Cast Iron Skillet - The Only Pan You'll Ever Need

A cast iron skillet may not be the only pan you need in your kitchen, but I will make a case for a 12" cast iron skillet being the most beneficial piece of cookware you can own.

Once you get past the tasteless stereotype that a cast iron skillet is just for cooking over a campfire, you realize what an amazingly versatile tool it is.

Pan Fried Chicken

The determined use of a cast fry pan is for frying stuff. A cast iron frying pan does an exquisite job of preparing steaks, pork chops, fried chicken, and whatever else that you would use a stainless steel or aluminum skillet for. Properly seasoned, a cast iron frying pan can also cook eggs and other sticky dishes that you might think you need a non-stick pan for.

This brings up the point that cooking with non-stick pans may have condition risks, and your non-stick cookware will require replacing every few years. By comparison, a cast iron skillet does not introduce toxic chemicals into your food and can last many generations.

A cast iron skillet has many other uses also frying if you exercise some culinary creativity.

You can bake with it in the oven, or in a Bbq. (I've made pie in a Bbq. It was provocative and turned out amazing.)

Here are the sizes of some tasteless baking dishes:

* 9" round pie plate - 63 sq. Inches
* 8 x 8 cake pan - 64 sq. Inches
* 9 x 13 cake pan - 117 sq. Inches

Lodge 12" cast iron skillet - 113 sq. Inches

You can see, a 12" skillet can be replaced for a 9x13 cake pan, two 8x8 cake pans or two 9" round pie plates. This means, pies, cakes, and baked casseroles can be made in your skillet.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for most things that you would use a baking stone for. The main purpose of a baking stone is to even out the hotspots and climatic characteristic fluctuations in your oven. A cast iron skillet has similar adequate thermal holding and thermal mass that you can substitute it for a baking stone in many recipes. In other words, pizza, cookies, and bread can all be cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Because of its exquisite heat retention, a cast iron skillet is a good option for deep frying. You can make fish and chips, latkes, donuts, corn dogs, and more in your skillet.

A large skillet makes a great roasting pan. Chicken, ham, and prime rib all come out great.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for soups and stews. A Lodge 12" Skillet has a capacity of 3.9 quarts so it can do pretty much whatever you would use a 4 qt. Pot for. For example, my wife makes french onion soup in ours. She caramelizes the onions on the stove top, adds the rest of the ingredients to make the soup and simmers it, then puts bread and cheese on top and puts the whole thing in the oven to finish.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Baked mac and cheese, pancakes, omelets, calamari, pannini's, pies, cobblers, bread, pizza, steaks, cookies, cornbread, soups, stews, biscuits, roasts, stir-fry's, hamburgers and more, all from the same pan!

Some people may reconsider a 12" skillet to be too large to be their main cook pot. Rarely is "too large" a problem. There are few situations where a pot that is small can perform a task better than one that is large. However a pot that is too small for the dish you are preparing is completely useless. There is very petite you can do with an 8" or 10" skillet that you can't do with a 12", but there are fullness of dishes you can get ready in a 12" fry pan that won't fit into an 8" or 10".

I have nothing against smaller skillets, but after much experimentation have decided that if I could have only one it would have to be a 12".

Cast iron cookware is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, incredibly versatile, and lasts almost forever. Most importantly, it makes great food.

Whether you are heading out on your own for the first time or are an experienced cook seeing to rediscover a better way of cooking, get yourself a cast iron skillet and peruse for yourself why it may be the only pan you absolutely need.

Cast Iron Skillet - The Only Pan You'll Ever Need

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Instant Mashed Potatoes Coated Baked Chicken formula

Today I'm going to show you how to make Chicken in a whole new way! Well, ok - I'm sure you've made shake and bake before, but this is even great - and you don't even have to buy a seasoning packet. Sometimes the best recipes are invented by urgency because you have whether puny time or puny ingredients. We watch a lot of shows on the Food Network, but sometimes I wish they'd have just one show that helps real population cook great with the ingredients they have. Yeah, I know - they had that doorknockers one a few years back where the guy shows up and makes dinner out of what's in the fridge, but he's still production semi-gourmet stuff. I want to know what I can make out of what I have when I get home from work at 5:30, and I'd like to be eating it by 6:15 if possible. I was production a quickie dinner tonight as I often do - and as luck would have it I saw a recipe on a box that was indubitably new, dissimilar - and that I'll try this week.

I like chicken, and we always seem to keep many 4 lb bags of boneless "chicken tenders" in the freezer for all kinds of purposes. This recipe is the perfect quick meal because all you have to do is put some freezing boneless skinless chicken in your microwave and defrost it about half way - and then pre-heat your oven to 375.

Pan Fried Chicken

These are the ingredients you're going to need:

* 1 cup instant mashed potatoes

* boneless skinless chicken

* seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder)

* butter or margarine

While you've gotten this stuff around your chicken should be thawing out in the microwave. When I say you want it about half way (or more) thawed out - I mean it should be pliable, but you should be thawing it out not cooking it. You shouldn't have the ends turning white and cooking - they'll get hard or rubbery in the oven. I frost nearly all my meat and thaw out only what I need when I need it.

Get a 9 x 13 baking dish and grease it up with some oil - we like olive oil. You're going to take whether a very large mixing bowl or a big ziploc baggie and put the instant mashed potatoes in it. Add your salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you want to taste in the bag or bowl. You're going to place one chicken breast piece in at a time and shake it up coating with the instant mashed potatoes mixture. Then place each in the greased baking dish. How many chicken pieces you use depends on how many population you're serving. If you are using the "chicken tenders" like us - then usually 2-3 pieces per man is fine. If you're using an entire "chicken breast" I would use one per person.

