those benefits awarded to illegal, which is fraud, waste and abuse!
Is American citizenship being sold for free a waste to us American legal citizen voter’s?
Who says we should harbor these freeloaders inside our country? A waste of Border Patrol’s time and funds to babysit illegals while the open Southern Border lets in crime. Drug cartels should now be called sex, slave traffickers than drug cartels anymore.
And where do these sex slaves go? Hollywood, sex addicts, satanist, snuff films, massage businesses and that also goes to the elitist in charge of America. Yes a big waste as America’s border are wide open. American citizenship is free, a waste.
Don’t forget we need to mask up and get your free Covid vaccine shot shot again, a waste. Howard wussy Stern wants everyone to go back to lockdown mode, a waste of American lives again?
Time to clean our American house of waste, send those people back to where they came from.
Now the Anchor babies maybe be given a path to American citizenship, maybe.
The rest of the freeloader family and daisy chain relatives are a waste of American taxpayer’s income. Waste, fraud and abuse on legal Americans.
Even CA governor Newscum realizes this waste of a once golden State due to waste of stupid laws of being a Sanctuary State. He is finally sending National Guard troops beck down to the Southern Border. Know why? Only because America has a 2024 presidential election soon. He has to look good as a replacement for the declining Biden.
And God help us Michelle Obumer is not cast as Biden’s replacement. Obama wasted America to almost a Marxist country in his presidential reign of wasted power.
Waste not, want not!
Taxes are a waste, they are legalized theft. They waste our money. Use other people’s money but theirs and get very rich in politics!
https://reformcalifornia.org/news/ca-democrats-move-to-gut-prop-13-to-make-it-easier-to-raise-your-taxes
It starts in California and spreads all over to the rest of the country, help!
I always rely on gas as a backup for cooking and coffee during an electricity blackout. I believe that that is the reason they want to remove gas as an option using climate change to justify it. With everything electric and digitally controlled and on the blockchain it gives the psychotics at the top of the pyramid total control of the population as described on the WEF website. The people of the USA have the protection of their constitution and their bill of rights, the rest of the world does not.
What a shame our country is being lead by disgusting martinets of globalism. Then lead by MAGA independents in the White House today.
When people try to remove mice from their properties they don’t just use one type of eradication. Such as rat traps. They might have pets that could get their paws hurt.
So people use a combination of tools for eradication.
In America we need to do the same concept as not relying totally on one form of energy used. Texas while ago had a ice freeze the Chinese made windmills were frozen, no movement. The electrical grid went down. Solar panels are best used in sunny regions for adding energy. But in Northern climates there are lots of cloudy days.
So gas & oil fits the gaps where wind and solar fails. Start fracking again.
Which comes back to cooking with cast iron on gas stoves. The flavor from cast iron is better than food cooked in a Teflon pan on an electric stove. Big difference in food quality. Don’t think so?
Ask the chef at any restaurant whether they prefer gas or electric to cook with.
Cast iron cookware have been the backbone in most homes and restaurants for some time. MAGA, Good food! Yes chefs use other pots and pans to cook with like aluminum and stainless steel too.
martinets… I like tt.
I disagree about the fried eggs. Seasoned cast Iron is great for them as long as one cleans the par immediately, while it is still hot.
Uh, the article stated that it is ok to use a seasoned but not a new pan to cook eggs, OK?
Nothing but individual opinions. Cast iron is very heavy to manage. Bought one specifically to fry trout, long ago. Was great fish but my wrists and fingers were brutalized from the weight of managing it. The sink and counter gets marred and scratched too easily when cleaning. Observed others’ cast iron in the family….they look like hell and their cooking is very greasy.. We have several cast pots and pans to use on wood stove if SHTF. Someone else will have to cook in them…and clean them. Been there done that.
4 Easy steps to good cast iron.
1. cook
2. clean
3. oil
4. put away
When I’m done cleaning my cast iron skillet, I wipe it dry then put it on the stove, get it hot, wipe it with veg oil or lard, let it cool and put it away.
If you can handle the weight, cast iron is the way to go.
