If you cook at home at all, you need a cast iron skillet.
Advantages: The work well with high temperatures, both in and on top of the stove. They’re endlessly versatile. And treated right, they’ll last forever and you can pass ‘em down for generations.
The downsides? Can be annoying to clean, hot (often short) handles and extremely heavy — which is good for ridiculous fights, but not so much for food prep.
Credit Marquette Castings for trying to solve those minor but real problems. The Michigan company just launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring “the world’s lightest cast iron skillet” to fruition.
Made from recycled iron, these skillets weigh about 20 percent less than the average cast-iron cookware and feature thinner walls. They also arrive fully seasoned, finished with four coats of flax oil and ready to go right out of the box.
Marquette’s investment cast surface — molded from a ceramic shell rather than compacted sand — features a smoother surface than most cast iron cookware, and the etching process opens up the grain of the iron so the oil can stick even better. You’ll be re-seasoning these less often.
And while the handle still gets hot, the longer, crescent-shaped gap between the pan and handle will cool things down a bit — and for a few bucks extra, you can get a leather handle cover.
The skillets are available in 8-, 10- and 12-inch variations. Kickstarter backers will receive the skillet by December — meaning, you’ll totally be able to make this.
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