cast iron skillet

by Yum Community

Bacon doesn't do anything wrong — and that certain truth applies to everything, including the blank canvas of bread. Here, Monica Bennett shows how, when combined, bacon, apples, and sage make for a killer sweet-salty bread pudding.

Bread pudding is like a blank canvas. The sky is the limit as far as what you can add. This time I wanted something savory. I was craving bacon so into my bread pudding it went along with some diced apples and sage from my garden.

For the recipe, check out her blog — and share your latest culinary creations with us in the YumSugar Community.

by POPSUGAR Food

Jchild needs our help! She recently asked the community about cast iron skillets:

"I just bought my first cast iron pan and can't wait to start using it! How should I go about seasoning it? And after I use it, how do you clean it? I would love to have this pan for years to come but want to make sure I care for it properly. Any tips?"

To season a cast iron pan, coat the bottom in cooking oil, then bake for an hour in a 350 degrees F oven. When cool enough to handle, dry with paper towels. As for cleaning, be sure to wash the pan with hot water immediately after cooking. Do not let it sit and soak. Do you have a cast iron skillet? How do you care for it?

Got a cooking question? Participate in the YumSugar Community! It's your place to post the most pressing questions about the culinary world.

by POPSUGAR Food

Under the headline "World's Easiest Dinner" in Esquire magazine, this recipe was impossible to ignore. Roast chicken is already one of the easiest hearty meals around, but cooking it in a cast-iron skillet makes it pretty much foolproof. From chef Linton Hopkins of Atlanta's Restaurant Eugene, this three-ingredient regimen renders a bird with golden-brown skin that's "juicy as hell."

The recipe calls for a three-pound chicken, though I got one that was about 2.5 pounds, which was just big enough to squeeze into my 10-inch skillet. I only salted and peppered my meat, and with so much moistness, it had plenty of flavor. For the delicious details and the recipe, read more

by POPSUGAR Fitness

Due to our complex biology and Aunt Ruby's monthly visit, women need more iron than men. Adult women should aim for 18 milligrams of iron a day, and an easy way to boost your iron intake is to cook with a cast iron skillet.

Acidic and watery foods cooked in a cast iron skillet will absorb iron molecules from the pan, and this a safe way to meet your recommended daily allowance of the important mineral. There are a couple of caveats, though. The more you use your skillet the less iron your food will absorb, because a well-seasoned pan will have a thin layer of fat coating the pan. This seasoning will interfere with some of the iron absorption. The other is taste. The longer food cooks in a iron skillet, the more likely it is to take on a metallic taste from the pan. That being said, see how much you can increase your iron when you read more