In search of the real
I love real things. I bought three cast-iron pans the other day. They are heavy and cumbersome. Apparently, the surface deposits a small amount of healthy iron into your food every time you cook. Over time, I am slowly consuming my new pans. Unlike modern non-stick pans, my cooking utensils are microscopically edible.
You have to season cast-iron pans. You heat them up and then polish them all over with a neutral oil. This creates a non-stick surface. The oil bonds with the iron, forming a protective coating.
There’s something medieval about them. I just looked it up. Cast iron was invented in China in the 5th century BC, and cast-iron pans came about around 170 years after that. Cast iron was first used in England for cannons in the 15th century. The widespread use of cast iron for pans in England only began in the early 18th century.
There are a couple of impracticalities. Even once seasoned, they are rather difficult to clean. People have commented on how heavy they are. If they were larger, this might be a problem, but I don’t see any issue here. The only downside of the extra weight is the risk of accidentally placing them too hard on the ceramic hob and cracking its smooth glass surface.
I think all of this contributes to the feeling that what you are interacting with is a real object. It takes time to clean them properly, using a steel mesh scrubber to clear all the nooks and crannies. After the pan is clean, you have to dry it thoroughly to avoid rust in the long term. I’ve gotten into the habit of cleaning a pan and then returning it to the warm hob until bone dry. I watch as the water evaporates from the metal’s pores.
As our world descends into the realm of images and inauthenticity – of representations of the thing but not the thing itself, of maximum efficiency and practicality on every conceivable plane – I think many of us are looking for the real. Things that push back, resisting our whims. Things with a little life of their own, behaving according to the unique personalities shaped by their chemical compositions.
Real air, real earth; and real kitchen appliances fashioned with hammer and fire from the elements of this planet.
Cast iron skillet is on my shopping list, I'm totally aligned with your thinking, Patrick. Interacting with the (benign) natural elements is something we should strive towards, rather than continually insulating ourselves from them.
Glad to hear you're enjoying them. I have two, one large and one small, my daughter even requests that I cook some particular dishes in them, because it shifts the flavour slightly. A favourite is cavolo nero sauteed in olive oil with garlic, and a tiny splash of red wine vinegar at the end. I sometimes scrub them with rock salt for particularly stubborn bits.