Teresa Farney, a friend and food editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette, asks: �Do you really need to dish out hundreds of dollars for designer-label, high-end cookware when there�s good old cast-iron around? Durable, functional, and relatively inexpensive, cast-iron has so much going for it, it�s a wonder more cooks don�t use it. Maybe it�s because cast-iron seems so old-fashioned compared to all the modern-looking $300-plus industrial cookware sets.�
�Among its strengths is that the heavy metal retains heat well, which helps food cook quickly and evenly,� Farney adds. The reason many people say that they buy a large black skillet in the first place is because they remember their mom or grandmother using it to make the best fried chicken and wonderfully crusty loaves of breads. As a result of that weight�the cookware�s only major drawback�the pans take longer to heat up than, say, stainless steel or aluminum. A quick rule of thumb is to allow 3 to 4 � minutes, depending how hot the recipe says the pan should be. Since the handles are also made of metal, they also get hot, so a mitt is essential.