CH Runners
Not Running => Food => Topic started by: Rochey on January 06, 2017, 09:47:17 AM
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So far I hate it.
It's messy, it's heavy, it's hard to clean.
My sister, who's damn near a gourmet chef, basically only uses hers. She made the best hamburgers not too long ago and I tried to replicate. They tasted good, but my house was full of smoke, grease got everywhere, and they seemed to take forever to cook. I looked online to see if maybe i cooked them too high....every recipe said to use medium-high heat and that it should only take 2 minutes per side! What?
Help. Tell me your success stories before I donate this hunk of metal.
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Where is OBH? :obh:
I love mine, but it takes time to get it where you want it, and cooking with it is different than cooking with other pans -- it conducts heat differently.
Seasoning is key, of course. I have had the best success with flaxseed oil and a hot oven. The more seasoned your pan is, the easier it is too cook in it.
For cleaning: I usually boil a little water in the pan just to get the worst of the mess off. Then (after it cools) I have a dedicated scrubber I use for it, that never gets soap. If I need a little more grit to get stuff off, I'll use a tablespoon of salt. After it's clean and dry I always wipe it with a paper towel that's been moistened with a bit of flaxseed oil.
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Are you using an electric stove? Cause I would think that would not work so good.
And....does sister have gas?
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Are you using an electric stove? Cause I would think that would not work so good.
And....does sister have gas?
Yes and no. she just has some special voodoo cooking magic it seems.
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I have an electric stove, as does my BFF (who is a wizard with cast iron), so I don't think that's a problem.
This piece is pretty good: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-use-a-cast-iron-skillet (http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-use-a-cast-iron-skillet)
I think the key takeaway is get that pan hot before you do anything with it.
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We use it regularly for just about everything. When it is properly cared for it is probably the easiest pan in the house to keep clean. Never skimp on oil until it is really well seasoned.
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10678548_10102303364570846_2574691363211627403_n.jpg?oh=76e74ff90e98c20ced24a7e4a8c6ac60&oe=58E282E6)
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Oooh yeah deep dish pizza in the cast iron pan. YUM!
I have a new pan to season, just need to get around to it...
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Oooh yeah deep dish pizza in the cast iron pan. YUM!
I have a new pan to season, just need to get around to it...
I didn't know the secret to this until recently. Put slices of mozzarella on top of the dough to keep the sauce from soaking in before adding in the other layers of stuff. Makes a world of difference.
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Not much you can do about the smoke and grease, but you can get it to not be a mess. Repeated use and heat and oil. Season again and keep using.
If the bottom is rough, consider getting an abrasive grinder for the drill and smooth it out.
Try the Alton Brown cast iron steak method. Lots of smoke, but worth it.
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You can also use your outdoor grill to season if you don't want the smoke in the house.
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Not much you can do about the smoke and grease, but you can get it to not be a mess. Repeated use and heat and oil. Season again and keep using.
If the bottom is rough, consider getting an abrasive grinder for the drill and smooth it out.
I put my 60+ year old skillet (belonged to my grandma) in the oven and turned on the clean cycle. Burned all the old gunk off (make sure the kitchen is well ventilated).
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we use ours so often it stays out on top of the range, never put away
here's why you will love it:
stovetop to oven dishes such as pan-roasted pork tenderloin, pan-roasted chicken , pan-seared steak finished in the oven, frittata
pan-fried duck breast (this is an excellent one to help with seasoning the pan)
corn bread
dutch baby pancakes
be generous with fats and oils especially the first several times you use it
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I have two and love them but it does take a while to get used to.
DH cooked steaks in one and set off the smoke alarms. I wasn't home by DD told me all about it. :D
I also find that if a recipe calls for medium heat, I really need medium low if using a cast iron pan.
Cleaning with kosher salt is super easy.
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I made a big cookie in mine. That is what it is best for :D
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Rochey, I can not do it. My husband is all about his cast iron. My sister too. And all I do is burn crap and make a mess and feel annoyed I didn't just use my non stick pans. So :buttpat:
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Ok I'm trying it again and have it on low heat. Making bacon and hash browns for the kids...so far does not appear I'll be setting off the smoke alarms.
