Cast-Iron Cookware – Part II – Three Basic Pieces and What They Do

Part II – Three Basic Pieces and What They Do: It took us a number of hand-me-down, farmers market and new-pan purchases to come to the conclusion that Carla Emery seems to come to easily in her book, “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” ( a must-have reference work for your independent-living library):  you need three basic pans to cook almost anything in cast-iron. Here are the three pans and SOME of what you can cook with them:

#1. “… a smallish iron fry pan,”: For our size family, this would be a size 8- 101/4”ODx13/4”D (6lb). If your cooking for four or more on a regular basis then you might want to go up to a size 10-12”ODx2”D (8lb).

What It Does: Cooks bacon and eggs, fried potatoes, lightly fried garden vegetables (except tomatoes or other high acid foods), and cornbread to name a few – almost anything where the temperature doesn’t exceed “300-350 degrees F”.

#2. ” … a big iron fry pan,”: Here I’m going to defer to my wife’s preference for a “Chicken Fryer” over  just a simply larger fry pan. The ‘Fryer’ pan seems to handle anything a larger fry pan will handle while doing an exceptional job with fried chicken or other meats in larger quantities or pieces.

This seems to be due to the greater depth of the pan. They also generally come with an iron lid or cover which aids in the cooking process. For sizing, look to what harder times might require by way of quantities of food prepared: it might be better to get the larger size 10 if more folks are going to be eating.

Size 8, 3qt @ 3”D and Size 10, 5qt. @ 31/4”D (see #1 for OD’s)

What It Does: The “Chicken Fryer” does everything a comparable ‘big iron fry pan’ would do (more quantity than a small fry pan) and do more of it as well as handle the larger pieces of meat in larger quantities.

#3. “ … and a big Dutch oven …”: This last of the three basic pieces is the subject of entire books. It generally seems to be regarded as the “can do” piece of cast-iron cookware with experienced cooks swearing that they could, in a pinch, do ALL of their cooking with this one piece. It fries, roasts, bakes and stews and comes in a flat-bottom (for the kitchen) model or with three short legs (more suitable for the campfire).

Sizing: It’s described as a cast-iron pot or kettle with a handled, tight fitting, domed lid capable of holding in steam while able (in the camp model) to allow  coals to be placed on top to aid in cooking. Again when looking at size, think ahead: would the next larger size work better with three extra mouths to feed?

Size: Size 8, 5qt. @ 4”D, Size 10, 10 qt. @ 4 ½”D, and Size 12, 9qt. @ 4 ¾”D in Classic (Stove Top) Style with additional sizes and variations available in the ‘Camp Dutch Oven” style (three-legged).

Next time we’ll finish our cast-iron cookware discussion with Part III taking up seasoning of cookware, sources and cook books.

Until the end of the week: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.