When did you give up on cast iron?

Ozzie_Isaac

https://youtu.be/rRZMXZfcol8

fishlessman

you are supposed to season stainless pans as well

SonVolt

RRP said:

SonVolt said:

If I can pat myself on the back for a second, I can take a brand new Lodge skillet from Walmart and have eggs sliding around like it's Teflon the same day, seasoned only with high-heat and Crisco.

Care to share your trick?

Nothing special, just max oven temp (550F) and very, very, very thin layers of Crisco wiped on with a thick layer of paper towels.  This is where most people go wrong, they apply too thick a layer of oil. You just want to see the faint most layer of darkened sheen when you apply, and it should start smoking immediately. Toss it back in the oven.  Repeat wipe downs ever 30 minutes for 2-3 hours. 

Then - before each cook that requires non-stickyness, heat skillet over high and wipe a thin layer of oil and continue to heat until it smokes.  Not sure what's technically going on with this step, but the laymen's term is "seals in the pores". 

Skims_Smokehouse

RRP said:

SonVolt said:

If I can pat myself on the back for a second, I can take a brand new Lodge skillet from Walmart and have eggs sliding around like it's Teflon the same day, seasoned only with high-heat and Crisco.

Care to share your trick?

@RRP I recently stripped and re-seasoned my dad's cast iron.  I just posted all the steps I used. 

Your pan looks like it has an even coating of seasoning on it already, so you don't have to strip it.  

Botch

SonVolt said:
Then - before each cook that requires non-stickyness, heat skillet over high and wipe a thin layer of oil and continue to heat until it smokes.  Not sure what's technically going on with this step, but the laymen's term is "seals in the pores". 

That's sometimes recommended in stir-frying.  When the tiny bit of oil begins smoking, that tells you your wok is hot enough.  Then add enough oil to cook and, immediately, the food.  
If you add all the oil at first, and wait until it all smokes, its begun breaking down and becomes bitter (and spatters more when you add the food).  

HeavyG

fishlessman said:

you are supposed to season stainless pans as well

Supposed to? I'm not aware of any manufacturer that says their SS pans need to be seasoned. I've only seen folks on the net make that claim.

Do some folks "season" a SS pan? Yes.

Does a "seasoned" SS pan really become more nonstick than an SS pan warmed to the appropriate level of heat and then oiled? No. At least not that I have ever seen.

Ozzie_Isaac

HeavyG said:

fishlessman said:

you are supposed to season stainless pans as well

Supposed to? I'm not aware of any manufacturer that says their SS pans need to be seasoned. I've only seen folks on the net make that claim.

Do some folks "season" a SS pan? Yes.

Does a "seasoned" SS pan really become more nonstick than an SS pan warmed to the appropriate level of heat and then oiled? No. At least not that I have ever seen.

*Stainless steel rep has entered the conversation 

Ozzie_Isaac

Mistreating my new 15" cast iron.  Seasoned yesterday, cooked carnitas is wood fired oven, now doing sloppy joe (acidic sauce I am sure) in it.

fishlessman

Ozzie_Isaac said:

HeavyG said:

fishlessman said:

you are supposed to season stainless pans as well

Supposed to? I'm not aware of any manufacturer that says their SS pans need to be seasoned. I've only seen folks on the net make that claim.

Do some folks "season" a SS pan? Yes.

Does a "seasoned" SS pan really become more nonstick than an SS pan warmed to the appropriate level of heat and then oiled? No. At least not that I have ever seen.

*Stainless steel rep has entered the conversation 

Try it. Your looking for a light straw color. The ocd says shiny SS. Personally would rather have a cs wok with the light straw color but after a year they turn black.  Why would you say seasoning is bad

fishlessman

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Mistreating my new 15" cast iron.  Seasoned yesterday, cooked carnitas is wood fired oven, now doing sloppy joe (acidic sauce I am sure) in it.

I can do a quick slop joe.longer cook not so much. It's close to biting tin foil with the old fillings

Ozzie_Isaac

Cleaned it and oiled it with some crisco.  Ready for another day.  Not as pristine as your Wagners and Montgomery Wards pans, but for $30, I'll take it.

littlerascal56

Ron-still doing most of my cooks on cast iron grids.  Easy to clean and leave nice grill marks. 

smbishop

Restored my mothers-in-law's family skillet 8 years ago and use it several times a week.  Also, still use CI grates on all of my Eggs.

