What is Cast Iron Cookware?

• This is part 1 or 3 Part series on Cast Iron Cookware.

Kitchen Cookware has so many brands and type of materials, that sometimes it can be difficult to know which cookware to choose for your kitchen. We all want cookware that is long lasting and helps us with quick cooking.

Cast iron is one type of cookware material that is popular in cooking outdoor and indoor. Cast iron cookware are made of cast iron hence the name. It can retain high heat during the cooking process which is great for even cooking and retains the heat longer.

Most of the cast iron can used on stove top as well oven too as they are oven safe. They are not great for searing and sauteing food too. What I like best about using cast iron is that even when outside temperature fluctuates, cast iron pan or pot holds its heat well, making a great for camping cookware.

If you season the bare cast iron well, it will work almost as nonstick pan without the Teflon chemical peel and fear of peeling it away. It has many great advantages and disadvantages so let’s take a look it more.

You can click here for Part 2: How to Season Your Cast Iron Cookware?

You can click here for Part 3: How to clean and Maintain your Cast Iron Cookware

Advantages of Cast Iron Cookware:

• Retains Heat well,
• Good conductor of heat
• Oven safe,
• Stove top to Oven transfer in same pan
• With proper seasoning can act like non stick cookware
• No harmful chemical coating
• Durable

Disadvantages Of Cast Iron Cookware:

• Bare cast Iron needs proper maintenance
• Can rust, if not cleaned properly
• Can be heavy to handle, not great for people with arthritis
• Can react to acidic food, making food color and taste change

Our recommendation:

If you read cookware reviews, some have you believed you will need whole cast iron cookware set. You surely do not need a cast iron cookware set in your home kitchen but having one or two frying pan or sauce pan in addition to your cookware set is essential in complete kitchen cooking for any passionate cook.

Bare cast iron cookware are inexpensive and durable however, it may need hand washing and proper maintenance such as seasoning and regular maintenance. We like enamel coated cast iron cookware for very same reason, as it gives the benefits of cast iron cookware without the work of seasoning and maintenance.

Cast Iron Cookware

	Lodge Logic L10SK3 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet
	Lodge LCC3 Logic Pre-Seasoned Combo Cooker
	Stansport Cast Iron 6 Piece Cookware Set
	Lodge Logic L14SK3 Pre-Seasoned 15 Inch Cast-Iron Skillet

Enamel Coated Cast Iron

	Lodge Enamel Coated Cast-Iron Skillet, Red
	Cajun Cookware Skillets 12 Inch Enamel Cast Iron Skillet
	Lodge L Series 3-Quart Apple Pot, Patriot Red
	Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Enameled Cast Iron 10-Inch Round Fry Pan, Cardinal Red

Cast Iron Learning : Part 1 is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

There are lot of debates and confusion over how to make a best fluffy rice in jiffy, however, choosing best rice cooker for your need does not need to be difficult. Read our guide Rice Cooker Guide . In this article, we will look at the various type of rice cookers in details. There are a few small appliances that makes life easy for cooks in kitchen and for me it is rice cooker, as we tend to eat rice dish almost every meal and rice cooker makes it easy for us to cook small amount to feed a large crowd.

There are basic 3 types of rice cookers available. Check out all types of rice cooker here:

1. Electric Rice Cooker
2. Gas Rice cooker
3. Microwave rice cooker/steamer

We will explore each type in details so you know which one type of rice cooker is suitable for your need and which types of avoid buying based on your need.

1. Electric rice cooker

Electric rice cooker is most popular type of rice cooker by professional and home chefs and when many use generic term rice cooker they actually are thinking of electric rice cooker. Electric rice cooker comes in 2 types, one is basic model and other one is fuzzy logic rice cooker.  Let’s look at both of these types in details.

a) Basic Rice Electric cooker:

Basic rice cooker comes with some basic function such as steam, switch to “warm” mode, rice and other vegetable cooking, glass lid, plastic serving spoon, measuring cup, non-stick inner pot. Basic rice cooker comes in various sizes 3 cups to 10 cups sizes. Buy the one that suits your family need, do not buy too small or too big.

