Some of our health conscious customers ask us for the best frying pan, this is a difficult question to answer. It really depends on their requirements and their health concerns. We start with a standard list of questions to establish their needs and concerns. Generally concerns are about aluminium or non-stick coatings both of which have received bad press in recent years. Personally neither concerns us. We use both in our kitchen for various cooking tasks.

But if you have concerns about these pans, we would always recommend cast iron cookware, as long as you can handle its weight.

Some of us eager cooks may be already eyeing up items to put on the Christmas list. If cast iron is for you, we would whole heartedly recommend the Lodge range of cast iron pans, casseroles and Dutch ovens.

Cast iron is the simplest cookware to manufacture, containing just three ingredients, iron, silicon and carbon. The molten mixture is then poured into sand moulds to form the classic Lodge shapes. The finished result is a pure cast iron pan, that when seasoned will perform as well as any non stick pan.

Lodge pre-season its range of pans so they are ready to use. Seasoning is a simple coating of oil baked on the pans which will act as a non-stick coating. The pans are easy to clean and will need re-seasoning from time to time.

Lodge cookware is famously long-lasting. An American friend and seasoned cook, tells the story, when Grandma dies the first thing to be taken out of the house is the Lodge Skillet. I'm not sure this really happens but the sentiment that an old well seasoned skillet is an heirloom makes me smile.