Many people are leery of Teflon Non-Stick Cookware. 
Now it’s not absolutely certain that it has negative effects but why mess with it at all when there’s Cast Iron…An all natural non-stick cookware. And not only is it non-stick but unlike Teflon cookware it can last a lifetime. It even adds iron to your foods….But first you must make the cast iron cookware you purchase non-stick. This process is known as “seasoning”.
The seasoning process is actually pretty straightforward:
- Put the oven rack near the bottom of the oven. Place a layer of aluminum foil on the rack.
- Preheat the oven to 275F
- Wash your new cookware with soap & warm water. Use a scouring pad or a wire brush to remove any factory residues. Be careful when handling cast iron, it’s heavy and can break a foot or toe if dropped.
- Dry the cookware with a towel.
- Coat the cookware with lard. If you try to use a liquid oil such as Canola Oil you’ll end up with tacky (as in sticky) cookware.
- Place the cookware in the oven on the aluminum foil.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove using good oven mitts (remember cast iron is heavy which also means it also holds a lot of heat, use good quality oven mitts when handling).
- Pour off any excess grease into a container for proper disposal.
- Place the cookware back in the oven on the aluminum foil.
- Continue baking for 1 1/2 hour more.
- Leave the cookware in the oven and shut off. Let the cookware come back down to room temperature in the oven.
Re-seasoning:
- If the pan start to stick just thoroughly clean and dry.
- Repeat the seasoning instructions above.
Cast Iron Pans. They distribute heat evenly, last a generation or more if properly cared for, add a vital nutrient to our diets and are non-stick. Naturally, without chemicals and without using the resources needed to produce these chemicals.
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Cast iron is also dirty. It acts like a sponge and absorbs food particles, odors, grease etc. From cooking to cooking the food particles rot and putrify and the grease becomes rancid. Each time the pan is heated some comes back out into the food being cooked and some goes deeper in the pan until one day it goes all the way through the pan and bakes on the bottom side. Ever fix fish in your favorite cast iron pan….try fixing eggs a few days later for the finest in fishy tasting eggs….yuck. Also the iron that you get from the cast iron cannot be used by the body as it is inorganic and we need organic as in fresh liver, dark green leafy vegs etc. Surgical Steel is a much better way to go and it too is non-stick using lower heat. Cast iron is also a breeding ground for bacteria and you are not suppose to wash it when done cooking as you wash out all the “SEASONING”. The last thing I tell my kids to do before we eat is to go wash your hands….how much sense does it make to feed your family out of a pan you don’t wash properly?
Thank you for your insightful comments..you do bring up an interesting point, in order to preserve the seasoning of the pan you should not wash it with soap but only hot water and towel dry. Which is intuitively pretty gross since soap is typically used to dissolve fats…Personally, there have been many times when I’ve hit it with the soap anyway but however have not experienced actual problems with the hot water/good rubbing with a terry cloth towel method. Had one pan since ’93 and cannot pick up any residual smells (have actually fried Haddock and then made eggs with it on subsequent days with no fishy taste but can’t remember if this was hit with the soap or not). As for the ability of the cast iron to add iron to your diet I agree that the elemental iron composing the pan would probably not do you much good. But there are several reputable studies showing that the food (especially acidic foods) will react with the pan producing bio-available compounds that increase iron levels in those who ate this way.