Cast Iron Newbie

Congrats on the new pan.   I've been wanting to get one too to make those giant apple oven pancakes...

Here's a fried chicken recipe from the BYC cookbook.   It's from MissPrissy who's a great cook:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/recipes/?p=recipe&recipe=432

Welcome to the world of cast iron cooking !! You are in luck as cast iron pans have a heavy bottom which help distribute heat more evenly than most pans.
I am unlike most people here, after cooking in my cast iron pans I allow them to cool off then wash them in hot soapy water (it must have been all the food safety and sanitation classes I had in chef school). I then wipe them dry with a linen towel and then dry them on a hot burner a couple minutes. Then I add about 1 tsp evo (extra virgin olive oil) and wipe it all around the inside and outside of the pan with a paper towel. By heating the pan on the burner you assure yourself the pores have dried and then adding the evo the heat of the pan and the open pores absorb that oil. So you end up with a truly clean pan that stays seasoned.

Here is a recipe for buttermilk biscuits I found on YouTube the other day, it's great. If you don't have buttermilk no worries, simply take 1 cup of milk and add 1 Tbls of white vinegar and mix it with a spoon. Allow this mixture to stand about 20 minutes. If you have some greek yoghurt or sour cream you can whisk that into a cup of milk also. I made the recipe shown in the video and I gotta tell you they are the BEST biscuits I've had in a long, long time. So go get 'em !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDPG52oTWno&feature=feedrec_grec_index

I cook most meats in cast iron -- preheat to get a good sear -- things like pork or lamb chops, cubed steak, etc.  Also bake corn bread in it.  Most mornings I fry potatoes and onions in it, to eat with eggs.

BTW, I clean mine with only a paper towel, mostly.  If needed, a couple of minutes of soak with water.  Never soap.  Easiest pan in the house to clean.

Here is a good recipe for cornbread:

Allison Krauss' Winning Cornbread

1 tablespoon bacon drippings
3/4 cup Martha White® Self-Rising White Corn Meal Mix, plus additional for preparing pan
1/4 cup Martha White® Self-Rising Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil
1 large egg, beaten


Directions:
1. HEAT oven to 450°F. Grease an 8-inch cast iron skillet with bacon drippings; place in oven to heat.
2. COMBINE corn meal mix, flour and sugar in large bowl; mix well. Add buttermilk, oil and egg; blend well. Sprinkle small amount of corn meal into hot skillet. Pour batter over corn meal in hot skillet. 
3. BAKE 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

OMG! I couldn't say I LOVE something in my kitchen, as much as I love my cast iron pan. I have a 12" so its very heavy, and I insist I getting a small 8" this Christmas from my family.

I do enjoy the corn bread in a cast iron (planning on making it for Thanksgiving and doing stuffing out of it). I also love doing some crispy skin chicken but throwing in some leg quarters and browning both sides, then sliding directing into oven to finish them off.

I do my fried breaded fish poppers in my cast iron pan. Always a beautiful DARK brown when done.

We do like to pound out some chicken breasts and sear them in the cast iron to make chicken sandwiches that remind me of the good diner style sandwiches you can't make any other way.

My husband LOVES his steak done that way. He says its got a nice caramelized finish to the outside and the steaks are always juicy.

I can't think of anything I don't cook in the cast iron, other then eggs! I don't do eggs because the pan is too big to mess with all that.

I do like my french toast and bacon done in the cast iron though... totally LOVE it!

My largest iron skillet was my grandmother's; it's probably 70 years old by now. Don't know how many years she had it. A few years ago I decided it was time to get all the antique scaly stuff off of it. I sprayed it with oven cleaner, wrapped it in a plastic bag and set it out in the sun on top of the garbage can. After several days, I took it inside and scrubbed it good with a wire brush. A lot of the grunge came off, but it needed another "treatment" so back out it went with new oven cleaner sprayed on, new plastic bag, out in the hot sun again. After about 2-3 weeks of this, it was down to the bare metal which was a dark gray, not black. Then fresh seasoning with shortening and long, slow, low bakes in the oven until it was smooth and slick. It now cooks perfectly with no sticking and is a thing of beauty! Love all my cast iron pans!

I made a casserole tonight in mine. 

In another pan cook potatoes in salted water.  (start these first, you will cream them and use as topper like shepherds pie)

Brown  ground beef in iron skillet, add onions, salt and pepper.  When brown add garlic, basil & sprinkle with flour and stir.  Then add a small can of tomato paste and can of green beans with liquid. Add evap milk, sir until blended and thick.  (I used to just add a can of undiluted tomato soup and drained green beans but I am into simpler ingredients now).  Top with mashed potatoes  and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Bake at 350 until cheese is melted.


I season meats with salt, pepper and garlic powder and brown well on each side in skillet that is on med high, reduce heat to low after browning and cook stove top or oven until desired doneness.  chicken, steak, pork chop, etc.  Fry anything you want in one and if you want something deep fried invest in a deeper skillet or a dutch oven or sauce pan.

I bake biscuits, corn bread and sometimes yeast bread in it.  In fact, there is not much I don't cook in mine.

Cast iron is the gift you can get from your grandparent and give to your grandchild and most of it worth having is made in USA. 
 

Don't soak it and don't put in dishwasher.

bigmike&nan :

Welcome to the world of cast iron cooking !! You are in luck as cast iron pans have a heavy bottom which help distribute heat more evenly than most pans.
I am unlike most people here, after cooking in my cast iron pans I allow them to cool off then wash them in hot soapy water (it must have been all the food safety and sanitation classes I had in chef school). I then wipe them dry with a linen towel and then dry them on a hot burner a couple minutes. Then I add about 1 tsp evo (extra virgin olive oil) and wipe it all around the inside and outside of the pan with a paper towel. By heating the pan on the burner you assure yourself the pores have dried and then adding the evo the heat of the pan and the open pores absorb that oil. So you end up with a truly clean pan that stays seasoned.

Here is a recipe for buttermilk biscuits I found on YouTube the other day, it's great. If you don't have buttermilk no worries, simply take 1 cup of milk and add 1 Tbls of white vinegar and mix it with a spoon. Allow this mixture to stand about 20 minutes. If you have some greek yoghurt or sour cream you can whisk that into a cup of milk also. I made the recipe shown in the video and I gotta tell you they are the BEST biscuits I've had in a long, long time. So go get 'em !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDPG52oTWno&feature=feedrec_grec_index

Just FYI, EVOO is not the best choice when coating your cast iron. It is much more acidic (something like 3X more acidic) than plain old veg. oil. Therefor not a good friend to iron... not trying to poop on your parade, just letting you know! I used to use it myself till someone enlightened me.

I'll have to tell my pans that since I've been doing just that to them for the last 25 years. I must have 15-20 pans, from tiny 4" babies to 14" skillets, got dutch ovens, Descoware dutch ovens and oval roasters. You name it I got it."  EVOO is the lowest in acidity of the olive oils since it is the first COLD PRESS of the olives. Other olive oils, not called Extra Virgin would be more acidic. EVOO is 0.8% or less by law.