Inspired by a comment on another thread with @justhach, I’d enjoy hearing about your cast iron journey.
How did you get started?
Where are you right now?
What are some of your favorite pieces, or most often used pieces?
What are your go to recipes?
And let’s be sure this doesn’t turn into a competition. I’ve been collecting and restoring for a decent amount time, but I’m just as interested in hearing from someone who’s just starting out as I am from an avid collector…everyone’s welcome! I’ll post my own in the comments.
I got tired of replacing my pans every few years, and so I bought an 8" pan, 2 10" pans, a 12" pan, a 10 " square grill pan, and a round griddle from Lodge. Looking at Dutch ovens now. I use stainless steel + a carbon steel wok for things that won’t work in cast iron and a couple of nonstick skillets for eggs and grilled cheese.
My folks use cast iron for cooking and I wanted my own set. I use the grill pan the most, great for when it is too wet outside to grill.
Cornbread is made in the 8", I use the 12" for fried pork chops and searing meats. Did Kenji’s pizzas in the 10" pans a few months back, and they were a hit. Also used them to roast buttermilk-marinated chickens for holiday dinners.
I’ve baked pizzas a couple of times, and the cook on them has been great, but I’m not happy yet with the pizza dough recipes I’ve tried. I’m still looking for a good one…the last we did was good texture, but the dough was just kinda flavorless.
The recipe I used was : https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe. I thought it was pretty tasty if saucy (my mistake, I used a lot more sauce than called for).