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Well? :grr:
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I've used it pretty much every time I need to fry, brown, or simmer something and it's growing on me. It's super easy to clean. The key is to not let it get too hot.
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I generally use my cast iron ware when I'm cooking something that involves both time on the stove top and time in the oven. Otherwise, I'm really liking the T-fal fry pan I picked up at the local kitchenware store. It supposedly has a tougher ceramic non-stick coating, but I'm skeptical after so many false claims about durable non-stickiness. So far, so good.
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I've used it pretty much every time I need to fry, brown, or simmer something and it's growing on me. It's super easy to clean. The key is to not let it get too hot.
Yes, they aren't any where near as temperature consistent as most claim. The generally accepted canon on cast iron is all myth. Get away from that and it's all good!
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Yes, they aren't any where near as temperature consistent as most claim. The generally accepted canon on cast iron is all myth. Get away from that and it's all good!
Yes! I was teaching Mason how to make a grilled cheese sandwich and one side of the bread was hardly cooked while the other was brown. Part of it may have been positioning on the glass stovetop, but it wasn't what I was led to believe.
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I got one of these things to scrub any burnt on guck off. Works great.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61EDp3v9V0L._SL1000_.jpg)
Amazon "The Ringer"
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I got one of these things to scrub any burnt on guck off. Works great.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61EDp3v9V0L._SL1000_.jpg)
Amazon "The Ringer"
This is now on my list!
Sent from my SM-G900T1 using Tapatalk
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I thought the goal with cast iron was to cultivate a nicely seasoned coating that bonded with the iron and filled in the irregularities to give you a glassy smooth cooking surface. Not sure how scrubbing everything down with those chain mail thingies would be helpful.
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I thought the goal with cast iron was to cultivate a nicely seasoned coating that bonded with the iron and filled in the irregularities to give you a glassy smooth cooking surface. Not sure how scrubbing everything down with those chain mail thingies would be helpful.
You got to knock off the big bits with something. That thing will leave some marks, though. You wouldn't use it on much else you cook with.
These days most cast iron needs some help from the grinder to get a glass finish. It's why the older stuff still brings more money. Way smoother bottoms from the factory.
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Ugh, I had a perfectly seasoned pan and I wrecked it the other day. I have to reseason it entirely. It's the worst mess I've ever made of a pan, and I've been cooking on cast iron all my life.
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The Recipe for Perfect Cast Iron Seasoning
The basic idea is this: Smear a food-grade drying oil onto a cast iron pan, and then bake it above the oil’s smoke point. This will initiate the release of free radicals and polymerization. The more drying the oil, the harder the polymer. So start with the right oil.
Go to your local health food store or organic grocery and buy a bottle of flaxseed oil. It’s sold as an omega-3 supplement and it’s in the refrigeration section because it goes rancid so easily. Check the expiration date to make sure it’s not already rancid. Buy an organic flaxseed oil. You don’t want to burn toxic chemicals into your cookware to leach out forever more. It’s a fairly expensive oil. I paid $17 for a 17 ounce bottle of cold-pressed, unrefined, organic flaxseed oil. As it says on the bottle, shake it before you use it.
Strip your pan down to the iron using the techniques I describe in my popover post (http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/perfect-popovers-and-how-to-clean-reseason-cast-iron/). Heat the pan in a 200°F oven to be sure it’s bone dry and to open the pores of the iron a little. Then put it on a paper towel, pour a little flaxseed oil on it (don’t forget to shake the bottle), and rub the oil all over the pan with your hands, making sure to get into every nook and cranny. Your hands and the pan will be nice and oily.
Now rub it all off. Yup – all. All. Rub it off with paper towels or a cotton cloth until it looks like there is nothing left on the surface. There actually is oil left on the surface, it’s just very thin. The pan should look dry, not glistening with oil. Put the pan upside down in a cold oven. Most instructions say to put aluminum foil under it to catch any drips, but if your oil coating is as thin as it should be, there won’t be any drips.
