My grandmother’s cast iron skillet is my most prized kitchen possession, but it took me years to learn its limitations. While it’s perfect for 90% of my cooking, these foods always get banned from my cast iron:
Acidic foods are public enemy #1. That tomato sauce simmering in your cast iron? It’s slowly eating away at your hard-earned seasoning while making your food taste like a chemistry experiment. I learned this the hard way with a disastrous attempt at lemon chicken.
Delicate foods often fail the cast iron test too. Cooking eggs in cast iron is like playing Russian roulette with breakfast – even with my best-seasoned pan, I still get the occasional egg cement situation. And delicate fish fillets? They deserve the gentle touch of stainless steel.
Surprisingly, sticky foods like melted cheese or caramel can be nightmares too. Nothing ruins a pan’s seasoning faster than scraping off a layer of burnt-on cheese that welded itself to the surface.
