Cast iron is porous.
As a result, flavors from the previous meal can slightly linger, and slightly affect the flavors of the following meal.
So, should you reserve a separate, designated cast iron pan for fish, to prevent future dishes from having a slight fish flavor?
Personally, as much cast iron as I have, maybe I should. But, I don't.
And I haven't had a problem with it yet.
If there is a slight flavor affect on the next meal, which there might be, I haven't really noticed.
Pictured above is the Lodge 2 quart oval casserole dish, which is what I use for salmon fillets, because they fit nicely in the pan.
But, I wouldn't necessarily restrict the pan to just salmon. I don't want to restrict any of my cookware to just one purpose.
To each his own, though.
Someone made a really good point: If the pan is well seasoned, that should be a non issue.
So I'll just make a point to fry bacon in the above pan at regular intervals.
***UPDATE: Today I used the pan to roast boudin.
If there was any affect at all from lingering fish flavor, I didn't notice it.
I've cooked salmon in this pan for at least the last 10 consecutive uses, including last night.
So if any pan would have a lingering fish flavor, it would have been this one.
If you're still concerned, re-season the pan before cooking something else in it. But from what I discovered today, it should be OK.
Matt always fries his fish in cast iron. When he is going for a delicate poaching, as tonight with a lovely piece of ling cod, he most usually uses a heavy, copper-clad straight-sided pan, but he says as long as the cast iron skillet is well seasoned, he sees no reason not to use it, and frequently he does just that.
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