Turn the oven to a baking temperature of 500°F (or as high as your oven goes – mine only goes to 450°F) and let the pan preheat with the oven. When it reaches temperature, set the timer for an hour. After an hour, turn off the oven but do not open the oven door. Let it cool off with the pan inside for two hours, at which point it’s cool enough to handle.
The pan will come out of the oven a little darker, but matte in texture – not the semi-gloss you’re aiming for. It needs more coats. In fact, it needs at least six coats. So again rub on the oil, wipe it off, put it in the cold oven, let it preheat, bake for an hour, and let it cool in the oven for two hours. The picture above was taken after six coats of seasoning. At that point it starts to develop a bit of a sheen and the pan is ready for use.
If you try this, you will be tempted to use a thicker coat of oil to speed up the process. Don’t do it. It just gets you an uneven surface – or worse, baked on drips. Been there, done that. You can’t speed up the process. If you try, you’ll mess up the pan and have to start over.
The reason for the very hot oven is to be sure the temperature is above the oil’s smoke point, and to maximally accelerate the release of free radicals. Unrefined flaxseed oil actually has the lowest smoke point of any oil (see this table). But the higher the temperature the more it will smoke, and that’s good for seasoning (though bad for eating – do not let oils smoke during cooking).
I mentioned earlier there’s a myth floating around that vegetable oils leave a sticky residue. If the pan comes out of the oven sticky, the cause is one of three things:
- You put the oil on too thick.
- Your oven temperature was too low.
- Your baking time was too short.
It’s possible to use a suboptimal oil for seasoning, like Crisco or bacon drippings, and still end up with a usable pan. Many (most) people do this. But the seasoning will be relatively soft, not as nonstick, and will tend to wear off. If you want the hardest, slickest seasoning possible, use the right oil: flaxseed oil.
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ (http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/)
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Thanks. That's basically my technique, with the flaxseed oil. It gives a better finish than anything else I've tried.
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I tried the flaxseed seasoning method - six coats. Tossed a marinated chicken breast in there and it got unbelievably stuck. Huge mess. What the hell?
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The only thing I can think is that you are treating cast iron like teflon? As great as cast iron is, it's NOT 100% nonstick. You need to use butter or oil with it, especially with less fatty foods. Scrambled eggs, for example, will pretty much always stick in a cast iron pan IMO.
Are you using any oil in the pan?
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The only thing I can think is that you are treating cast iron like teflon? As great as cast iron is, it's NOT 100% nonstick. You need to use butter or oil with it, especially with less fatty foods. Scrambled eggs, for example, will pretty much always stick in a cast iron pan IMO.
Are you using any oil in the pan?
Of course. There was a generous coat of olive oil in there.
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Of course. There was a generous coat of olive oil in there.
Did you get it really hot before you threw in the chicken?
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Of course. There was a generous coat of olive oil in there.
Did you give the meat time to release on it's own, or did it just stick and burn?
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Did you take the chicken out of the plastic wrap first? :devil:
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Did you get it really hot before you threw in the chicken?
yes
Did you give the meat time to release on it's own, or did it just stick and burn?
yes
Did you take the chicken out of the plastic wrap first? :devil:
yes
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yes
yes
yes
Well, some things are just not meant to be for some people. Like me and the crock pot. The insert is good for soaking beans though.
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It seemed like the seasoning was good - smooth sheen and not sticky. But the seasoning seemed to "come off" as soon as I started cooking.
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Boyfriend just tried to re-season his pan. I don't know what oil he put on it, but "smoke point" set off the smoke detectors.
I re-seasoned (ish anyway) a pan my now ex husband owned. I'm pretty sure it had been through the dishwasher. I probably just used a vegetable oil. I did not go to smoke point, but I think I left it in the oven for probably 4 hours. I don't know how great is was, but it was better than it had started.
I had read they didn't recommend using cast iron on a glass stove top (damage to stove top). If I got one, I'd probably get the porcelain enamel on the outside. Although cast iron is heavier than I want to deal with as it is and that makes it heavier. Maybe one with two handles would be manageable, but then I'd have to store it somewhere.
