By Blair Anthony Robertson, Sacramento Bee

You can spend lots of cash outfitting your kitchen – with designer pots and pans, with gadgets large and small – and wonder where all the money went. That’s not the case with cast iron. It’s inexpensive, sturdy as a tank, versatile as a Swiss Army knife and, best of all, will probably outlive you.

A 12-inch skillet, for example, costs about $30 and has a life expectancy of, say, forever.

Once considered impossibly clunky and old-fashioned, cast-iron cookery has made a major comeback in recent years. A new generation of home cooks has discovered the nonstick potential of a well-seasoned skillet. People are sautéing, searing, frying, making flapjacks and even baking bread.

Yes, cast iron, which has been around for centuries and mass-manufactured since the 1800s, is cool again, in large part because no cookery seems to retain heat better. And, with a little bit of knowledge and care, you create a nonstick surface nearly the equal of Teflon-coated pans, which tend to last but a few years.

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