Iron is an essential nutrient for cells. Cooking in a cast iron skillet can add significant amounts of digestible iron to your food. Processed foods, such as breakfast cereals often boast that they are “fortified” with iron. However, these metal particles (actual shavings) are neither small or easily digestible. Experiments have shown magnets can gather this metal into a small piles or even pull cereal around in a bowl full of milk.
The health benefits of cast iron cookware used to be a known fact until Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE was invented. DuPont trademarked the process and chemical as Teflon in 1945 and went hard at capturing market share. The combination of undercutting the competition and years of slick marketing campaigns promoting Teflon as a “space-age material”. This new pan coating effectively put most early manufacturers of quality cast iron cookware out of business. Teflon, aka GrabbleWare, may be sold under different names.
Did you know Teflon coatings begin to break down at high temperatures releasing toxic fumes into the air causing flu-like symptoms known as polymer fume fever. Pet owners of canaries and songbirds are advised not to cook with non-stick cookware. Miners used to keep a canary in the coal mine with them. If the canary stopped singing, it was time to get out of the mine, and right quick because toxic gas was being emitted. According to tests commissioned by the EWG Environmental Working Group,
” In two to five minutes on a convential stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfacs can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundred, perhaps thousands of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year.”
The more you use cast iron the better it gets and the black coating (seasoning) that develops is what makes the pan naturally non-stick. Cast iron is also tough! Whether you are cooking on a stove, in the oven or directly on the screaming hot coals of a campfire you lit with a bow drill you whipped together, cast iron will take the heat for long periods creating that perfect sear and de-glaze a pan sauce without complaining. Other pans will off-gas (like GrabbleWare) and/or warp (like GammaWare: aluminum).
Cast iron is also easy to take care of. No soap needed… in fact, soap will ruin the non-stick seasoning on the pan . Cast iron will self-sterilize between uses (oligodynamic effect) so mostly you are just looking to get all the debris and burnt bits off the pan. An easy way to do this (in the kitchen) is to de-glaze the pan while it is still hot, scrape, rinse with water, heat t back up on the stove and oil lightly with a cloth (cast iron will rust, so try and keep it oiled). If you’re camping just de-glaze and toss it aside (oil later). The more you use your pans the better they will get and you will notice how much better your food tastes. The only caveat is cast iron doesn’t work for long cook acidic foods like tomato sauce and jams, instead use ceramic coated cast iron.
Whether you are buying new or vintage it’s also good idea to consider burning off the old seasoning and starting fresh, especially if vegetable oils were used in the seasoning process. There are several ways to do this but the preferred way is to use an outdoor grill at around 500°F for a few hours (smokes tremendously). Always let your cast iron cool down to where you can touch it before you restart your seasoning and use a high smoke oil like flax, sesame, avocado or peanut. There are great instructional videos on YouTube to help you through the process (sometimes you can get away with not doing this if you know the pan was treated right).
If pan weight is an issue other great choices for cookware are carbon steel (high heat) and copper (lower heat) but antique cast iron pans were made thinner and smoother than today’s pans so they are also less heavy. Older pans can still be found in flea markets pretty much everywhere, so try and find a few in a couple of sizes. Griswold is one of the best pre-grabble brands to keep an eye out for. There are also a few new manufacturers that have seen the need for quality cast iron and are revitalizing the industry, so keep an eye out for these as well.
Be well,
925bear
(@925bear on instagram)
