Category Archives: Kitchen Tips

4 Pro Steps to a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

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With a little planning, the proper tools and some strategic cookery, it’s possible to not just survive this Thanksgiving, but to rock it. But cooking for a crowd is daunting if you don’t do it all the time. Here’s what I’ve learned from my pro cooking gigs, including single-handedly preparing a weekly six-course buffet dinner for 40. These four tips will help you enjoy a successful, low-stress Thanksgiving.

Find your bird

Choosing your turkey begins with the guest list. Depending on the amount of leftovers you desire, allot anywhere from 1 to 1.5 pounds of turkey weight per guest. Next, determine your turkey type. From fresh to frozen to organic to kosher to heritage birds, the choices are many. Some require ordering in advance, so don’t delay.

To brine or not to brine

Somewhere in the turkey equation you’ll need to decide how to prepare the bird. The basic method applies seasonings immediately before and during roasting. Another alternative is to smoke the turkey on the grill, which frees up oven space on the big day.

Brining involves soaking the bird in a seasoned saltwater liquid (usually for 12-24 hours, depending on the size of the bird) ensuring moist turkey with flavor throughout. Pre-salting is also gaining ground as an effective and space-efficient way to deeply season the bird, and involves sprinkling the turkey with salt three days in advance. For hassle-free flavor, kosher turkeys are an excellent option, as the koshering salt used during processing results in a flavorful bird right out of the bag.

Make Your Prep List

You’ll never feel lost in the details if you have a well-written game plan. Start with a brainstorming session that includes lists of:

  • Tasks for guests, from pie-baking to playlist making
  • Tasks for yourself, like counting forks and washing table linens
  • Recipes you’d like to serve (remember to account for special diets)
  • Assigned cooking and serving vessels for each menu item
  • A shopping list including everything you need, from green beans to stemware

Next, map out a prep list by working backwards from meal time. For example, if you want to serve a fresh, brined turkey at 5 p.m. on Thursday, you should be preparing it for the oven by noon, so it should be soaking in brine no later than noon on Wednesday. This means the turkey needs to be picked up, and the brine made on Tuesday, and so forth. Repeat this process for every task and recipe and before long, you’ll be feeling enthusiastic instead of overwhelmed.

Using a frozen bird? The safest, easiest way to thaw it is in the refrigerator, and you’ll need to allow 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds. That means you should move a 20-pound turkey from the freezer to the fridge four days before Thanksgiving, five if you plan to brine it.

Gather the Right Equipment

Among my must-have kitchen tools for the big day:

  • Instant-read thermometer: Affordable, reliable and easy to use, this little tool is the best way to guarantee a perfectly cooked bird, as well as thoroughly heated side dishes. Just insert the rod into the deepest and coolest part of the food, and the temperature gauge will tell you within about 60 seconds, exactly how hot it is.
  • Fat separator: The fastest way to skim the fat from pan drippings, this simple, low-spouted tool looks like a measuring cup with a strainer on top. Simply pour the drippings through the strainer and the fat will rise to the top so you can pour out the flavorful gravy while leaving the fat behind. It will drastically cut gravy prep time.
  • Carving board: If you don’t own a behemoth carving board with a moat, don’t worry. Make do with a cutting board placed within a larger, rimmed baking sheet to catch every drop of juice. Lay a damp dishtowel on the counter to hold the baking sheet in place while you carve the bird.

Writer, poet and chef Ginny Mahar currently resides in Missoula, Montana. When she’s not busy freelancing or posting on her blog, Food-G, you can find her in the mountains, earning her calories.

