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!
Your opinion only.
I would never cook my food in a skillet coated with a polymer, just as I don’t eat crap that has a list of ingredients in it I cant pronounce.
I cook every Saturday morning for our coffee group (about a dozen Old Farts), and they would raise Cain if I cooked their eggs on anything other than iron. After scrubbing and rinsing, I re-oil it and it’s good to go for the next Saturday.
I wash my cast iron pans with dish soap and an a scrubbing pad because I use them for everything from frying eggs to coking mac and cheese. I wash them until all food is removed they look clean. Do this before food dries. I then heat them while spreading a small puddle of vegetable oil with a wadded paper towel until it is evenly distributed and absorbed. I keep heating the pan until it is very hot and slightly smoking (but not burning), continuing rubbing the pan with the towel. This sounds complicated but really isn’t. The pan will form a smooth, black patina. That’s when it’s done. I get the pan ready for next use in about 5 minutes, including washing.
But...I do not even need oil/butter/grease to fry eggs in my non-stick copper pan. And the clean up is super easy. But I can agree that for baking in oven, C.I. is good because the heat is not concentrated such as can happen on a stove top.
Oh man, that makes hungry for some slow roasted pork.
They’re pretty much indestructible...scrape clean with metal spatula and even lightly deglaze if needed...be sure not to ever cool too fast...they can crack from the stress. Just don’t let acidic foods or remnants of them sit around in your seasoned pots/pans/skillets...they will strip it and you’ll have to start over, but that happens time and again. No real big deal.
To season them, thin coats of oil at a time, bring to smoke at 350F. Cooking bacon or deep fat frying really does a good job. Soap is great to clean, just a short period of time and dry, then wipe with oil/grease afterward.
If C.I. pans are so good, why are so many manufacturers have gone out of business?
Flr
I use a very mildly abrasive scrubbing pad.
Frank: You still need a cook?
Kramer: Oh yeah, come on in, Frank.
Frank: Ya got T-Fal?
Kramer: Calphalon.
Frank: No! Follow me!
I bought a cheap gasket scraper in one of them bins and use it to scrape off the nasties and wipe with a paper towell.
People must not like seasoning them and think they will always stick, which they will if not seasoned.
I scrub mine with a nylon brush using very hot tap water. Then I dry it completely, and if a burner is still warm, put it back on the burner to make sure it gets completely dry. (Hint, use an older, dark towel for drying instead of a nice new white one). Then I put in a some drops of oil (usually canola since that is what is beside the stove most times) and wipe it well with a paper towel. By that time the paper towel should be oily, and I use that on the handle and bottom.
If they rust (don't use one in the back of the cabinet for several years in a wet climate, and it will likely happen), remove the rust with a wire brush, steel wool or other abrasive and lots of rubbing, then season it like it is a new pan.
I bought a bunch of used cast iron skillets at farm absolute auctions in Missouri around 1971. They were probably 50 years old at the time. Got them for $1 each and still use them today. Nothing beats cast iron for even heating.
Like you, I sweated correct cleaning and seasoning for a while, then took to scrubbing it with a scrub pad and dish soap. The trick I learned is to ALWAYS put it back on a burner for a few seconds after washing to heat it up and dry off all the moister — heat it long enough to make sure there is NO moisture left to rust the cast iron.
Frankly, I never noticed any difference in cooking performance between a seasoned skillet and one scrubbed clean in soap and water. In fact, the baked-on junk when I bought them made cooking in them quite difficult, I thought.
Progress? They are cumbersome and heavy, and maybe some cooks don’t like that. Teflon coated cookware is fine when new, but they don’t last.
Cornbread made in iron cannot be replicated any other way.
I have a double burner griddle, round skillets, several dutch ovens, and a rectangular skillet.
If you do bacon in them, a cast iron bacon press helps a lot.
All mine are Wagners. 2 skillets #3 #8 and a stew pot with a handle and cover.
The stew pot sits on the wood stove all winter and is home to whole chickens,deer and lamb through out the winter.
Every now and then I let the skillets sit on top for days and I think that helps them retain the superb cooking results they provide.
Also, many people don’t realize iron cookware provides an excellent source of iron in our bodies.
My Pappy us’tah say folks became deficient when we went to aluminum and other junk to cook with
After my Grandmother died, Granddaddy just kept the grease in his frying pan. He would add more as needed. He was in his 80s.
One day one of his Daughters saw the pan with the old grease in it. She took it outside and poured out the old grease, then washed it thoroughly and put fresh oil in it.
Later that day, we were visiting and he asked us if Aunt Mary was selling grease.
Mines on its second lifetime... Cooks great Bacon...
I have cast iron pans that belonged to my mother...probably my grandmother’s. Don’t use them. Don’t like them. Too much work. My new love is the copper skillets. I have 3 at home and 2 on our boat. Absolutely no stick and can go in the oven.
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