Unlike many other cooking tools in the kitchen, cast iron is part of the family. It tells a story, and especially in the South, it’s one that may go back generations. “I feel like I’m cooking with history when I cook with cast iron,” said North Carolina native Elizabeth Karmel. “It brings back memories of my grandmother and mother cooking some of my favorite foods. “As a Southern cook, I have to say that Southern food is frequently cooked to conjure up memories of people, holidays, and traditions past. And because so many of our ancestors used cast-iron to cook with, that makes it an important part of recreating family culinary rituals and traditions.” A Kitchen Workhouse Karmel, former spokesperson for Lodge Cast Iron’s line of cookbooks and author of “Steak and Cake,” is a renowned expert on Southern cooking. Cast iron, she says, is an essential piece of kitchen …