10 Ways to Make Fresh, Healthy Food Fast

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It’s all fine and dandy to talk about eating fresh, healthy food, but when it’s 5:30 and you’re faced with the dilemma of what to put on the table, good intentions can often be nudged out by convenience. Which is why it’s important to stack the deck in favor of fresh, healthy food. Here are 10 easy meal-planning suggestions to help make fresh as feasible an option as fast food.

make-fresh-healthy-food-fast

  1. Zip some greens – There’s no doubt, a bunch of greens busting out of the crisper can be daunting at the end of the day. But five minutes when you’re not rushed can mean having ready-to-use greens on hand. Zip the leaves off kale or chard (Noemi loves helping with this), roughly chop and give them a rinse in a big bowl of water. Then store them in a produce or plastic bag until you’re ready to use.
  2. Have stock on hand – Chicken, mushroom or vegetable stock are incredibly versatile ingredients to have on hand (or in the freezer). Make an impromptu soup, or use a few tablespoons to make a quick pan sauce.
  3. Have a well-stocked pantry – A well-stocked pantry can mean the difference between a healthy meal and heading out for a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Canned tomatoes and beans, an assortment of oils and vinegars, and a variety of grains and pulses are the mix and match essentials of quick, nourishing meals.
  4. Keep a stash of homemade frozen go-to’s in the freezer – Think of the freezer as an extended pantry; between the two, you can often pull together a complete meal. I like to have a batch of Super Succulent Five-Spice Pork Shoulder and Revelationary Duck Confit in the freezer, along with a winter supply of No Work Slow Roasted Tomatoes from the summer. Shrimp and scallops are also great to keep stocked in the freezer for quick stir-fries or to add to soups. And, while it requires a bit of planning ahead for defrosting, we’ve been getting most of our meat from a local CSA and keeping it in the freezer, so we’ll have anything from ground beef to goat.
  5. Make a batch of beans or lentils – These can be in the fridge for the week or frozen for later. I love to have cooked garbanzo beans (which are easy to do, and taste better than the canned version) in the freezer, along with a batch or two of lentils, which are fantastic as an instant side dish or for adding heft to a salad.
  6. Cut up some cauliflower … or squash … or green beans – I eat so many more vegetables when I have a bag or container prepped in the fridge. It, literally, becomes fast food to sauté cauliflower for tossing with pasta, or roasting squash to serve with lentils, or smash onto a sandwich, or squash in a quesadilla.
  7. Make a simple plan – A few minutes of meal planning at the beginning of the week can actually save you major time throughout the week. I like to sketch out a rough schedule on Sunday for meals through Friday. True, I’ll veer from the plan quite a bit, but the exercise lets me see where there are opportunities to double up a recipe, where I can get creative with leftovers, and roughly what I’ll need for the week.
  8. Roast some veggies – Roasted vegetables, in any season, are a boon to have in the fridge. In winter, I’ll use leftover root veggies as a spread for open-faced sandwiches, or in a soup or risotto. In summer, I’ll toss roasted tomatoes and eggplant with pasta (hot or cold) or into a frittata, or just serve them at room temp as an appetizer.
  9. Cook up a batch of whole grains — There’s a whole world to explore when it comes to whole grains, but it helps to have some pre-cooked and on-hand in the fridge (or freezer … cooked grains freeze extremely well). Some, like quinoa and bulgur, cook up super-quick. Others, like wheat berries and farro, take a bit longer. Scoop a cup of almost any whole grain into a green salad to make it a main meal.
  10. Dice an onion — Once you learn how to dice an onion (see a Kitchen Tips video here), it doesn’t take but a few seconds. Dicing one or two ahead of time to keep on hand in the fridge makes things even easier … and might just tip the scales when it’s “should I cook or call for takeout?”

Don’t feel like you have to do all 10 of these at once — jeez, talk about daunting. Instead, look for little nuggets of time when you’re not rushed, and view them as opportunities to do one thing to help set yourself up for happy, healthy meals.

Root Vegetable Roundup

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Last winter, I was at a brand new organic market in Denver, CO, stocking up to cook dinner for my friends. I had a nice local pork roast in my cart when I stumbled on their lovely bulk spices. So I sniffed and scooped and soon had the makings of a Spiced Pork Roast that, in my mind, was already sitting beside a caramely, burnished roasted root vegetable medley. So into the cart went a turnip, a couple of parsnips, a rutabaga and a knobby celery root.

