I season my cast iron pans with shortening. Smear it onto the cooking side of the pan and bake 'em at 200* for about 3-4 hours. After that I make sure to wash them only enough to get the stuck on stuff off using a mild dishwashing detergent, dry them thoroughly after washing, and spray the cooking surface with PAM lightly. Don't stack other pans on top of it which can mar the surface, hang it or keep it in the oven.
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Nov. 2, 2009 10:36 a.m. EastCoastMojo SuperDork
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Nov. 2, 2009 11:28 a.m. 914Driver SuperDork
joey48442 wrote:
914Driver wrote:
Marjorie Suddard wrote:
Her cast iron is still better than any nonstick skillet I've ever used.
Margie
Do you know how to "season" a cast iron pan? Makes 'em like glass.
Dan
Was that rhetorical? Or do you have some secret trick you would like to share?
Joey
Wasn't trick or rhetorical, just sharing information.
I do it on the stove, put a few tablespoons of oil (or bacon fat) in the pan, heat it up until the oil almost smokes. It's hot, opens up the pores or something. Kill the fire and roll the oil around to cover the sides. Pour 1/8" of salt covering the bottom of the pan. Now use you Mom's favorite dish towel, the clean and dry one, and rub the salt around with the towel. It acts like sand blast media to remove the bumps and it fills in pores.
Never wash it again, just dry towel it.
When I used to cook breakfast at a restaraunt, I had six 6" cast pans just for fried eggs. It's a beautiful thing.
A quickie: My kid had a canary when he was in grade school, it got sick. Took the bird to a bird Vet and he asked if we use Teflon pans. Nope. Why? Teflon offgasses something that kills the little birdes.
Whodathunk?
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Nov. 2, 2009 11:42 a.m. EastCoastMojo SuperDork
The trick with cast iron is to let them warm up completely before cooking. Food will want to stick to the middle of the pan where it gets hot first unless you let it warm up completely. Cast iron friggin' rocks.
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Nov. 2, 2009 11:56 a.m. Wally UberDork
914Driver wrote: A quickie: My kid had a canary when he was in grade school, it got sick. Took the bird to a bird Vet and he asked if we use Teflon pans. Nope. Why? Teflon offgasses something that kills the little birdes.
Whodathunk?
You took a canary to the vet? My father just used to tell me my parakeet went south early for the winter.
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Nov. 2, 2009 12:27 p.m. JG Pasterjak Production/Art Director
914Driver wrote: A quickie: My kid had a canary when he was in grade school, it got sick. Took the bird to a bird Vet and he asked if we use Teflon pans. Nope. Why? Teflon offgasses something that kills the little birdes.
Whodathunk?
550ยบ is the magic number. That's one of the first things we teach folks in new parrot classes.
Having said that, good teflon pans are a fine thing if you make sure the small critters have a fresh air supply when you're using them. I love my cast iron and aluminum pans, but they need constant maintenance and reseasoning, so they only come out when I mean business.
jg
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Nov. 2, 2009 12:40 p.m. Wally UberDork
550 for how long? That sounds like it make a small bird like parrot pretty dry.
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Nov. 2, 2009 12:46 p.m. Kia_racer New Reader
People in the US have more teflon in there systems than any other country in the world. When I got married the first time my wife threw away my cast iron fry pan and bought a teflon coated pan. So, I threw it away and bought a set of calfalon hard anodized aluminum. I loved fhose so much I kept em when we got divorced.
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Nov. 2, 2009 7:56 p.m. ultraclyde Reader
Wally - just baste regularly
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Nov. 2, 2009 10:25 p.m. confuZion3 SuperDork
Wally wrote:
550 for how long? That sounds like it make a small bird like parrot pretty dry.
This made me lol. When are we going to get that beer, Wally?
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Nov. 3, 2009 5:59 a.m. MitchellC HalfDork
Kia_racer wrote:
People in the US have more teflon in there systems than any other country in the world. When I got married the first time my wife threw away my cast iron fry pan and bought a teflon coated pan. So, I threw it away and bought a set of calfalon hard anodized aluminum. I loved fhose so much I kept em when we got divorced.
Cheap nonstick pans must be the worst cooking implements. They don't hold any heat, they stick, and you get teflon flecks in your food. Awesome!
I just checked Amazon, and their prices for Lodge Logic cast iron pans are really good, yet still eligible for free shipping--a great deal, considering how heavy cast iron is.
Edit: Now I want fried chicken. Made with shortening, because if you're going fried you go all the way.
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Nov. 4, 2009 6:17 a.m. 914Driver SuperDork
Anthony Bourdain last night was in Chicago checking out street meet to high end stuff. At a diner looking place he had a sandwich called the Three Little Pigs, three kinds of pork; grilled pork roast, bacon and deep fried, topped off with two fried eggs.
This was served with homemade french fries,fried in DUCK FAT!
Where would yo even buy duck fat?
Dan
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Nov. 4, 2009 6:37 a.m. jamscal HalfDork
914Driver wrote:
Where would yo even buy dick fat?
Here we go again.
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Nov. 4, 2009 8:17 a.m. suprf1y Reader
My wife (who likes bacon even more than me) says the better restaurants in Germany used to put a small bowl of it on the table to spread on the bread served with dinner.
It makes good soap, if you don't mind the work.
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Nov. 4, 2009 8:49 a.m. 914Driver SuperDork
suprf1y wrote:
It makes good soap, if you don't mind the work.
Wouldn't his little feet scratch you up a bit?
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Nov. 4, 2009 8:52 a.m. Tetzuoe Reader
A friend of mine just told me at burning man they'd bacon bomb the other camps: wipe up the previous days bacon fat with a paper towel, covertly toss in a neighbors burn barrel. the smell of bacon was overwhelming
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Nov. 4, 2009 9:31 a.m. AngryCorvair SuperDork
Wally wrote:
550 for how long? That sounds like it make a small bird like parrot pretty dry.
gotta use a covered pan.
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Nov. 4, 2009 3:23 p.m. Duke SuperDork
Jensenman wrote:
Another SCOTS fan!
'Plastic Seat Sweat' is my favorite.
You're like the older brother I never had or something :thumbsup:
I've been a SCOTS fan since Dirt Track Date. Sometimes if I don't have time for the whole album, I just listen to the last track with the 8-10 minutes of beautiful stereo open-pipe V8s thundering around the circle...
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Nov. 4, 2009 4:33 p.m. PeteWW New Reader
EastCoastMojo wrote: I season my cast iron pans with shortening. Smear it onto the cooking side of the pan and bake 'em at 200* for about 3-4 hours.
I did something similar in college, but it didn't turn out well. While the pan was warming, I was distracted and forgot about the pan. Worse, I had turned the burner to maximum. By the time I returned, the pan was cherry red. To compound my stupidity, I moved it off the burner (with a pot holder - I wasn't quite that stupid). The pan shattered from the thermal shock.
For this reason and others too embarassing to mention, my wife keeps a close eye on me when I'm in the kitchen.
Peter
