A Rule Rich Lives By

Rich grew up cooking on cast iron most of his life. His grandmother was from South Louisiana, where it was tradition, and she had one rule about buying cookware. "Buy a good one, buy it once. Don't buy ten cheap ones." Rich already had a set of old cast iron he'd had for years, but he was looking for something better.

He'd been on a health journey, paying closer attention to what he was cooking with, when Smithey started showing up on his Instagram. The finish is what caught him first. "I was like, man, that is just pretty." He looked into where it was made, and the brand values spoke to him. He ordered the No. 11 Deep Skillet with the lid.

He's had it for years now and calls himself a one-skillet guy. He lives in an apartment, where getting to a grill is a challenge, so he started searing steaks on cast iron instead. "That was a game changer."

He seasoned the skillet with grass-fed beef tallow, ghee, and butter, and saw some discoloration early on. It didn't bother him. "My old cast irons look terrible. These just get prettier with time." What actually surprised him was the non-stick performance. He'd had ghee in the pan and it wasn't sticking at all. He compares it to his stainless steel, where nothing releases easily and there's a narrow window before something burns. "Cast iron is just a lot easier for me."

One skillet became several. He added a No. 10, keeping one skillet for seafood and one for chicken and beef, then the 5.5 and 3.5 quart Dutch ovens, and most recently the Mighty Spatula. He once had an enameled Dutch oven with a ceramic coating and didn't trust that the coating might chip. "It was a cool idea, but I have trust issues with stuff like that. And the one place I don't mess around is my food."

A shipment of his went missing in transit. A replacement went out immediately, and he heard back in thirty minutes when he'd expected to wait a week or two. He called to say thank you, then placed another order. He's since come to rely on being able to call and reach an actual person. "Y'all keep a tradition alive," he said.

Rich is still building his collection. The Farmhouse Skillet is next on his list, and by his own account, he doesn't plan to stop until he has the whole set.