I thought nothing of those humble root vegetables, other than how scrumptious they’d be with the pork, yet when I lifted them onto the checkout belt everyone in line–including the checker–looked at me as if I were holding a baby wallaby.

root-vegetable-roundup“Wow, you’re making some kind of fancy dinner, eh?” the checkout woman said.

I was stumped. “You mean these?” I pointed to my cart. “These are just root vegetables.”

“Well I’ve never seen them before,” she countered, and was seconded (and thirded and fourthed) by others in line. So I gave them a quick run down on root veggies (and a NOURISH Evolution card … hee hee) and they promised to venture beyond potatoes on their next visit to the market.

The irony is, root vegetables are about the most common, hardy vegetable group out there. Yet they are nutritional powerhouses, mighty tasty and refreshingly inexpensive.

So if you were in line behind me in Denver last year, or if you’re just curious about root vegetables, this roundup is for you:

  • Parsnips — Parsnips look like a pale, creamy carrot that’s a bit stouter at the shoulders and more tapered at the tip. They’re earthy-sweet and nearly as starchy as potatoes, and are a great source of vitamins C, K and folate, and the mineral manganese. Choose smaller ones (large parsnips can be quite woody inside), then peel and cube for a roast, mash, puree or fries.
  • Carrots — Carrots are ubiquitous on grocery store shelves, yet in nature they come in a variety of sizes, colors and flavors. All carrots, though, are packed with vitamin A from beta carotene. Carrots excel both raw (they’re delicious grated into a salad), roasted or in soup. The fresher the carrots, the sweeter and juicier they’ll be.
  • Turnips — Turnips may sound frumpy, but, when young, they’re tender and sweet. Look for small ones with firm, pearly white skin and try them in our White Bean and Kale Ragout with Turnips and Sausage. Swap out the kale for the turnip greens for a bit more zip (they’ve got a nose-tingling, mustardy flavor), and a big boost of vitamins A and K to turnip root’s C.
  • Rutabagas — Rutabagas are similar to turnips (they’re actually a cross between cabbage and turnip), but have more of a yellowish hue and a violet rim, whereas turnips are white with a scarlet nape. Rutabagas are more fibrous than turnips and slightly sweeter and, like turnips, are a great source of vitamin C. Choose firm ones no bigger than a softball for roasts and mashes.
  • Beets — Beets are beautiful. They range in hue from the aptly named Bull’s Blood to golden to the candy-striped chiogga and in flavor from earthy to downright sweet. Beets are higher in both fiber and sugar than other root vegetables, and are a decent source of folate, potassium and manganese. Peel beets to use them raw in salads or cubed in a roast. Or boil or roast them skin-on and remove skins after cooking.
  • Sweet Potatoes — Sweet potatoes are sweet and creamy and complex and versatile, and are busting at the seams with vitamin A. I often use them as a stand-in for squash or pumpkin when I’m not up for peeling and seeding. They’re terrific in a roast, as fries, as a puree and even a pie.
  • Celery Root — Celery root, or celeraic, is omnipresent in France, where it shows up in salads and soups nearly everywhere. It’s a big, gnarly ball of a vegetable that’s a bit tough to peel. But once you do you’ll be rewarded with an earthy, almost herbal flavor that comes through whether raw, roasted, pureed or mashed.
  • Radishes — I think we take radishes for granted here in America. They’re like little gems, with a crisp, spicy bite that mellows under heat; I find them a refreshing cool-winter alternative to warm-weather cucumbers. Choose firm radishes with a healthy sheen and no cracks, and slice them into salads or on a sandwich, or venture into new territory and saute them in brown butter with mint.

Tastemakers: Easy Extras Add “Wow” to Your Food

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People ask me why the food they cook at home doesn’t taste as special what they get in restaurants. That doesn’t mean their home-cooked fare isn’t wonderfully delicious–it is–but I know what they mean: Cooking in restaurants often has an engaging complexity and nuance that’s a step up from home cooking.

