Forget fancy pots and pans; all you need is cast-iron cookware

By Renee Schettler
Washington Post

Cast-iron cookware is versatile. Use a skillet to cook a pizza or sear the perfect steak. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

If you think cast-iron cookware is as old-fashioned as fried chicken and corn bread, hear me out.

When I lug out my cast-iron skillet, I'm thinking of eggs cracked atop a jumble of crisped serrano ham and sautéed asparagus with shaved pecorino romano on top.

Salmon fillets crusted with rosemary and orange zest that are first seared then finished in the oven.

Chicken under a brick.

And the world's best seared steak with a perfectly blackened crust and an impossibly juicy center.

I do everything in it but boil water.

Not only does my smoking-hot, 10-inch, cast-iron skillet make the perfect steak, but it has supplanted my need for just about every other type of pan. It makes pancakes (who needs a griddle?), boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or a sauté pan?), fried eggs (bye-bye, nonstick skillet), an entire roast chicken (forget that odd-shape roasting pan), crisp yet airy pizza crust (no unwieldy, pricey pizza stone) and even apple pie (no more seeking out the perfect deep-dish pie plate).

It withstands high temperatures, it maintains and evenly distributes all range of lower temperatures, it lends a unique crust to seared anything and is virtually indestructible.

With fancy-schmancy nonstick skillets, unless great restraint is shown, that pristine polytetrafluoroethylene surface doesn't remain scratchless for long. What hurried cook hasn't inadvertently taken a metal spatula or fork to the sleek surface? And who wants to consume microscopic particles of polytetrafluoroethylene? A cast-iron skillet can be scratched, poked and prodded and then easily reseasoned to a slick surface.

Even more damaging to these flimsy skillets is high heat. Hike a burner on an average home range up to high and the temperature can reach 500 to 600 degrees. A nonstick coating begins to break down at 500.

Aluminum sauté pans don't fare much better. Though the metal doesn't begin to actually melt until 800 degrees, it softens and warps much sooner.

Cast-iron cookware? It melts at 2,500 degrees.

Some newcomers to cast iron are intimidated by the treatment that the pan requires before it can be used. But the instructions that come on the label are a cinch, and factory-seasoned skillets now appease the time-pressed.

Sure, a cast-iron pan has its shortcomings. It get hot and stays that way, so it's hard to stop the cooking. And you can get burned easily if you don't keep in mind that the whole thing gets hot.

And the makeup of the cast iron itself has little capacity to withstand moisture, let alone my let-it-soak-overnight-in-the-hopes-that-someone-else-might-clean-it-later tendency. So I've become less lazy with my dishwashing practices.

Skillet Pizza

Make pizza dough according to your own recipe or buy a frozen pizza. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place skillet in oven and allow to heat for 10 minutes. Carefully, wearing oven mitts, pull pan out, plop unbaked pizza crust in and add toppings. Or, place frozen pizza in pan (without the cardboard lining). Return to oven and bake until done.

Seared Steak

Place a cast-iron skillet over high heat, immediately add 1 to 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil and tilt to coat the surface of the skillet. Monitoring the pan, heat until wisps of smoke appear. Pat steaks completely dry and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the steaks to the skillet, being careful not to crowd, and sear them, without touching, for 3 minutes.

Using tongs, gently turn the steaks. The crust should be blackened but not burned and should pull away easily from the skillet.

Continue to cook, without touching, until the desired degree of doneness. (If you are dealing with thick steaks, you may wish to transfer them to a 375-degree oven to finish cooking to the desired degree of doneness.) Transfer the steak to a cutting board. Set aside for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Roast Chicken with Ginger and Sherry

The smashed ginger root imparts flavor. The sherry makes for a crisp, evenly browned crust.

Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet on the middle oven rack and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Thickly slice and smash about 2 large branches of peeled ginger root (may supplement or substitute peels or other odd-shaped ends that have been reserved in freezer for part of the ginger).

Rinse a 3 1/2- to 5-pound chicken and pat it completely dry. Toss the ginger with about a shot of sherry and cram the ginger in the cavity. Dribble a bit of sherry over the chicken and rub it to completely coat the skin. Sprinkle with coarse salt to taste. Carefully place the chicken in the heated skillet.

Roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to roast until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 170 degrees. (May need to cover with foil at some point to prevent overbrowning.) Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Set aside for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Roast Lamb Chops with Rosemary and Grapes

In a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pat several lamb chops dry and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the lamb chops to the skillet and place an entire sprig of rosemary, chopped into pieces, in between the chops. Cook for 5 minutes.

Turn the chops and sprinkle 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, between the chops and cook the chops to the desired degree of doneness, 3 to 5 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer the chops and garlic to a plate; cover to keep warm.

Discard the pieces of rosemary and all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet and add about 2 cups red grapes and the finely chopped leaves from another sprig of rosemary. Reduce the heat to medium-low or so and cook, stirring frequently, until the grapes soften, 5 to 8 minutes.

Add 1/3-cup dry white wine, 1 to 2 teaspoons honey, salt and pepper to taste and the garlic and juices from the lamb and stir to combine. Spoon the sauce over the chops. (adapted from a recipe in Food & Wine Magazine.)