Cast iron is non-toxic, has excellent heat retention and diffusion properties, and is easy to mold into a variety of shapes. These properties make cast iron a natural choice for cookware. Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... cast-iron iron enamel stainless steel The cooking pan is a type of food preparation utensil commonly found in the kitchen which includes many more specific cooking vessels such as saucepans and frying pans (or fry pans). ...

Because cast iron will react with or stain many foods, bare cast iron cookware must be seasoned. Cast iron cookware is also available with an enamel coating - this cookware doesn't need to be seasoned, but loses some of the other desirable properties of bare cast iron.

Bare Cast Iron

Cast iron pan

Bare cast-iron vessels have been used by humans for cooking for hundreds of years^{[citation needed]}. Cast iron's ability to withstand and maintain very high temperatures makes it a natural cookware choice for searing or frying, and its excellent heat diffusion and retention makes it a natural choice for long-cooking stews like gumbo or Chili con carne. Because cast iron skillets can develop an extremely "non-stick" surface, they are also a good choice for egg dishes, in particular scrambled eggs. Some other classic uses of cast iron pans are in cornbread and pineapple upside-down cake. Image File history File linksMetadata CastIronPan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata CastIronPan. ... Searing is a technique used in grilling, roasting, braising, sautéing, etc. ... Plantains frying in vegetable oil. ... A bowl of shrimp gumbo Gumbo is a spicy, hearty stew or soup, found typically in the states on the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, and very common in the southern part of Louisiana and the Lowcountry around Charleston, South Carolina. ... A bowl of chili con carne with beans and tortilla chips Chili con carne (In America shortened to chili) is a spicy stew-like dish, the essential ingredients of which are beef, pork, venison, or other mature meat, and chili peppers. ... Cornbread or Johnny cake is a generic name for any number of quick breads (a bread leavened chemically, rather than by yeast) containing cornmeal. ...

Some of the types of cookware made out of bare cast iron include dutch ovens, frying pans, deep fryers, woks, potjies, and griddles. Dutch oven from the 1890s Note the evidence of ashes on the lid. ... A stainless steel frying pan. ... Deep frying is cooking food by submerging the whole food item in hot oil or fat, originating in Africa. ... Cooking in a wok The wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China. ... Potjiekos A Potjiekos meal In South Africa, Potjiekos (poy-kee-kosh), directly translated pot food, is a stew prepared outdoors in a cast iron, round, three legged pot (the potjie) using either wood coals or charcoal. ... cast-iron iron enamel stainless steel The cooking pan is a type of food preparation utensil commonly found in the kitchen which includes many more specific cooking vessels such as saucepans and frying pans (or fry pans). ...

Bare cast iron cookware requires seasoning—impregnation of the cooking surface with oil—to prevent rusting, and to create a non-stick surface. New cast iron must be seasoned before use. Some companies now offer pre-seasoned pans, but, like "home-seasoned" cast iron, these may need to be re-seasoned if they are washed with strong soap or allowed to rust. Corrosion is deterioration of intrinsic properties in a material due to reactions with its environment. ...

Seasoning

Cast iron skillets, before seasoning (left) and after several years of use (right).

Seasoning is a process by which a layer of animal fat or vegetable oil is applied and cooked onto cast iron or carbon steel cookware. The seasoning layer protects the cookware from rusting, provides a non-stick surface for cooking, and prevents food from interacting with the iron of the pan. Almost all cast iron cookware is seasoned. Well-seasoned cast iron cookware will have a very smooth black surface. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1160x726, 47 KB) my own photo, freely released I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1160x726, 47 KB) my own photo, freely released I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Animal fats are fats obtained from animal sources, including: blubber cod liver oil ghee (butter fat) lard (pork fat) tallow (beef fat) Nutrition In human nutrition—as far as regions where heart disease is a more common cause of death than starvation are concerned—animal fats are generally considered unhealthy... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with cooking oil. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ... Carbon steel is a metal alloy, a combination of two elements, iron and carbon, where other elements are present in quantities too small to affect the properties. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ...

Fats and oils typically used for seasoning include lard, hydrogenated cooking oils such as Crisco, and palm or coconut oil (in general, oils that are high in saturated fats, and therefore typically solid at room temperature). Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction in which unsaturated bonds between carbon atoms are reduced by attachment of a hydrogen atom to each carbon. ... Cover of original Crisco cookbook, 1912 Crisco, a popular brand of shortening, was first produced in 1911 by Procter & Gamble and was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (sometimes known by the names Palmae or Palmaceae, although the latter name is taxonomically invalid. ... Binomial name Cocos nucifera L. The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). ... Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. ...

