Cast Iron virgin - dealing with the morning after

Captcha · Jan 1, 2011

So I got a cast iron skillet for myself (we'll say it was for Xmas), and it said that it was pre-seasoned, but it also said that it was a good idea if the first few dishes were fatty.

So I fried bacon in it. Hard to get fattier than that, I figured. And it wasn't that I wanted to eat the bacon. Oh, no, I don't really care for the delicious, salty treat.

Anyway, the cooking part went quite well, but the washing instructions for the pan say no scouring, just wipe the food waste away. There's no WAY I can wipe this food waste away. It's a thin brown coating over almost the entire bottom of the pan. I scraped at it with the spatula, and it turned into a less-shiny thin brown coating. I don't want to wreck the seasoning by doing anything else, but I'm not supposed to leave the brown stuff on, am I? That's not what they mean by 'patina', surely...

Help?

CACTUSWENDY · Jan 1, 2011

All I remember from when I was a small child was that you never scour a cast iron skillet. My mom would have killed me. I also remember thinking that it never 'looked' clean. lol (My mom was a very tidy person.) I will be interested to hear/see what others tell you about this. I have had a couple in my adult life and just did not like the stuff left behind look. But I also remember the wonderful flavors that came from the food cooked in that skillet. Sigh.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

They mean don't use a rough scouring pad. It's okay to use a sponge type pad.

Captcha · Jan 1, 2011

Like, not the metal kind, but the plastic one that is glued to the back of sponges? The same kind you can use on teflon stuff?

And how about soap? The instructions said no detergent - is dish soap (like Palmolive, or whatever) detergent, or is it...soap...? Words have obviously failed me.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Well, caring for cast iron is a bit of an art. That's why I prefer the enameled versions.

You're not really suppose to use soap on cast iron, but many people do on one that has really become seasoned.

Remember, pre-seasoned just means it's been seasoned at the factory and you can use it right away. You will probably still need to season it again from time to time. Do you know how to do that?

Just use a sponge or a heavy paper towel and warm water to clean the skillet for now. And yes, it would be much the same as caring for non-stick cookware. You have to be gentle, especially at first. Later you can be a little "rougher".

And never, ever leave the skillet wet.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 1, 2011

Use table salt and hot water with a sponge that has plastic scouring stuff on one side.

The table salt is gentle, it dissolves, and it chemically removes a number of food stuffs.

Detergents will strip the "seasoning" from the pan.

You may (almost certainly will) want to thoroughly season the pan a few times between cooking until the oils/fats form a protective bond with the iron.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Medievalist, can someone use Bar Keepers Friend on cast iron or not? I've forgotten.

Captcha · Jan 1, 2011

Alleycat, I have the directions that came with it re. seasoning - rub with lard or other non-vegetable fat, oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, pour out excess fat, back in over for an hour, repeat a couple times. Does that sound reasonable?

ETA: And it's still New Year's Day here, but happy Lidless Pot Day for those who are already celebrating! One of my favourite things about being lidless - if I screw up and destroy the cast iron pan I just spent good money on, there's nobody to make me feel guilty about it. It was my money, my pot, and my choice! That said - I'd rather not destroy the cast iron pan...

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

By the way, when I first saw this thread title, Cast Iron Virgin, I thought it was someone's book title (then I saw it was in the cooking forum). You know, it wouldn't be a bad one. ;-)

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Kate_Sherwood said:
Alleycat, I have the directions that came with it re. seasoning - rub with lard or other non-vegetable fat, oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, pour out excess fat, back in over for an hour, repeat a couple times. Does that sound reasonable?

Yep, that's basically it, although I don't think most people repeat that many times.

You will probably love cooking with your cast iron skillet. You might also hate having to take care of it. If you find you do, remember that there is enameled cast iron with non-stick coating that is great, Le Creuset being the most well-known. It's expensive, but I think it's worth it. Sometimes you can find it on sale.

MacAllister · Jan 1, 2011

Kate, after you scrub your skillet with the green scrubby on the back of your sponge, warm water, and maybe a quarter cup of table salt, wipe it dry with paper towels and coat it very lightly with vegetable oil to store.

To season it, you wipe it thoroughly-but-not-thickly with lard or shortening, (You can certainly use vegatable oil, though, if you're a vegetarian type) place it in a cold oven, turn the oven on to 350. Don't open the oven.

When the skillet has heated up with the oven to the original 350, turn the oven up to 500 degrees (skillet still inside.) Don't open the oven.

After the oven has reached that 500 degree temperature, leave it at 500 degrees for around 15 or 20 minutes. Then simply turn the oven off, and allow the skillet to cool very slowly inside the slowly cooling oven. Don't open the oven until it's cool.

