I have been slacking on this feature. On a tangent I was recently asked if it would be possible for me to do some stuff with video. There are some PERSEC concerns. I am not putting my face out there on the web any time soon and would probably use backdrops or whatnot. We have a video camera but I am not entirely sure of it's capabilities. Will have to do tests at some point.
Anyway today I am going to talk about cast iron. Cast Iron and I had a love hate relationship but seem to have figured it out. If you haven't picked it up I like low maintenance things that can take a beating. It is not an accident that I shoot Glocks and drive Japanese/ Korean cars. Non stick stuff is easy but it doesn't wear very well. My observation is that it needs to be replaced every couple years even if you buy quality. I hate products that do not wear well and like ones that last forever, or at least a long time. Obviously pots and pans that last forever have some preparedness benefits. This leads to my cast iron dilema.
I used some cast iron while camping as a kid but not extensively. Being quite heavy it is relegated to car camping or long term base camps. As an adult we got a cast iron frying pan a couple years ago. I never did a lot with it, the thing sort of got rusty and then sat in a cupboard. Since redeploying I wanted to get this sorted out.
The method I have found successful for curing cast iron is as follows: Clean and wash the pan (or whatever), if there is rust take care of it with an SOS pad, steel wool or fine sand paper. Wash, immediately dry with a towel then put it on a burner set to high (or in an oven) to heat it up and get rid of any remaining moisture. You can let it cool or not after this, my observation is that it doesn't actually matter.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. [If your pan has some baked on junk or residue put it into the oven for an hour, this should burn it off. ] When the oven is up to temp take out some crisco (do not use vegetable oil, it leaves resedue) and use a rag or paper towel to LIGHTLY coat the pan. Stick the pan in the oven bottom side up and put a cookie sheet, ideally an old nasty one, or covered in tin foil, below it to catch drips. This is important because I have heard that if you do not a bunch of junk will drip onto the bottom of the oven and burn. Set the timer for an hour. Go do something else.
In an hour take the pan out using a potholder because the pan is quite hot. Use a clean rag or paper towel to wipe off the excess crisco or any burned on junk. If nothing comes off then you are done. If stuff comes off then grab your crisco rag or paper towel and LIGHTLY recoat the pan then put it back in the oven for an hour. I found two cycles of coating and an hour in the oven left a nice shiny black pan that is easy to cook with. YMMV.
During this whole thing be careful because the pan will be hot. Also it will stay hot for a suprisingly long time.
Cooking with cast iron: Cast iron needs some sort of oil like product to prevent stuff from burning and getting stuck. Not a lot necessarily but some. It cooks very evenly which is nice.
Maintenance: Water is to cast iron what crack is to Charlie Sheen, a significant problem. DO NOT LET CAST IRON SOAK IN A SINK FULL OF WATER. DO NOT LEAVE CAST IRON WET. Scrape off all the food or residue, wash it normally, dry immediately with a towel and then into the oven or onto the burner to heat up and burn off any remaining moisture.
One benefit of cast iron being a big piece of metal is that you do not need to be afraid of hurting some finish like you would a nonstick pan. You can ruin the nice black oil coat (called a Patina for some reason) but that can be fixed by curing it. I once used a steel wire brush attachment on a drill to clean up a particularly abused dutch oven.
Note: I am certainly not saying this is the only way to cure, clean and use cast iron. Other folks might do something that is better. This is just the way that works for me.
With some reasonable adaptations cast iron can be rewarding and enjoyable to use.
Anyway today I am going to talk about cast iron. Cast Iron and I had a love hate relationship but seem to have figured it out. If you haven't picked it up I like low maintenance things that can take a beating. It is not an accident that I shoot Glocks and drive Japanese/ Korean cars. Non stick stuff is easy but it doesn't wear very well. My observation is that it needs to be replaced every couple years even if you buy quality. I hate products that do not wear well and like ones that last forever, or at least a long time. Obviously pots and pans that last forever have some preparedness benefits. This leads to my cast iron dilema.
I used some cast iron while camping as a kid but not extensively. Being quite heavy it is relegated to car camping or long term base camps. As an adult we got a cast iron frying pan a couple years ago. I never did a lot with it, the thing sort of got rusty and then sat in a cupboard. Since redeploying I wanted to get this sorted out.
The method I have found successful for curing cast iron is as follows: Clean and wash the pan (or whatever), if there is rust take care of it with an SOS pad, steel wool or fine sand paper. Wash, immediately dry with a towel then put it on a burner set to high (or in an oven) to heat it up and get rid of any remaining moisture. You can let it cool or not after this, my observation is that it doesn't actually matter.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. [If your pan has some baked on junk or residue put it into the oven for an hour, this should burn it off. ] When the oven is up to temp take out some crisco (do not use vegetable oil, it leaves resedue) and use a rag or paper towel to LIGHTLY coat the pan. Stick the pan in the oven bottom side up and put a cookie sheet, ideally an old nasty one, or covered in tin foil, below it to catch drips. This is important because I have heard that if you do not a bunch of junk will drip onto the bottom of the oven and burn. Set the timer for an hour. Go do something else.
In an hour take the pan out using a potholder because the pan is quite hot. Use a clean rag or paper towel to wipe off the excess crisco or any burned on junk. If nothing comes off then you are done. If stuff comes off then grab your crisco rag or paper towel and LIGHTLY recoat the pan then put it back in the oven for an hour. I found two cycles of coating and an hour in the oven left a nice shiny black pan that is easy to cook with. YMMV.
During this whole thing be careful because the pan will be hot. Also it will stay hot for a suprisingly long time.
Cooking with cast iron: Cast iron needs some sort of oil like product to prevent stuff from burning and getting stuck. Not a lot necessarily but some. It cooks very evenly which is nice.
Maintenance: Water is to cast iron what crack is to Charlie Sheen, a significant problem. DO NOT LET CAST IRON SOAK IN A SINK FULL OF WATER. DO NOT LEAVE CAST IRON WET. Scrape off all the food or residue, wash it normally, dry immediately with a towel and then into the oven or onto the burner to heat up and burn off any remaining moisture.
One benefit of cast iron being a big piece of metal is that you do not need to be afraid of hurting some finish like you would a nonstick pan. You can ruin the nice black oil coat (called a Patina for some reason) but that can be fixed by curing it. I once used a steel wire brush attachment on a drill to clean up a particularly abused dutch oven.
Note: I am certainly not saying this is the only way to cure, clean and use cast iron. Other folks might do something that is better. This is just the way that works for me.
With some reasonable adaptations cast iron can be rewarding and enjoyable to use.
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4 comments:
I like to use course/kosher salt to clean cast iron. Wipe out a hot pan, put a few pinches in, and rub it around with a paper towel. It'll scour any stuck food off and help dry it. Dump out the salt, wipe the residue out with a damp one, dry it on a warm eye, and give it a quick wipe with a bit of oil.
I jumped a cast iron dutch oven once, then packed it around in my ruck for two weeks.......2qts. It was a bitch, and Team Daddy gave me no end of shit about it, but he sure didn't hesitate to scarf his share of the peach cobbler I made in it one night in the "Guerrilla Camp."
ND,
JM
JM, I never said you can't carry cast iron, just that it doesn't really fit that role. Packed a humongous cast iron fry pan with a lid into a cabin once because my buddies dad got it on sale and thought it would be good to have. Fun times.
No joke... cook nothing but bacon in it for a month and your pan will be cured. Never wash with soap... that will ruin the organic nonstick surface. The most you should have to do is fill it with hot water and brush it out with a scour pad. No need to worry about germs... cast irin is sterile at 165 degrees.
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