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To help feed my burgeoning enjoyment of home cooking, I picked up a combination cast iron dutch oven / skillet last week. Only $24 at Walmart, but you have to remember to look in the camping/outdoors section, not the kitchenware. I was really surprised how hard finding cast iron cookware can be. My conspiratorially leaning mind tends to think that’s because cast iron is a.) cheap, and b.)long lasting. In other words, small profit margins. But that could be nothing more than my own experience, I admit. It could simply be that cast iron is not popular, perhaps due to it being, heavy, VERY hot when cooking, and not dishwasher safe.

As long as you remember to never use soap on cast iron, and to always dry it after washing, cast iron is an amazing value and can give you a lifetime of great use. Even better, it actually gets better with use. It still surprises me finding how heavy it is, but cooking with it can be just plain fun. Lately I’ve been using mine for frittatas, but am going to try it for stews and probably deep frying french fries soon as well. I’ve heard fried chicken can be great in a cast iron pan, too, so that is definitely on my list.

The even heating inherent in cast iron is readily apparent in how long things take to cook. Omelettes and eggs in general cook super quickly, and making my normal spaghetti sauce, I was stunned to see the sauce begin boiling mere seconds after adding it to the skillet. In my non-stick wok/skillet, it normally takes at least a minute or two to bring to boiling. And the cast iron skillet was set squarely on medium heat, not high.

By the way, this is my recipe for beer battered french fries, which I made on Thansgiving because I had to stay in town and was cooking for just myself, so I could cook whatever the heck I wanted.

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup beer

salt, pepper, and lawries seasoning

potatoes cut into fries

sea salt, to taste

Mix the beer, flour, and seasonings together.  I went easy on the salt since I’ll be salting the fries afterwards anyways.  Be generous enough with the Lawry’s though, or you may not be able to taste it.  Cover and set aside for an hour.  Don’t ask why, I don’t know. :)  I just saw that suggestion on a recipe for beer battered kale or something like that.  So I did it.  Heat about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep frying oil to 350 degrees.  Then, just roll the potatoes in the batter and deep fry!  Telling when they’re done is fairly easy, the batter will take on a deeper golden color, and your instinct will usually lead you to the right time to remove them.  If you’re doing a lot of fries, transfer the done ones to a pizza pan and place in a 325 degree oven to keep warm.  Season with sea salt when done and enjoy!  I was pleased with how it turned out for me.  The sea salt, especially, added something to the flavor of the fries, I believe …