Article: Can I Cook with Cast Iron on a Glass Top Stove?

A cast iron skillet sits atop a glass top range

Short answer: Yes!

I get asked this question with some frequency, so I thought I'd create a post on the issue. I've been cooking with cast iron on an electric glass top stove for 8 years.

My particular make and model of stove is a Frigidaire brand Gallery. Quite frankly, I hate it. But the reason I hate my stove has nothing to do with cast iron cookware. Glass top stoves/ranges are slow to respond to changes in burner heat. This is particularly true when you need to lower the heat quickly. I'd much prefer gas.

More often than not, I have to remove the pan from the heat for a few minutes while the burner cools down. Sometimes I place a cool cast iron skillet on the burner to "soak up" the extra heat before I replace the pan that I'm cooking with.

One of the many benefits of cast iron cookware is that it holds and radiates heat very well. If you're cooking on a glass top stove, this means you'll probably need to allow a few extra minutes for your cast iron skillet to heat up. Resist the temptation to turn the burner heat higher than it should be.

So go ahead... toss out your teflon and start cooking with cast iron... even if you cook on a glass top stove.

Recipe: Outstanding Tuna Salad Sandwich

The art of the tuna salad sandwich

A tuna salad sandwhich is a quick and easy way to squash hunger for the whole afternoon. Tuna is loaded with protein, and the addition of fresh veggies and herbs adds roughage and vitamins. There are two "secret ingredients" in this recipe that take it to the next level: chopped dill pickle and fresh Italian parsley.

Mayonnaise is ideal for tuna salad, but if you're looking for a healthier option you can use plain yogurt.

A note on tuna: For the best sandwich, you'll want to make sure your tuna isn't full of mercury, PCBs, or organochlorine pesticides. It's sad to say, but humans have pretty well poisoned the oceans, and large predatory fish such as tuna end up holding all the toxins consumed by the smaller fish they eat.

According to Seafood Watch, one of the safest tuna products is chunk light albacore tuna that's been line-caught or troll-caught. Troll/line caught tuna is more friendly to the oceans (less "bycatch" of other species) and also tends to catch younger, smaller fish that contain less toxins.

OK, back to the tuna salad sandwich. This recipe make enough for 4 sandwiches, and takes about 5 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 2 7oz cans of tuna in spring water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoon finely chopped celery
• 1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickle
• a few sprigs of chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or yogurt)
• 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
• salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

Ingredients ready for mixing

This one's pretty straightforward... combine all the ingredients, and mix well. Be absolutely sure that you taste the tuna salad before you put it on a sandwich. Adjust the salt and pepper as necessary. It should burst with flavor... and if it doesn't, you need to add more salt.

Put it on a sandwich or over a bed of mixed greens, and devour it immediately!

Article: Campfire Cooking with a Dutch Oven

Camp dutch oven pot roast cooked over an open fire.

Camp dutch oven cooking involves applying heat from two directions: the bottom and the top. This dual heating, when done properly, simulates the even heat of a real oven.

I do all of my camp dutch oven cooking over a campfire (as opposed to using charcoal briquettes).

To my mind, charcoal briquettes are just one more thing to buy, another thing to pack, and are loaded with additives like coal dust, sodium nitrate, borax, parrafin, and other petroleum products.

If you search around for camp dutch oven recipes, you'll find that the vast majority of them use charcoal briquettes. But these days, a lot of home barbequers (myself included) are using hardwood lump charcoal instead of briquettes. These real-wood glowing coals are exactly what you'll harvest from your campfire for dutch oven cooking.

Here's how it works:

Preparing the Fire Rings

The main "coals" fire is seen at upper left, while the

dutch oven simmers at lower right in the "cooking" fire

Begin by preparing two fire rings. The first ring is for your "coals" fire, from which you'll keep pulling fresh hot coals to heat your dutch oven. The second fire ring is your "cooking" fire, where your dutch oven will sit and cook your food (see image at right for an example).

Depending on where you're camped (and the flammability of the ground surrounding your fire pit) your "cooking" fire ring may simply be a patch of ground next to the main fire ring.

If you're in a developed campground with one of those metal fire-ring-grill-combo thingys... you can usually plunk your dutch oven on a corner of the concrete pad on which the fire ring sits.

The Perfect Campfire for Dutch Oven Cooking

Once you've prepared your fire rings, make a large fire in your "coals" fire ring. Use smaller pieces of very dry wood to start this fire. The idea is to quickly develop a big pile of hot coals to put above and below your camp dutch oven. A large fire made of sticks (as opposed to logs) is the quickest way to develop a large pile of hot coals.

Grilling bratwurst over the "coals" fire while the
french fries roast in the dutch oven

Hardwood is better than softwood since the coals last longer. Out here in the west, the closest things we have to hardwood are locust, aspen, and cottonwood. Pine or other softwoods are also fine (you'll just have to replenish the coals more often). I often end up cooking with ponderosa pine and things work out great.

Once your "coals" fire is established and you've placed your initial pile of hot coals above and below your dutch oven (more on that in a sec) you can add logs to the "coals" fire to keep it burning more steadily. Of course, you may also choose to grill parts of your dinner (burgers, steaks, bratwurst, fish) over your "coals" fire, in which case you'll hold off on the logs until you're done.

When I'm making a recipe that involves a few hours of cooking, I prefer to make my initial fire in the "cooking" fire ring where I will eventually place the dutch oven. This warms the rock and soil, and helps provide more even heat. This means, of course, that you'll move your fire from one ring to the other. Moving the fire isn't as hard as it sounds, but if it seems like too much, don't bother.

Applying Heat to Your Camp Dutch Oven

Add plenty of top heat for a tasty strawberry rhubarb crisp

Dutch oven cooking involves applying heat from two directions (the bottom and the top). It's important to also rotate the base and lid periodically to even out any hot spots. The goal is to simulate the even heat of a real oven.

Most dutch oven recipes call for approximating a 350 degree F oven. Depending on what you are cooking, you may apply more top or bottom heat.

For boiling or deep frying, you'll apply all of your heat from the bottom. For making chili, stew, or other high-liquid dishes, put most of your heat underneath, and a little bit on top. If you're making pot roast, you'll split the coals pretty evenly between top and bottom. If you're baking crisps, cakes, or enchiladas, you'll put the majority of your coals on top, and just a few underneath.

For baking, you'll be preparing your meals in the cold dutch oven and applying heat once things are ready. For pot roast, soups, stews, and chili, you'll likely be browning meat, caramelizing onions, or doing other tasks in the hot dutch oven base prior to adding the rest of the ingredients.

Whatever you do, before adding food, make sure your camp dutch oven starts shiny (coated with oil).

Applying top heat to a camp dutch
oven with long-handled tongs

To begin heating the dutch oven, grab a single layer of coals from your main "coals" fire, and sprinkle them into the second "cooking" fire ring in a disc that roughly matches the diameter of your dutch oven. What you are doing is creating a "burner" for your dutch oven. The thickness of this burner depends on how much bottom heat you want. For boiling, it should be packed full and 2 inches deep. For simmering, maybe 1 inch deep and somewhat loosely packed (there should be spaces between the coals). For roasting and baking, start with just a few sporadic coals, and add more once you confirm that your food is not burning (more on that later).

Place the camp dutch oven on the disc of coals. If you're making a pot roast or chili, you'll probably keep the lid off and do some browning and searing first. Once things have settled down and you're ready to place the lid on the dutch oven, go ahead and pile some glowing coals on top of the lid.

For boiling, you'll probably skip the top coals altogether. For stewing and simmering, place a few coals on top to help move things along. For roasting, you should have a 1-inch pile of coals that mostly cover the lid. For baking, you'll pile the coals up to 2-inches high and cover the lid thickly with them.

It's also fair game to pile a few medium-sized flaming sticks (see picture above) on top instead of coals. You have to be careful of hot spots (more on that below), but sometimes this approach is easier than messing with a bunch of smaller coals.

