Perpetual stew vibes
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I ground down the inner surface so it’s flat
I have heard you're not really supposed to do that - the texture helps the seasoning stick properly instead of flaking off.
There are a lot of pits in the surface of a Lodge. It’s much better now and food doesn’t get stuck as often. I guess it’s a preference thing.
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I have a lodge set of pans for the last 15 or so years and you can tell which ones are most used because they are flat and the less useful to me sizes are all still bumpy. I think over the years I've eaten a bumpy surface worth of cast iron off several pans
I mean, iron is a part of our nutritional diet.
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Don't let water touch it or it will bring you 7 years of bad luck
Darn. I was hoping they'd reproduce when you get them wet. Time to try feeding it after midnight.
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Sameish. I thought soap was supposed to damage it. I boil water, use a metal spatula to help lift anything stuck on there, dump the water, wipe it dry, then add oil and wipe it one more time and leave it on the stove so it's ready to use again.
I'll be honest, I still don't really understand what "season" means, but I've been doing that several times a week for like ~7 years now without any issues (that I'm aware of, I guess).
My - admittedly naive - understanding of seasoning is that you’re creating layers of dried oil that a) protect the pan, 2) make the pan nonstick without having to always use excessive amounts of oil, and iii) depending on what you’ve cooked in the past (i.e. bacon or other flavorful foods) will leach into your food and give it a yummy unique flavor.
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No.
In so many different ways, no.
so its not just polymerized oil?
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NO. NO MORE INSTRUCTIONS.
I’m scraping it with a boar bristle brush, drying it with a traditional Japanese paper fan, then storing it in a nearby cave just like my uncle taught me!
I think you’ll have the best experience if you learn what seasoning actually is and what it isn’t. Seasoning is polymerized cooking oil that’s bonded to the surface of the metal. It’s hydrophobic which protects the metal from rust. It does not actually give nonstick properties (those are due to cooking oil and proper temperature control).
Seasoning is not burnt food, it’s not black, it’s not dry, nor does it leave marks on your finger when you rub it (only do this with a cold pan). A well seasoned pan should feel smooth and glossy and hard, not dry or powdery or gummy or sticky or greasy. When seasoned properly it does not need anything else applied, though most people apply a thin layer of oil as an extra precaution and because the oil improves the glossy appearance.
One thing to be aware of is that overheating your pan will burn the seasoning, carbonizing it and turning it black. A burned seasoning is vulnerable to flaking off and adding charred flavours to food, as well as exposing the pan to potential rust. Lastly, exposing the pan to acids (such as white vinegar or simmering tomato sauce) will strip away the seasoning (and ruin your sauce).
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Afer work, I once made dinner for my housemates. After the meal, one of the housemates was like: "if you cooked, you gotta wash the dishes!" ok, so I washed the dishes. After the dishes, the housemate was like: "If you used the cast-iron pan, you have to 'season' it with oil!" and I was like: wtf I worked all day, I cooked, I did the dishes, now I have to cook again just to make the pan happy?!? So I never used a cast-iron pan again.
I would cut these people off so fast if they said that to me, don't try to please everyone so much
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so its not just polymerized oil?
Not like the crust on the bottom of a stainless pan no.
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“if you cooked, you gotta wash the dishes!”
I'm sorry, what? That's how you ensure that nobody ever cooks for you again. If you cooked for you and your housemates, everyone else who ate your food has to wash the dishes, excluding whoever bought the food. What fucking backwards culture did this guy grow up in?
Yeah, I wouldn't have minded if we'd all washed the dishes together. iirc I never cooked for them again; I brought take-out once for a special occasion, but I told them to eat out of the containers bc I wasn't doing their dishes.
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You forgot the first step of turning off your smoke alarm, and also leaving the room unless your a pack a day smoker with lungs of steel
Eh, just turn up your stereo and open a window. You'll get used to the smoke.
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I mean, iron is a part of our nutritional diet.
