Do you have a cast iron skillet?

[froglady]

I've got a couple that DM gave me (she had them for about 50 years) and will get her smaller ones when she moves to assisted living (no cooking.) I put one away for DD, and will give another to DS.

I've also heard that you shouldn't use them on a glass top stove, but I do anyway. I just clean the stove as soon as it's cool enough.

DH uses ours for baking cornbread and biscuits, and I use them for browning, sauteeing, stir frying, etc.

 

[faith]

For any Michiganders we bought a preseasoned one at Cabelas. Upstairs in the camping section. It makes great oven baked cornbread. I did rub it with cooking oil, and I store it in the oven.
After baking anything else it's good to put it back in the oven right away. The heat (from the turned off oven) helps cure it. They are also great for making fried chicken.

 

[keerymom]

Somebody just gave me a recipe for Irish soda bread with instructions that it will come out good ONLY if I bake it in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet.

My mother had one, and there's a slight chance it's in my attic, but I recall giving it to one of my brothers. I may need to buy one if I'm going to be making Irish soda bread (yum!).

I've been told that the older a cast iron piece is, the better. Over the years, oil from the foods cooked in it builds up a patina which makes it virtually non-stick.

My father makes the very best Irish soda bread and he always cooks it in his cast iron skillet. Yum!