Campfire Cooking

Dutch oven enchiladas

The #1 mistake of camp dutch oven cooks is applying too much heat and burning the food.

To avoid burning your dinner, check on your food frequently (at least every 5 minutes). This is especially true in the beginning when the first data points about how hot your fire really is are trickling in.

To check your food, lift the lid off (coals and all) with a pair of long-handled tongs. Place the lid on a clean surface so you don't end up with dirt or ashes in your food after replacing the lid. I usually use two smaller logs laid next to each other as a lid rest.

With the lid removed, visually inspect the food for any signs of burning, and try to get your nose down there to smell for any burning-food-type odors. Vigorous bubbling means your food is already burning or is about to burn.

I usually reach into the dutch oven with a wooden spoon and dig to the bottom to make sure nothing's burning or sticking (sticking is a precursor to burning).  If you're cooking something like chili or pot roast where stirring is no big deal, performing these burn-checks is easy. If you're making a crisp or a cake, you'll have to rely mostly on scent (that said, a little inter-mixing of layers is far superior to a burnt crisp).

When you're satisfied that nothing is burning (yet), rotate the base of the dutch oven by 90 degrees, and then place the lid back on top. When you place the lid back on top, rotate it by 90 degrees in relation to the base. Here's a tip: If you pick up the lid and put it back in the exact same orientation, when you rotate the base underneath it you'll have effectively rotated the lid in relation to the food. Don't worry too much about proper rotation as long as everything looks and smells fine inside.

Always err on the side of too little heat as opposed to too much. If, upon checking your dutch oven, nothing is bubbling and everything seems to be getting colder, go ahead and add coals. Never be afraid to remove your dutch oven from all heat (pick it up by the wire bail and set it on cool ground).

With a little experience, you'll get the hang of how much heat is needed and you won't have to check on your food as much.

Essential Gear for Campfire Dutch Oven Cooking

The dutch oven:

I use an 8-quart Lodge camp dutch oven. It's big enough to handle meals for 6 or 8 people, but not so huge as to take up half the car when packing for a trip. The lid doubles as a frying surface in a pinch.

I've posted more information on dutch oven care, cleaning, uses, and more on my camp dutch oven equipment overview page (warning: dork alert!).

A good pair of insulated gloves:

When doing any campfire cooking, I use a pair of leather welding gloves with a good-sized gauntlet to protect the wrist. They're not cheap (up to $40 a pair), but they beat the pants off kitchen oven mitts when working around a campfire.

It is a real bummer to burn your hands when you're out in the wild. It's an even bigger bummer to drop your dinner into the dirt due to burnt hands.

In campfire cooking... as in life... a good pair of gloves is a purchase you'll seldom regret.

A pair of long-handled tongs (maybe two):

I use two pairs of long-handled tongs when I cook with the dutch oven. One pair is for moving hot coals, logs, and lifting the lid of the dutch oven. The other pair is for touching food.

The tongs I use are 16 inches long. I've found that tongs made for grilling & barbecue are sub-par compared to restaurant utility tongs. Restaurant tongs are stronger, and have a better spring mechanism to keep them open without extra effort.

I got my tongs at a restaurant supply house. They have a website with online ordering, so you can buy the tongs online if you can't find them locally (no, I don't get any kickback).

A small whisk broom:


The whisk broom is really handy for removing coals and ash from the top of your dutch oven prior to serving. This helps keep unwanted junk out of your food.

Be sure to get a non-plastic whisk broom, since plastic will melt when it comes into contact with a hot dutch oven. In a pinch, you could easily make a simple whisk broom from some dried grass stems and string.

A bag for the dutch oven:


Initially, I felt a little silly for purchasing a dutch oven carrying case. But a trip to the slickrock desert outside of Moab, Utah last spring cured me of my gear-fear. 


A camp dutch oven should always be put away well-oiled, and sand will stick to it in a hurry! 


Every night on that early spring trip to Utah we had blowing sand and dust. The dutch oven was ready to go first thing in the morning only because it had been protected by the carrying bag. 


Questions? Comments? Leave a comment! Thanks. 

