Selfish Vegan

So it’s Friday and you’ve left your cast iron pan outside next to the grill since this past weekend… or maybe the weekend before that.  The Selfish Vegan might be prone to overreact at the sight of rust on her cookware and throw it away, but you would never be overly hasty in such a fiscally irresponsible way, would you?  No– because you probably already know that cast iron cookware is basically bomb proof.  Steel wool will take off all traces of rust and your trusty ol’ Lodge Pan will be good as new.  The only downside to scouring your dilapidated cookware is that you’ll be back to square one on the glaze it’s been acquiring since you got it.

Husband always insisted that you weren’t supposed to wash cast iron pans with soap and that they have what’s referred to as “excellent heat retention” (snore).  Unfortunately, when I heard this no-soap rumor I immediately wrote off cast iron cookware as something that belonged in someone’s saddlebags as they set off to prospect for gold in 1848.  But little by little I’ve been won over.  Sure, I insist on soap, but did you know that over time  your cast iron pan becomes non-stick?  Non-stick without flecks of teflon coursing through your bloodstream after you bolt down a plate of tofu scramble!  How is this possible?  After gently sudsing and rinsing your pans and performing a little song and dance on their behalf, rub some fresh olive oil over the surface and put it back on a low burner.  The heat dries out the water left behind from washing and the oil protects the surface and contributes to the gleaming non-stick patina you’ve heard so much about.

As if the poison-free finish wasn’t bonus enough, cooking on iron is a great way to add dietary iron to your food.  A lot of people will advocate eating bovine carcasses if you’re low on iron, but I’m cool with trading in the All-Clad, thanks.  Plus as it turns out, Husband is not full of Smart Deli.  Cast iron does in fact, have excellent heat retention.  You might find that you need to turn down the burners a bit more than you’re used to.  When I stubbornly adhere to the cookbook ordering me to use “High Heat,”  I am rewarded with the charred remains of our once promising dinner.  Not to worry, it’s nothing a little steel wool can’t take care of.

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