There are many reasons for this. Chefs–good ones, anyway–are willing to track down top-quality ingredients. They’re not shy about using flavor-enhancing salt, butter and cream. Even more importantly, they take the time to prepare little extras that add flavor and texture to many of their dishes. I worked at a restaurant where the mayonnaise was always made in-house, as was the dough for the flatbreads. We made pureed garlic confit,* which was used to add mellow garlicky flavor to everything from salad dressings to lentils.

Thomas Keller has a similar preparation in his inspiring book, Ad Hoc at Home (Artisan), as part of a long chapter “lifesavers.” These include house-made nut butters, flavored oils, chutneys, jams and pickles, and they provide the delicious backbone for some recipes and the finishing touches for others.

Making a batch of Carnitas de Lia this weekend inspired me to make my own piquant finishing touch. As I rubbed the spices onto the pork shoulder, it occurred to me that I needed some pickled red onions, which are a traditional accompaniment to provide a refreshing tart-sweet, crunchy counterpoint to the rich pork and guacamole. And because they’re so easy to make, I put together the following Quick-Pickled Red Onions in, oh, about 10 minutes. They were great with the carnitas, and I’ve also been enjoying them tucked into quesadillas and, this afternoon, on an egg salad sandwich.

We have lots of other extras that are easy to prepare and will make your cooking anything but basic:

  • Homemade Mayonnaise: It’s a far cry from the jarred stuff and will elevate even the basics like egg salad.
  • Spicy-Sweet Pickled Cucumbers: I made these all summer long and basically ate them with everything.
  • Fragrant Curry Paste: Add this to a stir-fry, whisk a little into plain yogurt for a dipping sauce, combine a bit with mayo for a zesty sandwich spread, or stir it into some cream and chopped tomatoes to make a speedy curry sauce.
  • All-Purpose Asian Dipping Sauce: I’d whisk in a little cornstarch to make this an ideal stir-fry sauce, too.
  • Asian Pesto: It’s delightful over rice noodles and it makes a great sandwich spread; also try it whisked into a salad dressing.
  • All-Purpose French Lentils: Lia calls these “the little black dress of dinner,” since you can serve them as a side, toss them in a salad or enjoy them as an entree.

Once you start playing around with different ways to use components like these, you’ll see that the recipes aren’t the end goal, but the start–or end–of something extra-special.

* That garlic confit is super-easy to make: Place peeled whole garlic cloves in a saucepan, add enough olive oil to cover, and simmer until very tender. Drain, reserving the oil (because it now has wonderful garlicky flavor, too!), and mash the cloves with a whisk or a fork. Store the oil and garlic separately and use them within a week.

Dry Braising for Simple Suppers

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There are times when a long-simmered braise is food for the soul. When the whole browning and deglazing and waiting and reducing brings a comforting rhythm to the day.

And then there are times when you’re craving that fall-apart tender meat that’s shot through with flavor, but you don’t have time for all the steps. That’s when I turn to what I call “dry braising*.” Here’s how to braise this simple way.

dry-braising-basicsIf you’ve ever made Carnitas de Lia (and I know quite a few of you have) you’ve already experienced dry braising. You’re essentially rubbing a cut of meat with a spice and salt mix, enclosing it in a Dutch oven, and cooking it at a low heat for a long time. That’s it. Mix and rub and walk away until it’s done.

Technically, this is not braise, since it doesn’t involved browning and uses no additional liquid. Nor is it roasting, since that involves dry heat and uncovered meat (Sally Schneider, author of the fabulous Improvisational Cook, highlights a similar technique that she’s dubbed “close roasting”). It’s really somewhere between the two.

Dry braising, like traditional braising, uses the convective action of steam to cook meat and break down connective tissues. “Tougher” (and usually cheaper) cuts like shanks, ribs, legs, shoulder, and chuck or round roasts will yield luscious, tender results; leaner, less fibrous cuts will simply dry out.

