I got my husband to write a blog about cooking with cast iron. We love cooking with cast iron and you should try it.
Over the last few years Court and I have tried very hard to simplify our cooking and eating habits. While we’re not perfect, we check labels incessantly and research like crazy, doing the best we can to limit our intake of processed foods and chemicals. There is something incredibly unnatural however that many people use on a weekly basis and don’t even realize it – we didn’t for the longest time. When we got married we were given an incredibly nice set of Calphalon pans. They we’re heavy and cooked wonderfully. Over the last few years however, we noticed that continuous use has begun to scrape the Teflon off of them. Being the research nut I am, I looked into what Teflon can do when it leeches into your food – holy cow!!! How in the world did we ever let this stuff touch our food! Many people believe Teflon can cause cancer, tumors, headaches, etc. Why take the chance?
After reading up I headed into the garage, cracked open my old camping gear and dug out my cast iron skillet. It had never been used for anything but cooking over a campfire and had never been properly seasoned, but I figured anything was better than letting flakes of baked chemical leach into our food. I then began the long process of learning how to properly use cast iron, and since then we’ve fallen in love with it. It’s not difficult, but like many things, if you don’t follow the process, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The benefits are simple: They cost 10% of what an over-priced, foreign-made pan does and will last 5 lifetimes. They give you your daily requirement of iron (really!), take almost no time to clean, and cook more evenly than a $400 pan ever could. Cast iron has literally changed the way we cook!
Choosing Cast Iron
There are many types of cast iron, and all are not created equal, but just about all will work. If you feel like investing the time into getting something classy and quality, head down to your local antique mall or thrift store. You are looking for a skillet made by Griswold or Wagner. The brand is on the bottom. Other brands are good – these are great. You’ll want a size somewhere between 8 and 12 inches depending on your cooking habits. You’ll most likely walk away spending $30 on something gross and covered in rust. Good – you’re making progress. The old seasoning on it won’t do you any good, so be prepared to destroy it. It’s ok, you’ll make it better. Get the pan wet and with heavy duty sandpaper, get to work. You’re trying to get the surface on the outside and inside smooth. Sometimes I take a metal brush on my drill and lay into it as well. If you can get it down to the silver color, you’re doing great. You literally can’t destroy it, so give yourself a workout. The main thing is, get as much gunk off as you can. You want it smooth – the oven will do the rest. Rinse it well with hot soapy water and dry it completely. Then toss it in the oven on a low 2 hour cleaning cycle. This should loosen the rest up and turn it to ash. You’re halfway there now. Once it’s cooled (it can take 4-6 hours!), take it out, rinse it again with hot soapy water (this will be the last time soap touches your pan so enjoy it) and dry it thoroughly. Water causes rust. Rust is bad. Savvy?
If you don’t want to go thru the trouble of investing in a quality older pan, you can head down to Walmart and pick-up a Lodge skillet. Lodge and similar brands are cast, not milled, so they will have a rougher surface. Milling grinds the metal down to a smooth surface, casting basically fills a mold with iron. Despite the name, old cast iron is milled, new cast iron is casted. With proper and continuous seasoning it won’t matter, but it does take more work to get newer ones cooking like the older ones.
Seasoning
Seasoning your pan is the most important step. Without it, you’ll attempt to fry your first egg and end up in the corner in a fetal position crying. Trust me, it’s not fun for you, the pan or the egg. Seasoning creates the natural “Teflon” that allows you to slide an egg around a hot pan without anything oil and without sticking. A properly seasoned pan works 10:1 better than Teflon and probably won’t kill you in the long run. I consider this a plus.
Grab a tub of Crisco or generic shortening (lard works too). I know it’s unhealthy, but you’re not making a PB&J with it, so you’ll get over it. Cover a large cookie sheet in foil, set your pan on it and put on a rubber glove – it’s about to get messy. You’ll now proceed to grab a handful of shortening and rub the entire pan – EVERYTHING… inside, outside, handle and all - down with shortening. You want a nice white coat covering every inch. Wipe down the build-ups, but make sure it’s coated like you’re buttering bread. Once you do, set your pan upside down on the cookie sheet and place it in the oven on 340 degrees for 2.5 hours. Once the timer goes off, turn off the oven and let it cool with the pan inside. Once it cool, take the pan out, lightly wipe down with a paper towel to clean up excess shortening that hasn’t hardened, then do the whole process over again – shortening, glove, the whole bit. Put it back in for the same amount of time. By the time you do this twice, you’ll have a nice seasoning layer that is beginning to build up. You’ll notice your pan has changed from silver/grey to black/brown. That’s good. As you continue to cook on it more seasoning will build up, making that surface slicker and slicker. Years of seasoning is what gives cast iron it’s reputation. This is why grandma’s cast iron is so valuable. When properly maintained, a cast iron skillet can last 100+ years and never require re-seasoning. If you do notice the seasoning starting to fade, use the Crisco trick. And if you REALLY need to start from scratch, pop it in on another cleaning cycle and lather, rinse, repeat.
Care and Daily Use
This is the easiest part, but goes against everything you’ve ever learned. Repeat after me – I WILL NEVER, EVER WASH MY CAST IRON WITH SOAP NOR WILL I SCRUB IT WITH A SPONGE. One more time. Seriously. Please promise me this. Doing so will DESTROY your seasoning and make you and me cry. Your cleaning tools will consist of water, a good metal spatula (which works great for cooking with too – I recommend a Dexter), and a paper towel.
Once you use your properly seasoned cast iron to make the best darn eggs of your life (or vegetables, meats, beans, cornbread, etc.) your cleaning habit is simple. Wipe it out with a damp rag. That’s it. For the tough messes, scrape with a metal spatula (firm but not hard enough to eat into your seasoning), rinse with nothing but water and then wipe out. For the impossible messes, fill it 60% with water and boil for 20 minutes. Then pour out and wipe out. They clean easiest when they’re still warm. Lastly – and do this every time – once it’s clean, pour a quarter sized drop of olive oil in the pan and use a paper towel to coat the pan with said oil. This will keep the seasoning from drying. That’s it. No chemicals, no scrubbing, no dishwasher. Just a good old-fashioned wipe down.
I’m sure Courtney will cover cast iron cooking techniques and recipes later on down the line, but she figured since I do all the pan-prep I might want to chime in a bit. Enjoy prepping and using a pan that you will most likely hand down to your kids and grandkids.
-Nick
