Is there any truth in the "bread only" pan?

[Shane Lewis]

 Seems I've heard several people talk about having a bread only or cornbread only cast iron pan, and they use another for meats. Is there really any reason for this?

[Stuart Lowery]

for vegetarians?

[Randy Eckstein]

Maybe food sensitivity or allergies since some people may not be convinced that without a healthy scrub with soap and hot water that all food traces have been removed.

[C. B. Williams]

 Randy's explanation is the only reason I could think of. I don't use certain skillets for certain things and I'm for sure not going to scrub with soap and hot water after each use.

[Roger Barfield]

I've heard of having a skillet that is only used for cornbread.  I think it's mostly because they have a good seasoning on it and the cornbread falls out when you flip it over.  They just don't want to mess up the seasoning cooking other things in it. 

[C. Perry Rapier]

I've heard of having a skillet that is only used for cornbread.  I think it's mostly because they have a good seasoning on it and the cornbread falls out when you flip it over.  They just don't want to mess up the seasoning cooking other things in it. 

Growing up I remember my mother having a 'cornbread skillet'. And thats all she used it for. She had other skillets for other tasks. So I certainly don't find it hard to believe that a person would have specific skillets designated for certain uses.

[Paul Okarma]

The only thing that comes to mind are religious reasons.  for example, pots and pans in contact with meat can not be used for dairy.

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

[Paul Okarma]

Made me think of ... pretty funny ...

My wife's late grandmother was born in 1896.  My wife's dad grew up in Newark.  There were Jewish neighborhoods, Italian neighborhoods, and so on.

My Italian father-in-law went to Weequahic ("week - wake"), the high school in the Jewish neighborhood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weequahic,_Newark,_New_Jersey

Nan and I were at my boss' house 20 years ago.  Someone older that grew up in Newark was there.  Nan said her dad went to Weequahic.  My very Anglican-looking wife was quizzed, "you're Jewish?"

Back to my wife's grandmother.  Nan's family was all together years ago watching sports.  Tony Nathan was mentioned.  Nan's grandmother was all confused.

"He has an Italian first name and a Jewish last name????"

My father-in-law added, to completely confuse his mother ... "and ma, he's black!"

[Duke Gilleland]

My Granny as well as other ladies who baked cornbread several times a week had dedicated iron just for that purpose. Seasoning was the reason [smiley=thumbsup.gif]CARBON-Nature's teflon [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Cheryl Watson]

My 85 year old Mom, re-claimed HER cornbread skillet after I restored it... you know, on that pile I found in her basement that got me in to all of this!

It is ONLY used for Cornbread!. Period. End of Discussion. ;D ;D
I could ask her why, but I know the answer already......... "Because, that's JUST the way you do it!! ".... (secret code for, Grandma did it, Great Grandma did it.... you know... the reason gets lost in the history of it all) 8-)

[Dwayne Henson]

Had a friend bring me Grandma's cornbread skillet to clean,  that she had gotten from her Mom who had just used as an everyday skillet. Pretty gunked up. I placed it in the lye bath and came back in a week and started washing it. Not evidenced before as it was hidden by the seasoning, was its history as a cornbread skillet. Grandma apparently cut the cornbread in the pan, and always used the same orientation in cutting 8 pieces. With the handle at 6:00 she always cut it into fourths, then into eighths. You could tell this had been done hundreds and hundreds of times. The rest of the inside of the skillet looked great except for those cut lines. I finished cleaning it up, seasoned it, the old cut lines still showed through. She was a little puzzled at first until I told her what the skillet was telling her about her Grandma. She loved that not only did she have her Grandma's skillet, but also had her history permanently etched into that pan.

[Dwayne Henson]

Cheryl's story reminded me of this one. Young lady gets married, the two one day decide to cook a ham. The lady gets a knife and cuts some off of both ends of the ham puts it in the pot and in the stove. The husband asks why did you cut off both ends? She stated, I don't know that is what Mom always did. So she calls Mom, and asks why? Mom said I don't know that is how my Mom did it. So Mom calls her Elderly Mother and asks why she always cut the ends off the ham before outing it in the pot. The Elderly Mom said when she first got married they were very poor, and only had one pot. A ham would not fit into it, without cutting the ends off. So even after they had some money and a larger pot, she continued cutting the ends of of the ham to remind herself to be grateful for how far they had come.

[Cheryl Watson]

ROFLMAO!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Tom Penkava]

I've heard of having a skillet that is only used for cornbread.  I think it's mostly because they have a good seasoning on it and the cornbread falls out when you flip it over.  They just don't want to mess up the seasoning cooking other things in it. 

Growing up I remember my mother having a 'cornbread skillet'. And thats all she used it for. She had other skillets for other tasks. So I certainly don't find it hard to believe that a person would have specific skillets designated for certain uses.

My wife will only do corn bread in her grandma's Griswold slant 8 as grandma only used it for corn bread ( it was a weding present in 1915 ), then she uses a Wagner 1386 chefs skillet for sandwiches only.  I only fry bacon in my 11in BSR breakfast griddle, spagettie in a Lodge 16 CO, pie in a Lodge 10 CO, ham in a MACA 12x16 CO, the list goes on & 0n.

[Andrew Goss]

Had a friend bring me Grandma's cornbread skillet to clean,  that she had gotten from her Mom who had just used as an everyday skillet. Pretty gunked up. I placed it in the lye bath and came back in a week and started washing it. Not evidenced before as it was hidden by the seasoning, was its history as a cornbread skillet. Grandma apparently cut the cornbread in the pan, and always used the same orientation in cutting 8 pieces. With the handle at 6:00 she always cut it into fourths, then into eighths. You could tell this had been done hundreds and hundreds of times. The rest of the inside of the skillet looked great except for those cut lines. I finished cleaning it up, seasoned it, the old cut lines still showed through. She was a little puzzled at first until I told her what the skillet was telling her about her Grandma. She loved that not only did she have her Grandma's skillet, but also had her history permanently etched into that pan.

I used this in my Mother's Day sermon 2 years ago - the guys laughed but the ladies kinda nervously chuckled - needless to say I quickly moved to the next point

[Taylor Brogan]

thats the best way to do it, to have one dedicated to cornbread only. Because you don't want to cook cubed steak with all kinds of seasonings and steak sauce then turn around and cook cornbread in it. It will give your cornbread a different flavor. in my experience cast iron tends to hold flavors of whats cooked in it. I have one for cornbread and another for okra, potatoes, sausage, gravy, etc. and in that one i can sense flavors from other foods. So I have almost completely gone to le creuset enameled cookware.  But theres some things like cornbread that has to be regular cast iron only.  ;) So for your cornbread I would dedicate a skillet just for it.