(Vince Poroke) wrote in message . com...
kalanamak wrote in message ...
"A.T. Hagan" wrote:


I personally don't cook acidic foods in my cast iron since it'll thin
the seasoning right out.

My pans look great, and spaget sauce is what I *mostly* cook in them. I rinse them
quickly, wiping out the crude, use not soap (maybe a little salt), wipe the surface
with 2 drops of oil and put back on the burner it came off of, and let the warmth
dry it completely.

There is one concern for cooking tomatoes or other acid foods in cast
iron and that is the amount of iron it picks up from the pan. For
many women who are chronically anemic that iron is a good thing. For
many men who may actually have too much iron in their blood already it
can lead to long term problems.

Iron is (pardon the pun) bloody hard to absorb. Unless someone has hemochromatosis,
do you have any references on iron being bad for men? Since most (pardon my pun)
red-blooded American men eat meat, do you believe sauce cooked in cast iron is more
likely to "iron overload" men? I am not flaming you, but sincerely interested.
blacksalt
female veggie (not chronically anemic) with veggie toddler, with a profession
interest in iron and iron deficiency



SO I can cook anything I want in these pans? Basically just treat
them like I would my others but keeping in mind the maintance care for
them. I am really looking forward to this. There is a resaurant in
my area that only uses cast iron for every thing. They are always
busy and tops the lists in our area. The EC is the one that got me on
this cast iron kick.

I cook nearly everything in cast iron... It's not been practical to
boil water in it so far, I use a stainless stock pot for that, for
things like pasta, steaming veggies and hard boiling eggs.
I have had a lot of problems cooking in stainless steel with scorching
anything other than water.
For some reason, I DON'T have that problem with cast iron! It seems to
distribute the heat more evenly for me.

I even roast in them. :-)

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Sorry, but my experience with cooking italian in cast iron has been
just fine. My iron levels stay well in normal range too, and I don't
have the problem with anemia that SO many women in my area do! I am
the Hematology supervisor at my lab, so I get to see a lot of blood
counts... ;-)

I've only seen 2 cases of polycythemia in 10 years, and that's not
necessarily related to iron overload.

There is, however, concerns that too much iron in the diet can
increase the risk of heart disease, but I suspect that may be caused
more by over indulgence in iron supplements unless you have an
underlying iron storage disease.

If you are really worried about it, donate blood regularly, every 3
months. There is a critical blood shortage in the Austin/San Antonio
area right now. They held an emergency blood drive at our hospital
today. The workload was too high for me to be able to go, darnit! :-(
Human resources was offering PPL hours equivalent to a day off for
most people for donating. :-)

As for an "off" flavor from iron leeching due to the acid? I don't
think so. Just don't scorch it!

C.

Carnivore269 wrote:

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Reactive yes, toxic no.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

On 7 Oct 2003 14:46:27 -0700, (Vince Poroke)
wrote:

SO I can cook anything I want in these pans? Basically just treat
them like I would my others but keeping in mind the maintance care for
them. I am really looking forward to this. There is a resaurant in
my area that only uses cast iron for every thing. They are always
busy and tops the lists in our area. The EC is the one that got me on
this cast iron kick.

So long as you're willing to refresh the seasoning you can cook
anything you want in cast iron.

I've got about 250 lbs of the stuff from muffin 'tins' to pots, to
frying pans to several Dutch Ovens. I've cooked about everything one
can cook in them. Over time though there's a number of things I don't
cook in them anymore because other metals like my stainless steel
cookware suit me more.

For what it's worth I've cooked more spaghetti sauce and chili in cast
iron than in any other type of pot, but gradually I've decided I like
cooking those in stainless steel better so I don't have to refresh the
seasoning so often. Can't say that it's affected the flavor one way
or the other.

It's the skill of the cook more than the pots he uses that determines
results.

......Alan.


Post no bills

Hark! I heard "Aria" say:

Why is one not supposed to use soap when washing cast iron?

Soap ruins the seasoned finish; it breaks down the nice, baked on
grease and opens your cast iron to rust. I found this out the hard
way...


--
j*ni p. ~ mom, gamer, novice cook ~
...fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum!

Reg wrote in message gy.com...
Carnivore269 wrote:

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Reactive yes, toxic no.

That's a matter of opinion. ;-)
There are lots of links in google.

Aluminum Oxide is not something I'd want to eat, and besides,
it's bitter as hell... I don't even cover tomatoe dishes with aluminum
foil as the one time I did it, mom pointed out to me how it ate holes
in the foil, and it did! It also left black spots all over the top of
the dish. I had to scrape it all off before serving. I now use Saran
wrap.

C.

(Carnivore269) wrote in message . com...
(Vince Poroke) wrote in message . com...
kalanamak wrote in message ...
"A.T. Hagan" wrote:


I personally don't cook acidic foods in my cast iron since it'll thin
the seasoning right out.

My pans look great, and spaget sauce is what I *mostly* cook in them. I rinse them
quickly, wiping out the crude, use not soap (maybe a little salt), wipe the surface
with 2 drops of oil and put back on the burner it came off of, and let the warmth
dry it completely.

There is one concern for cooking tomatoes or other acid foods in cast
iron and that is the amount of iron it picks up from the pan. For
many women who are chronically anemic that iron is a good thing. For
many men who may actually have too much iron in their blood already it
can lead to long term problems.

