What is your favorite go to piece of cast iron for cooking?

[Claudia Killebrew]

Perry, you don't know what you're asking. I would be typing until tomorrow if I listed everything. But, for starters:

#6 Gris for eggs and grilled cheese
#7 Smiley (thanks OB) for one serving of hash browns
#9 Smiley or Wapak Z for chicken and bacon
12 inch Lodge for sausage and peppers
#8 Gris for pork chops
Dru Holland enameled DO for roasts
#12 unmarked Wagner for pizza

Then of course there is the Lodge round griddle, the #3 and #5 three notches, the Lodge and Gris #8 DOs, the Lodge chef skillet, the #3 and #8 Vollraths, the small Vollrath and Dru Holland DO's, the muffin pans and corn stick pans, the large and small grill pans (Wagner 1891 and Lodge), etc. See what I mean? I know I'm forgetting a lot more.

[Susan Salsburg]

Claudia - that's why I listed 3 not 1. But they are the 3 that make me smile every time I pick them up. Since they are all over 100 years old, I love to think of the other hands that have used them. Sue

[C. Perry Rapier]

Claudia - that's why I listed 3 not 1. But they are the 3 that make me smile every time I pick them up. Since they are all over 100 years old, I love to think of the other hands that have used them. Sue

Hello Susan. You put that very nicely. I totally agree. Its like holding history in your hands.  :)

 And Claudia thats a lot of skillets now.  :o

I have BUNCHES of skillets but I don't use them all, just a few.

[Claudia Killebrew]

Perry, I have more that are not listed. I try to use them in rotation so none of them feel neglected. I also found a couple of things in the first couple of weeks after moving here. They need a lye bath which will be set up in the spring. I have the room now. YEAH!

[C. Perry Rapier]

Perry, I have more that are not listed. I try to use them in rotation so none of them feel neglected. I also found a couple of things in the first couple of weeks after moving here. They need a lye bath which will be set up in the spring. I have the room now. YEAH!

Good for you Claudia, now you'll be able to set the lye bath up. I'm good at setting them up, but not so good on taking them out and cleaning them. I have four lye baths right now going. So when you get done with yours Claudia can you lend me a hand?  ;D :)

[Susan Salsburg]

Hello Susan. You put that very nicely. I totally agree. Its like holding history in your hands. 

I think you & I were related in a past life.

[Duke Gilleland]

Favorite "go to" skillet? Two years ago I found a severely  RUSTED/PITTED :o Wagner chef skillet in the of a 5 gallon bucket half filled with rain water. Ol boy said $1 and I "bit"!
Zapped it and baked about 3 seasonings on it. Stayed on the stove and was used for 2 years regularly.
Last week my "I don't want to sell" price of $25 was paid and my pitch black ol friend was gone! :'(  I'll get over it ;)
PLENTY more to replace it.

[C. Perry Rapier]

Hello Susan. You put that very nicely. I totally agree. Its like holding history in your hands. 

I think you & I were related in a past life.

We very well could could have been Susan. You never know.  :)

And thats certainly alright by me.  :)

[C. Perry Rapier]

Duke it sounds like you did alright on that skillet. Now you'll have to go and see if you can save another piece from a careless past owner.  ;)

[Chuck Rogers]

A #9 S.P.Co skillet (Stuart Peterson Company). Reminds me of an ERIE skillet but with lower sides. First user we ever cleaned and seasoned ourselves and looks like black glass.

[Greg Lappe]

Well my Nephew Josh and his wife Kari came up to see us and we went up to the Lodge outlet in Commerce GA, we usually do because they both like iron :) . As usual they had another great deal :) . We both picked up a two handled HUGE #17 skillet for $41.95 in the factory seconds area. A perfect 17" skillet is $79.95, Factory seconds normal price $59.95, that days special $41.95 :)

I also picked up the smaller 10" Lodge Logic skillet from the factory seconds area that matches my larger 12" LL skillet that I started this thread with. It was really rough (factory 2nds I guess) like 80 grit sand paper so I sanded it like it's bigger brother.

Disclaimer, I will sand a new Lodge from the factory seconds area because they have "issues" BUT I will not mess with a Vintage piece.

[Jeff Parsons]

One must be able to make a roux in a skillet without the spatula going "SPROING" and throwing hot oil and flour out of the skillet. I will sand or Dremel off those kind of bumps on a modern piece without remorse. Those kind of bumps represent extreme economy in manufacture and a lack of personal attention. I feel I am supplying the personal attention the economy and resultant automation of modern production neglects.

Disclaimer - agree.

Back to the original question, the piece I use most is a Lodge hammered #8 skillet (bacon and eggs). As far I'm concerned, the Lodge hammered series is some of the finest cast iron ever made: not so heavy as to be clumsy, not so light as to be fragile, good attention paid to the smooth interior. Working half-heartedly on a complete set.

Second place,  for gumbo and jambalaya and roasts, Copco D4 (7 quart) Dutch Oven, white porcelain-coated. See my thread in "Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen".

[Jeff Parsons]

PS: Cooked a "Next-Day" jambalaya this evening in a Copco D3 (about 5 quarts, I've never measured it) with chicken and sausage from yesterday's BBQ, with Jasmine rice. Got it boiling, pulled the pre-heated lid out of the 275 degree oven, slipped in the covered Dutch Oven, 45 minutes. The rice was done perfectly, flaked off the spoon when jiggled. Of 10 helpings, two are left for my son and I for breakfast. I'll probably stir-fry mine with an egg in the morning.

[C. Perry Rapier]

Boy that sure looks good Jeff. I have never been to Louisiana. Been all around it but never been there.

Jeff if I come down there and bring a number 13 Griswold Dutch Oven can you cook some Cajun food in it, and let me help eat it?

OR, if that ain't enough let me know. I have one piece here that holds 34 quarts. So let me know, I got the kettles if you got the know how. And I'm certain you do.  :)

[Robert Hynes]

Loving the Wagner National 8 and 9, light and thin, love them for cooking. Will be giving them up to my mother tho, she's getting bad arthritis - loves cast but her stuff is too heavy.

[Jeff Parsons]

Perry, I wouldn't bring a Griswold #13 anything down here - people would shoot you for it. I've never cooked a large jambalaya; I've assisted, but never had the responsibility. I've helped at benefits by taking a couple of sharp knives, and cutting veggies and meat for a couple of hours to take part of the load off the cook. A fireman I know used to do benefits for a burned childrens' retreat.

Large pots take a different technique, and filling one up with good stuff and making a mistake is expensive. A friend has a 15-gallon pot that he hasn't mastered yet, after probably 20  times cooking in it. I went to a benefit last weekend where the jambalaya was a disaster, gummy soggy rice with uncooked kernels mixed in. How do you do that? The people that get it right in a big pot, know their pot, and measure the rice and water, know how often and when to stir it, and have their timing down. Bobby Flay had an absolute failure against the Jambalaya King in New Orleans, for instance.

You would be most welcome in my home. Some day I may load up my van with my Griswold 202, hit the road, and be looking for yards to park in. I will not be up north in the winter, though!

[Duke Gilleland]

"Favorite" one is the one I am using at the moment! And that could be one of MANY! ;D :-/

[Mark Zizzi]

"Favorite" one is the one I am using at the moment! And that could be one of MANY!

I'm with you on that, Duke.  ;)
I try to use all my skillets on a rotational basis like Claudia does. But I'd have to say the 1st series
Erie 10 I got from Ken S. gets used the most.
For steaks though, I like my thicker, heavier and "pebble-ier" 3 notch Lodge.   #9 Tite-Top  gets a lot of use too.