/ck/ - Food & Cooking

now you own a cast iron skillet

>>16907343
Post a photo of it on /ck/ - Food & Cooking

You have to season it. Get some butter in there on high heat.

>>16907366
>seasoning a pan with butter
dumbfuck

get some cheap oil and heat it up, wipe out and repeat a couple times, or just cook all the bacon you can find. this will get you head start on seasoning. when you are done cooking wipe it clean and dry, apply more oil if you desire. eventually it will become more and more non-stick

buy one of those chainmail things to scrub it clean, it works pretty good and it's fuckin metal

>>16907343

Just use more fat than usual. Dont do anything like use flaxseed oil or sand it down or any gay shit like that. Its cast iron. Witches in 1286 in Paris used it for their brews. Short of having Frodo toss it into Mount Doom or whatever you cant ruin it.

Yes you can use soap. Yes you can cook tomatoes in it. Its iron. It could be melted down into a sword, then remelted back into a pan. Dont worry. Its fucking metal. Thats it.

Now you must take responsibility for what you have done. Make sure to iron your cast twice daily with lukewarm beeswax. Then wring it out and hang it up to dry out back beneath a beech tree. When the owl hoots three times and casts his pellet upon the iron you know its seasoned. Once seasoned you may then begin the ritual

>>16907449
actually i heat up my oven to 425 for 15 minutes after wasting several paper towels for the 7th day in a row because i will not use soap on it and finish it off with my plethora of greasy towels and coat it, put it in the oven, wait 1 hour, do another coat, wait another hour 3 times and repeat the process 3 times a day because reddit told me to

>>16907343
Get some steel wool and scrub the everloving fuck out of it. Next, sandpaper on the cooking surface as smooth as you can get it. Clean it 100%, wipe dry, then warm up in a 200f oven for 10-20 mins. Wipe down with flax seed oil, no substitutions, and bake at 350f for an hour. Turn off oven and let cool. Repeat from the 200f oven preheat a few times.

cook everything with it
personally I like carbon steel better, less hassle

>>16907714
Yeah, nothing more hassle free than scrubbing gunk out of rivets because your pan was too retarded to be made in a single piece.

>>16907343
cook bacon on it every day

>>16907617
Keep Preaching Truth
100 percent this

>>16907343
Other than seasoning it after buying it, just cook with it as you would any other pan. Retards really think cast iron is some high effort exercise but actually an idiot-proof design and much easier to make good food with than a generic Walmart non-stick pan

>>16907343
You could start by showing your skillet instead of a product photo from Williams-Sonoma’s website.

>>16907909
This, plus your receipt and a timestamp with your hand so we know if you're fat/colored.

>>16907343
Return it and buy a stainless steel instead

>>16907343
Enjoy having to wait an hour for the pan to warm up lol

>>16908120
>an hour for the pan to warm up
lol

>>16907343
>now what?
put it in your asshole

>>16907343
Shove it up your ass

>>16907427
Should i wash it with soap?

why is cast iron memed so much

>>16907343
Beat yourself over the head for wasting money

>>16907924
Less clean up hassle but you have to use more oil. Each has its pros and cons.

>>16907343

Have you tried cramming it up your ass?

>>16907343
Make some deep dish pidser for me

always wondered, why are the handles so small on these?

>>16907343
fill it with water and leave it outside

>>16908168
Not unless there's something really stuck to it, and even then you can lift that up by heating the pan and deglazing with water to scrape up all the char. If you do use soap just dry, oil, wipe and heat and you're good to go

Cook bacon, and when the pan it's cold Shove it up in your ass.

>>16907343
Start by shooting 9mm at it then work you way up to the larger rifle calibers.
Tells us when you penetrate through.

season the fuck out of it with all different kinds of oils and shit
really coat the bastard
bake it
seasons again
bake it
fuck
and then just start cooking bacon in it all the time

>>16907617
this but use a sander or drill with attachment and ironically wear a mask cause it'll be messy and you don't wanna be breathing that shit in.

>>16910429
>season the fuck out of it with all different kinds of oils and shit
>really coat the bastard
>bake it
>seasons again
>bake it
>fuck
>and then just start cooking bacon in it all the time
Why do you do this?

>>16907343
I heard from the internet that you can get a lot of iron exposure from cooking on these. is that true cookbros? i dont want to die of high iron levels.

>>16910826
iron is good for you. its in beef

>>16910843
if you are vegan maybe

https://examine.com/nutrition/are-cast-iron-pans-unsafe/

>>16907366
Don't do this, it makes mustard gas

>>16910843
iron is good for women because they periods
not so good for men

>>16910853
>being genetically inferior that you can't use cast iron

>>16910826
most people are low on iron, some extra wont hurt, usually extra stuff just gets pissed out anyway

>>16910866
Well I was planning on getting a cast iron skillet for pizza but now I probably will remove all iron sources whenever I cook with it for the day at elast

>>16910869
I hope ur right anon I don't want to get sick cause I ain't got insurance.