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Ugh, I had a perfectly seasoned pan and I wrecked it the other day. I have to reseason it entirely. It's the worst mess I've ever made of a pan, and I've been cooking on cast iron all my life.
How did you wreck it? I'm curious as after I move I'll be cooking with gas again and would like to start using my cast iron more.
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How did you wreck it? I'm curious as after I move I'll be cooking with gas again and would like to start using my cast iron more.
By being an idiot!
I put some water in the pan to cook off some cooked on food. And then I walked off and forgot about it, and all the water cooked out. Idiot!!!
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Ooph. That sucks.
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I only have a deep cast iron pan that I use for all my stews. I like the way it heats up....perfect for risottos.
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I don't know what else to do. This cast iron skillet is 60+ years old (it was my grandmother's) and no matter how much I season it, no matter how much I baby it, I end up with a giant stuck on mess. Even when I cook with so much oil that the food ends up greasy and inedible.
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I've heard of people sanding them down to get a smoother finish. I am pretty sure OBH did it. Seems like a lot of work, though.
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I don't know what else to do. This cast iron skillet is 60+ years old (it was my grandmother's) and no matter how much I season it, no matter how much I baby it, I end up with a giant stuck on mess. Even when I cook with so much oil that the food ends up greasy and inedible.
How hot are you using it? This may not be relevant but mine seem to work better at a lower heat than I would normally use for a non stick.. the hotter they are the more stuff sticks..
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I've heard of people sanding them down to get a smoother finish. I am pretty sure OBH did it. Seems like a lot of work, though.
We had to do this once and start over. It did help.
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I'm going to try this with the Lodge pan. It's pretty useless with the current orange peel finish. You can season that thing 'til the cows come home and it's still gonna grab onto everything like velcro.
How to smooth the rough cooking surface of a modern Lodge cast iron skillet. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf_gnyxyKKw#)
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It already has a smooth finish. And the last thing I plan to do is sand that thing!
I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. My grandma used and abused that thing successfully for decades.
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It already has a smooth finish. And the last thing I plan to do is sand that thing!
I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. My grandma used and abused that thing successfully for decades.
Maybe you're not using enough oil?
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Maybe you're not using enough oil?
>:(
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Lookie what arrived in the mail today.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2939/33339100003_3106d234ff_b.jpg)
This weekend I'm gonna chuck that thing into my drill and smooth out the orange peel surface of my crappy Lodge pan. Will report back after seasoning and a few cooking trials.
This is my plan B as far as ferrous cooking surfaces are concerned. It also arrived in the mail today.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2815/33339099373_3d637b8cb1_o.jpg)
Other crazy people looking for great cooking surfaces recommended it. The pan is made in France where they seem to know a bit about cooking and it's entirely constructed of carbon steel. And it's hefty! I'm sure it will get even better with seasoning, but I'm impatient, so I just oiled it up and fried some eggs. Viola! Right out of the box, this thing works better than my most seasoned cast iron pan. I'm very impressed.
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Hey! I've got the de Buyer skillet. I was advised to fry potato peels in it first, did you do that?
I do love it. It is one of the few items that made the cut when we sold the house and downsized. But so did one cast-iron skillet. They are good for different tasks.
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Hey! I've got the de Buyer skillet. I was advised to fry potato peels in it first, did you do that?
I do love it. It is one of the few items that made the cut when we sold the house and downsized. But so did one cast-iron skillet. They are good for different tasks.
Nah, I'm breaking all the rules with this one. Just cooking stuff in it and hoping for the best. So far so good, and if it goes wonky on me, I'll just run it through an oven cleaning cycle and do the traditional seasoning thing.
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Nah, I'm breaking all the rules with this one. Just cooking stuff in it and hoping for the best. So far so good, and if it goes wonky on me, I'll just run it through an oven cleaning cycle and do the traditional seasoning thing.
Not much to it, took less than 5 minutes.
I also dremeled my cast iron skillet the same time that OBH did his. Several sandpaper bits, then some steel wool. It did help. But it took a couple hours. And it never was as good as my inherited skillet.
