People have been making cast iron for over 2,000 years, but it’s far more common nowadays than throughout most of its history. Cast iron gets its name from the fact that it is made using a mold or cast.
Cast iron has been adapted for countless uses, but one of the most common is cooking. Cooking with cast iron pots and pans is almost a necessity because there aren’t many other options out there.
Why has cast iron become the staple of cookware? What kind of advantages does it offer that other materials don’t? We’ll answer those questions and more in this article.
- Off-Grid Cooking
A lesser-known fact about cooking with cast iron is that it’s perfect for off-grid cooking. Cast iron is often the go-to material to make Dutch ovens because they’re great at generating and using heat.
Cast iron is known to conduct heat slowly, much slower than most other metals. Metals conduct heat better because they have free electrons that move about more than the others.
These free electrons carry energy, in the form of heat, with them as they bounce around among the atoms. The more of these electrons there are and the faster they move, the faster the object heats up and cools down.
The result is that while cast iron takes time to heat up, it stays hot for longer. This makes cooking outside with cast iron much more convenient.
- It Can Be Cleaned With Soap and Water
It’s a common misconception that you need to use special techniques to get cast iron clean. Cast iron isn’t any harder to clean than most other types of cookware.
It might be necessary to put oil or other non-stick substances on it first so that it doesn’t stick again after cleaning it off. Otherwise, you should have no trouble getting your cookware clean.
If you like the idea of a cast-iron grill already, you can find one at barebonesliving.com/products/all-in-one-cast-iron-grill.
- It Isn’t Non-Stick
Cast iron is often assumed to be non-stick, but it isn’t. If preheated and oiled up, it won’t stick too much, but that’s the issue.
Cast iron cookware will stick to foods if you don’t prepare them, while nonstick cookware doesn’t need to be treated to keep it from sticking. There are some upsides to using cast iron anyways, such as health.
Many non-stick materials, such as Teflon, are made using chemicals that can be harmful if overheated. Meanwhile, cast iron may end up transferring iron into your food, but iron isn’t harmful unless ingested in large doses, large enough that it’s almost impossible to do it by accident.
Cooking With Cast Iron: Things to Know
Cooking with cast iron can be convenient and very effective, but there are a few things to know before you do it. Cast iron cookware is a little harder to maintain than other types of cookware, but there are also many benefits of cooking with cast iron.
We’ve discussed a few things to know about cooking with cast iron in this article, but we encourage you to do more research into cast iron, cooking, and related topics if you wish.
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