Once you get them all coated and in the pan - add a puny pat or 1/2 tsp of butter or margarine on top of each one to melt in as they bake. Bake 35-40 minutes on 375, how long depends on how many pieces of chicken you use. You want to take the chicken out when nice and tender - not "crispy" (unless you like it that way).

Twist the recipe:

If you've read my other recipes than you know I love to "twist" or have many variations of the same thing. This is because you can't have all on hand all the time. So - instead of instant mashed potatoes you could use saltines, or ritz crackers, or even club crackers. Also you could add some veggies like carrots or potatoes to the pan and bake an entire meal at once ready to serve! If I did this I would add a cup of whether water or chicken broth to the lowest of the pan and cover with foil to steam the veggies nice and moistly as the chicken bakes.

Instant Mashed Potatoes Coated Baked Chicken formula

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How to Bake Chicken and Its condition Benefits

Some citizen can dream chicken appetizing only when it's fried. Granted one has to admit that it truly does truly taste great when cooked like that, but is it healthy? And if it is not healthy, is there someone else way to put in order chicken quick and easy which not only will taste great but also furnish a much healthier choice for those on a diet or who simply wish to watch what they and their families eat.

Well, in fact there is, there's a much best alternative of cooking it fried and truly just as delicious, if not more - the easy inquire then is: Why not bake chicken?

Pan Fried Chicken

It is not hard as it sounds either. By following easy instructions you are on your way to a salutary and great tasting meal.

To bake chicken we need whether a whole chicken or 6 chicken breast pieces. Wash the dressed chicken wholly and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle adequate salt and pepper to taste. If we want, we may put some marinade mix, like a concoction of rosemary herbs, thyme or oregano, dried or fresh. For easy marinade, try soy sauce and lemon. As we're doing these, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Now we're ready to bake chicken.

-Put the chicken on the baking dish. Then place it in the oven and make sure it is uncovered.

-Bake chicken for an hour and a half in 350 degrees till we see the chicken skin turn into a luscious and juicy golden brown.

-Place inside a meaty part of the chicken a meat thermometer to check if the meat climatic characteristic has reached 170 degrees. If it has then we're ready to take it out of the oven. To bake chicken thighs we need the meat climatic characteristic to reach 180 degrees. These thorough meat temperatures make sure we bake chicken well with all parts cooked. Half-cooked chicken, or any meat for that matter, can cause stomach upset or even food poisoning.

-Then we cut the fleshy part of the meat deep. This should retell white meat inside instead of pink and clear lip-smacking juice, not reddish. To bake chicken correctly all these tests should be satisfied. If not, we bake the chicken some more. Then we're ready to serve tender and juicy baked chicken, in all its yummy goodness.

When we opt to bake chicken we come out with a salutary and tastier chicken than when we fry it. Deep frying may be a good idea. But baked chicken is still many times better. When re-heating left-overs straight through the oven chicken often comes out tasting best than if we re-fry left-over chicken.

When we bake chicken we can even opt to stuff it with potatoes, or garlic and onions. There are lesser chances of burning the meat or ruining the skin cover. Lots of times, we need breading to fry chicken-that's added cholesterol. If we merely bake chicken there is no need for any exterior on the skin surface.

So opt to bake chicken more often. It will truly do well for our taste, health, and family.

How to Bake Chicken and Its condition Benefits

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How to Make Vegetarian Fried Balls

Going vegetarian isn't easy. A someone may not prefer this kind of diet since preparation menus alone may not be that simple. But habitancy do not know that going vegetarian is not that involved because you can experiment with distinct menus in a variety of ways. One is the preparation and cooking of vegetarian fried balls.

Here are the steps for you to cook and taste the tasty and salutary yet affordable vegetarian fried balls.

Pan Fried Chicken

1. get ready the primary ingredients and materials.

Vegetarian Balls:

1/2 size cabbage
2 pieces carrots
2 pieces spring onion
1 piece onion
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable oil or other kinds of oil as desired

Sauce:

1/4 cup vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Chilly pepper (if beloved spicy)

Materials:

Small and medium-sized mixing bowls
Frying pan
Measuring spoon or can be a quarterly teaspoon/tablespoon
Plastic gloves
Strainer

2. Chop the cabbage, carrots, spring onions and onions into very small pieces. Set aside.

3. In a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs until there are no egg sediments.

4. Place the flour in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add in the beaten egg and water until the composition becomes thick. Make sure that there are no unmixed flour sediments.

5. Into the mixture, place all the chopped vegetables.

6. Mix carefully. Add in supplementary water if the composition is too thick to be mixed but make sure that the thickened texture of the composition due to the flour component is not compromised.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Once done with the mixture, get a measuring spoon to allow uniformity in size and start getting a scoop of the product and place in the gloved hand. Start development balls.

9. Heat the frying pan. Use moderate heat only. Add in vegetable oil or other kinds of oil as desired. The level of the oil will be based on the size of the balls. Make sure that the balls are dipped well.

10. Start frying the balls. Fry until the color turns into golden brown.

11. Once finished, put the balls on a strainer to drain excess oil.

12. To get ready the sauce, dice and chop the garlic into small pieces. Into the vinegar, add in salt and pepper to taste as well as the garlic. If a spicy flavor is desired, you may add in chopped chilly peppers.

13. You may now serve the vegetarian fried balls.

Eat and enjoy!

How to Make Vegetarian Fried Balls

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