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Not much to it, took less than 5 minutes.
What's the science behind the potato peel frying?
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What's the science behind the potato peel frying?
I have no idea. I've had that pan for years and can't remember what I read, just that I did it.
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It already has a smooth finish. And the last thing I plan to do is sand that thing!
I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. My grandma used and abused that thing successfully for decades.
Well, it sounds like you've got an heirloom pan. They were hand-made back then and the cooking surface was ground smooth. The only thing I can think is that you might have missed a step or two in the seasoning process. Can you post a picture of the cooking surface?
I speak from experience about the seasoning process. I paid a pretty penny for an old Griswold pan that someone was selling online. The seller burned off all the crud, so I just had to season it. I tried, but I left way too much oil on the thing between cycles, and it came out lumpy and sticky. Pretty much the opposite of non-stick.
This weekend I did some work on the pans. I have a small Lodge pan that has never worked very well. As you probably know, the Lodge manufacturing process produces a pan with a very rough surface. First I ran it through an oven cleaning cycle to burn off my previous failed attempts at seasoning. Then I used an abrasive wheel on the drill to smooth down the pebbly finish as much as possible.
It took a while, and it didn't eliminate the deepest pitting, but the surface was a lot smoother after the grinding. Then I put it through 5 oven cycles using very thin coats of flaxseed oil and burning each one in at 400 to 500 degrees. Remains to be seen whether I did it right this time, but it certainly looks/feels good.
In hindsight, I think it's critical to make the oil layers as thin as possible which basically involves rubbing off every bit of oil you can soak up with paper towels before baking on a new layer. In previous efforts, I left a lot more oil on the pan thinking more would be better. Not so.
I also ran the new carbon steel pan through the same process. It went from silver to ebony and looks super smooth. Can't wait to try these guys out with the proverbial fried egg.
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I saw this video come up on Facebook. SO apparently takes shit care of his cast iron pan. I want to get a smaller one that I don't have trouble lifting.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KLGSLCaksdY
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I saw this video come up on Facebook. SO apparently takes shit care of his cast iron pan. I want to get a smaller one that I don't have trouble lifting.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KLGSLCaksdY
Good video. When they started washing the skillet, I swear I could smell it! That weird combo of rancid oil and dish soap.
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This was in the magazine rack at Whole Foods today and I thought of you:
https://americastestkitchen.buysub.com/america-s-test-kitchen-special-magazine-issues/america-s-test-kitchen-the-cook-it-in-cast-iron-2017-bookazine.html
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So, yesterday I tried to fry a couple of eggs in the carbon steel pan and it was an unmitigated disaster. Maybe the heat was too high, but those eggs stuck to the surface like it was fly paper. Back to the drawing board on that pan.
Tonight I put the Lodge pan to the test. This is the one I smoothed out with the abrasive wheel, but I put it through exactly the same seasoning process as the carbon steel pan, so I wasn't expecting too much. What a difference! Just a little loosening up with the spatula and those eggs were sliding around the pan like ice dancers. Too bad about the carbon steel pan, but the cast iron pan was as slick as any surface I've ever cooked on. I'll give the carbon steel pan a few more coats and see it that makes a difference.
https://youtu.be/qzcgcrTeqBw
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Eggs are the true test of a nonstick surface! Nicely done.
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HB - I use kosher salt to get bits that are stuck on my cast iron. Just toss it in there and scrub with a paper towel and it's done. Another thing I try to do is if stuff is stuck on there while the pan is still hot, I'll de-glaze it with water which, often, makes anything else other than a ring un-necessary.
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Our two cast iron pans belonged to my wife's great grandmother who used them during the Alaska gold rush and then brought them back to Oroville to a timber camp where she was the cook most of the rest of her life.Those pans are so seasoned at this point that I swear you could ice skate on them if they were a little bit bigger and it wouldn't mar them up at all. We can actually wash them with detergent and it doesn't do a damn thing to them. My advice is keep an eye out at fleamarkets for a really old and well used cast-iron pan.
