Ya need some more Iron in your diet.

So tonight I cooked a nice rib eye with roasted potatoes in duck fat and garlic broccoli. Of course I didn't take any pictures for this blog. UGH!! It did however make me think of one of my favorite tools in my kitchen, my Ironware.

 There is allot of hype these days around Aluminium and Copper but nothing has more sentimental value then my Ironware. I can tell you a story around each of my pans and the dishes I prepare with them are like none other. What I like most about Iron is that they are low maintenance, take a beating in the kitchen, and you can take them from stove top, to oven, to table top. Pros: Sturdy they will last a lifetime, even heating, temperature retention, little clean up required, versatile: Oven, Stove top and direct fire safe, gets better with age, and cheap.

Ironware falls into two categories; enameled (Le Creuset, Staub, Calphalon, Batali) and Exposed (Lodge).
I think both are great but when would you get one over the other?

Exposed Iron can cause a chemical reaction to some ingrediants and can impart of "off" taste (Tomatoes = Tinny taste) or at times discolor the ingrediant itself (Garlic = turns purplish blue). This is when you would use the enameled version. They tend to me more expensive but provide more of a non stick quality as well as allow you to use it as a server since most of them are pretty. Cons: possible chemical reaction to some ingrediants, and heavy)

You would use the exposed iron for pretty much everything else, campfires, steak, pancakes, cornbread, Hibachi style cooking, cracking heads open.  What I like about the exposed iron is that you can treat it pretty harsh and it just gets better. It can take the shock from very hot to very cold easily and clean up is minimal. Most of the time you just need to run it under hot water and scrub it without soap and dry thoroughly. As time goes on a patina will show on the iron and it will look much like the old seasoned Woks at a Chinese restaraunt. This patina makes the surface virtually non stick without all the crazy chemicals like in Teflon. You can buy most new ironware now preseasoned or you can season it yourself by heating it up in your oven at a high temperature for a few hours with a nice coat of peanut or vegetable oil.

Without a doubt my favorite cooking vessels in the kitchen are my Ironware and when Chelsea goes to school one day I can pass some of them down to her. Yeah I'll be a dorky dad.

Here is my Ironware must have list: