Stir Fry in Lodge cast iron pan (not their wok)?

14 years ago

Hello,

Was wondering if you ever stir fry in one of their skillets, chicken fryers or dutch ovens. Any suggestions on what to buy? I currently have a 9" Le Creuset skillet and a 10" All Clad fry pan. Not too happy with them for this type of job, too small, too much fond (fond, who am I kidding, burnt on stuff). Also have a ceramic cooktop, largest burner is 8.625" in diameter. Any advice would be appreciated.

Anita

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Comments (6)

davey3000
14 years ago
Almost all my cookware is Lodge cast iron. It works great, you just have to remember to clean it up right after cooking. I don't stir fry very often, but I have few times and it was no problem in the 6 qt. dutch oven. It makes great French onion soup too! The real trick is to season the metal properly and then you won't have a problem with food sticking or burning on. They handle heat so well, I have actually forgotten things that were cooking on the stove and found that they did just fine. I have the 10 and 12 inch skillets and the 6 qt. dutch oven, they all work great and no worries about teflon or aluminum. Just remember not to use soap on them and to wash them while they are hot.
eandhl
14 years ago
I too have done stir fry in my CI 6 qt dutch oven with good results.
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Thanks for the info, Amcook. I was "taught" by Asian (as in from Japan and Honk Kong) home cooks who use big chopsticks with their woks. I didn't mean to imply that there aren't other valid ways. Only that that was the only way I know, and I'm not fast or accurate enough to do it properly. The metal has a taste remark was to Weisman, who said one needed chopsticks to eat the food. I found myself thinking that they do make a difference in the taste, which, at least for me, comes down to metal or plastic, both of which I can taste when I use such forks, and the polished surface of good chopsticks, which I guess also has a taste, now that I think of it, but it's "right" with Asian food. Not saying I've never used a fork on leftover takeout. Just agreeing about the flavor. And yes, stainless steel has a taste, but it doesn't come off on stuff. It's the fork itself that has the taste. I think anyone who is a very good wok cook would be happier in moving to induction with a bowl shaped specialty burner, which works well with your hand hammered wok. I looked at the stainless specialty induction woks, like Demeyere, and the Gaggenau unit/wok, and they looked all wrong to me. The Le Creuset just said it wanted to live it my house with all my other Le Creuset. There are very few flat outside, round inside cast iron woks. This one seems to work pretty well on the induction. The only issue would be the power, because the diameter of the bottom isn't big enough to trigger the outer ring. It should work okay on my front 2.2KW ring (about 15k BTU), though, which should give it a faster recovery time. The important part is that it certainly gets hot enough for stir fry, even on the 1.8. The outer ring boosts to 4.4KW, which is more than 30,000 BTU, but there isn't a round bottomed wok which has a big enough contact radius to take advantage of the 20,000 BTU large element, or the 30,000 BTU boost, but for normal portions, it shouldn't be necessary. This is something for people to consider when they're looking at total power on a flat surfaced induction unit. To me, the shape of the interior of a wok is the whole point. Other people are happy making a stir fry in one of those wok/frying pan hybrids, or just a skillet, which would be big enough to take advantage of the maximum power. And it made very nice, American style fritters.
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It's hard to make generalities about over 1 billion people, lol. But I have found that there are many, many Chinese families who don't stir-fry at all, or do it very seldom. Not every American family eats burgers and hot dogs, either, for a local analogy. I guess if others judged American culture by TV ads and billboards, they would think we all lived on a daily diet of McDonald's Big Macs! But in general, many Asian cuisines do have a "triple path". There is home cooking; there is restaurant cooking; and there is banquet, or feast, food. I was talking to my Hong Kong-born Chinese-Portugese DH a few weeks ago, and he (finally) remembered to tell me a story about one of his uncles who died over 15 yrs ago. This uncle was famous in the family for making the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, or ho yau gai lan as it used to be spelled (I'm terrible with the new spellings, sorry). I've done this dish, and it seems very simple. Blanch the gai lan, stir-fry it quickly, drizzle it with oyster sauce. What's so hard about it? DH told me his uncle was so meticulous and painstaking about doing this dish, it was intimidating even to just watch him. Every cut had to be a precise size, the water had to be just the right temperature, the timing was down to the second. The wok had to be heated for XX number of minutes with just enough oil but not too much; the tossing and last-minute steaming done always the same way. In six decades of eating, DH says his uncle's gai lan remains the best. And every time, because he was so exacting about it, it was always perfect. But it was a lot of work, done to ensure that nothing was left to chance. He very seldom made it, in fact. Just the news that there was going to be a party and that Uncle had promised to make his gai lan, was enough to make everybody, even reluctant-to-socialize teenagers, show up for dinner! Oh, and outside of the gai lan, hardly anyone in DH's family, all 200+ members in Vancouver BC, stir-fries. Most of them don't even own a wok, which is interesting because otherwise they've kept their HK culture intact very assiduously. Unlike the American relatives, all of whom by the second generation barely remember their Cantonese, all the Canadian relatives speak Cantonese at home, so that even the fourth generation little kids are bi-lingual.
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John Liu
13 years ago
My cast iron pan is some no-name "made in Taiwan" five-dollar flea market find. It is great for high-heat frying. I still prefer to stir fry in a wok, but the cast iron pan works just fine. Clean-up is a breeze with both - just use a stiff brush and hot running water, then put back on the flame to dry and wipe lightly with oil before putting away. I, too, find that high-heat frying with the stainless steel pan makes for harder clean-up. I sort of wish I had a nicer cast iron pan, but I've become sort of attached to this crusty old one.
lindac
13 years ago
Stir fry is most successful in a wok because of the small bottom...you are not really stir frying in a frying pan...just frying on high heat...
If you are looking to buy a pan tos tir fry in...I recommend a wok.
sandy808
13 years ago
Lodge makes a cast iron chefs pan. It's a skillet with rounded sides. I love it for stir frying as the rounded sides facilitate rapid stirring. It's a very versatile pan.

The nice thing about the Lodge skillets is that they can be used to bake bisquits in, cornbread, grilled cheese etc., although a straight sided one might work better for the biscuits and cornbread.

I have their wok as well, but it's packed away until our house is done. My last gas range wasn't suitable for the narrow bottom of the wok, as per manufacturer. If you really want the wok, check to be sure you can use it on your range. You can always use it over a campfire:))

johnliu, you need a Lodge cast iron fry pan. You'd love it.

Sandy
greenturtle36
13 years ago
The Lodge wok would be ideal, but if you want something smaller, the Lodge Pro Logic 12 inch skillet has sloped sides and I've used it before for small stir fry jobs.

If you're interested, check out my cast iron cooking blog at http://ramblingsoncastiron.blogspot.com

Stir Fry in Lodge cast iron pan (not their wok)?

Comments (6)

davey3000

eandhl

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lindac

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