I use a stainless-steel chainmail cleaner (I think I learned about these from you, a while back).





 

Skims_Smokehouse

Nice pan!  Have you been able to date it?  Those heat rings were made to fit vintage wood fired stove tops.

tm255

I gave up on it about a month ago.

I got interested in it, primarily to use as a breakfast prep pan, due to the many claims of "just as non-stick as teflon" but with better durability and no potential health risks.  I followed seasoning protocols to the letter, ended up starting over several times, and always got the same results.  Various forums have folks describing my experience (and the OP's experience) as well as folks saying "just as non-stick as teflon."  So to me the big question is, where is the disconnect?

Here is my theory.  I noticed that if I use a large amount of oil/grease in the seasoned pan the results are not too bad.  For example, with scrambled eggs adding about 2-3 tbsp of avocado oil results in minimal residue not too far off from teflon.  However, back that down to less than a tbsp and large amounts of the eggs remain glued to the pan requiring a pretty vigorous scrubbing.  

Avocado oil has about 160cal per tbsp and I don't want to be consuming up to 380cal or so with every cook just to keep things slick.

My new OXO non-stick performs better (especially on bacon), handles easier, cleans up in a flash, and requires no special drying/oiling/reseasoning ritual after every use.

Ybabpmuts

Skims_Smokehouse said:

Nice pan!  Have you been able to date it?  Those heat rings were made to fit vintage wood fired stove tops.

I'd date that pan for you. It looks hot and the last pan I dated only had the one spout, so this will be like dating twins for me. I gotta warn you though, it wont last long, because ultimately I'm really a muffin pan guy at heart, so we could be walking by a kitchen store one day, and no matter how she looks all hot and oiled up, or how saucy she is inside at times, or her magnetic personality, or how she makes perfect eggs inside, or that thick dark ring on her bottom, won't do her any good if I spot a muffin pan in the store window.

fishlessman

you can make bacon stick if you cook it wrong. when i watch people cook with my cast iron, the big fail is not getting the pan hot enough before adding food. notice in the video that he is not just melting butter in the pan. its hot enough to get it to sizzle and froth, thats the trick, you can even hear the eggs sizzle when they are added

https://youtu.be/j6u_ChrWBQA

nolaegghead

What fish said about the heat.  

Ozzie_Isaac

nolaegghead said:

What fish said about the heat.  

Heat, plus trying to move it to soon.  Many proteins will stick initially then release.

nolaegghead

Yep.  just like that burger on the grill, if it’s sticking, wait until it releases 

paqman

Bacon started in a cold pan with water is pretty hard to beat, I can’t remember where I learned that but it must be here.

Botch

paqman said:

Bacon started in a cold pan with water is pretty hard to beat, I can’t remember where I learned that but it must be here.

I learned it from Cook's Illustrated, but it never worked well for me.  

Ozzie_Isaac

Botch said:

paqman said:

Bacon started in a cold pan with water is pretty hard to beat, I can’t remember where I learned that but it must be here.

I learned it from Cook's Illustrated, but it never worked well for me.  

https://youtu.be/CmFrFCCKzBk

RRP

OH BOY OH BOY ...

I read all of the helpful replies to my request and several themes kept being repeated... HIGH HEAT, some added oil, butter or bacon fat (which I went with) and 

B I N G O

I fixed us great burgers and of course the REAL PAY BACK was that I only wiped out the pan! NO SCRAPPING, not EVEN using salt as an abrasive, nor that chain  mail scrubber,...NOT EVEN HOT WATER!!! Just some paper towels! 

THANK YOU - EVERYBODY!!! I think this 78 year old guy FINALY got it!...

saluki2007

RRP said:

OH BOY OH BOY ...

I read all of the helpful replies to my request and several themes kept being repeated... HIGH HEAT, some added oil, butter or bacon fat (which I went with) and 

B I N G O

I fixed us great burgers and of course the REAL PAY BACK was that I only wiped out the pan! NO SCRAPPING, not EVEN using salt as an abrasive, nor that chain  mail scrubber,...NOT EVEN HOT WATER!!! Just some paper towels! 

