Cast iron Cookwear help

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McDowra

McDowra

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OK I have my Coleman 425e stove, so now I need some cookware. I live close to the Lodge Factory and have some discount coupons. The Big Question is what are the must have items? If it helps we are meat and potato people, so a lot of eggs bacon sausage and steaks are on our menu.
 
We use the Chicken Fryer Pan, (it is pretty deep) Then a griddle. Then its multiple choice on skillets we use 8" to 14" depending on the crowd. The lids are what makes a difference. We use the lids that charcoal can be placed on top not the smooth ones.Next would be the feet on the dutch ovens to allow charcoal underneath.
Dutch Ovens we have a couple of those as well. These are all the normal cast iron well seasoned. We don't use the lid lifters or small butter items.
 
See the "It's not cast iron thread" and learn more that you ever wanted to know about steel pans.

It's not cast iron

And the Lodge 10 and 12 inch pans would be a great place to start.
 
So would yard sales and Goodwill :)
 
There is a lot of emphasis on pans for frying. Occasionally you will want to cook something like pasta, oatmeal, rice, or mashed taters. As Mace mentioned watch garage sales and hit the thrift stores and look for heavy bottom pots. I like the old Revere Ware style copper bottom pots, you can find them every weekend for a couple of dollars apiece. Whatever the brand ,heavy is always better. If you feel the need to spend an a$$load of cash there are plenty of threads about high end camping cook sets. The commonality is all the good ones have thick heavy bottoms. Same as the stuff you want for cooking at home.

Everyone has heard the saying "don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink" I say "don't camp with a pan you wouldn't use at home". The stuff I use for camping is a little rougher around the edges than the stuff I use at home but it is just a serviceable.
 
I have evrything from 6 1/2" to 13 1/2" Cast Iron pans. I also have several sizes of Dutch Overs that I take. I use a 12" skillet the most. The 13 1/2" is heavy.

For general camping/cooking as mentioned, a 10" and a 12" should cover you. I LOVE CI because you can use metal utensils, boil water and use a brush to clean. No SOAP!

I have found several at yard sales and thrift stores. My Wagner Ware flat skillet is my favorite find. Be prepared to either pay retail for a pan in good shape or spend time restoring and seasoning on your own. Don't be afraid of rust. It's fun and rewarding, though!
 
McDowra said:
...I live close to the Lodge Factory and have some discount coupons. The Big Question is what are the must have items? If it helps we are meat and potato people, so a lot of eggs bacon sausage and steaks are on our menu.
Click to expand...
Really depends how far you want to go beyond your 'meat and potato' cuisine. And how many people you are going to feed. Basics would be a couple frying pans (skillets). If you're only feeding 2-4 people, get a 10 and 12 inch skillet to start, . If you want a cover, get one for the 10 inch. If you need to feed more people, I'd add the 13 or 15 inch skillet.

I have the three burner 426B Coleman (I'm moving over to a larger 3 burner propane setup), and use a couple 12 inch CI skillets and a reversible CI grill/griddle. The griddle is great for pancakes, French toast, frying/scrambling lots of eggs (if your stove is level, or doing a mess of hash browns). Flip it over to the grill side, and use it for steaks, chops, burgers, etc. For skillet covers, I just use aluminum foil.

A dutch oven is wonderful for deep frying, baked beans, or chili. It's a neccessity for making campground peach cobbler.

When I camp, I will normally do a lot of the food prep work at home. Doing this helps keep the camp garbage down, helps with food safety, and frees up time at camp. It also is a great way to get other's involved in camp cooking. One of my favorite 'first night' camp meals is cheese steak sandwiches. I buy the meat already shaved and frozen, cut up the onions and peppers at home and pack in a ziplock freezer bag. Cheese is pre-sliced and pre-packaged. A little oil in the skillets, saute the veggies in one, and the meat in the other. When done, ring the dinner bell and everyone makes there own. After a long day 'running', it takes very little time to get hot food on the table.
 
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Good thread and thanks to Hack for the recipe. I also have the dutch oven and CI skillets. Looking for a grill now for my new Camp Chef Everest. Have used CI since 1975, can't beat it.
 
There's also tons of great cast iron available on CL....might take a little elbow grease to restore, but a bargain is a bargain.
 
pondjumpr said:
I have evrything from 6 1/2" to 13 1/2" Cast Iron pans. I also have several sizes of Dutch Overs that I take. I use a 12" skillet the most. The 13 1/2" is heavy.