Dry braises are even more versatile than their traditional cousins. Carnitas de Lia, for instance, could star in quesadillas, a Mexican scramble or tortilla soup. The five-spice pork below is incredible crisped up in a stir fry with bok choy or added to udon soup, or wrapped in scallion pancakes with a dab of plum sauce. And our Revelationary Duck Confit … don’t even get me started.

This technique almost defies actual steps, but for those of you who would like the ease of a 1-2-3, here they are:

1.     Make your spice mix. Let your imagination run wild here. Ancho and chipotle chile powder work well with South-of-the-border inspiration. Chinese five spice, star anise and coriander are nice Eastern-leaning choices. This doesn’t have to be complex or precise (think of it as playing with watercolors and seeing what comes of it). Just stick with these general proportions: ½ to ¾ of a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of spice mix (depending on the assertiveness and heat of its components) per pound of meat.

2.     Rub. Rub the spice mixture into all the little nooks and crannies of the meat. If you’re using a boneless roast in a net — like a pork butt (pork shoulder) or leg of lamb — take it out, rub spice mix onto every exposed crevice you can reach, and then stuff it back in the net (or tie it back up … or just shape it into a free-form roast).

3.     Cook.  Preheat the oven to 275 F, place the meat in a tight-sealing Dutch oven and cook for roughly an hour per pound of meat (meat should be fork tender).

Oh, and did I mention that dry braises freeze super well? If you’ve got a window of time when you’ll be at home, cook and freeze and get a jump on the holidays!

* Yes, there is a Chinese technique called dry-braising, but it’s a different one than the technique I laid out here.

Boo! Our Halloween Menu

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You have nothing to fear from our Halloween party menu. We’ve got a yummy main dish, plus fixin’s and plenty of treats to appease goblins of all ages on fright night.

halloween-menuSavory Ghoulish Nibbles

Lia’s go-to savory snack is Noemi’s Remixed Party Mix, which is an updated version of old-school Chex mix. The little monsters will come back for more!

Devilishly Good Salad

Our Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad with Pecan-Coated Goat Cheese is chock-full of bright fall colors and flavors.

Monster’s Main Dish

Carnitas de Lia are Lia’s lightened version of a Mexican classic. Flavor the pork with a super-simple spice rub and put it on the braise about 4 hours before the party starts for a fabulous treat. Don’t forget to whip up a batch of Guatemalan Guacamole to serve with it!

Scary Sweets

Check out our roundup of 6 fiendishly tasty treats from the NOURISH Evolution kitchens, including a new recipe for Maple Caramel Popcorn.

Happy Halloween, my little pretties!

The Retro Beauty of Bulk Bins

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Bulk bins always evoke my childhood, when I’d accompany my mom to our local health-food store so she could stock up on brewer’s yeast and lecithin for the kooky energy drink she and my dad sipped every day. (Turns out, it wasn’t so kooky, but a nutritional powerhouse.) It was the ‘70s, so shabby macrame shoulder bags, Birkenstocks, and the carob malt balls I got as a treat loom large in my mind.

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But thanks to the stagnant economy over the last couple of years, I’ve renewed my acquaintance with bulk bins. It’s a trip down memory lane, yes, but things have changed. Yesteryear’s dusty, dim co-ops have evolved into clean, brightly lit–even chic–health-food supermarkets. I’ve even spotted bulk bins sprouting up a regular supermarkets. Along with everything else in the natural foods market, bulk bins have gone upscale, baby.

If you, like me, have tended to avoid the bulk bins, here are four good reasons to give them another try:

You’ll save money. That’s the biggest appeal for budget-conscious shoppers. The retailer saves money by purchasing in bulk, so you save too–up to 60%, according to the Bulk is Green Council. For example, quinoa flour–a notoriously pricey ingredient used in gluten-free baking–is $4.99 a pound in the bulk bins vs. $7 (or more) in its packaged form.

You can buy as much–or as little–as you like. This is my favorite feature of the bulk bins. I can load up on the stuff I use frequently–white whole wheat flour and various other grains–and buy less of items I only use occasionally. And it’s a low-risk way to try new-to-you ingredients.

