FuzzBob wrote:

YardDancer wrote:Hash browns are tough. Try lightly rinsing them before subjecting them to the frying pan -- stripping off some of that starch can help keep them from sticking all over.

Starch is a pain to deal with. I learned this from making latkes: first, stick with Russets. They're the least problematic. Second, shred the potatoes into a bowl of ice water and drain in a colander. Third, use more oil the less "scattered" you want them in order to seal the potato shreds together. You can always drain the oil off, but if you want your hash browns to come out like crab cakes (or of you're actually making crab cakes) you need at least 1/3" of oil in the pan.

I recently discovered that if you boil your potatoes first, you will make much better fried potatoes. I had some boiled potatoes from dinner the night before, chopped them up, and cooked them for breakfast. They fried up much faster, and were more moist inside, than if I had just chopped up raw potatoes and fried them.

Cast iron.. ehh.. it's okay. I don't like the shape of them at all, you can't flip things and it's a bit too heavy to even if they had proper sides.

Get a professional Calphalon anodized. There's a reason they are a restaurant standard.

With the hash-browns, you need more fat than you think and it's got to be hot.

Yes for cast iron. If you're a real geek, you'll want a lid too. I have my father's 60 year old Griswald and don't have a lid and it makes me mad. If you're upset about the sides on a CI skillet, you could pop an extra $20 and get a CI griddle too.

"Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick" is a good mantra to keep in mind, but with heavy starch foods you're still gonna get some stuck on the bottom.

Don't blast your CI stuff with heat either, and remember that it holds heat. Heat 'em with a medium flame and remember that you may need to regulate pan temp as you cook.

Another cleaning tip that isn't as aggressive as scouring with a pad (and won't hurt your CI) is to get the skillet warm and scour it with paper towels and sea salt. The salt breaks up the food crap and the towels soak up any grease. When it's clean you can just wipe out any extra salt and put the pan away with no fear of rust.

No corn bread tastes like that made in a hot iron skillet liberally greased up with bacon grease. Make your preferred cornbread batter while you heat your pan in the oven. When the batter is ready, take the hot skillet outa the oven, swirl them pig squeezin's around the hot pan, dump in the batter, and shove it back in the oven to bake. That bread will finish with the finest, most crustiest crust ever and it'll fall right out of the skillet...

Cast iron also give you needed iron in your diet, really.

I used cast iron up till a couple of years ago and it is best. Some of the pans that Macy's sells with 1/2 inch bottoms on them give some of the convenience of cast iron and the ability to scrub like stainless steel. I also use a lot of Revere Ware Stuff I picked up in thrift stores. I like it and it cleans up well.

I think you can order glass or iron lids for iron skillets separately too. I had a large iron chile pot and the lid also fit my frying pan. I got rid of all my iron ware when I got married and traded up to nicer pans le crossett like Julia Child cause I cook a lot. They are nicer in the clean up factor They cook the same way as a iron pot. The just do not look so disgustin after 10 years or so.

zom-zom wrote:Get a professional Calphalon anodized. There's a reason they are a restaurant standard.

Are those capable of handling high heat/the oven? If so, I may have to invest in one. I dislike the weigh of cast-iron but love the versatility and heat retention.

I'm also looking for recommendations on baking sheets.

Of course they are. I would sear meat and finish it in the oven sometimes, with the same pan. You can get silicon handle-covers for them as well.

Cast Iron is very limiting for a lot of cooking due to it's weight. Terrible for sautéeing with that flat bottom and steep sides.
I have several pieces and hardly every use them.

Thanks, zom-zom! Calphalon sounds perfect and I shall heed your recommendation.

The only problem is that my brain seems apt to somehow turn "Calphalon" into "Cephalopan," which reminds me that I have been meaning to track this thing down on eBay.

great tips, cleaning the pan is a bitch, its impossible to convince type A's that it doesnt need soap.

I've told my girlfriends mom nicely a bunch of times to please not use soap on the cast iron or coffee travel mug. I've even asked her not to do any dishes shes like "if I don't do it now it will be here later..."

but i'll do them later..

problem w/ women, they don't believe you when you say later. They thing later means in 7 minutes. Clearly when a man says later, he means sometime in the next fiscal year. My mom caught me on that

So I have this mini pan, no steep sides so baking in water in the oven is a no no.

Metal scouring pad maybe? I used to try not cleaning it at all but the caked on carbon makes everything black

I use my All-Clad nonstick for damn everything, unless I'm going to be making a pan sauce. Can't make a pan sauce in nonstick!

We have a small cast iron pan, but I have yet to find anything it does better and with anywhere near the ease of that All-Clad. Too much hassle for the relatively small benefits.

That being said, I have yet to fry some chicken or make any cornbread. For those two jobs, I wholeheartedly believe in the cast iron beauty.