my experience of using cast iron cookware

Let me preface this by saying I have been using cast iron pans pots and dutch ovens for years now ALL my cookware is cast. Most of it I inherited from my great grandmothers so these pieces have been in my family for years! I was skeptical of a new brand, I am not a fan of “pre seasoned cast” as a general rule the seasoning is always painted on and it leaves the housewives of today with a very un realistic expectation of cast iron. BUT this review is not about my general feelings about cast iron. haha. I had read some of the other reviews for this pan and I do agree with one lady the coating on the pan is a little rough, but that goes back to pre seasoned cast iron its all that way. Ladies and Gentleman these are NOT your teflon coated aluminum/ stainless steel/ trendy copper pans! These are CAST IRON heavy nitty gritty will scald your hands and sprain your wrists with their weight if you don’t handle them properly. These are pans that your great grandchildren will treasure and these pans will make you a MUCH better cook IF you learn the difference between these and the others. The first thing I did when taking this pan out of its package is admire its weight. Its heavy and sturdy its a LOT bigger than I imagined it would be, I know the dimensions are listed but we ladies have been lied to about size our whole lives seeing is believing! ha I did wash this in a bit of dawn soap rinse it and promptly put it wet on the stove…. why? because heat drying is the KEY to cast iron care…. do NOT put a damp pan in the cabinet it will rust and no your dish towel will not dry these pans well heat them up…. thats the only way to make sure your not putting your cast in the cabinet to rust. NEVER and I mean NEVER PUT CAST IRON IN THE DISHWASHER. The second rule is never soak your pan submerged in water. If food is stuck on fill it with water maybe a tiny squirt of dish soap and turn the stove on. Cook it till the food softens and you can scrape it off easily.Yes you can scrub your cast but you do risk damaging the pan… the great thing about that is if you damage it it is always fixable. Don’t toss your pan find a Facebook group for cast owners and ask in there how to fix if you think you’ve messed up. As for this Utopia pan I promptly seasoned it myself when it was done drying (follow the directions included except i use bacon grease and lard only on my cast but to each his own coconut oil would be sufficient as well) why? because like I said I am not a fan of the pre seasoning. I can tell this will be an amazing pan because I pulled it out of the oven 30 min ago and it is still warm to the touch…. why is that good… it tells me that this pan will retain heat from stove to table so my family won’t eat cold food after grace AND that the metal used is quality. This pan will last in my house! I LOVEEEEE the handle on it… remember above where i said they will sprain your wrist, hopefully this pan won’t as I will be able to carry it with two hands. Total thumbs up for this pan!!

I have used this pan for several meals now. Its getting a great coating on it and its been so awesome having the extra space in this pan… I can cook 3 grilled cheese comfortably in this pan if that helps you with the size. I cooked chicken in it one night and it did stick but so does all my other cast when I neglect the seasoning! The great thing about cast iron is stove, oven, or over the fire your food will be delicious! (ps if you cook over the fire scrub the outside of the pan with soap when your ready to bring it to the stove again or your hands will forever be black from handling the pan! haha learned the hard way)