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By: Meathead
The Lodge 12 inch cast-iron skillet is an essential cooking tool, bot heavy and heavy duty. Thankfully, it’s also cheap. I don’t use it for omelets or onions, but I do use it for cooking steaks, chops, burgers, and fish, and for frying potatoes. I use it on the stovetop, in the oven, on the grill, on the side burner, and camping. Use it to pound chicken breasts, press sandwiches, smash potatoes, and crush spices or nuts, too.
Cast iron gets very hot and transmits heat to food rapidly. It is the best way to get a crust on a burger. Click here to read more about the science of cast iron. After the surface is seasoned, it is practically nonstick. There are the only two downsides to cast iron. It is heavy, and it needs a little effort to care for. The metal must be heated and treated with cooking oil to keep it from rusting and create the nonstick properties. If you scrub it too hard, you can ruin the seasoning.
But really, the maintenance isn’t that hard. Click here for our complete guide to seasoning, cleaning, and repairing cast iron. The cheat sheet: just use a soft scrubbie and little or no soap. To restore the seasoning, rub it with oil, and bake the pan empty and upside down in a 500 degree oven or grill for an hour. Then turn off the oven or grill and let it cool down, removing the pan when it’s cool enough to handle.
I have two 12 inch cast iron frying pans: one for fish and one for everything else. The fish pan seems to always have a fishy smell when heated.
If you can find cast iron pans in garage sales or flea markets, get them because they are probably well seasoned. But recently manufacturers have begun shipping pre-seasoned pans. Get one with a lip to make pouring off grease easy, and an ear opposite the handle because these suckers are heavy. The Lodge Logic 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet is the gold standard.
Published On: 9/22/2018 Last Modified: 4/27/2021
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Green Mountain Grills Trek smoker
Green Mountain’s portable Trek Smoker is one mean tailgating and picnic machine. But it’s also gaining popularity with people who want to add a small, set it and forget it pellet smoker to their backyard arsenal. And with their WiFi capabilities you can control and monitor Trek from your smart phone or laptop.
The PK-360, with 360 square inches of cooking space, this rust free, cast aluminum charcoal grill is durable and easy to use. Four-way venting means it’s easy to set up for two zone cooking with more control than single vent Kamado grills. It is beautifully designed, completely portable, and much easier to set up for 2-zone cooking than any round kamado.
The flat top does the burgers and the fryer does the fries. Use the griddle for bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, and so much more. And why deep fry indoors when you can avoid the smell and mess by doing it outside!
Built around SnS Grill’s patented Slow ‘N Sear charcoal kettle accessory, this 22-inch kamado is a premium ceramic grill that brings true 2-zone cooking to a kamado.
Winner of the National BBQ Association’s product of the year award. This 8.5″ x 11″ magnet contains more that 80 benchmark temperatures for meats (both USDA recommended temps as well as the temps chefs recommend), fats and oils, sugars, sous vide, eggs, collagens, wood combustion, breads, and more. Although it is not certified as all-weather, we have tested it outdoors in Chicago weather and it has not delaminated in three years, but there is minor fading.
The PBC has a rabid cult following for good reason. It is absolutely positively without a doubt the best bargain on a smoker in the world. Period. This baby will cook circles around the cheap offset sideways barrel smokers because temperature control is so much easier.
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When you make rubs at home we recommend you add salt first them the herbs and spices because salt penetrates deep and the other stuff remains on the surface. So thick cuts need more salt. We put salt in these bottled rubs because all commercial rubs have salt and consumers expect it. You can still use these as a dry brine, just sprinkle the rub on well in advance to give the salt time to penetrate. For very thick cuts of meat, we recommend adding a bit more salt. Salt appears first in the ingredients list because law says the order is by weight, not volume, and salt is a heavy rock.
Sprinkle on one tablespoon per pound of meat two hours or more before cooking if you can. Called “dry brining,” the salt gets wet, ionizes, becomes a brine, and slowly penetrates deep, enhancing flavor and juiciness while building a nice crusty “bark” on the surface. Sprinkle some on at the table too!
Are they hot? No! You can always add hot pepper flakes or Chipotle powder (my fave) in advance or at the table. But we left them mild so you can serve them to kids and Aunt Matilda
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