Tamagoyaki is the Japanese omelette. Whisked eggs, soy sauce and sweet rice wine are joined by a pinch of sugar, layer by layer the mixture is brought to a standstill and traditionally rolled up in a rectangular pan like this one from the Skeppshult iron foundry in Sweden. The pan is made at Skeppshult for the Korean market - the egg dish equivalent from Korean cuisine is called gyeran-mari and is the equivalent of a rolled omelette filled with vegetables, meat or cheese and served as a side dish with rice or as a snack. Whether Asian-inspired or perhaps French, our tip, especially for beginners, is not to be too sparing with the fat in this cast-iron pan and only reduce the amount of frying oil added over time, once a frying layer has formed on the base of the pan.

Using cast iron cookware is not very common in Asian cuisine, as the preparation of many dishes requires pots and pans made of a material that reacts quickly to the addition or reduction of heat. But exceptions prove the rule - even in Japan and Korea, for example, some hearty, spicy stews are prepared in cast iron cookware. So it comes as no surprise that the pans on offer here are made especially for the Korean market. And for us, because we can offer you this cookware exclusively in Europe. It comes from the Skeppshult iron foundry, a reliable regular in our kitchen range for many, many years.

Founded in 1906 in the southern Swedish town of the same name, the company is now the last of its kind in the whole of Scandinavia. Manual work and tradition are still very important in a company where the master caster personally prepares the cast iron mixture. The liquefied iron mass is poured from the bucket into sand molds in the induction furnace - which has long been operated with electricity from wind and water power. It is a good thing that the casting master has the right sense of proportion and the necessary experience.

Sand molds are used for good reason, because (almost) all other materials would fall to their knees under the 1,500 °C hot mass and would not be able to hold their shape at all. At Skeppshult, every piece is unique, as each sand mold is made separately. As soon as the contents of the mold have cooled down, it is time to unmold. In short: the molds are destroyed and the sand is prepared so that it can be reused. Finally, the cleaning, deburring and smoothing of the cast-iron objects are also part of the work steps that are still mainly carried out by hand at Skeppshult, as is the burnishing. Last but not least, the cast-iron surfaces of pans, roasters etc. are coated with a protective layer of Swedish rapeseed oil.