Waaaay OT: Question about seasoning Cast Iron

[Randy Replogle]

I like that guy. His shows are educational and funny. Randy Replogle

[alexy]

Okay, question about that process. I've been told to use lard, which I did. I found that as it heated up and lost viscosity, the surface tension of the lard cause it to bead up. Was I using too much, or too little? Would vegetable shortening respond any differently?

[Jerome Ranch]

Thats why I season mine in my gas grill..outside...even in the winter (providing its warm enough for the gas to flow)

I have 3 different sizes of cast iron skillet..and a covered cast iron chili pot as well.

I need two hands for the chili pot and the biggest (16") frypan

Mine are jet black, with a coating about 1/8". A friend of mine says the best seasoning is to NEVER clean the pan, just heat it up nice and hot to bind the oil and residues to the pan. I think he's the only person in his family that will eat from it.

What I like best about the iron fry pans is I can make frittatas..fry the potatoes, onions, sausage, etc in the pans add eggs, place directly into the oven..cook, when done, turn over to broil to brown the top. Don't have to worry about those plastic handled fry pans melting.

Jerry

[Fred]

The only thing I use for cooking is cast iron. I've got 5 skillets, two other pots and 3 dutch ovens (all Lodge, wouldn't have anything else). They are all well seasoned and scrambled and fried eggs come out like it was non-stick. I've always used hot soap and water with a copper or plastic scouring pad. Make sure you dry it good on the stove after it's washed. Yeah, I've heard all the don't wash opinions but this works for me.

Fred

[mac davis]

Why is that, Doug, acidity?? Mac

[mac davis]

*roflmao* that was great... worth having to clean coffee off the monitor..

[mac davis]

I was raised in Calif. but had a neighbor from the south that would cook for the neighborhood kids...

She introduced us to "fried bread" that she did in one of her iron skillets... loved it!

I remember her having a drawer in the stove where she stored that favorite pan.. told us she NEVER washed it, just wiped it out before and after use... must have been ok, because non of us died from it.. *g*

Mac

[Lee Gordon]

[Don Bruder]

Too little. Slather it on like an albino putting on SPF-80 sunblock, then put some more on, and when you think you've got too much, add a little more and you'll be just about right.

Same thing if you choose to go with crisco or olive oil - Put it on until you think it's too much, and you're getting close to "just right".

[Dave Hinz]

Dammit, Don, you owe me half a coffee, and quite possibly, a new keyboard. Hot coffee stings the sinuses, for the record.

[Carl Byrns]

You did it wrong. Per Alton Brown, you have to season the pan UPSIDE DOWN IN AN OVEN. The burned black stuff on the bottom of your pan is polyermized fat which will scrape off and taste awful the first time you try to cook scrambled eggs. I suggest you start over- if you do it right (see

) for the basic idea- but do it upside down.

-Carl (been cooking on CI since I was a kid)

[phildcrowNOSPAM]

Huh? Perhaps I didn't do it the way you'd do it, but that doesn't make it necessarily wrong. Several respondents to my original post also ground or sanded the insides of their skillets.

Per Alton Brown, you have to season the pan UPSIDE

Um, I was talking about frying the chicken. That's what the link points to. As far as seasoning the pan, I'm an old hand at that. I was just thinking about a new, faster way to skin an old cat.

The burned black stuff on the bottom of your pan is

Good effort, though. 'Preciate the feedback.

-Phil Crow

[phildcrowNOSPAM]

If I had had some on hand, I would have used it. I had Crisco, so used that. I agree with the lard idea, though. I did my 12" skillet with bacon drippings and it worked well.

-Phil Crow

[W Canaday]

Crank up the heat to just below smoking and use LOTS oc Crisco. Then, in the last couple of minutes or so, toss in an ice cube and steam it with the lid on. Yowza yowza! (salt, pepper, white flour or yellow cornmeal, chicken and Crisco and the last minute ice cube are all that go into the skillet ... nunya fancy herbs and stuff!)

;-)

Bill

[Don Bruder]

Of course it did -

When you get right down to it, bacon drippings = "smoked/cured lard".

Do it just right, and you can "re-render" bacon drippings back to "straight lard" state, but it's not real practical to bother - just possible.

[Enoch Root]

I'm in agreement, with the possible exception of a little tarragon.

er

[Odinn]

On 3/21/2006 8:44 AM [e-mail] mumbled something about the following:

You need to cook the oil in a lot longer than 30 min to season it. More like an hour at about 500F.

[Odinn]

On 3/21/2006 3:26 PM Don Bruder mumbled something about the following:

As Marylin Monroe (IIRC) said "If more is better then too much is just right".

[Don Bruder]

In this case, that's pretty much right :)

Having a standing pool of oil/melted lard (or crisco) covering the entire bottom of the pan while it's "cooking in" is absolutely perfect.

[W Canaday]

I'll go with that if it's fresh (as in, start the chicken then go pick the tarragon).

Bill