Some basic models offers premium features such as keeping food warm up to 12 hours, some comes with extra steam baskets, some offer auto “on” and “off” buttons and varies in price, depending on brands and features.

b)Fuzzy Logic Electric Rice Cooker

Fuzzy logic electric rice cooker are very sophisticated with computer chip inside, making them almost like a smart machine to make proper adjustment to temperature, and cooking time, even if you as a cook screw up setting minor things off. I am assuming name “Fuzzy Logic” comes from complicated technology that works like a charm but hard to understand for most of us. The logic is rice always comes off fluffy and non-sticky (unless you want to cook sushi rice that is). Fuzzy logic rice cooker used heat induction to cook and steam food. You can check out our review of Zojurushi Rice cooker with pros and cons of electric rice cooker.

This rice cooker can not only cook and steam rice and rice based food, but it also can cook soup, stew, porridge, brown rice and much more. Another benefit of this type of rice cooker is, selecting from multiple menu setting depending on what you are cooking and choose, what type of fluffiness or stickiness you like your cooked food.

• Computer chips technology
• Multiple menu choices and selection
• Can cook, steam versatile of food (more than rice only)
• Porridge and slow cooking options
• Quick cook option, no soaking required
• Texture setting (Regular, softer and firm)
• Reheat function
• Fuse protector
• Auto cord reels : keeps cord out of pets and kids hands

2) Gas Rice Cooker:

Gas rice cooker are gas powered Rice cooker and best suited of commercial catering or restaurant cooking job. They are usually comes in large 55 cups or more in larger quantity sizes. It can cook 100 cups of rice in under 30 minutes! That is super fast for freshly cooked Rice in jiffy. Gas rice cookers are more efficient than electric units and require shorter cook time, saving large parties and restaurant operators both time and money. These type of gas rice cookers have multiple safety features making it one of the safest and quality cookware.

Unless you are own a restaurant or catering business, we recommend not to buy these rice cooker for household use. They are not suitable for home use and expensive enough just to feel your own family and occasionally friends.

3) Microwave Rice Cooker/Steamer:

Microwave rice cooker is simple enough plastic set with bowl and lid that can steam rice, vegetable or pasta in microwave. Rice usually comes out fair enough and mostly does not stick to plastic bottom. This is suitable for student or single person mostly, occasionally for couple. It is cheap enough for anyone to afford it. This is one of the most inexpensive small appliance that anyone can afford.

However before buying know that some plastic rice cooker as cooking in plastic has been linked to health issues and cancer. Not all plastic materials are suited well for microwave. We have not found BPA free microwave steamer yet to recommend it. To read further about Microwave and Plastic Danger from Harvard University.

Our top picks for Electric Rice Cooker

Zojirushi NS-LAC05XA Micom 3-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer

Sanyo ECJ-D55S 5.5-Cup Micro-Computerized Rice Cooker/Steamer

Different Types Of Rice Cookers Guide is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

One of thing I thought as a novice cook early on that I needed to cook egg in nonstick Teflon pan with lot of butter. It was working but surely not easy on my waist as a girl. I also learned hard way that Teflon coating can peel and it was not pretty. I found hard anodized nonstick pan cookware that simply love and did not want to learn any other way to cook crepe, omelet or making anything would stick such as egg.

Until one day, one of the woman I admired a lot started to cook egg on Stainless steel pan, I was shocked. Surely, she made a mistake right? How can she not know that eggs would stick. She laughed my naivety and showed me a way to make eggs and even omelet in her multi ply clad cookware pan that left my mouth and jaw open and speechless!

Now, that I have uncomfortably told you my embarrassment, I will show what I learned from my friend and since then I love my stainless steel frying pan as much my hard anodized. It is not too hard, you have to follow a few simple steps and there is even a video (not by me) that will show you how you can cook food in stainless steel that will not stick. You will convert too, check it out for yourself.

Best way is preheated pan and lower flames are the key to stick-free stainless steel cooking.

1. Preheat your pan on low or medium heat for one to two minutes. Splash a drop of water to see if it hot, if water dances off it is ready.
2. Pour 2-3 teaspoons of cold oil in your preheated pan-or enough to cover the bottom of the cooking surface.
3. Add your food, making sure that there is an even sizzling sound when your food touches the pan. This indicates that your food is cooking on contact and creating a natural barrier to prevent sticking.
4. Allow your food to cook without disturbing for minute or so. The natural sugars in your food caramelize on the cooked surface, developing great flavors and lifting your food off of the cooking surface naturally.
5. When sticking occurs? If the sound your food makes on initial contact with the pan is more of a crackle than a sizzle, your heat is too high and sticking may occur.
6. All-Clad recommends low to medium heat for frying, braising, sautéing and simmering because All-Clad is crafted to hold heat.
7. See video below to see how to cook in stainless steel pan without sticking food effect.

