Cast Iron Cookware and Cornbread

I think there is a rule somewhere that you can’t be a proper southerner without owning some cast iron cookware, preferably hand me down cast iron. I have two pieces of my grandmother’s cast iron and let me tell you, for any southerner that likes to cook, these are treasured items, just like our inherited china. I was fortunate enough to end up with both of my grandmother’s china, which also just so happened to be the same pattern. You don’t have to have cast iron that was passed down to you. You can buy it new, already seasoned from Lodge. I would season it a few times before use anyways, just to prevent sticking.

There are a few reasons to cook with cast iron.

1. Cast iron cookware is inexpensive, it lasts a lifetime and tends to be more “green” than cookware with chemical coatings like Teflon.
2. It is a very versatile cookware. You can use it in the oven, on the stove top, on a grill, over a fire and you can serve the food right out of it. It’s also versatile in regards to what you can cook or bake in it.
3. Well seasoned cast iron provides a non-stick surface. However, you have to maintain this by seasoning it often. I will show you in a minute what a well seasoned skillet looks like and tell you the process.
4. It’s also healthy for you. Using cast iron cookware tends to release trace amounts of iron into the food. This is actually beneficial as it helps prevent anemia. People with Hemochromatosis shouldn’t use cast iron though, as they tend to have too much iron in their blood. From what I understand though, this condition is fairly rare.
5. Using cookware that has been passed down to from previous generations, for me anyways, makes me feel more connected to my roots.

How to season cast iron.

• Set your oven to 350-400.
• Coat your cast iron in a thin layer of some form of oil. Lard, canola, bacon drippings or any other form of cooking oil. Use a paper towel and coat the inside of the skillet, the sides and the handle. The only part I don’t coat is the bottom of the pan.
• Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack. Put your skillet on the rack above the cookie sheet with the bottom facing up so that the oil won’t pool and leave it in the oven for at least an hour.
• Let the skillet cool in the oven.
• Take paper towels and wipe out the excess oil while leaving a sheen.

This is what it should look like.

So yeah, it’s really that simple. Oil it up and put it in the oven for an hour. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. You will want to do this pretty often though just to maintain the non stick surface.

Now, how to clean the cast iron cookware.

There are a few rules to learn when it comes to cleaning.

1. This is the first and foremost rule. Never, ever, ever, ever, and I mean EVAH leave water standing in your cast iron or just let it air dry when it’s wet. It will rust. Trust me, you don’t want that. It won’t be the end of the world if you do but it will be close. Just kidding, it is a right pain in the neck to have to get the rust off and go through seasoning it all over again.
2. You also don’t want to scrub or scour your cast iron. If you do, all of the effort you spent seasoning the cast iron will be for naught. The only time you want to scour cast iron is when you are trying to get rust off of it.
3. Also, don’t ever put cast iron in a dishwasher.
4. What you do want to do is wipe it down with the soft side of a sponge or with a dish towel and hot water. You can use mild soap but it’s better to not use soap at all. If you need to soak your cast iron because of caked on food you can but as soon as you get it cleaned up dry it immediately. If you fried food in your cast iron, once you get rid of the excess grease then you can just wipe it down/dry with paper towels.

Here is a picture of one of the skillets that I inherited from my grandmother. Now, as you can see, that skillet has been seasoned many, many times.

Here is my collection of cast iron cookware.

And…here is THE BEST thing to cook in cast iron.

Cornbread Recipe

This is the recipe that I used in the pictures above. It’s actually Dr.J’s recipe. I love it because my cornbread comes out fluffy and moist every time.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup of All Purpose flour
• 1 cup of yellow cornmeal
• 1 1/2 TBSP sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 4 TBSP mayonnaise

Directions

1. Set the oven to 400.
2. Grease the inside of cast iron skillet with oil. If you want it to have a southern flare then use bacon drippings as your oil. We put that stuff in just about everything!
3. Put your skillet in the oven while you prepare the cornbread mixture. Let the oil get really hot.
4. Whip together the eggs, milk and mayo.
5. In a separate bowl add all of the dry ingredients together.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well making sure to break up any clumps.
7. Take your skillet out of the oven and pour the mixture into it. It should sizzle some around the edges. Place the skillet back into the oven.
8. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes until the edges start to pull away.
9. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes.
10. Take the skillet out of the oven, do the toothpick test.
11. If the toothpick comes out clean then let the cornbread cool in the skillet for a little bit. It should slide right out of the skillet once cooled.
12. Slice it up and slap some butter on that bad boy, it’s ready to eat.

I know it may sound kind of weird to use mayo in the recipe but don’t omit it. The mayo is what makes it moist. You can also make jalapeño cornbread using this recipe. Just dice up a half a cup of onion and about 2 jalapeños, sauté them in butter, and then add them to the mix before you put the mix into the skillet. There you go, it’s sooo good. If any of you try either version of this recipe let me know how it turns out for ya.