Cast iron cookware doesn't work with alcohol stoves. You need a good source of heat for cast iron cooking.

DO NOT attempt to season your new cast iron in winter, with all the doors and windows closed. If you must do it then, do it outdoors. It stinks.

Once again, we don't need to go into exactly how I know this...

Sue

We won't discuss how I know that you are 100% correct either,,,please.

I have a 10" cast Iron skillet that I have used in the house for years, My wife won't use it and keeps trying to get me to "get read of the old dinosaur", I informd her that the skillet was here before her and would be here after she and I are gone.

Minute traces of iron will leach into your food during cooking and thus iron cookware becomes a source of dietary iron.


Cast iron is made to be used, not stuck back in the pantry for a once a year use. Ya gotta use it to season it. If yours isnt seasoned, it is because you aren't using it.






pathological bacteria? link?

The bacteria thing is something that's debated as much as the 'should you wash your cast iron with soap'. I don't have any references but if you google 'cast iron bacteria' you'll hit on a pile of pages with differing oppinions. Some say the pan gets so hot no bacteria can survive. But if the pan is not seasoned up or properly cleaned for that matter and you get bacteria in there during storage, you can get cross contamination when you pull it out, touch it, touch other food...touch yourself

I say better safe than sorry...especially if you're camping and the pan can come into contact with all kinds of things. As long as it's rightly seasoned and properly cleaned between uses (I like to scrub it down with a bit of coarse salt when water alone won't cut it) it's really a non issue.

Hmm, I suspect any bacteria living in the pores of the metal would become yet another dead ingredient in my meal once I re-season the pot. I don't know of too many strains that will take a constant 400+ degrees for long.

I do not worry too much about it, as I use mine regularly, have done so professionally, and have never had anyone get sick from my cooking yet.

However, I suppose it is possible, if a cook is sloppy enough.

There sure were an awful lot of chuckwagon meals cooked up for cowpokes for a lot of years off the back end of a wagon. Wood wasn't the only source of fuel they cooked with either. Interesting notion to consider eating biscuits and beans from a dutch oven that had a pile of cow dung laid over the lid. Do you reckon the cook was careful about keeping the ashes from falling in the pot when he checked on them?

IMO cast iron has several advantages.

1. It lasts for generations with proper care.

2. No known health risks as with Teflon (cancer) coated and aluminum (Alzheimer's) cookware.

3. It can be used with almost any heat source without damage.

4. Versatility. While it does take longer to heat up and will require more fuel for simple frying or sautéing, it's heat retaining qualities are great for slow cooking and deep frying foods evenly as well as for baking.

5. Everything tastes better when cooked in cast iron IMO. Your mileage may vary but try cooking some real southern fried chicken in a cast iron fryer vs. any other cookware and you'll see what I mean.

FWIW, I use real lard and shortening (made from genuine animal fat) as well as real cheese, butter, cream and milk as much as I can when I cook.

Besides the rustic nature of using something our forefathers used there is not much more benefit if using a stove to cook on. The main disadvantage is your use more fuel to heat up a cast iron pot then a stainless steel equilivilant. If your cooking with charcoal then cast iron is fun and the way to go.
Durability is good but then so is tank over a VW. But there is a weight issue too. I have never heard nor seen a stainless steel pot burn through on a gas stove. If you got to those temperatures I imigine a cast iron pot is just as likely to melt as a SS pot.
I love cooking with my Lodge castiron dutch oven as I do on the weekends quite a bit on the back porch. It is fun but just like a lighter is better then a bow drill for starting a fire so is more modern technology cookware.
cheers

Perhaps something else to consider is the sheer versatility of one pot for cooking in. Using a wood fire, I can literally cook any type of recipe I could do using all the other cooking utensils in my modern kitchen. Using my 12" deep camp dutch oven, I can roast, fry, parboil, or saute any meat, make crepes, pancakes, omlettes, muffins, coffee cake, any type of quick bread or yeast bread, or flat bread, boil, fry, saute, roast, or bake any sort of vegetable, make custards, quiches, puddings, jello molds, aspics, pasta, rice, beans, casseroles, souffles, cobblers, pies, cakes, doughnuts, cookies, brownies, jams, jellies, syrups and sauces. All this from one pot and a wood fire and a few mixing and handling utensils.

If you're in a shelter in place scenario without any other modern utility based heat source, you can at least build some sort of fire and use your cast iron pot.

Incidentally, the list above also represents just about everything I have cooked in my cast iron dutch ovens.

Oh yeah, they boil water pretty good too.

I will grant it takes more feul to heat up cast iron but that heat is retained in the iron and people who use castiron regularly can tell you that they will remove the heat 2-4 minutes befor the food is fully cooked and it will continue to cook countering the time it took to heat initially. IMO it's six of one half a dozen of another it just depends on what you like. Me personally I wouldn't trade my cast iron skillets and dutch oven / pot for the best non stick in the world. As far as the lighter being better at starting fire than a bow drill, it's just faster not neccesarily better.