What do you Think? Let me know how it goes for you, okay? Good luck and happy cooking

How To Cook Eggs In Stainless Steel Pan? is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

Top 5 Best Selling and Inexpensive Small Appliances:

Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome

• Immersion hand blender equipped with powerful 200-watt motor
• Comes in various colors choices including pink,green, orange,magenta and more
• Blade provides smooth blending; protective guard helps prevent splattering
• Simple push-button controls and lightweight design for one-handed operation
• Dishwasher-safe stainless-steel blending shaft
• 2-cup plastic beaker included
• 3-year limited warranty
• Sells for around $30-$40

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hamilton Beach 33967 Set ‘n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

• 6-quart programmable slow cooker with LED digital control panel
• 3 automatic-cooking options–program, manual, or probe
• automatic keep-warm function
• Power-interrupt protection; clip-on spoon; clip-tight gasket lid
• side handles for safe transport
• Dishwasher-safe stoneware and tempered-glass lid
•  user manual with recipes included
• Measures approximately 10-2/5 by 16 by 16 inches; 1-year limited warranty
• Sells for $45-$60 range

___________________________________________________________________________________

Cuisinart CHW-12 Coffee Plus 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Hot Water System, Black/Stainless

• Hot Water System lets you enjoy instant soups, teas, cocoas and more
• Fully automatic with 24 hour programmability, auto shutoff, 1-4 cup setting
•  Brew Pause, carafe temperature control (low, medium,high)
• Self clean function is very useful
• 12-Cup glass carafe has a drip-free pour spout and a comfortable handle for easy serving
• Includes: 2 charcoal water filters and a permanent gold tone filter that ensures only the freshest coffee flavor flows through. Measuring scoop. Instruction book
• Measures 10.2 by 8.6 by 14.4 inches; 3-Year limited warranty

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Krups 203-42 Electric Coffee and Spice Grinder with Stainless-Steel blades, Black

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Other Useful Small Appliances

Bread Machines

Microwave Ovens

Coffee Machines

Coffee Grinders

Deep Fryers

Grills

Slow Cookers

Juicers

Ice Cream Machines

Electric Cookware

Toaster Ovens

Related Posts:

Different Types Of Rice Cookers Guide

Food Processor Guide

How To Season Your Carbon Steel Wok?

Learning About Thermal Cooker :

Rice Cooker Guide

What Type Of Pot Rack Is Right For You

Wok Guide: Everything You Wanted To Know About Wok

Small Appliance Product Reviews

Zojirushi Micom 5.5-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer, Stainless Steel

Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor

Best Thermal Cooker

Vitamix : Ultimate Healthy Blender

Kitchenaid Classic Stand Mixer: Best Mixer

All American Pressure Cooker and Canner

Top 5 Inexpensive Small Appliances For Kitchen is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

Chocoholic Cookies

Are you or someone in you know is chocoholic like me? Many girls and woman I know tend to love chocolates. You can indulge your chocolate lover friends and family with home made cookies that are perfect for Christmas potluck dinner, or make a perfect gift from heart that is not too hard on your wallet.

I will admit, I am good cook and not so great baker, so I am experimenting baking things and experimenting. I got this recipe selection from Martha Stewart Cookie Collection and changed it a bit to make to my taste as a vegetarian person. This cookies are great for Christmas time as well any other times, we may have sweet craving. You and your loved one will enjoy these delightful cookies as it blends cocoa powder and coffee flavors in it.

Chocolate Espresso Coffee Cookies Recipe

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps: This cookies looks like little snow covered brown hills. These cookies will stay fresh about a week in air tight container. If you still have left over cookies after 5 days, call your chocoholic girl friends to help you finish it and make some more.

Time needed:

• Prep: 45 Minutes

• Total: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons instant espresso or strong instant coffee
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted Margarine or vegan butter
• 2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
• Egg Replacer for 1 egg, or Use 1 over ripe mashed banana
• 4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1 tablespoon soymilk
• Confectioners’ sugar, for coating

How to Make Cookies:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt.
2. In another bowl mix with an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in mashed banana until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate.
3. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in soymilk until all if mixed well.
4. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
6. Shape dough into 1-inch balls.
7. Pour confectioners’ sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
8. Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
9. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch.
10. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
11. Share it with friends and family. But before you share, first make sure you eat some.

