Posted on 08/27/2017 5:07:42 PM PDT by djf
Hello!
I bought a large (12 in diameter) cast iron pan at a garage sale today.
It has been only very lightly used, the manufacturers name LODGE is plainly visible on the bottom. Little or no burned grease or discoloration evident.
So I did wash it once very lightly with mostly water but just a hint of soap and am now trying to season it.
I put in about a tablespoon of unscented coconut oil and let that melt and worked it in with a paper towel, then turned off the heat.
So I am wondering about the best approach to season it. I know that means NEVER washing it with soap again... but what else should I do? Rub it down with salt or a salt/oil mix? Heat it till it starts smoking? I guess all these years I've used good quality teflon and never had to worry about it!
TIA!
I love all my cast iron cook ware, including some from the 1940s from Grandma.
Now that you have cleaned it up and seasoned it, start cooking in it — that’s the best way to keep seasoning it. Especially meats such as bacon and hamburger.
I clean mine lightly by hand and re-season with Crisco as needed.
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Wesson is garbage. Any oil that can go rancid is garbage. Avocado oil is great but tends to be somewhat expensive.
We generally use either coconut oil or butter for baking.
Butter is fabulous in cookies.
My grandmother always used bacon fat for corn bread to keep it free of the pan. (I haven’t done that for decades)
I have a T-Fal teflon skillet which is very old. My late wife bought it at Sears in Tulsa probably in the mid 70s.
I have accidentally left it on a burner until the smoke alarm went off, probably done that twice. The skillet was smoking, almost red hot and nearly exploded when I held it under cold water.
It still has not warped tho. Unfortunately all the teflon left it years ago. I probably should just throw it out as it sticks with anything not cooked in grease or oil.
Tip,, if for any reason you get some rust in your pan ( camping in the rain or an old garage sale find) you can make it look brand new by using warm water and Arm & Hammer baking soda, rust simply disappears with minor effort. Then season normally. No need to use soap ever, cast iron is pourus and soap can be hard to completely wash out. After use wash out with hot water, then salt, then light coat of bacon grease. The more you use it the better it gets, virtually becomes nonstick. I have some Wagoner that’s over -00 years old and some old Lodge too, both are great. Finding the old stuff and bringing it back is lots of fun.
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Beef tallow is also a highly desirable cooking oil.
Just use any veggie oil. Oil it up good and put it on the burner and let it get good and warm to hot. Let it cool and its done.
I used lard since veggie oil tends to leave a taste for some time.
BTW, We use our iron skillets on a glass top stove. Just dont slide them on the stove and never take them off the hot burner and put them on the cold part of the stove top unless you put something under them.
I have a couple chuck steaks in my fridge that are just callin me...
Cook me! Cook me! Cook me!
They have some nice veins of fat running through them... should be perfect!
I think the coconut oil would work in the cake; it seems to have a slightly greater density, but probably not enough to require changing the quantity (?)
I have a T-Fal teflon skillet which is very old. My late wife bought it at Sears in Tulsa probably in the mid 70s.
I have accidentally left it on a burner until the smoke alarm went off, probably done that twice.
good thing you didn't have a bird nearby, it would likely be dead.
Now you need to look for a smaller skillet specifically for cooking eggs. There’s nothing better than cast iron for cooking.
First, forget all previous posts. Second, take the pan to a machine shop and have them mill the bottom of the pan smooth. It will then season, and cook properly. Lodge and the other companies are too lazy to do this but at one time it was standard fabrication.
??? I do it every day, no stick, cooks fast. But you are wrong about one other thing. Cast iron does not heat evenly. The advantage is that once heated to temperature it holds the heat well.
Want to cook a great steak in a skillet? Put the skillet in the oven and heat it to 500 degrees.Then put the steak in on a burner at medium heat.
***my wife left our cast iron with some leftover pastrami in the oven until it rotted.***
Here is how I recover and clean old cast iron. We found a dead rotted mouse in one of our cast iron skillets in storage.
If you have a brush pile or a barbeque, place the skillet on the grill up side down or in the pile when it is on fire. Let it burn till the fire begins to die or until the skillet glows dull red, or is covered with grey ash.
Pull it out, let it cool. DO NOT spray water on it. When cool, wash the ash off, place it on the stove and get it hot enough to evaporate the water, then wipe it with oil.
Why not? Cast Iron is the only way I cook my eggs.
Not true if your pan is a fine American made one... especially if it’s a pan that’s been periodically used to deep fry a chicken or catfish or donuts. Chinese pans can be sticky- they are thicker and coarser, taking longer to heat up.
The trick is to season it well the first time, and never put food in it when it’s cold. Get it sizzlin’ hot first, hot enough that a drop of water goes up in steam instantly upon hitting it.
Then use a little oil or oil with butter, let it get hot, add a dash of salt, then add food and wait for a while before you turn it or move it to give the food a chance to brown a bit, especially if it’s something delicate like fish.
No stick.
Now to keep the pan in good shape, wipe it out. You can use a little dish soap but it’s not necessary to use soap at all; if you must scour it use salt. Around here or in the midwest you can find a patch of equisitum - horsetail a/k/a scouring rush- and a handful of those silica-rich stems will clean a pan out nicely without scatching. For more modern folks a plastic scrubby works well enough.
Whatever you decide, after wiping it out, set it in a hot oven or on a hot stove for a bit to make sure it is thoroughly dry, then oil it with your preferred oil or grease and put it away. This insures you won’t have rust.
You can re-season a pan if it starts sticking on you, but if you deep fry a chicken once in a while you’ll probably never have to.
Eggs can be a challenge ; you do have to be a generous greaser for those over easy kinds ...and avoid using the fat of sweet sugar-cured bacon to fry them in as the sugar can caramelize and cause the eggs to stick. Plain salt-cured bacon grease is fine.
I cracked one in half that way.
***My late wife bought it at Sears in Tulsa probably in the mid 70s.***
Been there many a time when I lived in Tulsa in the 1970s. Saw a kid throw a real temper tantrum at the top of the escalator.
Because cast iron lasts many lifetimes. Your typical non-stick skillet, even the expensive ones, will need replacing in a year or two if used heavily. Manufacturers need you to keep re-buying your cookware.
***Just use any veggie oil.***
You are correct. I’ve been cooking on cast for the last 65 years and any veggie oil or animal fat will work. I’ve even heated the cleaned cast iron and sprayed cooking spray on the pan.
All will work.
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