Taking Care of Cast Iron Cookware – the good the bad and the ugly

Chef Colleen, I recently bought a new cast iron pan because I see them being used on all the cooking shows. I know I need to season it and care for it differently from my other pots and pans. How do I care for my cast iron pan and why is cast iron so coveted?

Cast iron does seem to be the rock star of the kitchen these days. In my cookbook, Like Magic!, I list my must-have items for the kitchen and cast iron cookware is not on the list. Here’s why.

The good Cast iron can last forever. You might even be lucky enough to inherit cast iron cookware. Cast iron is great for stove top to oven cooking and holds heat well and evenly. That means food made in a cast iron pan will stay warm even once the pan is taken off the heat source. The bad  Cast iron cookware can be expensive and very heavy – heavy to the point where it can be difficult to hold a cast iron pan with just one hand. The ugly Cast iron cookware is porous and very reactive to moisture. It can rust in a matter of hours if untreated and exposed even to just the humidity in the air. Fortunately, there’s a solution for that. Season your cast iron cookware! How to season your cast iron cookware and maintain it for years. When you get a new piece of cast iron, even if it says it’s pre-treated or pre-seasoned, you need to seal the iron’s pores. If you have cast iron cookware that has rusted, scrub the rust off using a steel wool pad and then season the piece as if it were new.