Cast Iron Cooking

I was reading along one of my regular message boards and came across a thread about cast iron cooking. To be honest in all of my years of being able to cook I've never really considered cast iron in my cooking arsenal. I know my grandparents used cast iron, my mom has cast iron skillets, and I know they last many lifetimes if you care for them.

AS for me, well I guess I was just part of the nonstick skillet generation so cast iron just didn't fit in with that.

I might have to reconsider that decision though. With cast iron you can cook nearly anything and when you combine that with my Big Green Egg you can cook just about anything you can imagine. Clean up is actually easier than a nonstick skillet. You don't wash them with soap, ever. In fact according to the great Alton Brown you just take a bit of kosher salt, a dab of oil and a paper towel. Scrub it with the salt and when the salt is brown, it's clean. Dump out the salt and put it back on the stove. Finished.

Yes you can cook perfect steaks in cast iron however why do that when you can grill them? Grilling is the perfect way to cook anything, the Big Green Egg is the most versatile grill out there and can be used as an oven, grill, or smoker. It's self cleaning at temperature and efficient enough to cook steaks at over six hundred degrees while it's freezing and blowing cold outside.

I'll have to look at purchasing some cast iron cookware at some point. I think it would open up a new avenue of cooking I've yet to explore!