Cast iron has so many benefits

As most experienced cooks know, you can't brown food unless you preheat your skillet, and I frequently transfer food from stove top to oven.

So cast iron is a logical choice, especially in skillets, unless you require gorgeous stainless to make a style point or you can afford copper - which is ideal for sautéing because its heat distribution is incomparable - and the time to care for it. The only disadvantages are that cast iron is heavy (look for skillets with handles on both sides) and it requires a bit of care to keep it seasoned and looking nice.

But cast iron has so many benefits. Well seasoned, it is nearly as nonstick as any manufactured nonstick surface and far more so than stainless, aluminum or even copper pans.

Cast iron is practically free compared with other high-quality pots and pans.Furthermore, it is an even distributor of heat, which you will instantly appreciate if switching from stainless steel or aluminum. And you can move it from stove top to oven without a thought.

Cast-iron pans are created by pouring molten iron into sand molds. After the metal solidifies, the sand crust is blasted off, and any rough edges are removed. This is pretty much the way cast iron has been made for centuries.
A couple of variables might influence your buying decision: the purity of the cast iron and the issue of seasoning it.

Lodge, the only domestic maker of cast-iron cookware, uses only "pig-iron ingot and scrap steel converted back into iron" to make its cookware, according to the company's chief executive, Bob Kellermann. Anonymously made imported cast-iron cookware, though often less expensive, offers no such guarantees. In my experience the cheapest cast-iron pans have far more "hot spots."But the biggest fear most people have about cast iron is the seasoning process.


The metal is porous and rough, and until it gains a patina from use it is the opposite of nonstick. Lodge, in an attempt to make this a non-issue, has introduced a line of preseasoned cookware, which now makes up something like 80 percent of its sales.

Cast iron cookware information Posted by: Blueshoots.com