Choosing Cookware for Enameled Cast Iron Cookware
Website design By BotEap.comWhen choosing cookware for enameled cast iron cookware, it’s important to understand the nature of the enamel that makes it different from ordinary cast iron pots and pans. Standard cast iron can have nonstick properties and be easier to clean if seasoned with hot oil or fat. Baking oil in the pan at high temperature forms a bond that reduces the likelihood of oxidation and iron in the food, and also makes it relatively non-stick and easier to clean.
Website design By BotEap.comEnameling is also a way of creating a barrier between the food and the iron base, and enameled cookware is fairly easy to clean and has a fair degree of nonstick properties, although you should try to avoid burning food on the bottom or the sides of the pan. . However, if you do, the enamel is quite resistant to scratching, much more so than straight cast iron, stainless steel, or non-stick Teflon surfaces. Therefore, it can tolerate abrasion better than these other surfaces, but it is very sensitive to knocks and bumps that can chip the base polish.
Website design By BotEap.comEnamel is not baked over paint, as many believe, but rather is silica, or glass, that is mixed with pigments and then melted onto the iron surface. The process creates a bond that, while strong enough for normal handling, can splinter if hit hard. If you drop enameled cookware on a hard floor, for example, it may chip, but not if you stir the contents with a metal spoon.
Website design By BotEap.comHowever, while stainless steel and other metal cookware can be used with enameled cast iron cookware, it is recommended that you do not and try to use wood, plastic or silicone. Silicone is a form of plastic that has been cured and cross-linked to make it resistant to heat, a property that common plastic kitchen implements lack.
Website design By BotEap.comWood is best for any kind of kitchen utensil, but most people have a set of wooden spoons in their kitchen arsenal, and maybe a wooden spatula, but very little else. You can get a wider range online, but ladles and slotted spoons tend to be very small compared to their metal or plastic alternatives.
Website design By BotEap.comPlastic is great for protecting your cookware, but it can be soft and can get even softer when hot. Not only that, but forget about peeling it off the pot when cooking and you will have given a whole new meaning to plastic food! The same goes for a plastic spatula or a slice of fish: these kitchen utensils rarely last long without showing signs of some burns. Which brings us to silicone cookware.
Website design By BotEap.comSilicone cookware is heat rated, with some rated up to 900 degrees, so it won’t soften or melt the same way regular plastic will. There is also a good range of silicone implements such as turkey lifters, fish slicers, spatulas and cooking spoons, but still not as many as those available in stainless steel.
Website design By BotEap.comThe problem with stainless steel is not that it scratches the enamel, because it doesn’t as long as you don’t force yourself to do so, but that if you hit the pan with a heavy stainless steel implement, it could chip. However, it is possible to use stainless steel cookware for enameled cast iron cookware, as long as you are careful and make sure you don’t knock or drop any utensil onto the pan.
Website design By BotEap.comTaking an overview, when choosing cookware for enameled cast iron cookware, you’ll likely be advised to use wood or silicone where you can, particularly for stirring spoons and the like, and stainless steel where necessary. That’s a reasonable compromise, but if you prefer to have a battery of tools hanging from shelves on the wall in your kitchen, then stainless steel looks great, but be very careful when using them.