Recipe: Rice Pilaf

Rice pilaf garnished with fresh sage

Rice pilaf is an easy way to add flavor to rice. When I was a kid, we called it "good rice." At its simplest, rice pilaf is just rice that's cooked in broth instead of water.

I like to start my pilaf with caramelized onion, which adds sweet, bitter, and savory flavors to complement the salt of the broth. I also toast the rice prior to adding the broth, which adds a nice nutty flavor to the finished pilaf.

This recipe serves 3-4.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups broth (I usually use chicken)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 small pinch of thyme

Procedure
Begin by heating a medium stainless steel saucepan on medium heat. You can also use a dutch oven for pilaf.

Once the pan is hot, add the oil. After perhaps 30 seconds, when the oil is hot enough to shimmer (but not smoking), add the chopped onion.

Add the broth after toasting the rice

Saute the onion for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to turn golden. Add the rice and saute for another 3-4 minutes to finish caramelizing the onion, and to toast the rice a bit. Grind in some black pepper, stir things around, and then add the broth.

Immediately add the bay leaves and thyme, stir again, and then taste the broth. The flavor of the broth is pretty close to what the finished rice will taste like (minus some of the herb flavors). Adjust for salt if necessary.

Bring the water to a boil, and then lower the heat to a simmer and finish the rice just as you would normally (cook for another 10-15 minutes until the rice is tender).

Recipe: Skillet Fried Beaver Anal Glands

A tasty beaver with ripe young anal glands (Photo credit: NPS Photo)

Beaver anal glands have been a staple of the American diet for decades. In fact, you have almost certainly eaten many helpings yourself. You wouldn't know it, of course, since this fine ingredient is listed as "natural flavoring" on the back of most foodservice packaging. You can thank your congress for that. 

Disclaimer: This isn't a post featuring a recipe for skillet fried beaver anal glands (sorry, for those of you who really wanted to make this dish).

It is a post about how freeing Americans from excess government regulation is resulting in beaver anal glands (literally) being shoved down your throat without your knowledge.

How did I suddenly develop a keen interest in beaver anal glands?

It turns out I came across a blog by Bruce Bradley. Bruce is a former marketing exec who worked with heavy hitting corporate food giants like General Mills, Nabisco, and Pillsbury.

At Bruce's blog, you can learn about awesome lobbying successes such as disguising cow stomach, hair, feathers, and insects under innocuous-sounding ingredients like "enzymes," "cystine," "confectioner's glaze," and "natural red #4."

I thought you'd want to know.

Fried grasshoppers

And just to set the record straight, I'm not vehemently opposed to eating insects. My 7-year old made me eat some fried grasshoppers a few weeks back. They weren't bad. Tasted like shrimp.

But if I'm going to eat insects (or beaver anal glands) I want to know about it first. Is that too much to ask here in America?

Recipe: Clam Linguine with Crushed Red Pepper and Oregano

Clam linguine garnished with a sprig of fresh oregano

This is a surprisingly easy recipe to make. Surprising because it is really tasty. What's more, it is classy enough to impress any guest (those with shellfish allergies excepted, of course).

In the summer and fall, we have fresh oregano and thyme in the garden. Either herb works really well in this recipe, but I prefer to use one or the other for simplicity. If you're using dried oregano or thyme, only add about a third as much—since dried herbs tend to be much more concentrated.

This recipe serves 2, but can easily be doubled, tripled, or more. The recipe takes about 20 minutes to make.

Ingredients

Fresh oregano adds a brightness to the flavor

• 14 ounces of linguine
• olive oil
• 3 cloves pressed garlic
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 - 6 1/2 ounce cans of chopped clams with juice
• 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano or thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon of dried)
• grated parmesan cheese

Procedure
Start by boiling water for your pasta. I use Tinkyada brand gluten free pasta (it being the only gluten free brand that doesn't taste like wet cardboard). You can, of course, use whatever linguine suits you.

Your pasta water should be well salted. It should taste more salty than soup. Remember, most of this salt will stay in the water, but a small amount of it will infuse the pasta with more flavor.

