[Sca-cooks] CAST IRON SKILLET

[ciorstan at attbi.com]

Adamantius writes in response to moi:

> >Pizza stone? Nobody needs a pizza stone!  I've been baking pizza for
> >years in a terracotta saucer from the garden area of Home Depot.  A
> >little oil, a little corn meal for 'mold release' and they work
> >mahhvelously. But I have to admit, that's a novel use for a seasoned
> >cast-iron skillet.
>
> Sounds good. But it does sound like you'd concede that a better
> product is achieved with a heavy pan that holds the heat (and does so
> fairly evenly) versus the standard cookie-sheet-type pizza pan. The
> question then becomes, what else can you cook, bake, fry, etc., in
> your terracotta saucer? My own kitchen needs tend to be for tools
> that don't get too specialized; I don't have room, even in my
> allegedly larger "new" kitchen, for any tool that is designed for
> only one job. I _do_ own a really nice, seasoned, mild steel, cheapo
> restaurant-type omelette pan (we don' need no steenkeeng non-stick
> fripperies), but lately I'm just as likely to use my smallest wok or
> a cast-iron skillet to make an omelette.

Oh, no question. I tried a pizza pan once and I think it ended up out in the
backyard as a rather dented frisbee.

However, what may partly be my liking for terracotta is the effect on the
crust. My family and I don't particularly like crunchy pizza-- we go for a more
thicker than typical foccaccia-like bread-y crust (with a crispy bottom) rather
than pure crispness. The cast iron skillet, now that I think on't, would lend
itself to crispiness, yes?

> The cast iron skillet works well for pizza. I had tried various
> methods which involved pre-heating the empty pan and using a small
> peel-like object, such as a large plate dusted with cornmeal, but I
> find the easiest way to really take advantage of the cast iron's
> qualities is to place the filled pan over a high flame on the range
> top for a minute or so, and then put it in the hot oven.
>
> But even just using the cast-iron pan instead of an ordinary thin
> pan, using no special techniques, gets better results.
>
> >My own skillet has been in use-- well seasoned-- for about 40 years. It
> >was a moving-out giftie from my esteemed parents, since it's almost as
> >old as I am. What I would really like is a well-seasoned cast iron crepe
> >pan...
>
> Which is different from your skillet how? The height and flare of the
> sides? Again, it would be nice to have room for all this stuff.

The height and flare, exactly.  I have crepes down to a two-handed pour-and-
swirl; I've tried it in my frying pan and Disaster Strikes on the sides.
<shrug> I have the room for a few more pans, plus I find it hard to change some
very old habits (e.g., I'm 42 and I've been making crepes that way since I was
about 14).

> Interestingly enough, while I was in the middle of writing this, my
> son came in and asked if I had "got any grub"; between paragraphs I
> went and made a bacon omelette... in the small wok, of course.
> Luckily, he's now old enough to start teaching him some basics.

My son is 11, my daughter 9.  Can't wait! I presume you'll have your grubster
also trained to clean up after himself, with proper and appropriate Tool
Respect and Care? ;)

ciorstan