Another Use for Cast Iron



Who Would Have Ever Thought You Could Do This?


Now I have to admit this is something new I recently learned and it’s so useful and clever I wanted to pass it on. Some of you may know this already and to tell the truth, I’m surprised I’ve never heard about this before.

A cast iron skillet was probably the first piece of cookware I ever owned and I still have that same skillet today. I won’t tell you how many years of use this pan has had. One thing about cast iron is nothing ever sticks in it after the pan reaches a certain state with age.

Anyway, on to the something new – you can thaw food in this pan! It works terrific for stuff right out of the freezer, just set the package in the pan, and put the pan on the cold stove. Within two hours just about anything thaws, including meat, which is safe to leave out at room temperature for two hours. It usually takes far less time than that. You can speed the process up by lining the iron skillet with foil. Of course, this probably wouldn’t work with a turkey because it’s too thick.

This is how it works: Iron skillets conduct heat, even when they are cold. It’s incredible to think that this can happen, but try it and you’ll be amazed.

I usually thaw things out in the microwave, which is not very desirable because it is a science as to which power level to use and for how much time. All this is necessary to begin with because, as I said, I hate to cook and usually cooking and eating are the last things on my mind, since writing and thinking about writing fills up my brain capacity. Therefore, I seldom leave things out ahead of time so they can thaw out to cook later.

I was happy to discover this little trick.