For general camping/cooking as mentioned, a 10" and a 12" should cover you. I LOVE CI because you can use metal utensils, boil water and use a brush to clean. No SOAP!

I have found several at yard sales and thrift stores. My Wagner Ware flat skillet is my favorite find. Be prepared to either pay retail for a pan in good shape or spend time restoring and seasoning on your own. Don't be afraid of rust. It's fun and rewarding, though!
Click to expand...


I found a Wagner ware flat iron skillet with heat ring in my dads shop. He said it belonged to my Grandmother many many years ago. Best skillet I've ever used. The bottom is almost a polished surface with the amount of use it had. I will try and get a picture up later...
 
titanpat57 said:
There's also tons of great cast iron available on CL....might take a little elbow grease to restore, but a bargain is a bargain.
Click to expand...
It's actually pretty easy to clean up CI. Electrolysis works very well as does putting them in a self cleaning oven, on clean cycle of course.
 
Cruiserdrew said:
See the "It's not cast iron thread" and learn more that you ever wanted to know about steel pans.

It's not cast iron

And the Lodge 10 and 12 inch pans would be a great place to start.
Click to expand...

I've completed ditched the CI (not ditched, just quit using) in favor of the It's Not Cast Iron. They heat more evenly, are even heavier duty and have better handles than the CI.

If you can only buy one, start with a 12" steel pan. From there, get a 10" pan and a Chef King griddle www.amazon.com/dp/B001BQVBBO/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_j-Rjwb6B5D95G .

You will be set for life.
 
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The Chef King griddle is THE BEST GRIDDLE for camping, ever. Buy one, and you'll use it, your kids will use it and your grand kids will sell it at a yard sale, and the buyers will still use it.

My cast iron is languishing too. Even my nice Wagner smooth bottom skillet that I bought at an estate sale in the 'hood.

The griddle and a 12 inch DeBuyer steel pan, and you can cook anything well. Steel does everything cast iron does, including the slick release/self healing surface, only it does it better and is less fragile.

Also Lodge has a new fabricated steel griddle out that someone here needs to buy and try. Looks very well made and a good size for a camp stove. It has slightly deeper sides than the Chef King. Looks perfect for carnitas.
 
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Hack said:
Really depends how far you want to go beyond your 'meat and potato' cuisine. And how many people you are going to feed. Basics would be a couple frying pans (skillets). If you're only feeding 2-4 people, get a 10 and 12 inch skillet to start, . If you want a cover, get one for the 10 inch. If you need to feed more people, I'd add the 13 or 15 inch skillet.

I have the three burner 426B Coleman (I'm moving over to a larger 3 burner propane setup), and use a couple 12 inch CI skillets and a reversible CI grill/griddle. The griddle is great for pancakes, French toast, frying/scrambling lots of eggs (if your stove is level, or doing a mess of hash browns). Flip it over to the grill side, and use it for steaks, chops, burgers, etc. For skillet covers, I just use aluminum foil.

A dutch oven is wonderful for deep frying, baked beans, or chili. It's a neccessity for making campground peach cobbler.

When I camp, I will normally do a lot of the food prep work at home. Doing this helps keep the camp garbage down, helps with food safety, and frees up time at camp. It also is a great way to get other's involved in camp cooking. One of my favorite 'first night' camp meals is cheese steak sandwiches. I buy the meat already shaved and frozen, cut up the onions and peppers at home and pack in a ziplock freezer bag. Cheese is pre-sliced and pre-packaged. A little oil in the skillets, saute the veggies in one, and the meat in the other. When done, ring the dinner bell and everyone makes there own. After a long day 'running', it takes very little time to get hot food on the table.
Click to expand...
if you are planning to rid yourself of the 426B, I would be very interested---
 
Cruiserdrew said:
The Chef King griddle is THE BEST GRIDDLE for camping, ever. Buy one, and you'll use it, your kids will use it and your grand kids will sell it at a yard sale, and the buyers will still use it.

My cast iron is languishing too. Even my nice Wagner smooth bottom skillet that I bought at an estate sale in the 'hood.

The griddle and a 12 inch DeBuyer steel pan, and you can cook anything well. Steel does everything cast iron does, including the slick release/self healing surface, only it does it better and is less fragile.

Also Lodge has a new fabricated steel skillet out that someone here needs to buy and try. Looks very well made and a good size for a camp stove. It has slightly deeper sides than the Chef King. Looks perfect for carnitas.
Click to expand...
Which skillet are you referring to? These look very interesting
 
He said 'skillet', but pronounced it 'griddle'... (I think)

Lodge : CRSGR18

image.webp
 
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