Important Note:

These cookies crack in oven while baking, it is supposed to, so do not worry. It will make rustic look like snow covered hill.

If you like, check out more Recipes here.

Martha Stewart Books

I love watching and reading Martha Stewart show and books. It gives me creative ideas for cooking, decorating and entertaining during holidays and special event. Although I do admit, I am not as organized as Martha nor I am planning to be one, but getting ideas and tweaking to meet my needs and taste works as I have done with this recipe of hers. Here are some books from Martha Stewart that will give you creative suggestion throughout many years and worth keeping in your kitchen book stash.

	Martha’s Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations
	Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts: 225 Inspired Projects for Year-Round Celebrations
	Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts: 150 Recipes for Old-Fashioned and Modern Favorites

Image and Recipe Adopted From: MarthaStewart.com

Christmas Chocoholic Cookies : Martha Stewart is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

How to choose Cookware Tips

When I was younger, I saw my mother and grandmother cook and share passion in cooking. So it was natural when I was out on my own after college I cooked and fed my friends more often that eating out.

I had many hand me down cookware and some cheap kitchenware such as sauce pot, nonstick cookware. I thought I was being smart by saving money, as magic was in cook himself or herself and not in the cookware, right? Boy, I was partially right. Sure, there is a magic in cook but having right tools sure helps.

Buying right cookware so confusing to me and as I am sure for some of you as well. Over the years I have learned a few things which I want to share here.

Buying right cookware you need to follow these tips:

1. Know the Cook and His/Her Style: Asking these questions will surely help in choosing a right cookware for you or friend. Are you going to buy the cookware for yourself or someone else? What is his or her cooking style? Do you bake a lot? Then maybe adding a few baking pieces would be a good idea and so on.
2. What type of cookware material to choose? What is cookware material you ask? There are stainless steel, 18/10 stainless steel, Clad stainless steel, stainless steel with copper or aluminum core, cast iron, enamel based cast iron, copper, aluminum, silicone baking, and much more choices that it can get down right confusing.
3. Choose a brand: There are so many well known and not so well known cookware brands, such as Cuisinart, All Clad, Rachel Ray, and more. Some brands are consistently provide quality cookware and offer warranty on their products. So, pick what works for you and your kitchen.
4. Buy individual pieces or set decision: You may need sometimes to buy just frying pan or sauce pan, and you might be set. Other times, it might be better value to buy the whole set, as buying one by one could be expensive in the end. Find out and check what is best deal at the time, before deciding to buy it.
5. Cleaning: How easy the cookware to clean? Can you use dishwasher or it must be hand washed? I am okay with hand wash but I would prefer to have choice so I know how much work will require for me to use and clean to cookware after cooking. Many people do not look for this option at all and later feel cheated or disappointed if they have to hand wash it always. So find out first before you make a purchase and spend your hard earned cash on any cookware so make sure you know what you are buying.
6. Food reaction: Once I had cooked something on my brand new bare cast iron pan, and I cooked tomatoes and carrot stew in it and left it for a few hours. Tomatoes are acidic and can have reaction in bare cast iron pot, if you leave it in the the pan. My stew was discolored and taste had changed. It is okay to cook acidic food but take out the cooked food right away to avoid discoloration and taste. Also another option is to buy enamel based cast iron cookware, so you can get benefit of cast iron without any issues as I mentioned above.
7. What is your budget: Cookware set can be as cheap as $65 for 10 pieces to $2000 for 10 pieces, it all depends on brands and quality of cookware. No, you do not need to spend $2000 to have a great cooking experience. Know you budget and buy the best you can afford in your price range. In most cases, $150-$399 is good range for 10 pieces cookware set.

You can find out more at cookware guide or check out cookware reviews to get more details.

Best Cuisinart Cookware Sets

Cuisinart is one of the best cookware brand that sells top quality stainless steel and other cookware at best value. Prices are reasonable and quality is high. If you are looking for best value and quality cookware, look below to pick right cookware for you, also check out our cookware reviews in details.

