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Cast iron leet

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Re: Cast iron leet

#321

Post by mgaunard »

random42_ wrote: post #286
mgaunard wrote: post #235

Caring for cast iron or carbon steel is fairly difficult and not something most people actually want to do. In practice hard anodized aluminium is the best compromise for people that aren't cookware geeks.

When I cook with my cast iron, I wash it by hand using regular dishwashing soap and a non-scratching sponge. Dry it and then coat with a bit of oil before storing it away. Easier than caring for my SS where from time to time I need to use Barkeeper’s Friend to bring it back to its original looks.

People don't want oily pans in their cupboards.

Stainless Steel is also somewhat hard to care for.

Re: Cast iron leet

#322

Post by marssaxman »

twoodfin wrote: post #164
waynesonfire wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you need to dry it perfectly every time or it rusts very easily. I just put a little evo on a paper towel and apply it all over the pan.

I have a Lodge skillet I’ve been using and seasoning for a decade+ with a simple technique: After use, rinse, lightly scrub, with water and a little dish soap (basically what comes out of one squeeze of a sponge). Towel dry, apply a thin layer of canola oil over the cooking surface with a paper towel. Throw on medium heat over the stove for ~5 minutes. Done. I can pour maple syrup over salmon at high heat in that pan…

I have a pan I've been treating similarly, for a similar length of time, and I doubt a teflon pan could be any slicker. I used to scrub it out with salt, if anything got stuck on, but I haven't had to do that in a while.

I recently found that you can get a jump on the process by polishing the cooking surface. I took an orbital sander to a new skillet last month, from 60 up to 180 grit, and it works great. Seasoning with six rounds of flaxseed oil was a complete failure - it all flaked off immediately - but the pan cooks pretty well anyway, just the bare metal. Of course I oil it lightly after cleaning to keep it from rusting, and it is starting to develop a nice patina.

Re: Cast iron leet

#323

Post by tonyarkles »

orangepurple wrote: post #297
shadycuz wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I have really stubborn stuck items to my cast iron. I boil salt in it.

Any food on a cast iron pan is converted to carbon ash by holding the pan at 750F for a few tens of minutes if you have a functional exhaust fan. This is useful for the most extremely stuck stuff like large amounts of meat mixed with blood. No amount of scraping would get that off. However the ash came off effortlessly. The electric range was old and worn out but got the job done easily.

I found a hoard of old unused sad cast iron pans at my wife’s grandma’s place. Putting them in the electric oven and running a self-clean cycle completely stripped them down to bare metal. From there, they were seasoned from scratch and have been in service for a decade now.

Re: Cast iron leet

#324

Post by tonyarkles »

sportslife wrote: post #211
novok wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We used cast iron for quite a while. It wasn't that non stick for things like eggs, was way more annoying to clean properly and get all the cooking residue of food that got stuck on the pan, and was too heavy and after months of use never really developed that 'seasoning'. And we babied it a lot, with special brushes, avoided acidic foods and lots of soap in cleaning it. It was annoying. So eventually I just got the…

Pans need to be actively seasoned, they won't develop it on their own. You cover the pan with a fat, overheat it, and the fat polymerizes : https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-cast-iron-pans-ski... Heck, I've done it on aluminum pans and eggs are fine, just like old-school breakfast spots and their griddles.

On fresh pans, my rule is to only cook bacon in it for the first couple of uses. Works fantastic and you end up with a bunch of bacon :D

Re: Cast iron leet

#325

Post by marssaxman »

bsder wrote: post #247
jstx1 wrote: post #31

In general I find that cast iron is very overrated. > Here's a list of myths about cast iron skillets: (...) You can't cook with acidic foods (e.g. tomatoes) because it'll destroy the seasoning You might not destroy the seasoning but you will get metallic tastes in your food. I don't get why anyone would pick cast iron over stainless steel for an acidic sauce that needs to be cooked for a longer period of time. Also…

The real problem I have is that modern cast iron pans are extremely rough. Old cast iron pans are extremely smooth, by contrast. I suspect that accounts for a lot of the variance that people experience using cast iron.

I spent an afternoon sanding down the inside surface of a cheap new cast iron skillet last month, just to see what would happen, and I have really been enjoying the result. The bare metal, after polishing, cooks better than the factory seasoning did. I look forward to seeing how it develops over time as I get a new seasoning built up.

Re: Cast iron leet

#326

Post by orangepurple »

tonyarkles wrote: post #323
orangepurple wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any food on a cast iron pan is converted to carbon ash by holding the pan at 750F for a few tens of minutes if you have a functional exhaust fan. This is useful for the most extremely stuck stuff like large amounts of meat mixed with blood. No amount of scraping would get that off. However the ash came off effortlessly. The electric range was old and worn out but got the job done easily.

I found a hoard of old unused sad cast iron pans at my wife’s grandma’s place. Putting them in the electric oven and running a self-clean cycle completely stripped them down to bare metal. From there, they were seasoned from scratch and have been in service for a decade now.

How bad was the smoke

Re: Cast iron leet

#327

Post by random42_ »

mgaunard wrote: post #321
random42_ wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I cook with my cast iron, I wash it by hand using regular dishwashing soap and a non-scratching sponge. Dry it and then coat with a bit of oil before storing it away. Easier than caring for my SS where from time to time I need to use Barkeeper’s Friend to bring it back to its original looks.

People don't want oily pans in their cupboards. Stainless Steel is also somewhat hard to care for.

Fair point. I was just pointing out that caring for it is not that hard. Basically same thing I do with my non-stick minus the oil.

Re: Cast iron leet

#330

Post by rmetzler »

fulafel wrote: post #40
hef19898 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cab get your oven to 500 degrees C?? I need one like that, not for cooking but for heat treatment of blades at home!

I read it as saying you don't need 500C if you have a pizza stone or cast iron pan for transferring heat fast. So use a object that has a significant heat capacity to buffer heat, and you don't need the oven to be as hot. (Stone has higher heat capacity per unit mass than iron, but large cast iron pans are heavier than typical pizza stones, so the two objects probably have similar heat capacities.)

Yes, my oven only goes up to 250°C. I adjusted the recipe for the dough and use 70% water instead of the usual 60% (baker's math).
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