Cast Iron Cooking

[Maggie]

I've read 2 different opinions on cooking certain food items in cast iron. Do you cook tomato products in your cast iron? I've got a recipe that adds tomato soup to ground hamburger, & I'm wondering if it's 'safe' to add the tomato soup in the cast iron skillet. Now that I think about it, what did our grandparents use, there was not a lot of non-stick cookware back then Thanks for any ideas, now back to my bacon-cheeseburger pasta~

[whiterock]

If well seasoned enough it should be ok, just don't let it sit. if the seasoning is thin, you may have to reseason afterwards.
Ed

[oldmania]

I've cooked spaghetti sauce and other tomato based sauces in my cast iron skillets for over 45 years and never had a problem. My skillets are solid black from use and I have also always washed them with dish soap. Just be sure to rinse and dry them well. I have never had to reseason. I do occasionally wipe them out with vegetable oil.

[samm]

i also cook with tomatoes in my cast iorn skillet....

maybe it was aluminum cookware your not supposed to use for tomatoes or high acid foods

samm

[foxtrapper]

I'm really with oldmania on this one.

Inlaws and many other folk go through all sorts of convolutions with their cast iron. And pretty much all of them are grey bare iron, heavily oiled (faux seasoning).

The real old iron skillets I got from my aunt, who used them since time began, were washed in the sink, with soap. She'd cook everything in them. Black as coal.

[MullersLaneFarm]

I cook high acid foods in my cast iron all the time.

[barnyardfun]

I had always heard you weren't supposed to cook tomato products in cast iron but ignored it! If I am going to have something then it is going to get used! I wash my pans in hot water, no soap, and then they get a good coating of lard wether they need it or not.

[Use Less]

Cast iron wasn't the only choice. Folks had tinned pots going way back, also cooked things in pottery (like beanpots); in soaked wooden bowls; in the oven on a stone, plank or pottery slab; by dropping hot stones in liquidy things; or directly over the fire. 'Course go back around the Revolution, and many thought tomatoes were poisonous. Sue

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by Maggie

I've read 2 different opinions on cooking certain food items in cast iron. Do you cook tomato products in your cast iron? I've got a recipe that adds tomato soup to ground hamburger, & I'm wondering if it's 'safe' to add the tomato soup in the cast iron skillet. Now that I think about it, what did our grandparents use, there was not a lot of non-stick cookware back then Thanks for any ideas, now back to my bacon-cheeseburger pasta~

Its perfectly safe to cook tomatoes in cast iron..... if you are talking about food safety for people to consume. The problem comes in with damaging your nonstick surface on your cast cookware! It doesnt hurt the metal, but it sure plays havoc with the seasoning on the surface.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by samm

i also cook with tomatoes in my cast iorn skillet....

maybe it was aluminum cookware your not supposed to use for tomatoes or high acid foods

samm

Yep, the acid will pull the aluminum right out of the pan and you end up with it in the food itself. While I have not heard of any direct link between aluminum cookware and Alzheimer's, there does seem to be a much higher incidence of aluminum deposits in the brain of an Alzheimer patient than those without said disease.

[Sonshine]

I think it depends on how well seasoned your cast iron is. We had cast iron skillets when I was a kid and we cooked everything in it and washed with soap and water. The cast iron I have now is not as well seasoned yet, so I'm careful about putting high acid products in it yet.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Easy enough to get your CI well seasoned quickly, if'n you use it all the time.

After you wash it, put it on the stove to dry it completely. While it's still hot, give it a thin coat of lard.

Last summer, I took my 'stupidly, big CI skillet' to church camp with me. The kids running the dishwasher sprayed it down with a degreaser, let it sit, then ran it through the dishwasher. Completely stripped all the seasoning off the skillet. Within in a few days (of using it to cook at every meal), seasoning it after each use and putting the fear of Cyndi in the dishwasher kids about even thinking about touching my skillet; the seasoning was good to go.

[marinemomtatt]

I don't like the 'metal' flavor that comes from tomato and cast iron...nasty!
I'm known to tell guests that if they even put the bottle of dish soap near my cast iron I'm gonna smack 'em upside the head with the pan...~lol~...

[7thswan]

Originally Posted by marinemomtatt

I don't like the 'metal' flavor that comes from tomato and cast iron...nasty!
I'm known to tell guests that if they even put the bottle of dish soap near my cast iron I'm gonna smack 'em upside the head with the pan...~lol~...

Same here, I thought maybe I'm the only one that can taste it. Maybe I should say Could because that was about 30 years ago and haven't used a cast pot for spagetti sause sinse. I don't taste the metal with any other cooking in cast and I wash mine with soap,but do season them all the time. I'm just weird about them getting too dirty. A throw back from someone I know that never even took the pan off the stove, cooked in it every day,every meal.

[my3boys]

You can cook high acid foods like tomatoes in a cast iron pan, provided it is seasoned, the more the better. You cannot, however, store the food in the pan. The only exception would be coated cast iron, like le creuset type pans. That being said, I have enameled cast iron and I still switch food to something else to store it in, high acid or anything else.

[BonnieDale Farm]

I have always used CI and I learned my lesson a long time ago about tomatos in CI,..don't do it. It reeks havoc on the seasoning. Not worth it to me, so I have enameled and stainless skillets for that.

[Calfkeeper]

I have always cooked tomato based dishes in CI...maybe that's why I don't notice any change in flavor. But then again, I don't leave the tomato stuff in there very long, just long enough to cook through.