Oils that are polyunsaturated (and therefore typically liquid at room temperature) will get rancid much more quickly, and are usually not recommended. Liquid oils may become gummy over time, and extremely difficult to remove. Food cooked on gummy oil may also have an unpleasant taste. A polyunsaturated organic compound is one in which more than one double bond exists within the representative molecule. ... Rancidification is the decomposition of fats and other lipids by hydrolysis and/or oxidation. ...

Cleaning before seasoning

If it is not pre-seasoned, new cast iron is often shipped with a coating to prevent rust. This coating is typically food-grade wax or mineral oil. The coating must be removed before the pan is seasoned or used. To remove the protective coating, cast iron can be thoroughly scrubbed using light dish soap and steel wool pads. If the surface is "natural" (unpolished), it may also be useful to use a wire brush. Some cooks will also rub the surface of the pan with kosher salt to smooth it. Kosher salt (sodium chloride) is one of the most commonly used salt in commercial kitchens today. ...

Seasoning techniques

Once cleaned, cookware can then be seasoned. There are several techniques for seasoning cast iron - these vary based on the smoke point of the oil or fat used. The smoke point refers to the point in which a cooking fat or oil is heated until it breaks down. ...

Technique 1

• Simply wipe the cleaned cast iron with a good oil or fat and use it for frying and roasting, particularly high fat foods, like bacon. The oil or fat will impregnate the cast iron and gradually convert into a seasoning over time. Rendering animal fat in a new pan will have the same effect.

Technique 2

• First, heat the cookware until water quickly boils when splashed onto its surface.
• Next, using a rag, wipe a thin coat of lard or oil onto the surface of the cookware.
• Finally, place the cookware upside-down in a moderately hot oven for 1-2 hours. It is a good idea to place a layer of aluminum foil under the cookware to catch drips of excess oil.
• Let the pan cool in the oven. At this point, the cookware should have a black sheen and be ready for cooking.

A new cast iron pan will not be 100% seasoned after a single treatment. It takes repeated use for the pan to develop a seasoned, non-stick surface. Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ...

If too much oil or shortening is applied to a pan in the seasoning process, it will pool and gum up when the pan is heated. In this case, the goo can be scraped off and some more grease rubbed over the spot, or the pan can be re-scrubbed and reseasoned. Heating the pan upside-down may help prevent gumming, but will be more likely to drip grease into your oven unless protected by a foil-lined baking sheet. Seasoning at higher temperatures approaching the smoking point of the oil used will result in darker seasoned coatings in less time that aren't sticky or gummy.

Care and cleaning after seasoning

Frying in a cast iron pan will help maintain the seasoning, as will roasting fatty meats or other greasy foods. Prolonged contact with wet or acidic foods, such as tomatoes, can dissolve or damage the finish.

It is a common misconception that one should never use dish soap to clean seasoned cast iron cookware, since this will immediately remove the oil, and 'unseason' the pan (or even, according to some cooks, leave soap residue that will poison the food). In fact, a very well-seasoned pan can tolerate dilute dish soap, and, for infrequently used pans, this may be preferable to leaving rancid grease on the cooking surface [1]. In general, however, regular washing with soap is not recommended. When cast iron cookware is washed with soap it should be lightly oiled before it is used or stored away. Washing up liquid is a detergent used to assist in dishwashing. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ...

There are several methods for cleaning seasoned bare cast iron cookware:

• Scrub the inside of a warmed pan with a tablespoon of a coarse salt, such as kosher salt, add a small amount of olive oil, and rub with a small piece of an old cotton cloth. Rinse with cold water.
• Scrub the pan with boiling or near-boiling water and a stiff nylon or fiber brush.
• Use veggie wash (milder than soap) and a stiff nylon or fiber brush.
• Boil a solution of cornstarch or rice starch and water in the pan, tilting the pan to make sure the boiling liquid touches all the way up the sides. Then pour out the resulting grease-water-starch solution, and peel off whatever dries onto the sides of the pan. Rinse the pan in hot water.

In all cases, the cookware should be dried thoroughly after washing, and oiled lightly if not already very well seasoned. Kosher salt (sodium chloride) is one of the most commonly used salt in commercial kitchens today. ...

