My grandmother always treated her cast iron pans like priceless treasures. To her, they weren’t just kitchen tools — they were heirlooms, carrying decades of family history, meals, laughter, and love. Each pan was seasoned not only with oil and heat but with memories — of Sunday breakfasts, long talks by the stove, and the comfort of food made with care.
One afternoon, thinking I’d give her a break, I decided to cook dinner. I reached for one of her cast iron skillets, confident I could handle it. After all, how different could it be from any other pan? But the moment Grandma walked into the kitchen, she froze. Her eyes went straight to the skillet in my hands, and then she gave me that unmistakable look — half shocked, half amused.
“You can’t cook just anything in a cast iron pan,” she said, her voice calm but firm. I chuckled, assuming she was exaggerating, but she motioned for me to sit down. “Let me tell you something,” she began — and in that moment, I knew I was about to learn more than just cooking.
She explained that cast iron has a kind of memory — it remembers how it’s been treated. Acidic foods like tomatoes or vinegar, she said, can eat away at the precious seasoning she’d built up over the years, leaving the surface dull and rough. Delicate fish can stick and fall apart, ruining both the meal and the pan’s finish. And making sweets after cooking savory dishes could blend flavors in a way that simply didn’t belong. “Every dish you make in that pan becomes part of it,” she said. “So you have to choose carefully.”
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