I cook only in cast iron. I used to keep a small non-stick pan around for omelets and such then Susan creeped me out with talk of non-stick coatings as carcinogens that will flake off into food and cause all manner of internal wreckage. Fearing a Teflon-coated brain tumor I disposed of the pan and now rely on an assortment of iron pots and pans for everything. Though well-seasoned cast iron is naturally non-stick, I still like to help things along with a spritz of non-stick cooking spray (Susan bemoans the horrors of that as well) but I like to live dangerously.

As a geek I get pretty excited about kindred spirits who, like me, feel they got away with the real goods when they inherited a piece of treasured cast iron from a loved one. I cook in my father’s old satiny black cast iron frying pan and Dutch oven all the time. For me there is such a sense of intimate connectivity in using implements as well-used and reliable as another’s aged, time-seasoned cookware.  My father’s skillet and his gravy-spattered first edition copy of Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen are among those items I grab when I have to evacuate. An old book and an iron pan: You either get this or you don’t but I have plenty of company in treasuring items like these above others of real monetary value.

I have a few pieces of Le Creuset and one from Staub but most of my cast iron hails from Lodge Manufacturing in Tennessee, which was established in 1896. At one time Lodge was one of many cast iron foundries in this country; now it is the only one left. My friend Mark Kelly, spokesperson for Lodge, really honored me when he slipped me an advance electronic copy of The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook: A Treasury of Timeless, Delicious Recipes. My obsession with cookbooks started when I was about 7 and I read the things like novels. I have stacks and stacks of them and now I am dying to get my hands on a hard copy of this thing, which Oxmoor House will publish in February 2012. Most people think cornbread, stew, and friend chicken when cast iron cooking comes to mind but this new book goes waaaay beyond that. It offers a fresh, modern approach to an ancient yet timeless manner of cooking. For me it is exciting to think of those cooks –and there are many- who will prepare dishes from this book in Lodge vessels that date back to the days of the foundry’s early days. Cast iron is, literally, indestructible and it can literally last forever.  I will have to wait to share recipes from the new book but I am sharing some of the company's existing favorites. The Seared Pork Chops with Apples and Onions woould be perfect for a family tree-trimming dinner; the Skillet Scallion Biscuits would be divine slathered with butter on Christmas morning; the Pineapple-Coconut Upside Down Cake would add sunny, tropical flavors and beautiful color to a holiday sideboard; and the Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Panini would be divine anytime.

Despite its longevity and the eternal nature of its products Lodge continues to grow, adding new product lines such as grills, a brand new collection of seasoned steel cookware, sleek cast iron skillets with stainless steel handles, serving pieces, the cookbook, and a line of brilliantly hued enamel-coated Dutch ovens, gratin pans and, my favorite of all, the Apple Pot. I am just crazy about this little thing, which comes in both lime green and red. It is the vessel I use the most so I never bother to put it away. Instead it sits cheerfully upon my range, waiting patiently for me. I swear I smile every time I look at it. Every cook should have one and I hope my daughter, Cecilia, will drag it through life and leave it to her own children one day. If she is uninterested in devoting herself to my old pots and pans as I have to those of my deceased loved one she can simply inter my ashes in the thing. That would be strangely fitting.