By Mike Schoby
Cast Iron cookware should be a staple in every kitchen. There are some dishes there is no substitute—a blackened steak seared on a smoking hot cast iron skillet is one. But if you are looking for quality cast iron, skip the big box versions that are the norm today.
I’ll save you the heartache, and the 39 bucks and just tell you the truth…it is dogshit. You can tell simply by picking it up, it is way heavier than it needs to be with a finish that looks like the coarse sand it was cast from. In case you were still in doubt about the quality, a key tell is low quality cast iron will always come with detailed instructions of how you, the paying customer, need to season it in painstaking detail—essentially doing their finish job for them. Proper seasoning will take years, and someday, your grandkids may get an egg to not stick like Velcro to a sheep. And there is one more big secret and major turn off to big box cast iron…the vast majority of it is made in China, probably by kids.
The opposite of the big box offerings is quality cast iron. Historically, the best option was buying well-seasoned, high-quality, vintage cast iron from makers like Wagner, and Griswold. They are lighter, well balanced with a polished smooth finish. When lightly seasoned nothing sticks and they can be wiped out with a towel when done. Recently there has been a resurgence in quality cast iron from companies like Smithey Ironware which are excellent.
Yeti, (the cooler, drinkware, storage box, bag manufacturer) has now entered the market with high quality American-made cast iron skillets in 8-, 10-, 12-, and 14-inch offerings.
I ordered an 8- and 12-inch model and unlike my Smithey skillet, which has a highly polished look to it, the Yetis came with what looked like almost a finish on them (which defeats the whole point of cast iron). Pour oil in and it was like Teflon—the oil would simply pool up. It was a strange enough finish that I looked it up and discovered the Yeti skillets are cast using ceramic molds, so the pores are microscopic. Secondly, they are preseasoned, so they perform like a 100-year-old Wagner skillet right out of the box.
The first test? As it should be with any cast iron: fry an egg. Old cast iron and Smithey handle this test fine, cheap cast iron can barely boil water without sticking. I shouldn’t have been surprised when the Yeti rolled the egg onto the plate without a problem. I have since cooked steaks, bacon, corned beef hash, and the skillets performed great. Even heating, no sticking, and easy clean up with a towel or at worst, a light rinse in hot water. If you cook something acidic and sticky in it like Manwich sauce, hit it with the supplied plastic scraper and rinse with hot, even mildly soapy, water.
Price: $150-$300 depending upon size
Pro: Super-smooth finish, pre-seasoned, American-made
Con: Yeti needs to add a flat griddle to the line.
