"Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love."
--Craig Claiborne, Kitchen Primer
Untold thousands, maybe millions, of years ago some ancestor of ours stumbled upon some flesh or vegetation burned in a wildfire and thought this was better than eating it raw. Or, so the story goes. An alternative version might be that some really smart Homo erectus wanted to invent the Food Network, but was thwarted when they realized there was no cable or satellite—or television—and it would be two million years before Bobby Flay would be born.
Many foods are excellent raw or only minimally prepared (I really like Sushi). Then there are those who ascribe to Rawism. Nevertheless, most of us cook at least part of the food we eat. From that serendipitous discovery of fire-burned food mankind has developed untold ways and tools to prepare food to their liking. According to the Cookware Manufacturer's Association this industry recorded nearly $1.3 billion in US sales in 2008. So, we can call this a big topic. Too big, in its totality, for a simple "What's For Dinner" diary.
Like most of you reading this, I enjoy cooking—a lot. Over the years I have amassed a large inventory of cooking utensils, pots and pans, small appliances, and other implements of destruction. Yet I find myself consistently going to a rather small (by comparison) group of items that fit my style and my family's food preferences for preparing our meals. I would like to share with you some of these favorites and why I like them. Oh, and a couple of recipes that show off their cookware supremacy.
The Workhorse
I use about half a dozen stove top and oven pots or pans on a routine basis. Over half of those are cast iron. I love cast iron for cooking. Its heat retention and evenness of heating fit right in with the styles and dishes I make most often. There is also an aesthetic appeal that I cannot deny. My grandmother prepared fabulous crusty cornbread in a "black iron skillet"; I prepare fabulous crusty cornbread in a "black iron skillet". That is important to me for reasons I am guessing many of you understand. The star:
I have had this skillet for almost thirty years. Everyday it gets even better. It has never seen the inside of a dishwasher or a drop of dishwashing detergent. When used correctly, food does not stick and it cleans with warm water and an occasional rubbing with Kosher salt (just dump a couple of tablespoons in and rub with a paper towel to remove any burned on bits that don't rinse off). Not everyone agrees with the "no soap" rule and insist that soapy water can be used and the non-stick properties maintained with proper oiling of the surface before storage. Hot water is good enough for me.
Two recipes that I think highlight this skillet's ability to achieve and maintain even heat are good ol' cornbread and pan-seared steak (pork chops are equally good as is blackened fish).
Cornbread
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp oil (some people use bacon drippings or lard)
Grease 10" skillet with shortening and place in the oven as it preheats to 475 Fahrenheit. Beat eggs in a bowl, add buttermilk. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add to egg/buttermilk mixture, stir in oil. When oven and skillet are at temperature, add batter and bake at 475 Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. The preheated cast iron skillet yields cornbread with a crisp, crunchy crust—very tasty.
Pan-Seared Steak (yields one delicious, medium-rare steak)
Heat oven to 500 Fahrenheit and heat your cast iron skillet over medium high heat. The temperure of the skillet should be about 400 Fahrenheit (just past smoking hot). Oh yeah, this cooking method produces smoke during the "skillet phase". If you have a good range hood you should be OK. If not, it can be done over a hot charcoal or gas grill outdoors.
Rub light olive oil or canola oil on both sides of one room temperature, one-inch thick Ribeye, KC Strip, or T-Bone then salt and pepper the meat. Get your timer ready. Place steak in skillet. Do not move or peek for three minutes. Turn it over. Same three minutes, no moving or peeking. Flip it again and stick it straight in the oven for eight and half to nine minutes. Remove from oven, plate the meat and cover loosely with aluminum foil or a suitable lid or baking pan. Allow to rest for five minutes. During this time air out your kitchen and silence your smoke alarms (just kidding, sort of).
You can do this with a couple of steaks and even cook them to different levels of done-ness (more oven time, not more skillet time for medium or , gaakk, well-done) with experience, a complex mathematical staging and splitting of sear times, and choreography tighter than a Duran Duran video. If you are thinking about it already, you don't need my help.
The Heir Apparent
It's hard to talk about cast iron cookware without mentioning enameled cast iron ware, a la Le Creuset. Most of the same cast iron attractiveness holds for these devices, except for the non-stick part (in my experience), which can be compensated for with technique. I have a handful of these pricey pots & pans. What can I say, they are beautiful. I like them for braising, stewing, and baking. Not so much for frying or sauteing. They are more trouble to keep clean and despite their advertised toughness you will chip the porcelain finish eventually. A five-quart Dutch Oven:
A word about the price of the flagship line (Le Creuset). I may have mentioned here a time or two that I am by nature a tightwad. I have a real hard time dropping $300 US on a cooking vessel no matter how groovy it is. I have one of this brand that was given to me as a gift by my lovely wife. The others I bought from the Lodge line of enameled cast iron or my mother-in-law gave them to me (we share a lot of philosophical underpinnings). Lodge is a pre-eminent manufacturer of cast iron cookware. I have found their enameled line equal in nearly all respects to the Le Creuset brand at about one-third the price. This in not an endorsement, I am just telling you about my experience. I bought mine at a famous outdoor chain store dedicated to the pursuit of Micropterus salmoides.
Bison Chili
I live on The Great Plains. Bison is once again readily available here, as it is in many places in the US. This recipe would work just as well with turkey, beef, or even TVP for Vegans. This shows off those wonderful cast iron qualities of even heat distribution and retention during the long simmer to bring out the flavors of the chiles and spices without burning the bottom and without lots of stirring—as long as you keep the heat low.
2 pounds ground bison (or other meat or TVP)
1 large or 2 medium onions, chopped
3 Tbsp oil
Sweat the onions in the oil until soft. Add the bison and brown.
To the meat and onion mixture add:
3 Tbsp good chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground Ancho chile
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp salt
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 can Ro-tel
1 can chopped green chile (or frozen or fresh if you have them)
¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 tsp Mexican oregano
Simmer for at least 30 minutes, an hour would be better. Add two 15 oz cans of dark red kidney beans or pinto beans. Simmer on low for 15 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheddar cheese, Cotijo cheese, sour cream, or whatever your chili-loving heart desires. You can spiff this recipe up with fresh tomatoes from your garden, fresh herbs, fresh chiles, dried kidney beans soaked overnight, etc. Again, if you are thinking about this kind of thing you don't need my advice.
As I mentioned in the beginning, cookware and what you can do with it is a vast topic. I only covered one of my cooking world. I didn't even get to talk about the fabulous waffle iron my colleagues bought me for Christmas or my Ebelskiver pan or my. . .
So how about it, Kossacks, what's your cookware/kitchen gadget preachment?