I grew up using cast iron pans. For some reason at our house, we didn’t have anything else but cast iron, no non-stick, aluminum or copper for us. So to me, they are what you cook with. Perfectly normal, and I think they are wonderful. I cook everything in them, steak, pasta sauce, pancakes, fried and scrambled eggs. Currently, I have 5 cast iron pans, one is strictly for smoking wood chips in the smoker and the other four are hung in a place of honor in my kitchen, two no. 7’s and two no. 9’s. I want a smaller one but the kitchen is overflowing into the rest of the house and my husband said no more pans, BUT.. my sister is bringing me up a beautiful no.3 that she found in a garage sale. Shhhh… I also own an enamel coated cast iron dutch oven as well. Oh, and a pizza pan.
Choosing Your Cast Iron Pans
I buy all my cast iron pans used for a multitude of reason. One, they are cheap, or they were until everyone decided they liked them. Anyways, I haven’t paid over $20 for a used pan. I find them mostly at antique stores and garage sales, and sometimes multiple pans can be bought for song and dance when you find them. Number two, used pans come pre-seasoned for you. Chances are, someone has been lovingly using them in their own home for years, and they are oiled to a high gloss with no rust. I look for flat bottom pans that are not warped or high centered which will cause uneven cooking. Run your hand across the cooking surface and find the oiliest, smoothest pan you can. Don’t buy a roughly surfaced pan, it is not worth your time. I also personally like the thinner metal than thick but that is a personal choice. As for sizes that is also personal. Cast iron pans come in sizes measuring the diameter of the outside rim of the pan. A pretty standard size to use for most things is a no. 7, 8 or 9.
Cooking with Your Cast Iron Pans
Now, I’m not going to lie, cast iron requires butter, oil, lard, or some other form of grease to cook your food in. Cast iron is not non-stick. So if you are going for low calories or low fat these might not be the pans for you. I usually use unsalted butter but it depends upon the meal. Cast iron takes a little bit of fiddling with to see how it cooks your food. Test your new pan out to see how it heats, are there hot spots or cold spots where the pan is slightly bent. Fry a pancake in there and see where the cold spots are, you’ll be able to tell by the light color spot on the pan that is almost the same color as pancake dough.
Cleaning Your Cast Iron Pans
Do NOT use soap! Do not use soap to clean your pans. You will take off the lovely oily coating off of it, which will cause your food to stick and for you to be very, very angry the next time you go to use the pan. Now, I know right now you are thinking, ‘Well, what about scrambled eggs? Those definitely require soap and water.” But they really don’t. So here’s how I clean my pans without soap. Let’s say I cook scrambled eggs, scrape off as much of the egg as you can with a metal cooking spatula while your pan is still warm. Then boil some water and pour the boiling water in your cast iron pan about half full. Use a stiff long-handled brush that has never had soap on it and scrub it well. Pour that water off and dump in another half pan of boiling water. I flat out guarantee that pan will be spotless. Use a clean cloth or paper towel and dry out the excess water. Now, if the dish you cooked is particular sticky or acidic you might want to lightly oil your pan when you are done with the boiling water. Use about 2 teaspoons of oil and rub it around with a clean cloth or paper towel. Done. For minor cooking like fried eggs that are highly buttered anyways, I just scrape slightly with a spatula and wipe clean with a paper towel, hang it back up and its ready to use for my next cooking adventure.
Re-seasoning Cast Iron
Finding a 100-year-old cast iron pan is always a thrill, a few I have brought home were a mess, rusty with fatty black deposits coating the pan. When this happens as long as the pan isn’t pitted it can be saved. Stripping and reseasoning a pan is a chore and it takes a few days to complete properly. The results though are an amazing smooth black coating that will let the pan survive the next 100 years. I strip my pans by using oven cleaner, it seems the easiest and works well. Stripping can be done a number of ways and some are just beyond me. If you are looking for different methods for stripping cast iron check out the.The Cast Iron Collector, this site has every imaginable way to strip a cast iron pan including hooking a pan up to electrolysis. I will give you the method I use for oven cleaner.
- Â Spray the pan liberally on both sides, always wearing gloves and protective goggles.
- Â Place the pan in a plastic garbage bag, tie it and set the bag on an old cookie sheet in case of leaks.
- Â Set it somewhere warm for 24-48 hours out of the reach of children and pets.
- Â Check after 24 hours to see if all of the old residues is soft enough to be stripped off, if not wait another 24 hours.
- Â Wearing gloves, scrape old residue with a metal spatula, followed by steel wool.
- Â Rinse well with hot soapy water.
Once your pan is stripped and a dull grey color it is ready for re-seasoning. Many people use lard, vegetable oil or even bacon grease, none of these are the right type of oil and will not produce the best results. Flaxseed oil is the best according to Cheryl Canter who wrote a compelling post about The Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning. She found that the best kind oil to use for cast iron is a drying oil, linseed oil is a drying oil used in woodworking for finishing and sealing the wood. Linseed is appropriate for woodworking but not a cooking pan that you eat out of. Flaxseed oil is the food grade equivalent of linseed oil and when applied to cast iron with heat it forms a tough hard film. I prefer to use an organic flax seed oil that I found at our local health food store. If you buy a brand new cast iron pan, I would recommend using this method as well.
- Oil the pans with your hands, not too much just enough to coat the pan, lint from paper or cloth will ruin your finish.
- Place the pan face down on the oven rack.
- Turn your oven to 500°F or as high as it goes, I know some ovens only go to 450°F.
- Bake for 1 hour.
- Turn off oven and let the pan cool for 2 hours in the oven.
- Repeat steps 1-5 at least 6 times for brand new seasoning.
If a helpful family member just washed your favorite pan with soapy water, don’t worry, it takes a lot more than soap to ruin a cast iron pan. Just give it a touch-up seasoning and follow steps 1-5, and you are ready to start cooking again.