>>16910826
a well seasoned pan that has been maintained and used for decades ends up becoming a valuable family heirloom

>>16910917
>a well seasoned pan that has been maintained and used for decades ends up becoming a valuable family heirloom
ogey anon

how to maintain my cast iron skillet? If I go out to buy one from the store tomorrow, what do I do first with it? and what do I do with it before and after I put my pizza dough in it.

>>16907343
fry some eggs, fry some breads, fry some beans, add extra butter for meats, throw away/donate any other pans and focus solely on this one, only downside it too heavy to flip things

>>16910917
You're not wrong, but I'd like to add that you should make sure it's not some cheap chinese slab of iron you're trying to maintain as a potential future family heirloom. Back in the days, that was a given, nowadays, not so much.

>>16907617
Or skip all that and just get a carbon steel pan

>>16910931
season it
which means coat the thing in a high smoke grease and bake in the oven for at least an hour at 400 F
this creates a sealed protective coating
the season changes and builds up over time based on what is cooked in it
you can fuck up a cast iron by soaking it in water and letting it sit like you might a stainless/rustless pan
then youll have to dry it out and reseason it
basically
keep cooking stuff in it
and gently cleaning it with a tiny bit of soap and a sponge and over time youll have a unique cooking tool that subtly adds to whatever is cooked in it

>>16911204
> coat the thing in a high smoke grease and bake in the oven for at least an hour at 400 F

can i just use olive oil on it and throw it in the oven with that? im assuming i will just put my pizza dough straight on it with new oil and corn meal. after i just scrap off anything and use minimal soap and water to clean the rest off.

then put it on the stove to get rid of excess water

>>16911404
>can i just use olive oil on it and throw it in the oven with that?
you can, but the seasoning will suck

high smoke point oils are ideal because they create a stronger seasoning layer that is more resilient and can standup to light abuse.

A good seasoning in cast iron can handle acidic foods like tomato sauces and shit, whereas a shitty seasoning will get stripped off.

>>16911404
don't use olive oil, the smoke point is too low
ideally you should use lard or flaxseed
just fry some bacon in it, then save the fat and use that to season with

who keeps making these threads?

Cook with it
For me, I start every day with breakfast: Bacon and hash browns.
-2 rashers of thick cut bacon in a cold pan. I personally like to cut them in half as they fit better in both the pan and the sandwich I put them in. Fire it on medium heat and let the fat melt out.
-1 potato, cut however you want. I like using a box grater to shred it thick into a bar rag and wringing out the starch. By now the bacon should have given up quite a bit of grease for you to toss the potatoes in. Season the spuds with some kosher salt and cook for however long it takes, the bacon will likely be finished first.

Most faggots here will argue over how you should cure it or clean it, and generally make you wonder who is right or wrong. In fact, the very first thing I did when I bought my Lodge from a Kroger was make spaghetti sauce in it. Most would say I've ruined the pan or poisoned myself, but 10 years later I still cook with it and the spaghetti was a great appetizer before my roommate and I ate each others asses. The point is, get used to cooking with it and you'll know what your simple hunk of iron is good for.

>>16907343
Throw it into to the trash

>>16911418
This but if it's a Lodge you should really sand the damn thing smooth on the inside. Yeah, seasoning will eventually fill the pits and make it smooth if you're able to build on the same seasoning and never fuck it up, but this just makes that easier and gives you a fighting chance

>>16911408
modern lard isn't great


lard USED to be a good choice because pigs in that era were eating a more natural and varied diet, these days pigs are often eating formulated food that is nutritionally homogenous and has little to no variation in the diet.

So while lard might've been what you'd want 100 years ago, these days I stick to flaxseed or similar.

>>16911408
>>16911445
so i get flaxseed oil then? i think i have bacon in the fridge but it might be expired.

>>16910826
Do you have any idea how much heat iron can take before it even remotely begins to break down? Unless you are actually cooking with a blast furnace your cast iron pan isn't going to poison you.

>>16911472
no but i like that u went out of your way to help me. i just dont want long term side effects

>>16907343
Get it piping hot. Cut off gfs boobs, fry in vegetable oil on high heat until the room smells sour.

>>16907595
>hot sink water
>steal wool or tin foil
>scrape under water until clean
>oil and put away
Why are you so enraged by this simple process?

>>16908175
They practically give away the cheap ones and the great ones are cheap compared to stainless steel.

>>16911488
best case scenario it leeches just enough iron that you can save on supplements

>>16911443
Why? Lodge intentionally gives it that texture for oil to fill as the user cooks with it. Plus sanding down iron means you are scraping said iron away, which is technically damaging it. I understand we all want a smooth nonstick surface, but I don't agree with stepping the razor's edge to achieve what can be done safely and much more easily.

