I love my Shun knives. You can google them, but be prepared to spend some money on them. If you hand wash them (as well as any good knife) they will last a life time.

You should be ok with skillets from WalMart...are they Lodge? If you have them seasoned well (they should be black or very close to it when they are), they shouldn't stick. Maybe you are cooking at too high of a temp.

I have a set of Cutco knives. They were expensive but I love them.

Check out the cooking forum. There have been threads on both these topics just in the couple of weeks. It's probably on page 2 or 3 or 4. Someone has a great link about seasoning cast iron, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking forum

Wallmart sells Lodge skillets, but last time I looked at them, they were considerably thinner than the 'real' Lodge sold in other stores. With cast iron being so cheap, it's worth buying a few decent pieces.

You can now buy preseasoned cast iron. It's not as well-seasoned as your pan will be after you've used it a bit, but it's a good way to get started.

The tricks are--don't wash with detergent (it washes the seasoning). ALWAYS use solid shortening like Crisco to season your pan (NEVER use oil--but I guarantee, that's a mistake you'll only make once, at any rate--after you have a gunky sticky mess to clean off the pan). Good idea to season your pan out back on the barbecue grill--keeps the mess and smell out of the house. If at any time, you find you need to clean off the old seasoning to start over? put the pan in the oven when you run the self-cleaning cycle.

Nothing beats a well-seasoned cast iron skillet for non-stick cooking. And unlike teflon--which is an extremely dangerous carcinogen, and really shouldn't ever be used around food, cast iron actually adds healthy food value--iron--to your diet.

I received a set of RADA knives for our wedding in 1982. They are my absolute favorite knives!!! They are really inexpensive in comparison to others, but they are the best! I have Chicago Cutlery, Cutco knives also...but will always go with my RADA! I love their sharpener too...so easy to use and it sharpens them so easy!!

I found a flea market a couple of years ago that carried them....I left with many!!! =)

I am not a dealer, or even know a dealer, but these are the best!!! Check out all their knives and such under products. I own MANY of them!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: RADA

RADA knives get my vote too! I still have the 1st one I ever owned and it was bought in 1969! At the time, I had no idea what the brand was...just found out it was RADA a few years ago, and I've since acquired quite a collection of them.

My cast iron was inherited from my Grandmother(s).

LOL Sandy,
Years ago my then DH and I sold the Rada knives at flea markets, farmers markets and outdoor festivals, here in ON.

They are fantastic! I LOVE the sharpener. I use it to sharpen my Henkels and all my knives. The only peeler I have is my rada.

Azzalea, where was your advice when I coated my grill pan with olive oil?? sniff sniff.

I coated it both sides and put it in the oven (grill on one side and griddle on the other).

It's sticky and kind of brown yucky colour. I've never used it cause I'm afraid the oil on it will catch fire on my electric element!!!

I have 3 of the Rada knives too. I couldn't see a price at your link Sandy? Can you buy them online? I got mine as wedding gifts too. I have the Chicago Cutlery ones also years ago from DH.

Jasdip - Why not try steel wool and Bartender's Friend ..........and lots of elbow grease. After all that scrubbing you could then season it the right way. If you're not using it you have nothing to lose.

I was just reading online about methods of seasoning, and canola and veggie oil are the recommended. Geesh, that's what I did, and my griddle looks awful.

How about kosher salt and a scrubbie of some sort for trying to get the excess oil off? I've never heard of Bartender's Friend.

Don't make yourself crazy scrubbing it with anything.

Just put the improperly seasoned pans in the oven on the self-clean cycle, OR you can put them on your covered grill (either charcoal or gas will work), and let them 'cook' until the old seasoning burns off, and the pan is gray.

Then you can start again.

I've seen oil recommended, but it's not really the best choice. I won't feed mhy family anything made with hydrogenated fat, but I always keep a small can of Crisco on hand just for seasoning my many pieces of cast iron. You will get a wonderfully slick, non-stick surface if you use solid shortening.

Azzalea, I'll be scrubbing it with something......I have neither a self-clean oven, nor a grill.

I knew I'd saved this link!!! lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Salvage/Season Cast Iron

I received a set of Calphalon knives for Christmas last year. I really like them but I also have the Rada knives that I like too.

I am of no help with this post. I have two or three cast iron skillets I don't use. They are too heavy. If I want to fry something like chicken or potatoes I use one of my electric skillets. I like those better, they are not coated with anything. I do not have any good knives, never have had, I just have a couple of favorites I like, probably got them at a rummage sale :).

Sue

You can buy vintage Griswold cast iron on Ebay. Many people swear by it. Azalea has given good advice on seasoning.

I have a set of Global knives. They are Japanese, and I dearly love them.

Rada, there not expensive and last forever. There sold at every flea market i've ever been to.

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like Rada knives win hands down. As for the iron skillet, I may order one directly from Lodge, instead of getting one from Walmart. And then season it well.

Never heard of Rada before, but nice to see quality products still made in the USA! That site is a keeper.

I use Rada knives also and really like them. I had a good set DH bought me for Christmas one year, but when we were robbed they were stolen, all but the meat cleaver which we still have and use.

I just love my Wusthof kitchen knives - they will last me my lifetime with proper care. NEVER put your knives in the diswasher - handwash only (only takes a couple of seconds) - and don't put them in a loose "knife drawer" where they rattle around and hit each other. I have two magnetic strips where I hang my knives individually, works perfectly for me. I take mine in to a pro knife sharpener rather than using any little gadget to sharpen them, but I do use my steel before using them as this keeps the edge "level" - BUT it does NOT sharpen them.

I was given a full set of them a handful of years ago, but you know I really only use the basic three 99% of the time - so if you want knives that will last a lifetime with proper care, the three Wusthof basic three will be just super - they actually sell them as this set also.

From all my research I discovered that knives are like pretty much everything else, you get what you pay for.

I've tried cast iron cookware, but can never stand the taste. I'd figure it was something I was doing, except I have a friend who has his grandmother's collection and uses it all the time, and I taste metal with food cooked in his pans, too. His family thinks everything tastes great, so maybe I'm just overly sensitive.

Anyway, I started using non-stick pans by Scanpan awhile back. They're nonstick, but instead of having a coating on top of the cooking surface, the ceramic-titanium coating is embedded into the cooking surface. You can use metal utensils, and it doesn't get the bad smell that Teflon pans always have.

Just FYI, I have connection with the company, just own a few of their pans and want to buy more!

Here is a link that might be useful: Scanpan