However, when commenting on the disadvantage of the weight there are a bunch of scumbags on here lecturing and accusing we need to build muscle in order to force ourselves to use cast iron. Stupidest comments and not worth reading.
Don’t fry eggs in cast iron???
I do it constantly, with no problems at all.
I think you are getting your pans too hot and burning things. Or you don’t have a good seasoning on your pans. I’ve even fried eggs in my Dutch Oven, when I was using the fry pan elsewhere.
We, too, have a dedicated fish pan.
I agree with not cooking tomato products, and sugary things too. I always use my enamel coated Descoware cast iron for that kind of cooking. Le Crusset is good too.
NO SOAP! I don’t care how bad the pan is, NO SOAP! I regretted it, and you will too!
If you absolutely have to use water, put water in the pan to soak until food is soft enough to scrape, NO LONGER!
Use a good stiff spatula for scraping off the tough stuff. Then I use one of those steel wool impregnated sponges to smooth out the rough spots, and I NEVER get that sponge wet, nor soapy. A little light oil coating and back on the wall it goes.
If you had to soak in water, turn oven on to preheat to 200, turn oven off and put pan in for a couple hours to evaporate any water in the pores of the pan.
Water in the pores can crack a pan when heated up too fast.
.
But if you’ve got a cast iron pan that is so crusty that you have to use baking powder or salt, don’t bother. Put it in the oven and use the “Clean” function, if your stove is so equipped.
It will come out like the day it was born, clean & gray. Simply season with oil and she’s good to go. This works on some rusty pans too, if they aren’t pitted.
DO NOT DO THIS WITH ENAMEL COATED CAST IRON PANS! The enamel tends to melt off………………………………been there, done that.
.
When a drop of water dances, right temperature for fried egg,
Had you read the article you would know that it stated that it is ok to fry eggs in a seasoned pan but not a new one.
We came by a cast iron skillet because a renter overlooked it as they moved out. It was on the top rack in the oven, my wife didn’t see it and started a clean cycle. TAL is right it looked like the sand had just been knocked off of it after being cast. It took a long time of me cooking bacon in it before I was satisfied with it but now it is one of my favorites.
Some weird advice here. I use my cast iron for almost everything and never had a problem. If you’re using and caring for it correctly it’s totally nonstick and lasts forever. In fact, my prize cast iron skillet belonged to my great grandmothe, is over 100 years old, and cooks like a dream.
Fun fact: Women need about 18mg of iron in their daily diet.
Cast iron is an excellent way for them to get some of that iron.
I use my cast iron for everything. Eggs, everything. I treat it like any pan and use dish soap and a scrub brush. I’ve never had to re-season it, ever. You might want to check and see what adverse issues your stainless steel pans can cause. You won’t want to use them at all.
There is no duplicate reply…
I use my cast iron for everything. Eggs, everything. I treat it like any pan and use dish soap and a scrub brush. I’ve never had to re-season it, ever. You might want to check and see what adverse issues your stainless steel pans can cause. You won’t want to use them at all.
I’ve taken some of those nasty, crusty cast iron pots and pans, placed them in the oven and ran the cleaning cycle. All of the buildup that accumulated over the years just flaked off when it was done. I could then give them a thorough cleaning with a Brillo pad and start the seasoning process. It took some time but now my pots and pans look excellent and hardly anything sticks.
I have an elderly friend who uses cast iron. She would clean her crusty thrift store/yard sale finds in her fireplace during the winter. Didn’t have a stove that self cleans and neither do I so I guess if I need one cleaned, I’ll pay her a visit.
Yup, too much temperature, too quickly is not making cast iron skillets happy.
“No peek Stew” is one dish my wife does very well.
Cast iron only.
I cook it all in cast iron except for dishwashing soap. I have to call bullshit on this article.
I had to laugh. Everything you say not to cook in cast iron is what I do cook. Spaghetti sauce, eggs (ironically, I cook bacon in the microwave at the same time), fried potatoes (haven’t noticed them turning colors so I guess I’m doing it right).