	Cuisinart 77-10 Chef’s Classic Stainless-Steel 10-Piece Cookware Set
	Cuisinart MCP-12 MultiClad Pro Stainless Steel 12-Piece Cookware Set
	Cuisinart 77-14 Chef’s Classic Stainless-Steel 14-Piece Cookware Set
	Cuisinart 77-17 Chef’s Classic Stainless 17-Piece Cookware Set

7 Tips To Know Before Buying A Cookware Set is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters

I love eating out often but I admit, when I travel for weeks, eating out every day makes me miss home cooked meals. Also dining out while traveling can add up to your travel budget quickly, specially if you love wine, dessert like me. Here are some ideas on how to save money, sanity and your health while on vacation.

By Trent Hamm

Over the next two months, our family is going to be doing some vacationing in various places in the Midwest and Great Plains. The longest trip in that period will be nine days spent in South Dakota and Wyoming with my wife, my children, and my parents.

Vacations can be a lot of fun, but they can also be really expensive, and one of the biggest travel expenses is food. When you’re traveling, not only do you not have access to your own kitchen, you’re also often tempted to just eat at a restaurant when you’re near one while out and about visiting sites.

That can seriously add up. If we were to eat out and spend even just an average of $10 a meal per adult and $5 a meal per child, our trip to South Dakota and Wyoming would set our family back $1,485 just for food alone! That actually exceeds our lodging for the trip, believe it or not.

At the same time, eating out at an unusual restaurant in a town you’ve never been to before and may never be in again can be quite fun. To us, that’s a part of a family vacation.

So, what can we do to cut down on those costs without removing the fun? Here are some of the tactics we’ve built up over the years.

Take along some food for the first leg of the trip. The night before we leave, we’ll actually pack a bunch of food for breakfast and lunch the next day. Fresh fruit, sandwiches, vegetables, water bottles, and other such things can easily be packed up in advance and kept cool with ice.

Then, we just stop at a state park or something near lunchtime and eat a picnic lunch. It gives the children a great opportunity to run around and wear themselves out, which usually causes them to nap most of the afternoon (enabling much easier travel for a while).

Visit a grocery store upon arrival. Pick up things like breads, cold cuts, fruits, cereals, and other such simple fare. Fill up your refrigerator (in your hotel room or cabin) or your cooler with the stuff that needs to remain cool.

Each day, prepare a simple breakfast of fruit and cereal from what you have on hand and pack a lunch with those materials, too. Pack the lunch along with you and eat it on that day’s excursion.

Use the peak-end rule for evening dining. Pick two evenings during the trip in which you’ll eat out at a very nice restaurant. I suggest an evening fairly early in the trip for one such nice meal and the final evening of the trip for another nice meal.

For the other evening meals, eat at a low-cost place for dinner or, if you have a cabin or are camping, simply prepare a meal of your own at those spots.

The “peak-end rule” is a psychological phenomenon in which we judge our experiences almost entirely on how they were at their peak (pleasant or unpleasant) and how they ended. For example, if you have a family reunion that was largely pleasant except for one big argument in the middle and a big argument at the end (I have been part of such reunions), you’ll view the whole reunion as pretty unpleasant in retrospect.

Similarly, I’ve found that if you plan a vacation with one amazing event in the middle and a pretty good event to close the vacation, you’ll remember the vacation as being incredible, even if most of the days weren’t stuffed with excitement.

The same goes for dining. If you visit a town and eat two really great meals there, one at the end of your visit, you’ll come to think of the food as incredible on the whole and you’ll look back with pleasure. The rest of the meals are far less vivid in retrospect, so make them inexpensive and simple.

Keep hydrated and keep snacks on hand. If you end a vacation activity and find yourself really hungry and thirsty, you’re going to find it much easier to talk yourself into eating out somewhere expensive without making a good, rational decision about it. If you keep some snacks on hand, though, and everyone has access to water bottles, you won’t have your choices driven by the base impulses of hunger and thirst and won’t make a rash decision.

Choosing and executing a few simple frugal food tactics can turn a rather expensive vacation into an affordable one without taking away from the experience or the memories.

You might be interested in;

• Great Cooking and Health Related eBooks

• 5 Camping Lessons

• 5 Must Kitchen Cookware Pieces for Your Home Party

Article Written By Trent Hamm of Simple Dollar.Com
Image source: Cookware HeadQuarters

Saving Money While On Vacation is a post from: The Cookware HeadQuarters