Iron is (pardon the pun) bloody hard to absorb. Unless someone has hemochromatosis,
do you have any references on iron being bad for men? Since most (pardon my pun)
red-blooded American men eat meat, do you believe sauce cooked in cast iron is more
likely to "iron overload" men? I am not flaming you, but sincerely interested.
blacksalt
female veggie (not chronically anemic) with veggie toddler, with a profession
interest in iron and iron deficiency



SO I can cook anything I want in these pans? Basically just treat
them like I would my others but keeping in mind the maintance care for
them. I am really looking forward to this. There is a resaurant in
my area that only uses cast iron for every thing. They are always
busy and tops the lists in our area. The EC is the one that got me on
this cast iron kick.

snipped

I've only seen 2 cases of polycythemia in 10 years, and that's not
necessarily related to iron overload.

snipped

If you are really worried about it, donate blood regularly, every 3
months. There is a critical blood shortage in the Austin/San Antonio
area right now. They held an emergency blood drive at our hospital
today. The workload was too high for me to be able to go, darnit! :-(
Human resources was offering PPL hours equivalent to a day off for
most people for donating. :-)


Answering my own post here... I screwed up. I was not fully awake yet
and I typed in the wrong blood condition. cringe I sleep late since
I work a late shift.

Please replace "Polycythemia" with "Hemochromatosis" and while it is
not related to iron overload, it can be aggravated by it. It's an
inherited condition.

It's called "engage brain before shifting keyboard into gear". I'm
sure that error made me look like a total loser to anyone with medical
knowlege. :-( Maybe this will make up for it.

Hemochromatosis:

Excessive amounts of iron that accumulate in the blood and tissues is
classified as Hemosiderosis if the iron accumulation in the
macrophages causes little parenchymal cell injury. In
Hemochromatosis, however, the iron accumlates in the parenchymal cells
and injures the tissues.

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is a rare disease and is inherited as an
autosomal recessive trait. It is found primarily in middle-aged men.
It is caused by a disorder of the absorption of iron. The iron
contained in food is absorbed into the system irrespective of the
body's requirement for iron.

This excess iron is stored in the tissues, to their detriment. These
patients generally show hepatomegally (enlarged liver) and a bronze
colored skin pigmentation. In about 50% of the cases, there will be
splenomegaly, rheumatoid athritis-type symptoms, and diabetes mellitus
(frequently insulin resistant).

Weakness and weight loss are commonly found as a result of the
diabetes. Cardiac abnormalities and loss of hair may also result.

Laboratory tests show an increased serum iron level, slightly
decreased transferrin, and an increase saturation of transferrin. The
patients hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood smear and generally normal
as is the test for rheumatoid arthritis.

The macrophages in the bone marrow generally show many small,
stainable particles of iron. Liver biopsy will generally show the
parenchymal cells to be overloaded with iron.

Hemochromatosis is generally treated by the use of phlebotomy
procedures, removing one pint of blood at regular intervals until the
accumlated iron is removed.

Source: Barbara brown, "Hematology principles and procedure" Fourth
edition.

In conclusion, again, if you are worried about iron overload, just
donate blood regularly! That's my social message for the night. ;-)

C.

Carnivore269 saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and told us
all about it on 8 Oct 2003 11:35:03 -0700:

Reg wrote in message gy.com...
Carnivore269 wrote:

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Reactive yes, toxic no.

That's a matter of opinion. ;-)
There are lots of links in google.

Aluminum Oxide is not something I'd want to eat, and besides,
it's bitter as hell... I don't even cover tomatoe dishes with aluminum
foil as the one time I did it, mom pointed out to me how it ate holes
in the foil, and it did! It also left black spots all over the top of
the dish. I had to scrape it all off before serving. I now use Saran
wrap.

So you can have plastic residue in your dish instead of aluminium
residue? We used to microwave stuff with the plastic 'microwave wrap'
over it but it melts! Use a glass lid. (or did you mean for storage
purposes AFTER it's cooked... that's different)

(huggles)

~Karen AKA Kajikit

Nobody outstubborns a cat...

Visit my webpage: http://www.kajikitscorner.com
Allergyfree Eating Recipe Swap: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Allergyfree_Eating
Ample Aussies Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ampleaussies/

Kajikit wrote in message . ..
Carnivore269 saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and told us
all about it on 8 Oct 2003 11:35:03 -0700:

Reg wrote in message gy.com...
Carnivore269 wrote:

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Reactive yes, toxic no.

That's a matter of opinion. ;-)
There are lots of links in google.

Aluminum Oxide is not something I'd want to eat, and besides,
it's bitter as hell... I don't even cover tomatoe dishes with aluminum
foil as the one time I did it, mom pointed out to me how it ate holes
in the foil, and it did! It also left black spots all over the top of
the dish. I had to scrape it all off before serving. I now use Saran
wrap.

So you can have plastic residue in your dish instead of aluminium
residue? We used to microwave stuff with the plastic 'microwave wrap'
over it but it melts! Use a glass lid. (or did you mean for storage
purposes AFTER it's cooked... that's different)

(huggles)

~Karen AKA Kajikit


Just for storage and transport. :-)
I don't generally cook with Saran wrap! LOL!

I have glass corningware for cooking/heating in the microwave.

C.