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who used them during the Alaska gold rush and then brought them back to Oroville to a timber camp where she was the cook most of the rest of her life
:heartbeat:
I love this story!!
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171015/1c061a2dbd3266cbc801ae9810571dae.jpg)
Trying again. So no matter how well I season the pan, no matter how well I try to care for it, I always end up with this sticky residue that food sticks to. How do I get rid of it? Why does my pan grab onto everything and burn it?
And before responding, please see my other responses in this thread to see what I've previously done.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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That pan looks really rough. All those ridges. I don't think that one is going to work very well unless you can get the surface smoother.
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Maybe you need to be a little... grosser? I'm just wondering if you're cleaning it *too* much and not letting the seasoning build up enough, if that makes any sense.
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That pan looks really rough. All those ridges. I don't think that one is going to work very well unless you can get the surface smoother.
My grandma used it for years without a problem.
Maybe you need to be a little... grosser? I'm just wondering if you're cleaning it *too* much and not letting the seasoning build up enough, if that makes any sense.
I've followed the recommendations I've read for cleaning and it seems plenty gross. :D
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My grandma used it for years without a problem.
Maybe it's not as rough as it looks. When you run your fingernail over those grooves, can you them? Also, just out of curiosity, what brand of pan is it? What do the markings on the bottom look like?
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Maybe you need to be a little... grosser? I'm just wondering if you're cleaning it *too* much and not letting the seasoning build up enough, if that makes any sense.
that's what I was thinking... that pan looks way too clean to me.
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I was doing a bit of research and my pan was "made in Taiwan" which is apparently a very bad thing according to cast iron enthusiasts.
Anyhow, I made a stove top to oven chicken dish this weekend and while I didn't have issues with sticking (used lots of olive oil), I noticed that the seasoning had come off in certain sections. This has happened to me before and not because I've washed the pan. It comes off during cooking. Anyone else had this happen?
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I've been using my pan more and more and it's growing on me. Maybe it's because the last thing I cooked was greasy bacon and eggs. :-D
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I've pretty much concluded that I'll love this pan because it was Grandma's, but I don't think I'm going to get much use out of it. I much prefer cooking with my enamel cast iron skillets.
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I've pretty much concluded that I'll love this pan because it was Grandma's, but I don't think I'm going to get much use out of it. I much prefer cooking with my enamel cast iron skillets.
can you hang it on the wall as kitchen decor? :D
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can you hang it on the wall as kitchen decor? :D
:!:
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I thought of something else, Amy. Are you cooking acidic foods, like tomatoes, in your cast iron pan? (I remembered this because I used tomatoes in mine and thought of this thread.)
Unless your pan is already extremely well seasoned, you should not cook tomatoes in it, the acid will wreak havoc with the seasoning. Same for vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc (although it's probably fine to add any of those at the finish, just don't simmer for a long time).
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At Christmas time I bought myself a Staub enameled (emerald green) cast iron skillet. I love it. I know it's not the true purists type where you season it because it has a nonstick coating, but it cooks well and washes up like a breeze. I use it daily.
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I thought of something else, Amy. Are you cooking acidic foods, like tomatoes, in your cast iron pan? (I remembered this because I used tomatoes in mine and thought of this thread.)
Unless your pan is already extremely well seasoned, you should not cook tomatoes in it, the acid will wreak havoc with the seasoning. Same for vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc (although it's probably fine to add any of those at the finish, just don't simmer for a long time).
No. I followed all the cardinal rules of cast iron.
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No. I followed all the cardinal rules of cast iron.
Why do you think your Grandma's skillet didn't work?
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Why do you think your Grandma's skillet didn't work?
If I knew the answer to this, I wouldn't be asking all of you! I'm happy with my enameled cast iron though.
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I'm irrationally adamant that we should be able to crack this mystery.
We should plan a CH camping trip, and we'll all try to cook on it. :roll:
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If I knew the answer to this, I wouldn't be asking all of you! I'm happy with my enameled cast iron though.