You can repeat this process a few times, if you'd like a more durable seasoning coat - and anytime you fear you've damaged the surface.

Cheers!

Captcha · Jan 1, 2011

Excellent advice, everybody - thanks!

I DID look at the enamel-coated pots, and I bought one (a small saucepan) to experiment with, but I wasn't sure if they'd be as durable. I'm trying to switch to cast-iron and stainless steel to get away from coatings that might peel off - I didn't want to move to a whole new type of coating. Is the enamel quite durable?

Deleted member 42 · Jan 1, 2011

Kate_Sherwood said:
Is the enamel quite durable?

I think it depends on the manufacturer, but I know of people with Le Creuset pots used regularly that are more than forty years old. The inside coating is a bit stained, but the pots work just as it should.

shawkins · Jan 1, 2011

Interesting. I'd never heard the bit about not scouring. My Dad & grandmother used cast iron skillets more or less daily, but they washed them with Palmolive and hit them with brillo pads as needed. Which is not to say that scouring is not a bad thing--neither Dad nor Nanny were the directions reading type, God love them. What's the rationale? Does it hurt the metal, or does not scouring help flavor or something?

One trick they both used that I thought was cool was that to dry the pans they set the empty, washed skillet on high heat for a minute or two. Otherwise they tended to rust.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 1, 2011

Scouring with steel wool, which may be necessary for a rusted or damaged pot, can remove the "seasoning," the layer of iron near the surface that has formed a chemical bond with oil, making the pan essentially non-stick. Detergents do the same thing.

With a well-seasoned pan, you can generally wipe it clean with paper towels.

Drying them on a hot stove or oven is a tradition, too.

For a very badly damaged pan, you can scrub it with oil and salt, and sometimes, oil and steel wool, when there's visible rust and caked-on, baked on food.

You never want to put the pan away with food residue on it; the food produces acid that will pit the cast iron.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Le Creuset is very good (there used to be two versions; I'm not sure what's available currently). Lodge makes a version that is cheaper, as I recall.

If you're switching to stainless, you might keep an eye on the deals on Amazon. A lot of times the cookware will quality for the "4-for-3" discount. That makes it a pretty good deal. All-Clad is great, but very expensive. I have a lot of Cuisinart Multiclad stainless and it's good. You might also consider Circulon non-stick; I have a couple of pieces of it (including a skillet) and so far I've been impressed.

By the way, you can also use that salt trick with stainless. I've heard of people who never actually wash their stainless, they use heated salt and wipe it clean.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Medievalist said:
I think it depends on the manufacturer, but I know of people with Le Creuset pots used regularly that are more than forty years old. The inside coating is a bit stained, but the pots work just as it should.

I have a Le Creuset skillet that is 25 years old. It's taken a lot of abuse and come through. I'm not sure their newer stuff is quite up to the old standard, but I can't say that for sure.

---

The main thing with any kind of coated cookware is to never use a metal spatula; always use wood or plastic.

MacAllister · Jan 1, 2011

Oh! And never run cold water onto hot cast-iron - it can crack.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

My mother has a cast iron skillet that must be sixty or seventh years old. That thing is as black and as smooth as can be. It's so smooth it's almost non-stick.

MacAllister · Jan 1, 2011

Yep. I loooooove me my cast iron skillets. I have several, of different sizes. They're all quite old, and I wouldn't trade 'em for anything.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

My mother has an old one with the handle broke off. She kept it and still used it. It became a handle-less skillet. Quite handy actually.

FennelGiraffe · Jan 1, 2011

More than you ever wanted to know about cast iron: http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/02/16/heavy-metal-the-science-of-cast-iron-cooking/

Lyra Jean · Jan 1, 2011

I've always wanted a spider. Mostly because I fell in love with Little House on the Prairie. Caroline Ingalls owned one. It's a cast iron skillet with three short legs so you can use it over an open fire.

When I first saw the thread title I thought it was a romance about a girl who was forced to wear a chastity belt.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2011

Lyra Jean said:
I've always wanted a spider. Mostly because I fell in love with Little House on the Prairie. Caroline Ingalls owned one. It's a cast iron skillet with three short legs so you can use it over an open fire.

A skillet or a dutch oven?

You can still get a dutch oven with legs.

Lyra Jean · Jan 1, 2011

alleycat said:
A skillet or a dutch oven?

You can still get a dutch oven with legs.

It could be a dutch oven. Because it did have a lid.

Cast Iron virgin - dealing with the morning after

An old, sappy, and happy one.

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Deleted member 42

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'Twas but a dream of thee

Deleted member 42

Ahhh. Sweet.

Deleted member 42

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'Twas but a dream of thee

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'Twas but a dream of thee

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It's green they say

Two years old now.

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Two years old now.