Pumping Iron

This is my 10 inch cast iron skillet. It is my favorite tool; everything about it perfection. Sure it could be a bit bigger. I should probably buy a 15-inch skillet soon. And one of those awesome square griddles. And a cast iron dutch-oven like my grandma Cassie’s. In the interest of full disclosure: a deplorable amount of my disposable income goes to shoes. And clothes. And hand-bags. It’s a problem; I’m working on it. But I digress.

I love the pan’s heft and texture - the way that it smells. I love it for its versatility and uniformity of heat distribution. I love it for its durability. If you’ve cooked with cast iron then you know where I’m coming from. If you haven’t, then get yourself a pan and watch it become one of your favorites. I come from a long line of terrific southern cooks* and I’ve never seen any of them use anything but cast-iron on top of the stove. A few glass casserole dishes here and there – maybe a stock pot or two made from stainless steel. But cast iron dominated the cookware of the women who made me passionate about food. And, you know, if it ain’t broke…

I have two smaller pans as well, the set was a Christmas gift from my uncle. I was so excited to get them, ripped them out of the box only to discover what a smarter person would’ve already known: they weren’t cured.

I’m not going to go into how you cure a cast iron skillet. If you’re interested you can check the links. I did a little internet research, followed the steps and waited patiently for the pans to cool in mouth-watering anticipation of a breakfast to rival those served throughout my childhood. The first egg I scrambled stuck to the pan like scorched rice. I cleaned it out and re-cured all three. The results were better but there was still some sticking. And the pan was nowhere near the glistening, inky, black that I’ve loved my entire life. I kept frying things on the stove, adding more oil than necessary, and occasionally sneaking it back in the oven for another shortening-coated bake. It was serviceable but, still, not quite right.

I called my grandma Cassie and she sweetly explained that I just had to keep cooking with it because, “No pan gets right, right-away.” I needed to cook, and oil the pan, and heat the pan, and clean the pan in the course of regular use in order to make it perfect. And one of the first things I made after this revelation was cornbread. In the skillet. The bread didn’t come out of the pan as cleanly as my grandma’s. But it was mostly intact and as delicious as I remembered. I ate more than half of it.

Umm… You should probably share it.

Cast- Iron Cornbread**

Ingredients

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup soft shortening - I use unsalted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons of oil; Canola or vegetable oil will do nicely. Whatever you use make sure it has a high smoke-point.

Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut in shortening, blending thoroughly and set aside. Add the two tablespoons of oil to your cast-iron skillet (10 or 12 inch skillet) and place skillet into the oven. Mix beaten egg and milk together and add to dry ingredients quickly with as few strokes as possible. Seriously, don't over mix; cornbread batter is lumpy. Carefully, remove the hot skillet from the oven and pour in the batter. You can smooth the top lightly, if you care to, with a spoon. Place pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Run a spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pan and turn out bread onto a plate.

Do yourself a favor and check the cornbread with a toothpick at 15 minutes. Oven temperatures vary and when bread cooks in a cast iron skillet it cooks very quickly. You'll note the slight discoloration in this loaf. The bread was delicious, but I didn't pull it out of the oven quickly enough and the result was this bi-colored -though perfectly delicious- cornbread.





*I’m sure I’ll be talking about all of these women (and some men) a lot on this blog. I just want to mention that they are/were all very fond of clothes, shoes, and handbags as well. In fact, apart from eating their food and working in their gardens, playing dress up in their closets was my favorite thing to do when visiting. I do not exist in a vacuum.

**This cornbread recipe is pretty basic. I understand that Patti Labelle has an excellent recipe for cornbread and there are probably thousands more. This recipe is really about the technique; baking the bread in a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet to give it a fantastic crust and, I think, richer flavor. Most good cornbread recipes can probably be adapted to this method of cooking and this method can be used in a baking pan. FYI.