For deep cleaning (before re-seasoning), some cast iron collectors also advocate removing baked-on grease by soaking cast iron in a lye solution, or heating the pan in a self-cleaning oven or campfire. Both of these methods have inherent drawbacks, however. Lye can cause serious injury (inluding blindness) if handled improperly, and unevenly heating a cast iron pan may warp or crack the pan. A safer solution is to place the iron cookware into a large pot of boiling water, adding a cup or two of baking soda, and boil for ten minutes. To remove rust, some collectors advocate soaking the pan in a 1:1 solution of vinegar and water, soaking the pan in Coca Cola, or even sandblasting or wire-stripping the pan. Lye is a caustic solution used for glass and soap making. ... Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), or sodium hydrogen carbonate, also known as baking soda and bicarbonate of soda, is a soluble white anhydrous or crystalline compound, with a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. ...

Brands

Some well-established brands of cast iron cookware are:

• Griswold Founded in 1865, the original Griswold company is now out of business. Original Griswold items command high prices on ebay and from antique dealers.

• Wagner. Founded in 1881, Wagner acquired Griswold, became a division of General Housewares Corporation (now World Kitchen), and was then bought [2] by the American Culinary Corporation. Wagner and Griswold cookware is now produced collectively as products of the latter company, which re-established American production in 2003. The company expects to begin commercial production again in 2007.

• Lodge. Founded in 1896. Lodge cast iron is produced entirely in the United States. The "Lodge Logic" line of Lodge cookware is pre-seasoned at the Lodge factory.

• John Wright. Founded in 1880. John Wright specializes in specialty muffin and cookie pans, as well as serveware and decorative cast iron. Some of their items are produced in the US, and some is produced elsewhere. John Wright's bakeware looks like bare cast iron, but is actually coated with Xylan, a non-stick coating.

There are also several newer brands of cast iron available that are made in China, including Old Mountain and CW Gear. eBay headquarters in San Jose eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal) eBay Inc. ...

Enameled Cast Iron

Enameled cast iron is cast iron that has had a vitreous enamel glaze applied to it. This type of cast iron was a popular material for cookware in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, but it has since been largely replaced by more modern metal alloys. It still remains a popular material for making Dutch ovens. In a discussion of art technology, enamel (or vitreous enamel, or porcelain enamel in American English) is the colorful result of fusion of powdered glass to a substrate through the process of firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. ... Dutch oven from the 1890s Note the evidence of ashes on the lid. ...

The enamel coating over the cast iron prevents rusting, eliminates the need to season the metal, and allows for more thorough cleaning. Furthermore, pigments used in the enameling process can produce vibrant colors. While enamel coated cast iron doesn't have the seasoning and cleaning issues of bare cast iron, it can be several times more costly.

Care and Cleaning

Enamel coated cast iron can usually be washed like other cookware - with dish soap, or in the dishwasher. Because the enamel is prone to chipping, no hard surfaces (like a dishwasher prong) should be allowed to contact the enamel during the washing process. Some coated cast iron pots have spots of bare iron on their rims or wooden handles - these should be washed by hand and dried immediately. Many manufacturers recommend Bon Ami or Bar Keeper's Friend for handwashing enameled cast iron (however this kind of powdered cleanser should never be used on bare/seasoned cast iron). This article describes the wood that comprises trees and boards. ... A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that can be moved or used by hand. ... Bon Ami, French for Good Friend, is a powdered household cleaner sold by the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company of Kansas City, Missouri, USA. The products slogan is Hasnt Scratched Yet referring to the fact that it does not scratch surfaces. ... Bar Keepers Friend is a powdered household cleaner sold for use particularly on metals, but also on other household items. ...

Unlike bare cast iron, enamel coated cast iron typically can't be heated to a high heat, and therefore can't be used for seared or blackened dishes. Sear has several meanings: In demonology, it is an alternate spelling for Seir, a Prince of Hell. ...

Brands

Manufacturers still making enameled cast iron cookware include:

• Le Creuset ([3]). Made in France - very well known and very expensive.
• Lodge. Made in the USA. Lodge is best known for their bare cast iron and "Lodge Logic" pre-seasoned lines, but also has a line of enameled Dutch ovens and bakers. Lodge enameled Dutch ovens are enameled in China.
• Staub. Made in France. Also makes cookware for institutional use.
• John Wright. Includes bakeware and serveware, as well as tea kettles and decorative pieces.
• Daniel Boulud Kitchen. Made by Sabatier.
• Mario Batali. Made by Copco.

Le Creuset is a French cookware brand best known for its colorful enameled cast iron cookware. ...

External links

• KitchenSavvy: Seasoning Frying Pans
• Panman's guide to cleaning and seasoning cast-iron cookware
• Wagner & Griswold Society: Seasoning cast iron
• Lodge Manufacturing's guide to seasoning cast iron
• Tips on Cast Iron Usage