Cooking With Cast Iron

I am so grateful for my cast iron skillets and Dutch oven. I have a few other cast iron pans as well. One of the best benefits of using cast iron is that you don't have to use Teflon! If you have been reading lately, Teflon is not the best type of cookware to cook with. Not only is Teflon not good for humans, but it is deadly for birds! If you have birds in the house, the heat from the Teflon could kill them.
  The other benefit that I like is that it helps to provide iron that we need to have in our diets. Iron can end up in the food you are cooking if you are using cast iron.
  There are different types of pans to cook with, and some of them are not necessarily good to use. When I first married, I received an aluminum set of pots and pans. Little did I know that aluminum was not good to cook your food with. When I stopped using aluminum, I went right over to Teflon. I thought it was great! So easy to clean and cook with! I definitely was not going to use something as difficult as my grandmother used, which was pots and pans of cast iron.
   Well, years later, after many cooking experiences, I gave the cast iron skillet a try. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to use. One thing that bothered me at first was that you don't use soap on cast iron pans. But I got used to the idea, and learned the curve on cooking and cleaning up cast iron pans.
   Cast iron pans have to be seasoned as well. That is what helps them to have a somewhat non-stick finish to them. There are probably a lot of web sites that have directions on how to care for them, and here is one I just found:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

Our ancestors had it right when they used cast iron cookware. Plus, you can actually use the pots and pans over a fire as well as on the stove or in the oven. So, I know if you begin to use cast iron, you will end up enjoying it and it will benefit you in many ways.