I recently purchased a cast iron stove top griddle. It's flat on one side and has ridges on the flip side. The griddle I purchased was already seasoned-meaning it was greased and baked in the oven until the surface becomes stick resistant. I love this griddle and use it as often as I can.
Cast iron cookware is ideal for a number of reasons: 1) it's the only cookware that spreads heat evenly across the cooking surface giving you excellent control; 2) it's not expensive over time because it will last you a lifetime; 3) you can cook fat-free, never needing to add oil to the pan to cook; 4) you can take cast iron from oven to stove top and vice versa; and 5) clean up of cast iron is as easy as rinse in hot water, scrub and dry immediately.
Few culinary tools get better with age. Cast iron cookware does because each time you use it, the heat seasons the pan even more. My southern grandmother used her cast iron skillet for just about everything she made, and man was her food a joy to eat. She made killer cornbread that was sweet and had whole kernels in it. I was never able to get the recipe before she died, unfortunately. I've tried to duplicate it, but there's something not quite on there in my version.
If you love cooking, do yourself a favor and get-at the very least-a cast iron frying pan and griddle. The frying pan is ideal for baking corn bread, cooking salmon, creating one-pot meals, cooking meats that need to brown then go into the oven to finish cooking, and yes!, even baking deep dish apple pie. The griddle makes evenly toasted sandwiches and flatbreads, huge fluffy pancakes, and grills ham steaks and vegetables to perfection.
You might prefer pre-seasoned cast iron since the work is already done for you. It's more expensive than unseasoned cookware for that reason. If you get an unseasoned piece of cookware, it's not that difficult to season it yourself; it just takes a little time. Here's how I've done it:
Set your oven's temperature to 300°.
Coat your cookware in either bacon grease or lard. You don't want to use vegetable oil because it leaves a film on the cookware that isn't non-stick.
Place cookware in the oven and after 20 minutes, wipe out the excess grease with a clean, dry cloth.
Place the pan back in the oven for 2 hours.
It helps to repeat the process one more time. The more your cast iron cookware is allowed to heat up with fatty grease, the more it gets seasoned and works like a dream for foods that don't require oil for cooking.
You can find pre-seasoned and unseasoned cast iron cookware on the web, in cookware stores, etc. The best places to search are flea markets and yard sales. You can get a great bargain. Don't be afraid if you find a pan that's got a little rust. That just means the former owner let it sit in water and ruined the seasoning. You can purchase that cookware for a pennies on the dollar, take it home, heat it for a few minutes on the stove top then put it in hot water and scrub away the rust with a Brillo pad. Once the rust is removed, follow the directions to season cast iron. Season it 2-3 times to get a good, solid coating on the pan and you're ready to begin enjoying the benefits of cast iron cooking.
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