There’s an amazing variety of stuff! It seems like something new turns up at the bulk bins every time I go to my local health-food store. There are bins of specialty flours (buckwheat, spelt, quinoa, and brown rice, to name a few), fun salts (Peruvian and Himalayan pink!), and groovy rices, like Indonesian Volcano, Madagascar Pink, and Bhutanese Red.

It’s more sustainable. Bulk bins mean less packaging, which translates into lower transportation costs. You can boost the sustainability by bringing reusable fine-mesh produce bags to tote your finds. I’ve used these for grains, like rice and pearled barley, as well as bulkier items like nuts.

I occasionally cast back to my bulk bin roots and wear my Birkenstocks to the store (don’t judge), but when I crave a treat I pick up a handful of real dark chocolate malt balls. Carob needs to stay in the ‘70s, dude.

Heirloom Apples

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Apples have carried mythological status for eons, from Adam and Eve to Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, who wandered the frontier of our newly minted nation founding apple nurseries. And then there’s the quintessential apple experience: the crrruusp as teeth pierce crisp skin to unleash a burst of ambrosial juice. Unfortunately, none of these mythical moments bear resemblance to the apples we find in today’s supermarket.

heirloom-apples

Of the nearly 16,000 types of apples that have set down roots in our country, just 3,000 are now readily available (only a few hundred of which are edible). Of those, only 11 comprise 90% of all the apples sold in grocery stores; 41% are Red Delicious alone.

The decline in diversity is due to several interlacing factors. Land where wild apple trees once bore fruit now sports strip malls and subdivisions, and consolidation within the food industry means that most apples available to us are grown on large tracts of land bearing just a few varieties. Small nurseries, which carry a far more diverse selection than the garden centers at big box stores, have taken a hit too. The number of nurseries carrying a significant variety of apple trees declined by nearly 50% between 1989 and 2009.

Yet despite the dire numbers, we’re in the midst of an apple renaissance. The alliance for Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT)  dubbed 2010 the “Year of the Heirloom Apple” as part of its Forgotten Fruits initiative, with an eye to identifying and preserving disappearing apple varieties around the country.

While an “heritage apple” can mean any apple that’s been sold commercially since 1980, the term “heirloom apple” goes a bit deeper. These varieties have become part of our local lore and scenery, and seeds or cuttings are often passed from hand to hand. Heirlooms can also, though, be “rescued” from wild or abandoned trees, as Ezekiel Goodband, the orchard manager at Scott Farm in Vermont, has been doing for 30 years.

In the beginning, Goodband found that “all around, there were abandoned orchards that were growing up into scrub. I made deals with the owners that I’d prune and care for them in exchange for as much fruit as I could harvest and a few cuttings.” Then he would pore over old reference books trying to identify the types of apples he was finding. “There were Black Hawks and Roxbury Russets. It was a bit like keying out warblers with a Peterson Guide.” Once he began growing them, though, “it was a lot of trial and error. It seemed like there was quite a gap of knowledge.”

That knowledge gap, in fact, is one of the impediments to preserving heirloom apple varieties. RAFT and Slow Food worked to overcome the issue by mobilizing local Slow Food chapters to identify, document and grow varieties indigenous to their region. And has worked. From New York to Chicago to California, individuals and small groups are rescuing wild trees and overgrown orchards (and, in many cases, the stories that accompany them) and developing creative ways to grow them (adopt a tree, anyone?) and market them to the public, often through farmers’ markets and CSAs.

Goodband’s efforts have paid off too. The land that was once a conventional orchard growing only McIntosh now has over 70 varieties of apples. Goodband’s favorite part? Sharing the fruit of his labor. “People get to taste apples that Washington and Jefferson and Thoreau grew up eating. That’s the exciting part.”

