Most of us dorm cooks don’t have huge budgets for pots and pans. Typically speaking, we just bring hand me downs from mom and dad or buy cheap sets from Ikea or Target. There is, however, one kind of pan that everyone needs to have and it just so happens to be quite affordable. It’s the trusty cast iron pan.

Nothing heats up hotter or holds heat better than cast iron. Looking for the perfect sear? You don’t need some fancy anodized aluminum contraption. Just pick up old iron sides and you’re ready to go. Cast iron, when taken care of right, is a cooks dream. You can toast sandwiches on it. If you have two, you might even think about creating a homemade sandwich press. Get a cover and you’ve got the perfect mini dutch oven for braising. Oh, and let’s not forget flap jacks. It creates the perfect evenly heated surface for golden delicious flap jacks.

So how much will such cookware run you? A 12-inch cast iron pan will cost you less than $20. You might be so excited that you get more than one. Try a griddle pan and you’ll be cooking up perfect steaks in no time.

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This entry was posted by Hungry Lion on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 1:27 pm and is filed under kitchen essentials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.