"cast iron skillet" news and stories

A cast-iron skillet is an indispensable cooking tool, but it can be tricky to clean and maintain.

In January, Marisa alerted us to an article at Kitchn about seasoning your cast iron cookware. This is the technique I have always used -- lather pan in the oil/shortening and bake it upside down in your oven. Unfortunately, the last time I did this, I put a baking sheet underneath, rather than foil, and made a mess that ruined my pan.

But it looks like there is an easier way! Michael Ruhlman posted an ode to cast iron the other day, and listed a seasoning technique from The Elements of Cooking. It's the same idea, but easier. Just pour a half-inch layer of oil into a pan, and cook it over high heat until very hot, or just in a 300 degree oven for an hour. Considering how wonderfully shiny and seasoned his pans look, I imagine it does the job!

But there is one other thing I wished I had read before: "Turn them upside down and use them as a pizza stone." Of course, I read this two weeks after I finally buy a stone. That's always the way.

Caramelized onions are one of those magic ingredients. They add amazing flavor to the most simple of meals, require very little energy to prepare and make other people think that you are an extraordinary cook. All it takes is a nice, big skillet (I use a 12 inch cast iron one), five or six large onions cut into thin rings and some time.

Pre-heat the skillet for a few minutes before adding a small amount of olive oil (around a tablespoon). When the oil coats the bottom of the pan and shimmers, add your mountain of sliced onion (at the beginning of cooking, that pan was filled to the brim with onions) and immediately turn the temperature down to low. The secret to making gorgeous caramelized onions is that you want to cook them on the lowest temp your stove can manage while still producing heat. Then, every 10 or 15 minutes, move them around the pan with some tongs. You want them to darken but not blacken. The goal is to cultivate and enhance the sugars in the onions without creating an acrid flavor. You know they are done when you take a taste and they are soft and sweet, with no crunch at all.

Caramelized onions are great for a vast number of dishes. They make an amazing appetizer on a toasted baguette with brie, they're fabulous on homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella, they can serve as the base for french onion soup and they elevate a regular sandwich from basic to amazing. And they keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.