FINDING BEAUTY IN THE BASICS
Most cooks have a well-seasoned cast-iron pan they think of almost like a family member. I inherited mine from my grandmother Clarice. She’s been gone for decades, but my dad always told us stories about how she cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner in it for my grandfather and four hungry sons on their north Texas farm during the Dust Bowl years. Every time I melt a pat of butter on its pitch-black surface, I think of all the meals she would have made in that skillet: fried chicken, cream gravy, okra, steak fingers, succotash, cinnamon rolls, pineapple upside-down cake, scrambled eggs and ham. Something as basic as a skillet can inspire endless variations. And that idea inspired our food editors to take a fresh look at cast iron and add…