I have the h&h of a Sherpa after a marathon. I breathe three times a minute. Sometimes i rust a little if I don't put lotion on right after the shower.
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Fuck. This isn't true?
Every time I see an older person's cast iron, it's covered in that charcoal black garbage that they think is seasoning. Hopefully whoever inherits them strips and reasons them, but so many people have this "wisdom" passed down to them that I kind of doubt it.
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That pig was already bacon Jerkface. Delicious delicious bacon... okay! You've won this round! But next time!
no i'm pretty sure you have to personally kill a new pig any time you want bacon
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This book is so informative. I got his other cookbook, The Wok, and now sing the praises of that versatile cookery ever chance I get.
I have that ond to soon as I saw it.
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PSA be careful buying lye. It has other uses than soap making, including stripping of carcasses to the bone, and then turning the fat into soap. If you order enough you might get a visit from your friendly government agent.
Corrected as to what it does.
The first rule of
fight clubproject mayhem is… -
Afer work, I once made dinner for my housemates. After the meal, one of the housemates was like: "if you cooked, you gotta wash the dishes!" ok, so I washed the dishes. After the dishes, the housemate was like: "If you used the cast-iron pan, you have to 'season' it with oil!" and I was like: wtf I worked all day, I cooked, I did the dishes, now I have to cook again just to make the pan happy?!? So I never used a cast-iron pan again.
In my world, that housemate would quickly become a houselessmate.
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Clean it, don't clean it, oil it, salt it, water it, "season it", season it by not cleaning it so your french toast gets all that good hamburger flavor from the night before...
I've read so many different ways to treat cast iron that at this point I'm convinced that it's all just superstition.
At first you're gonna boil them. And after tha t you're gonna mash them, then you can choose to stick it in a stew.
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Don't let water touch it or it will bring you 7 years of bad luck
If a black cat crosses its path food will stick to it for the next seven years.
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I wash mine with soap and hot water, then dry and rub a bit of cooking oil on it (high smoke point oil, not olive oil).
I’ve built up a pretty substantial amount of seasoning on mine though. One of the ways to recognize that is that when you’re rinsing it out after washing the water should just bead right off, not wet the surface. Any areas where the water wets the surface could use some touch up seasoning. A well seasoned pan should be nice and hydrophobic.
high smoke point oil, not olive oil
Olive oil has about the same smoke point as many standard cooking oils. It's a common misconception that it's not suitable for frying.
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Honestly, depending on the specifics here, not the worst. If they're using an oil that will polymerize, then as they oil/heat/cool cycle it, the seasoning will further develop over time, as long as they're somewhat scraping off remnants of their cooking as they finish, leaving it as clean as it can be without actually washing it, and then heat cycling it to sanitize any bacteria that might be there, I don't really see a problem with it....
It's not exactly up to modern hygienic standards, or social standards.... And I'm pretty sure if any restaurant or food joint did the same they would get shut down by the health inspector before long.... But you do you buddy.
For anyone not in the know, the thing with cast iron and cleaning is no longer a problem. Clean your cast iron. When cast iron was just about the only cookware, soaps included lye. Lye will erode the non-stick "seasoning" on cast iron. Modern soaps do not contain lye, so go ham.
Cleaning, however, introduces water.... And water causes iron to rust, so it is generally advisable to clean your cast iron cookware, then immediately heat it up past the boiling point for water, to vaporize any liquid water and carry it off the surface of the iron. Once past that temperature, let the cookware cool, then treat it with a thin layer of oil. This will protect the surface from atmospheric moisture and allow the cookware to work over much longer periods of time without needing to be "re-seasoned" (which is removing the layers of polymerized oil on the cast iron, and then re-applying it using a slow method of oiling, then heating the cookware, allowing it to cool, oiling then heating again)...
Don't be afraid of cast iron, it needs a little more attention than other cookware, but it's a joy to actually cook with.
