Nothing works better than a well-seasoned iron skillet for roasting and browning, say the Seattle authors of "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook," coming out this month.

LAST AUGUST, I took a family vacation to Alaska, and I was determined not to work. But tucked into my suitcase were galley proofs for a book called "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook" (Sasquatch, $16.95). The authors are two of my favorite Seattle cooks, the mother-daughter team of Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne, and I was eager to see what these two women had to say about "Recipes for the Best Pan in Your Kitchen."

As it turned out, the book was more interesting than the novel I had brought along, and I ended up reading myself to sleep with it every night. And in the kitchen of my sister-in-law's house in Sitka, I cooked a number of the recipes for my family. Even when I wasn't cooking recipes from the book, I was using a cast-iron skillet and thinking of the book. As I fried halibut cheeks in my sister-in-law's well-loved skillet, I thought of the recipe for Grandpa Don's Picnic Fried Chicken in the book, knowing I would never have managed to make the crust so uniformly golden in any other type of pan.

Kramis is co-author of "Northwest Bounty" and "Berries, a Country Garden Cookbook." She attended many of James Beard's West Coast cooking classes when Julie was a child, and was already established as an authority on food and cooking when, in 1987, her mother, Elsie Mahan, faxed her a letter that sparked the notion of a book devoted to cast-iron cookery.

"Cherie," wrote Mahan (Cherie was her pet name for Sharon), "these baked beans are wonderful! Everything I make in the Black Skillet seems to be better than the last recipe. I can't believe the difference between just cooking and 'Black Skillet' cooking." She goes on to provide a detailed recipe for baked beans, Boston style, notes on how to brown beef for ragout and a brief description of the Chicken Hapsburg she made a few nights before. In between are comments about co-workers and a birthday card on its way to Julie.

Makes 4 servings With hot buttered toast and a splash of hot sauce, this familiar San Francisco classic is better when it's made in a cast-iron skillet because the meat browns properly against the even heat of the hot iron. Don't even try it with any other pan. – 2 tablespoons butter – 1 cup chopped yellow onion – 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried – 12 ounces lean ground beef – ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper – 3 ounces baby spinach, coarsely chopped – 6 eggs, beaten – ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish – ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper, plus more for garnish Toast, for serving 1. Melt the butter in a 10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle the oregano over the onions. 2. Crumble the ground beef into the pan. Cook, stirring often until the beef is evenly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the black pepper and spinach. Cook and stir until the spinach wilts. 3. Add the beaten eggs and stir everything together. Add the Parmesan cheese and red pepper. Continue stirring until the eggs are cooked. 4. Serve on warm plates with freshly made toast. Sprinkle additional cheese and chopped red pepper over each serving. — Adapted from "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook"

Now, Mahan is in assisted living and the little girl who was waiting for the birthday card is all grown up with two children of her own. But "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook" is finally out, and it was well worth the wait.

Just like one of those pans that gets handed down from generation to generation, this new collection of recipes bears the well-seasoned finish of a good frying pan.

"It's a three-generation book," explains Kramis. "Mother-daughter, mother-daughter. More than a cookbook," she says. "It's a point of connection. The process of doing it with my daughter, Julie, was paramount. We did everything together. But it was my mother who really started everything."

What makes cooking in a cast-iron skillet unique, say Kramis and Hearne, is more than just a nostalgic attachment to old-style pans; it's a matter of technology. "The newer pans just do not brown and sear the way that iron does," says Kramis. "And this is especially important these days when so many contemporary recipes call for a quick pan-searing followed by a short time in the oven. The cast iron roasts and browns; it doesn't steam and sweat. You just can't get the same effect in a non-stick pan. Cast iron is just the best."

Hearne has cooked beside her mother since she was a child. Before she became a full-time mom and cookbook author, she ran her own sandwich shop, Hoopla, and polished her skills by cooking with Jerry Traunfeld at The Herbfarm.

"I've always loved cooking with my mom," Hearne says, "and just watching her cooking in the old cast-iron skillet is one of my favorite things. So when she asked me to do this book with her, I didn't even have to think about it."

She has served for several years on the board of Slow Food Seattle, where she helps coordinate festive and educational food events celebrating traditional and artisanal foods.

"This book is all about recipes that are doable," says Hearne. "It's not exactly slow food. It's more about how we really cook and eat today."

Greg Atkinson is a contributing editor for Food Arts magazine and a culinary consultant. He can be reached at greg@northwestessentials.com. Barry Wong is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.