Enameled Cast Iron OR Seasoned Cast Iron – Which is the best cast iron skillet?

If you are interested in purchasing cast iron cookware, but can’t decide on enameled Cast Iron or Seasoned Cast Iron – and which should you buy, then you have come to the right place. Cast iron cookware has been around for thousands of years, and today there are basically three types of cast iron cookware – bare cast iron, seasoned cast iron or enameled cast iron.  One of the biggest advantages of using  cast iron cookware is the health advantage.  With cast iron cookware, a small amount of iron is absorbed into the food, and iron is a vital trace metal for healthy blood.

This article will discuss the three types of cast iron cookware, so you can determine which one is best for you to buy.

 

Best Cast Iron Skillets?

 

 

Bare Cast Iron Cookware

cast iron skillet

Bare cast iron cookware is made from raw iron and a few other metals cast from a sand mold, and has not been seasoned.  This type of cookware is popular for This type of cast iron cookware must be seasoned before use to prevent food from sticking to it.  Seasoning cast iron is the process of baking a layer of vegetable oil or other fat onto the surface of the bare cast iron to create a natural non-stick coating.  A seasoned cast iron skillet will have a non stick coating, similar to Teflon-costed non stick skillet.  If you keep a kosher home and want to use a traditional cast iron skillet in your kitchen, you need to purchase a bare cast iron skillet and season it yourself using a Kosher certified oil or fat.  This is the only way to own and use a kosher cast iron skillet.

Learn how to season a cast iron skillet here!

 

 

Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet

Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet

A Seasoned Cast iron skillet has the oil baked into the cast iron at the factory.  This type of cast iron skillet is generally not kosher, since the oil used to season the cast iron is either non-kosher certified vegetable oil, or is animal based fat.  When purchasing seasoned cast iron cookware, it can be used right out of the packaging and will have the non-stick properties.  Over time with regular use and washing, the non-stick coating will wear off and you will have to periodically re-season the cast iron.  You know it is time to re-season your cast iron skillet when food begins to stick to the surface.  Click here to learn how to season cast iron cookware so your cast iron skillet will always have the non-stick surface.

If you do not want to bother with seasoning a cast iron skillet two or three times a year, your best option is enameled cast iron cookware.  This type of cast iron cookware has a layer of enameled coating baked into the cast iron that creates a permanent and scratch-proof non-stick surface.

 

Enameled Cast Iron Cookware

enameled cast iron skillet

If you like the cooking and heating capability of cast iron cookware, but don’t want to bother with seasoning your cast iron skillets or pans, you should buy enameled cast iron cookware.  This type of cast iron cookware gives you the same heating and health benefits of bare cast iron, yet doesn’t need to be seasoned, and it can be used in a kosher kitchen.

Enameled cast iron cookware starts with bare cast iron cookware, then frit, which is a form of glass, is baked onto the surface and creates the white non-stick surface.

While bare cast iron cookware can put in an oven at high temperature or used on a grill or campfire, enameled cast iron cookware can be used on a stove top or in the oven up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Ken Weiss

2 Comments

  1. Clay Carlton June 1, 2014
    • Ken June 1, 2014

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