Reader's Questions

NKB makes an excellent suggestion. Readers, ask frau-y questions. Once a month, I'll do a massive answerfest.

As a tease, I will say, cleaning cast iron isn't all that difficult. And, I'm with you about soap & water. In my book, something isn't clean unless soap has touched it. So, here's what I do. I scrape off food detritus/fat. Then, I use a gentle dish soap (I like the 7th Generation stuff) and sometimes a little squeeze of lemon juice to wash it out. I use a brush (no steel wool!!!) and some warm water. Then, I rinse it out immediately. Put it on the stove and turn heat to med. Let the water remaining on the skillet evaporate. Finally, give it a little brush of neutral oil with a paper towel.

The only real no-no with cast iron is letting it soak for long periods of time and putting it away wet.

See an early frau post, "she's so heavy" for more cast iron trivia.

I Need Frau Guidance!

I would like to encourage a monthly section to ALL THINGS FRAU to allow readers to offer suggestions for future Frau posts. I am not even a Fraulein as I find the kitchen an ominous and dangerous place. Here are some pressing Frau-y questions I have:

1. Removing common stains when you are NOT at home. e.g. - I spilled oil based salad dressing on my dry clean only trousers at work. I attempted to dab them clean with cold water but I couldn't go home and change nor did I have much in the way of cleaning products at my disposal at work. The trousers are ruined. The oil stain simply wouldn't go away. I think a good post would be 'dealing with stains in non-ideal situations'.

2. Curing and Cleaning Cast Iron - I know you're not supposed to scrub a cast iron pan. But I don't feel like it's clean if I just wipe it with a paper towel after frying meat; also, sometimes if you add things like eggs or cheese they stick to the pan and wiping doesn't cut it. What is the proper away to clean a cast iron pan and still retain all of the yummy flavors in it?

3. Main courses featuring green veggies - I'm looking for some relatively easy to make signature entrees that are heavy on green veggies like beans, broccoli, spinach, and/or brussel sprouts. I don't think I'm eating enough veggies these days and it's one of my resolutions to eat more nutritiously. These dishes don't need to be vegetarian or super low on fat or calories but that would be preferable.