The One Cast Iron Skillet Brand Ina Garten Can't Go Without

Cooking with cast iron just makes food taste better and Ina Garten knows it, which is why the Barefoot Contessa recommends roasting her famous lemon chicken in a cast iron pan. In fact, Garten calls the cast iron skillet "perfect" for accomplishing this task and Thomas Keller is also a fan of using this pan when roasting chicken because it is constructed of a material that conducts heat evenly, which sets up food for browning success. 

If you are wondering what brand Garten swears by, all you need to do is check out her website to discover she is a Lodge fan. The Hamptons chef shares links to both mini cast iron skillets as well as 10 to 12-inch Lodge skillets so her curious fans can have all the right tools to replicate her recipes.

One of the many beauties of cooking in a pan made of this metal is how versatile it is. Use it to bake a golden brown and bubbly, fruity cobbler for the Fourth of July, or per Garten's Instagram, break it out for Memorial Day weekend to fry up some smash burgers to mark this holiday weekend. A cast iron skillet is an amazing kitchen tool.

What makes Lodge so desirable? The makers of this sought-after skillet founded their company in 1896 in Tennessee. They were the first to pre-season their cast iron cookware which is reason enough to fangirl over it, but despite its popularity, Lodge continues to be an economically accessible option for those in the market for pots and pans made from this durable material.

The cookbook author can definitely appreciate this skillet's ability to both evenly heat and retain a consistent temperature. But cast iron has other advantages worth noting. This cookware is perfect for browning, searing, and finishing. And because it can go from stovetop to oven if you don't want a lot of pots and pans taking up space in your cabinets, cast iron can do double duty. It is also highly durable, so much so, Lodge cast iron pots and pans are often passed from one generation to the next.