Cast Iron Skillet + Metal Spatula

Like I'd said in the recent post, I'm REALLY getting into using cast iron.

I've used my Lodge 12" deep camp dutch oven for a number of years. Some number of years ago I bought a 13.5" skillet, but didn't use it all that much.

Recently, since my wife had some minor surgery and I had to do a lot more of the cooking, out came the cast iron skillet and its gotten a lot more use.

I found the 13.5" skillet kinda big & heavy for many uses, so recently I've purchased the 10.25" skillet, the 12" skillet, the non-camp dutch oven sized so its lid fits the 10.25" skillet (5 quart?), and then a lid for the 12" skillet (for simmering foods). The lid for the 13.5" skillet is too expensive for right now.

Except for the dutch oven, the 10.5" and 12" skillets were only $11 and $17 respectively, and Amazon.com provided free shipping with the order over $25 - that's partially why I got the 12" lid. I think I like the 12" skillet best overall. If you were to get just one I'd recommend the 12" one. As you can tell, I'm really getting into the cast iron thing. Boys & their toys.

Anyway, I've done a bunch of reading on use of plastic vs metal spatulas (burger & pancake turners) on cast iron skillets, and have come to the conculsion that it is OK to use a metal spatula with rounded corners with the skillets - so long as I'm not overly aggressie with scraping the bottoms. From what I've read, the metal spatulas might actually help keep the seasoned surface smoother and even less sticky.

After all, Grandma didn't use a plastic spatula!

So after a few weeks of of using the metal spatula on the skillets I'm happy to report that they don't look any worse for the wear ... and I'm no longer melting plastic spatula edges.

Ken

Quite right, a skillet is shallow enough that you can keep the spatula at a small enough incline to prevent really gouging the seasoning layer, so long as you are judicious about it. I prefer wooden utensils most of the time, but have to admit to using metal as a convenience, but only after a lot of time spent developing technique sufficient to finally avoid problems. It helps too that the food I use metal utensils with isn't sticking to the pan bad.

"... and I'm no longer melting plastic spatula edges. "

The only one in my family that cooks and has melted plastic utensils is my brother. WHAT are you guys doing???

Sue

Metal, plastic, wood spatulas, I use them all and don’t worry about the pan at all. After years of use the pans are fine.


I think this is being over thought out, it’s just a pan.

Fill in the blank: It's just a (knife, gun, boar spear, undershirt, first aid kit, plane crash, zombie infestation).

This is the ETS Forum. Over-thinking is what we do. Take away the over-thinking, and this becomes the Better Homes and Gardens forum.

There is a big difference between a knife, gun, boar spear, , first aid kit


And a pan.

It's just a pan...

I agree, and I love you for believing so. That is why we are ETS Forum Brothers and Sisters. But there are many rooms in Doug's Forum, and we can accept those who equate pans with guns. Silly, I know. Pans are quite mundane. Cookie sheets on the other hand, are critical survival equipment and worthy of much discussion...

It just depends on what you're into.

For me, right now, its cast iron cookware. Tomorrow it might be something else.

But cast iron cookware is pretty unique. It is VERY different from other kinds of cookware. It was used generations ago.

The first seasoning is very cool thing - taking it from a cold steel gray to a warm black finish. As you use it and care for it, well, it matures.

And cast iron gets better as it ages - not worse. It simply NEVER wears out. It will outlast me ... if my children understand and appreciate it.

Trust me, as a Scout leader I've watch boys absolutely TRASH teflon-coated aluminum pans - in only ONE USE!

There are a lot of people who you'd be hard-pressed to pry their seasoned cast iron pans out of their cold dead hands.

Cody Lundin discusses cast iron Dutch Ovens in his new book: "When All Hell Breaks Loose -- stuff you need to survive when disaster strikes."

I, too, have become a cast iron devotee this year.

Bought pre-seasoned Lodge, several Dutch Ovens, skillets -- some enamel DO's, too. Love discussing this stuff, thanks.

Trashed the Teflon.

Sometimes it can be a family heirloom.

Rabbit shot with my grandmother's rifle, check.
Rabbit cleaned and skinned with my grandfather's small game knife, check.
Rabbit seasoned with my mother's recipie, check.
Rabbit cooked in my great grandmother's cast iron skillet, check.
Rabbit moved in the pan with the metal spatula my mother had when I was a kid and I saved from going to the land fill when she "upgraded" to silicon ones, check.

I bought the plate. From walmart, for a buck. I don't care about the plate. Do care about the other items.

"...WHAT are you guys doing???..."

Some guys are into instant gratification. They want their stuff cooked NOW! So they keep the heat on high when it shouldn't be, push the food around a lot with that plastic spatula, and sometimes forget and leave the spatula in the pan when they go to the 'fridge for another beer.

I of course have never done that...

Me neither! :-o


When Scouts do that I call it "active cooking". They keep moving the food around - especially bacon. The hot grease trashes all sorts plastic utensils in short time.

Sigh.

Okay. I see. Just another well-seasoned pan shot to he**. Again. In winter, when it can't be re-seasoned very well because of the confined stink. Gotcha.

Sue

Hmm, when is a pan not just a pan?

How about my 17" Maca heavy camp dutch oven. It has an elk designed by an artist in Utah cast into the lid, and it weighs over 60 lbs empty. It cost me well over $200 and it will outlast my children if they take care of it like I do. Or there's that Griswold muffin tin I inherited from my Great-grandmother. I reckon I could sell it for around $50 easy enough, but it won't be going anywhere. Or there's the first little dutch oven I bought over 30 years ago, which I have used thousands of times to cook tons of food in, 2 to 4 quarts at a time. I ground my initials and my registered brand into the bottom of it long ago, and I can still read it just fine. I suppose I could buy one just like it new today for maybe $15, but how do you replace a pot like that? Each layer of shiny carbon is another treasured memory. There's even a couple of layers in there I am sure that came after one of the last meals Grandad and I shared together.

Yep, it's just a pan.

Of all the gear that was taken with them, the lowly dutch oven was among those that Lewis and Clark both regarded as amongst the most valued.