Eat This: 5 Authentic Cowboy Recipes to Make in a Cast Iron Skillet (2024)

FAQs

What should be the first meal in a cast iron skillet? ›

We recommend starting with vegetables as they are more forgiving than most proteins - they taste delicious and won't stick to your pan! Keep in mind that using a little bit of oil is necessary to help to keep food from sticking.

Cowboy dinner is a hearty casserole of flavorful beef, corn and beans topped with soft, fluffy cornbread and a layer of cheese. So delicious! This easy, comfort food casserole has been a family favorite for over 20 years! After that long, you know the recipe has to be a keeper!

Is There Anything You Shouldn't Cook in Your Cast-Iron Skillet? Experts Weigh In. While there's nothing that's technically off limits, the pros say you should be careful with acidic foods, like tomato or wine sauce, which can corrode the seasoning if left in the pan for too long.

Eggs fall into the category of sticky foods that are not ideal for cast iron skillets that haven't built up their seasoning yet. While cast iron can become non-stick with sufficient use over time, a newer skillet will almost certainly cause your eggs to stick to its porous surface.

Yes, you can season the pans for frying, sautéing, or baking in cast iron cookware like pans, pots, or skillets with butter, but it's not the right choice to season it for the first time. Butter immediately starts to smoke when added to a heated pan because cast iron can withstand a lot of heat.

For seasoning or rubbing down after washing, I use grapeseed oil because it had a high temp rating and was available. To actually cook, I use bacon grease, butter, coconut oil, olive oil, occasionally vegetable oil, and hopefully soon goose fat. I am a fan of butter and tallow as my go to fats in cast iron for searing.

All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness, and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable oil, melted shortening, or canola oil, like our Seasoning Spray.

When it comes to new and used skillets — a little soap and water is a good thing. This first wash removes factory residue or rust bits. Make sure you rinse and dry the pan well after this first washing. You'll likely only need to wash your skillet with soap once or twice a year if you take good care of it.

Yes. Olive oil can be a popular choice when it comes to seasoning cast iron cookware, and that's because it's one of the most well-known and widely available oils on the market.

Cast Iron Goes Both Ways

The method to cooking with cast iron on the stovetop is HEAT, do not add the cooking oil until the pan feels hot, because the oil will be the benchmark of the pan's readiness. If the butter sizzles, pan's ready. Oil slides across the pan with easy, pan's ready.

What dessert did cowboys eat? ›

Dried apples, raisins and apricots were common, but berries and prunes also were available. In addition to eating it plain, dried fruit reconstituted in water with crumbled biscuits formed the basis of simple steamed cobblers and puddings.

Meals often consisted of hot coffee, a large pot of beans, and biscuits that were baked in a cast iron pot and slathered with lard and gravy. Today the term “Cowboy Breakfast” has evolved to include eggs and skillet potatoes, bacon or sausage, and perhaps biscuits and gravy to round out the plate.

They were most likely pinto or possibly red beans. Think southwest cuisine. They may have had tomatoes cooked with them, along with onions, garlic and chile peppers. Cooked beans spoil or sour quickly, so cowhands wouldn't have eaten beans on the trail unless they were traveling with the chuck wagon.

Cast iron pans are popular, especially for searing, and are generally safe to use. But they can leach iron, which is a strong pro-oxidant. Those genetically at risk for iron overload should learn more about cast iron safety. For well over a thousand years, cast iron has been used as a reliable cooking surface.

Caveat: A really, really well-seasoned pan has a film of fat (oil, lard) that protects the metal from whatever food or kitchen tools that come in contact with it. If you've religiously cared for your pan, feel free to simmer that tomato sauce. The rest of us mortals should avoid overly acidic foods in our cast irons.

Acidic foods like tomatoes can damage the seasoning, or the nonstick coating, of your skillet. What's worse, the end result will taste metallic, especially if it's something—like a slow-simmered pasta sauce—that requires a long cooking time. Skip the cast iron for your bolognese and use stainless steel instead.

You let your skillet soak.

Soaking your cast iron skillet in your sink is a recipe for rust, as is washing it in the dishwasher. Instead, clean it ASAP, even using simple soap and water if you must.