Undercook your pasta slightly, because you'll cook it for a few minutes with the sauce to meld the flavors.

Your pasta should be cooked and drained by the time you start sauteing the garlic for your clam sauce—since things move pretty quickly after that point. Immediately after draining the pasta, stir in some olive oil to prevent sticking.

To make the clam sauce, heat a medium stainless steel saute pan on medium heat. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.

While the pan heats up, open the cans of clams so you're ready. The clams (with their juice) are essential to prevent the garlic from burning... since they immediately cool the pan down and lift the garlic from the heated surface.

Sauteing the garlic will take less than a minute. To do it, heat the oil up enough to shimmer (it should not be hot enough to smoke), and then add the pressed fresh garlic.

NOTE: If the garlic burns or gets dark brown, you're better off starting over. Browned garlic imparts a strong bitter flavor to the whole dish. Toss out the oil, cool the pan and give it a quick scrub, and re-heat a new batch of oil. 

Clam sauce ready for linguine

Stir the garlic around with a wooden spoon, being sure to scrape any stuck bits off the pan surface to prevent them from burning.

After the garlic is golden, but before it gets anything close to brown, toss in a pinch or two of crushed red pepper flakes, and immediately add the white wine and all of the chopped clams with their juice.

Add the pasta to the saute pan, and stir things around a bit to mix the sauce in with the pasta. Gently simmer for 2-3 minutes, and season with fresh chopped oregano or thyme to taste.

Serve immediately with a topping of grated parmesan cheese.

Recipe: Outstanding Caesar Salad

Caesar salad with cast iron croutons and home-made dressing

This recipe takes about 2 minutes, and beats the pants off bottled caesar salad dressing. I highly recommend pairing this with my cast iron croutons (the croutons add about 15 minutes of prep time).

I use red wine vinegar, but white wine, apple cider, and a host of other vinegars would be just fine. The only vinegar to avoid in caesar dressing is balsamic vinegar... which is to boldly flavored.

This recipe serves 4.

You can also make a larger batch of this dressing and save it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Ingredients

• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 large head romaine lettuce (or two romaine "heart" heads)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg (optional)

Procedure

Smashing garlic and salt in a wooden bowl

Place your pressed garlic in the bottom of a wooden salad bowl. If you don't own a garlic press, just mince the garlic finely, and then smash it with the blade of a knife.

Add the kosher salt, and use a spoon to further smash the pressed garlic and salt together. The salt acts as an abrasive to help break down and smash up the garlic.

Once the garlic is nicely smashed (after 30 seconds perhaps?), add the olive oil. Use the spoon to scrape the garlic off the sides of the bowl where you did your smashing. Add the dijon. Dijon mustard is an important ingredient because it causes the oil and vinegar (once added) to form an emulsion instead of staying separated. The emulsion makes for a salad dressing that coats the lettuce leaves instead of running off them to the bottom of the bowl.

With your dijon, oil, and garlic mixed together, add the worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar. Mix things around again, and taste your dressing. It should taste strong, but balanced. It should have a nice punch of salt, garlic, acid, and savory flavors. If any of these flavors is too strong, consider adding some olive oil and a slight bit of the not-so-strong ingredients. If you adjust to the point where you've got too much dressing for the salad, save a little off and use it later.

It's a good idea in any case to save off about half your dressing before adding the lettuce. You will very likely add all that dressing back, but it's much easier to add salad dressing than it is to remove it!

Home-made caesar salad dressing

So, with half the dressing saved on the side, add your washed and chopped (not ripped) romaine to the bowl. Toss the romaine with the dressing, and then taste a piece.

You'll likely add all that dressing back, but be sure to add a little and re-mix and re-taste to make sure the dressing doesn't become too thick or overpowering.

With your salad and dressing in balance, it's time to add your egg (optional). To do so, break a raw egg into your salad, and toss things around until the egg evenly coats the lettuce (with yolk broken, of course).

Add your grated parmesan and re-toss.

Toss your cooled croutons on top, and crack some black pepper for garnish. Serve immediately, or at least within 10 minutes.