Seems like the pan had a poorly finished surface. Some of the stuff from Taiwan is pretty rough. So maybe that's why it didn't perform like a traditional cast iron pan. Still, it's a mystery that it worked for your Grandma. Maybe she used enough fat that nothing stuck to the pan because it was floating on an oil slick? Who knows. Anyway, glad you found something that works.
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I'm irrationally adamant that we should be able to crack this mystery.
We should plan a CH camping trip, and we'll all try to cook on it. :roll:
Hey, Amy ship it to me and I'll resurface it like I did with my Lodge pans. The process is kind of tedious, but it works.
https://vimeo.com/214775742
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I'm irrationally adamant that we should be able to crack this mystery.
We should plan a CH camping trip, and we'll all try to cook on it. :roll:
:D I'm game!
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Seems like the pan had a poorly finished surface. Some of the stuff from Taiwan is pretty rough. So maybe that's why it didn't perform like a traditional cast iron pan. Still, it's a mystery that it worked for your Grandma. Maybe she used enough fat that nothing stuck to the pan because it was floating on an oil slick? Who knows. Anyway, glad you found something that works.
Well, she was an Italian Grandma and Italian Grandmas can do anything.
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There is a reason mine is now relagated to pretty much only camping. I think they seemed more awesome before actual non stick pans existed.
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i've been thinking about this thread (my life is a basket filled with excitement and intensity).
my cast iron cookware is all enameled le creuset, because i can't deal.
i suspect this stems from my mother's insistence that we SCRUB her [conventional] cast iron cookware with steel wool and soap every time she used it. if it was even remotely smeared with fat after a wash, she'd lose her mind. why does she own any? i have no idea.
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i've been thinking about this thread (my life is a basket filled with excitement and intensity).
my cast iron cookware is all enameled le creuset, because i can't deal.
i suspect this stems from my mother's insistence that we SCRUB her [conventional] cast iron cookware with steel wool and soap every time she used it. if it was even remotely smeared with fat after a wash, she'd lose her mind. why does she own any? i have no idea.
After about 500 years, that might produce a very slick finish.
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i've been thinking about this thread (my life is a basket filled with excitement and intensity).
I think about this thread every time I use my cast iron! I am still sad we can't get to the bottom of it.
FWIW my new (to me, but it's like 60 years old) Descoware enameled cast iron skillet is possibly my favorite thing in my kitchen right now.
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my cast iron cookware is all enameled le creuset, because i can't deal.
All the way with Le Creuset. :rah:
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I feel like you should all know that I successfully made pancakes in the cast iron.
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:D
I thought about this thread after tossing a cast iron pan. It worked well for years and then NOTHING worked - I couldn't get it clean without damaging the seasoning and then I couldn't ever restore the seasoning.
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I feel like you should all know that I successfully made pancakes in the cast iron.
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:heartbeat:
What do you think turned the corner for you and the pan?
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:heartbeat:
What do you think turned the corner for you and the pan?
The pan and I have negotiated a truce. I will not prepare eggs in it, it will not attract every bit of stickiness and lint within the house like a magnet.
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Wise! I don’t usually make eggs in mine, either. Just too sticky.
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I just thought about this thread the other day. I have been using mine a lot more and love how meat turns out. We bought a half a beef and even just hamburgers cooked in it are amazing.
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I just seared a steak in reconditioned Lodge pan. Cleaned up fine with just hot water. The non-stick pans work well too. But even the most durable of them eventually wears out so you just have to accept the need to toss them every so often.
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Love this thread. I have learned much.
I have learned that how I use my cast iron skillet would make you guys shudder. It is not properly seasoned- no time for that! My only rule is never use soap on it. I put tomatoes and other acidic stuff in it with abandon. I love it for searing.
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The joy of cast iron is that it can be so many things!
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If you are feeling flush, check out these beauties (https://butterpatindustries.com/collections/frontpage) at Butter Pat Cast Iron Industries. They have a Memorial Day special going on, 15% off, but only on the two smaller (8" and 10") skillets. Discount Code: MEMORIALDAY19
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The joy of cast iron is that it can be so many things!
except not heavy.