How to cook with cast-iron pans

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You can use a single cast-iron skillet for just about any cooking task: Bake a cake, sear a filet, roast or fry a chicken, fry potatoes, stir-fry vegetables, etc. One skillet is all you need, but because cast-iron cooking is lot of fun and makes the food you cook taste great, you'll probably going to want more than one cast-iron pan. Important tips to remember:

• Always preheat your cast-iron pan before adding the food you want to cook.

• With a cast iron pan, you can begin your recipe on the stovetop, and then move it to the oven to finish.

• Do not use a cast-iron pan in your microwave. If you do, you will ruin your pan and also your microwave oven. The fireworks display that will result will not be worth the cleanup and replacement cost.

• The first most common mistake of why people do not like cast iron is that they say everything sticks. If food sticks to your cast-iron pan, your pan is NOT seasoned right and you need to re-season it. Cast iron is a natural non-stick surface and if your pan is seasoned correctly it WILL NOT stick! Check out my web page on restoring and seasoning Cast-Iron Pots & Pans.

• Remember - Every time you cook in your cast-iron pan, you are actually seasoning it again by filling in the microscopic pores and valleys that are part of the cast-iron surface. The more you cook, the smoother the surface becomes!