THANK YOU - EVERYBODY!!! I think this 78 year old guy FINALY got it!...

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks...

Ybabpmuts

RRP said:

OH BOY OH BOY ...

I read all of the helpful replies to my request and several themes kept being repeated... HIGH HEAT, some added oil, butter or bacon fat (which I went with) and 

B I N G O

I fixed us great burgers and of course the REAL PAY BACK was that I only wiped out the pan! NO SCRAPPING, not EVEN using salt as an abrasive, nor that chain  mail scrubber,...NOT EVEN HOT WATER!!! Just some paper towels! 

THANK YOU - EVERYBODY!!! I think this 78 year old guy FINALY got it!...

I hate when bacon fat leads to bingo. By the time you realize you had bingo.. your card is almost transparent from all of the bacon fat and it takes the officials almost forever to validate it and all that time ... you're smelling the bacon and the fat, and you want them to certify the card, just so that you can friggen snort it.


I love Chain Mail Scrubbers. I have to admit that their first album was very convoluted, it sounded more like a medieval battle than music, but halfway through the album there was a song, where the singer kept saying over and over .. " I got a pickle and you don't, nanny nanny moo moo" and I thought, what does that have to do with chain mail scrubbers. It turns out that pickles were once used to clean chain mail in the olden days. You learn something new every day, and one of those things is if you want someone to rub you with a pickle, you need to be wearing really old chain mail pants. 

RRP

saluki2007 said:

RRP said:

OH BOY OH BOY ...

I read all of the helpful replies to my request and several themes kept being repeated... HIGH HEAT, some added oil, butter or bacon fat (which I went with) and 

B I N G O

I fixed us great burgers and of course the REAL PAY BACK was that I only wiped out the pan! NO SCRAPPING, not EVEN using salt as an abrasive, nor that chain  mail scrubber,...NOT EVEN HOT WATER!!! Just some paper towels! 

THANK YOU - EVERYBODY!!! I think this 78 year old guy FINALY got it!...

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks...

NOW…If I can just get house broken and quit pissin on her carpet…

Ybabpmuts

Ron you shouldn't wait until you're house broken to quit pissing on carpets. Take yourself a little square of carpet and start pissing on it outside, then slowly bring it towards the house, and as you get closer to the house, every time you piss, beat yourself about the torso with anything in your life that, when beat with it about the torso, has always made you pee less, as you approach you're own back door.


I hope I'm not overthinking this....

fishlessman

RRP said:

OH BOY OH BOY ...

I read all of the helpful replies to my request and several themes kept being repeated... HIGH HEAT, some added oil, butter or bacon fat (which I went with) and 

B I N G O

I fixed us great burgers and of course the REAL PAY BACK was that I only wiped out the pan! NO SCRAPPING, not EVEN using salt as an abrasive, nor that chain  mail scrubber,...NOT EVEN HOT WATER!!! Just some paper towels! 

THANK YOU - EVERYBODY!!! I think this 78 year old guy FINALY got it!...

my fry pan pretty much never leaves the stove top and the season just gets better over time

xfire_ATX

I only cook with my CI- Mrs hates it so we have a set of whatever for her and a my 4 CI pieces.  (I do use a All Clad pot for boiling water for pasta).

My kids ruined the seasoning on my flat skillet and the piece I inherited from my FIL looks and feels smooth as glass but both have sticking issues.  The two I bought and use mostly are completely non stick.   Next time I self clean the oven the two others are going in.

For me-
Cook whatever... I dont shy away from tomato sauces.
After cook if anything stuck on pan I put on low heat and add water while I eat.
During clean up of everything else I dump most of the water and use this https://www.amazon.com/Full-Circle-Tenacious-Brush-Scraper/dp/B074PL4YJ7 to get gunk off.  Sometimes I add more water and do it again.
I then put it back on the low heat until mostly dry.  Grab a paper towel and wipe out.  Give it another 5 min and if needed a light coat of cooking oil and 5 more minutes of heat then cool down.

That process works for me.