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(Vince Poroke) wrote in message . com>...
> kalanamak > wrote in message >...
> > "A.T. Hagan" wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I personally don't cook acidic foods in my cast iron since it'll thin
> > > the seasoning right out.
> >
> > My pans look great, and spaget sauce is what I *mostly* cook in them. I rinse them
> > quickly, wiping out the crude, use not soap (maybe a little salt), wipe the surface
> > with 2 drops of oil and put back on the burner it came off of, and let the warmth
> > dry it completely.
> >
> > > There is one concern for cooking tomatoes or other acid foods in cast
> > > iron and that is the amount of iron it picks up from the pan. For
> > > many women who are chronically anemic that iron is a good thing. For
> > > many men who may actually have too much iron in their blood already it
> > > can lead to long term problems.
> >
> > Iron is (pardon the pun) bloody hard to absorb. Unless someone has hemochromatosis,
> > do you have any references on iron being bad for men? Since most (pardon my pun)
> > red-blooded American men eat meat, do you believe sauce cooked in cast iron is more
> > likely to "iron overload" men? I am not flaming you, but sincerely interested.
> > blacksalt
> > female veggie (not chronically anemic) with veggie toddler, with a profession
> > interest in iron and iron deficiency
>
>
>
> SO I can cook anything I want in these pans? Basically just treat
> them like I would my others but keeping in mind the maintance care for
> them. I am really looking forward to this. There is a resaurant in
> my area that only uses cast iron for every thing. They are always
> busy and tops the lists in our area. The EC is the one that got me on
> this cast iron kick.

I cook nearly everything in cast iron... It's not been practical to
boil water in it so far, I use a stainless stock pot for that, for
things like pasta, steaming veggies and hard boiling eggs.
I have had a lot of problems cooking in stainless steel with scorching
anything other than water.
For some reason, I DON'T have that problem with cast iron! It seems to
distribute the heat more evenly for me.

I even roast in them. :-)

I will NEVER cook in Aluminum. You want to talk about a toxic and
reactive metal. :-P

Sorry, but my experience with cooking italian in cast iron has been
just fine. My iron levels stay well in normal range too, and I don't
have the problem with anemia that SO many women in my area do! I am
the Hematology supervisor at my lab, so I get to see a lot of blood
counts... ;-)

I've only seen 2 cases of polycythemia in 10 years, and that's not
necessarily related to iron overload.

There is, however, concerns that too much iron in the diet can
increase the risk of heart disease, but I suspect that may be caused
more by over indulgence in iron supplements unless you have an
underlying iron storage disease.

If you are really worried about it, donate blood regularly, every 3
months. There is a critical blood shortage in the Austin/San Antonio
area right now. They held an emergency blood drive at our hospital
today. The workload was too high for me to be able to go, darnit! :-(
Human resources was offering PPL hours equivalent to a day off for
most people for donating. :-)

As for an "off" flavor from iron leeching due to the acid? I don't
think so. Just don't scorch it!

C.