The writer in me feels like this is where a tidy, descriptive list of common heirloom apple varieties would go. But I’m not going to do that. Since the point of preserving forgotten fruit is so much about taste of place, I’ll instead encourage you to seek out local growers and try varieties you may not have heard of or tasted before. Then start a conversation. Who knows … you may just end up meeting a modern day Johnny Appleseed.

Our Back-to-School Menu

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If you’re anticipating a busy weekend without lots of time to spend in the kitchen, you’ll like ending it on an easy note with our simple, family-friendly back-to-school menu.

back-to-school menuMain event:

Fish Sticks with Cilantro-Serrano Tartar Sauce is a healthy, tasty update on a classic family meal standby: homemade fish fingers. Take Lia’s advice: Double the recipe and freeze half for a quick supper later in the week.

On the side:

Paired with the fish sticks. our Garlic Parsnip Fries offer a contemporary take on fish and chips. You can pan-fry the fish sticks while these babies roast in the oven. Round out the plate with our colorful Romaine Slaw–its fresh, crunchy texture and creamy dressing make it a real a kid-pleaser.

Don’t forget dessert:

Make a batch of our No-Bake Peanut Butter Popcorn Treats–enjoy some on Sunday evening and send the rest in lunches during the week.

Iron Chef: Cast Iron Is the Original Nonstick Surface

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Devotees of cast-iron cookware are fond of calling it “the original” nonstick pan. But it wasn’t until I lived in Alabama that I came to appreciate the hardworking charms of a humble cast-iron skillet. Southern home cooks are particularly attached to their cast iron, which is often passed down from their mamas and which years of cooking have endowed with a gorgeous dark seasoned patina that’s an amazing stick-resistant surface.

cast-iron-cookwareCooks prize cast iron because it heats slowly and evenly and retains heat better than just about any other material. It’s great for high-heat cooking, to sear a steak or scallops, for instance. A deep skillet is ideal for frying chicken.

If you happen to have a cast-iron skillet languishing in the back of your cupboard, now’s the time to rescue it form obscurity and re-season it. If your mom didn’t pass along a family skillet, get one now. It’s a small investment (about $20) for an heirloom-quality piece of cookware. You can find cast-iron pots and pans at any housewares store and many hardware stores, or online. Most new cast-iron pans come preseasoned and ready to cook. But even those will need occasional re-seasoning when you notice  food starts sticking to the pan.

There are nearly as many ways to season cast-iron cookware as there are cooks, and everyone swears theirs  is the One True Method. Some cooks swear by animal fat (i.e., lard) for seasoning; others say you should never use animal fat. Some sources say you must bake the oiled pot in a high oven; others advocate a low oven. This is the method an Alabama friend shared with me:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Generously coat a clean skillet with fat (I like canola oil, which has a neutral flavor). Rub the pan with a paper towel to blot up any excess oil.
  • Bake the pan the oven for about an hour.
  • Remove the pan from the oven. Let it stand until it’s cool enough to handle. Reapply oil and bake again. You can repeat the oiling/baking process several times, if you like.

If you use, clean and store your cast-iron properly, you’ll rarely need to re-season it:

  • Always preheat the pan and add a little fat to it before adding any food.
  • While the pan is still warm, but cool enough to handle, clean it by rinsing it with hot water (no soap necessary) and (if needed) scrubbing it with a stiff brush. If any food does cling to the surface, sprinkle it with coarse salt, and scrub it off. Some people say you should never use dish soap, though the folks at Lodge say it’s OK. In any case, never put a cast-iron pan in the dishwasher. Dry the pan immediately and thoroughly to prevent rust.
  • Apply a thin layer of oil to the pan’s interior, and store it uncovered. If you need to store a lid with it, or stack other pans on top of it, place a clean folded paper towel in the pan to allow a little air to circulate.

If you’ve got an old cast-iron pan that needs restoring, here’s an easy method from Lodge (yes, it’s not exactly the same as the method above, but remember, there’s room for variation):

And don’t forget to use your pan often. The more you cook with it, the better seasoned it will be and the less often you’ll need to re-season it!