New Website: Cooking in Cast Iron
06/26/2008 09:39 Filed in: Dining
And now for something completely different...
When This Lamp was restored a few days ago, I alluded to the fact that I would soon launch a new website. I noted that this new website has very little to do with the content normally discussed on This Lamp. Well, today, I’m pleased to announce the launch of Cooking in Cast Iron.
Those who know me best won’t find this as a total surprise. I’ve always enjoyed cooking as a creative outlet. This goes all the way back to a family tradition of great home cooks, not the least of whom was my mother (who also gave me my first cast iron skillet). Not too long after I got married, my mother-in-law gave me the books Cajun Men Cook
and Dad's Own Cookbook. I’m neither Cajun, having grown up in North Louisiana; nor am I a dad yet, but both these books were foundational for me early own as I developed my own preferences and style. Over the past decade or so, I’ve become more and more enamored with cooking in cast iron, gradually replacing anything Teflon or chemically created to be non-stick. Right now, I believe that cast iron is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. As I state in the inaugural post at the new site:
We’ve now come full circle. Everywhere I go--whether a neighbor’s kitchen, the gourmet kitchen store, or a campfire in the woods--I’m seeing more and more cast iron. Now, even celebrity chefs have their names on their own lines of cast iron. But it wasn’t always that way. In spite of the fact that cooking in cast iron was the only way for most people to prepare meals for centuries, cast iron began to fall on hard times in the 1940’s with the development of modern artificial nonstick surfaces. And so in recent years, cast iron went into a kind of teflon-inspired exile. If you wanted to find a good cast iron pan, often you had to visit the hardware or sporting goods store (in the camping section, no less) or simply resort to mail order.
But of course, great cooks such as your grandmother who would have never dreamed of giving up her cast iron skillet or Uncle Ted who can’t imagine camping without his dutch ovens have remained true to the black iron. So, they aren’t surprised when recent studies tell us that those artificial non-stick coatings may not be so safe and healthy afterall. And suddenly lots of folks are starting to come back to cast iron.
I believe we’re in a bit of a “cast iron renaissance.” I began to see signs of this two and a half years ago when Mark Bittman published an interesting article in the New York Times, titled “Ever So Humble, Cast Iron Outshines the Fancy Pans.” In the article, Bittman traces his own journey through twenty years in which after using more modern cooking surfaces, he had returned to an old standby: cast iron--in both his own cooking and in regard to what he recommends. And he’s not alone; suddenly there is lots of talk in the food industry about cooking in cast iron.
Don’t worry, This Lamp isn’t going away; nor will it be neglected. I’ve got a wide range of interests and this is merely one of them. And I’m fortunate because I’m not the sole person writing for Cooking in Cast Iron. We have quite the team lined up. And if cooking and cast iron is one of your things, please drop by on a regular basis.
Those who know me best won’t find this as a total surprise. I’ve always enjoyed cooking as a creative outlet. This goes all the way back to a family tradition of great home cooks, not the least of whom was my mother (who also gave me my first cast iron skillet). Not too long after I got married, my mother-in-law gave me the books Cajun Men Cook
and Dad's Own Cookbook. I’m neither Cajun, having grown up in North Louisiana; nor am I a dad yet, but both these books were foundational for me early own as I developed my own preferences and style. Over the past decade or so, I’ve become more and more enamored with cooking in cast iron, gradually replacing anything Teflon or chemically created to be non-stick. Right now, I believe that cast iron is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. As I state in the inaugural post at the new site:We’ve now come full circle. Everywhere I go--whether a neighbor’s kitchen, the gourmet kitchen store, or a campfire in the woods--I’m seeing more and more cast iron. Now, even celebrity chefs have their names on their own lines of cast iron. But it wasn’t always that way. In spite of the fact that cooking in cast iron was the only way for most people to prepare meals for centuries, cast iron began to fall on hard times in the 1940’s with the development of modern artificial nonstick surfaces. And so in recent years, cast iron went into a kind of teflon-inspired exile. If you wanted to find a good cast iron pan, often you had to visit the hardware or sporting goods store (in the camping section, no less) or simply resort to mail order.
But of course, great cooks such as your grandmother who would have never dreamed of giving up her cast iron skillet or Uncle Ted who can’t imagine camping without his dutch ovens have remained true to the black iron. So, they aren’t surprised when recent studies tell us that those artificial non-stick coatings may not be so safe and healthy afterall. And suddenly lots of folks are starting to come back to cast iron.
I believe we’re in a bit of a “cast iron renaissance.” I began to see signs of this two and a half years ago when Mark Bittman published an interesting article in the New York Times, titled “Ever So Humble, Cast Iron Outshines the Fancy Pans.” In the article, Bittman traces his own journey through twenty years in which after using more modern cooking surfaces, he had returned to an old standby: cast iron--in both his own cooking and in regard to what he recommends. And he’s not alone; suddenly there is lots of talk in the food industry about cooking in cast iron.
Don’t worry, This Lamp isn’t going away; nor will it be neglected. I’ve got a wide range of interests and this is merely one of them. And I’m fortunate because I’m not the sole person writing for Cooking in Cast Iron. We have quite the team lined up. And if cooking and cast iron is one of your things, please drop by on a regular basis.