If the eggs or other things stick, when I clean, I start with boiling some water in the pan and using the spatula to scrape the bottom. Everything’s usually soft and comes up easily, and anything left will come up with a scrub pad. Rinse and back on the stove with a little oil. Wipe and put up until next time. I have some other Dutch ovens, skillets and griddles, but rarely use those. Food seems to taste better with cast iron. And for non-enameled Dutch ovens, they do sell liners for when you’re making dump cakes or brownies or some other really sticky meal. Then cleanup is just tossing the liner.
I’m guessing that not many people do much with cast iron these days since more of the comments had nothing to do with cast iron. Oh well.
Thanks for helpful suggestions.
I have an 8″, deep cast iron pan that was a wedding present to my mother in 1942. One of her favorite meals started with cooked & drained ground chuck, add 2 cans of tomato sauce and whatever other ingredients that were needed for a specific dish. I have been using it since 1965. My late husband loved my spaghetti sauce and my chili, both made with tomato sauce for the 54 yrs we were married. I have NEVER noticed any metallic taste. I have occasionally deep cleaned and re-seasoned this pan but not often. I will continue to cook whatever I choose to in it rather than use Teflon. My husband always said that we had 3 pans we could use forever and just get rid of the rest. This one, his iron cornbread skillet and a very tall enameled iron soup pot.
I fry eggs over easy all the time in my cast iron skillet. No problem.
Thank you. Tried to up vote you.
do you even owena? cast iron pan
I have. been using cast iron since 1975 and I then chose to buy enamel-covered cast iron in 1989 when I bought an enamel-covered cast iron pressure cooker from Germany at an organic trade show back then.
This was an impetus for me to choose enamel only and I bought enamel-covered pots and pans from Trema and have had great success using them now about 34 years later…and always being mindful to take gentle care of them. Johnny Sunshine
excellant article above , keep up the research, comments and prepping
Stand up , Speak up , Tell all of the truth
dont trust the media , networks of evil and especially the Gov. evil system of crime familys
it takes quality cast iron to cook in. forget the cheap Lodge stuff. cast iron cookware are like a lot of things, they just don’t make it like they use to. your best bet is to find em in swap shops or yard sales, just check them to make sure they are not cracked. hold them up to the sun and look for daylight through them.i have found a few.
and cast iron has to be seasoned well, if it’s seasoned well nothing will stick to it. my wife and i have been using it at home and camping for 40 yrs and nothing works better if you start out right.
cowboy Kent Rollins has a great you-tube channel on care and use, outdoor cooking and recipes, check it out, .it’s a wealth of free information.
like the man said, it’s nothing to it if you just know how.
Eggs work beautifully in our iron skillets. Just use enough oil (ghee is wonderful for eggs) and get it hot before you add the eggs and they won’t stick. Usually after a few seconds, you can run your spatula under them and break them loose and they will slide right out.
We have one that is cracked but still cooks beautifully. We have another one that we found somewhere buried in the dirt which is pitted and was rusted most of the way through on one side and that sucker cooks the eggs the BEST after we got it cleaned up and seasoned. We have skillets from 4 inches (you can cook one egg in it) all the way up to the that large fella. Pretty much all we use. Couple of dutch ovens. Speaking of frying eggs, I have even fried eggs in and iron skillet in my solar oven! Sunny side! Perfectly!
We never scour them. A little water and some heat on the stove and a few minutes later everything just scrapes or wipes off. Add a squirt of oil, wipe and hang it back up on the rack. Most of the time, because of what is cooked in it that time, I don’t even bother oiling it after washing it. Just wash, it, rinse with the hottest water you get out of your faucet (ours is HOT) until the pan gets hot and then dry with a towel and hang it up. Any remaining water will quickly evaporate.
Cast iron. . . Granny’s cookware of choice! Well, it was what she had, anyway, but still, well worth learning how to use!
I’ve re-seasoned every cast iron skillet, Dutch oven, and griddle, everything. A lye bath to remove all the gunk, a vinegar and water bath for any rust and then 3 rounds of seasoning. I’ve learned that a very light amount of seasoning is important. Lightly apply then wipe the excess off. I use old handkerchiefs. Then 1 hour at 450° in the oven, repeat 2 more times. I have used a palm sander on cheap Chinese cast iron. Not a perfect option, yet it does help.