Now that we raise chickens, we have a nice abundance of eggs on hand that the kids enjoy. That lead me to re-evaluate the pans I use to cook with.

After some thought, research and conversations with my mother in law, I decided to try cast iron.

My pans were reasonably priced (bought the Lodge Pro Logic), heat pretty evenly. I don’t have to worry if the kids use a metal turning utensil when cooking. I also found the pans were also very reasonably priced when compared to the Teflon pans, which I inevitably had to chuck out after a few months of use once the Teflon started flaking – and yes, I’ve been through both generic and expensive name brands.

I also found that after my pans were well seasoned the kids have had much more enjoyment and success with cooking. My pans were pre-seasoned but I seasoned them further by putting a bit of light olive oil on the cooking surface and heating them till they were very hot in the oven (you really want to have you some nice mitts to pick the pans up with) AND we use a butter flavored spray before each use, after the pan is hot, just before they add their eggs or pancakes)

One of their favorite cast iron pans is a 10′ Griddle Pan, frequently used for cooking pancakes. The side isn’t too high that it burns their wrist and as long as they don’t put too much in it at a time, it’s pretty easy and even my almost 8 year old can successfully make her own eggs (or pancakes) without much interference from me or her older sisters.

They all enjoy the independence of choosing what they want to cook, when they want to cook it, and the all around satisfaction and enjoyment of eating the end product.

Cast iron pans are a lot heavier so I take charge of scrubbing them out as they aren’t something you’d want to throw in the dishwasher. I clean mine using a good stiff plastic bristle brush and water, while the pan is piping hot so that the water evaporates immediately and doesn’t rust. But I have heard of people that use another method with coarse salt.

For more information, I added some links to visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_iron_cookware

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/HotFire.htm

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

http://huntsville.about.com/od/food/qt/cleancastiron.htm

Posted by Tracy

Tags: cast iron, Cooking, cookware, food, pans

This entry was posted on January 8, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Age Specific, General, Learning Methods, Learning Styles, Older Kids, Unschooling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.