>>16911443
ive already had my lodge for a few months and the seasoning is ok(lazy family cant maintain it). should i sand it back and start the seasoning again?

>>16907343
shovel it up your ass

>>16907343

Regret your stupid decision.

Admit you got memed.

Wonder why you got done by this old timey meme and not others.

Get a multiclad aluminium/SS pan and compare the two and be suprised how much better it is than cast iron in every regard.

you do use induction right?

My comparison showing cast iron having basically a black ring of burnt shit vs a perfectly even cook on the multiclad.

Then try with milk.

>>16911683
Do not sand it, just give it a new seasoning. Wipe some shortening (or any high smoke point fat) all over it and place it upside-down in a 400F oven for an hour. File related is a pan that has never been sanded

>>16907343
Put it in the bottom drawer of your oven, and never look at it again.

>>16907343
Bacon-wrapped chicken thighs

>>16911711
>multiclad aluminium/SS pan
Cadmium and aluminium leachate into food. Enjoy your death

>>16911711
Stainless steel is fucking awful. Literally no point to it.

>want no effort no stick
Non-stick pan
>want best heat control and ability to season
Carbon steel
>want best heat retention and ability to season
Cast iron

Stainless is not good at any of this stuff. Moms buy stainless steel because they think it looks good, but it looks like circumcised bullshit.

>>16911412
People infatuated with jamming cast iron skillets up their arse.

>>16911751
The only reason I have any stainless steel is because I don't want to risk teflon degrading into my food over time. My first set of kitchenware when I left the nest was a set of teflon pots and pans because they were cheap. Then about a year later I noticed a silver blotch in my black interior and learned I can cut out the middleman with stainless steel. As it goes now, I use a cast iron skillet for most major cooking, but if I simultaneously need to use my cast iron pan with another (or just want to boil some ramen), I have basic stainless steel cookware on hand. It's cheap and not a big deal if you somehow destroy it, but I promise you'll be more likely to replace an entire steel set before you ever get rid of a single iron pan.

>>16911821
So why didn't you go with carbon steel? Stainless is only good for pots to boil shit in.

>>16911751
Stainless is kind of the middle of the road but that is also why it is useful. You can cook anything in stainless its just harder. If you are a retard it will stick and tear, but if you have heat control and triple digit IQ it will be fine.

All non-stick pans are a choice of last resort. You get a few hundred uses before the coating is fucked and you can only use plastic tools and medium heat.

Cast iron has problems with acids, doesn't work with lids, and is heavy as fuck. Those aren't major problems, but the advantages over stainless aren't that big either. Maybe you need seasoning to cook skin-off fish and eggs, but outside of that its basically a tossup.

>>16912048
Yeah, no. You've got no fucking idea what you're talking about and are just googling shit.

>>16907343
never put it into the dish washer. always wash by hand with hot water and without soap. when washed put it onto the stove with salt in it. heat up, toss arround the salt, done. it will immediatly oxidize if the surface is cleaned of al oil.

>>16912048
>Cast iron doesn't work with lids
You're a fucking retard.

>>16911738

Its aluminum jacketed with stainless steel you peanut brain retard.

>>16911751

Pancakes, fish and eggs/omelettes are easily made in SS with the correct temperature control. Things like chicken breast don't even need oil to be non-stick in SS

multiclad has better heat control than carbon steel.

There is something to heat retention if you are cooking over a campfire, however if you are using modern induction multiclad is better than cast in every regard, including this one.

Mom's actually buy cast iron. Ones that marry doctors buy glass enameled cast iron.

Actual chefs who use induction professionaly use SS and multiclad SS exclusively because it outclasses the old technology in every regard except cost.

>>16912164
Thanks for adding all the extra spaces so my eyes have to travel more. I only read up to the fourth line because you only had eight double spaced lines of bullshit conjecture... so, uh, good job being able to cook eggs and pancakes with the utmost care, I guess.

>>16911622
my process is even simpler. after i cleaned all the normal dishes i use the rough side of the sponge with whats left of all the soap and rinse then hang the cast iron upside down in the sink so it doesnt rust. the hot water will evaporate quickly

>>16911900
At the time I wanted a set of heavy-duty aluminum but they were too expensive for me. I figured SS was the most cost-effective material so I bought them and heard about carbon-steel immediately after. To be honest, I really do only use my small pot for noodles and wide pan for rice, but as I said, they're pretty cheap if you don't want to cook certain things on a dedicated cast iron.

>>16907617
Don't. Flax seed oil makes for a very hard and high temp polymer, but it's also prone to chipping and peeling.

>>16911622
>>16912322
>>16912333
>>16912453
What the fuck do i use if not bacon or flaxseed oil. Do i put shortening all over the cast iron and then put it in the oven for 400F for an hour?

After I wash scrap off anything that stuck on the pan and then scrub gently with water and a bit of soap?

i grew up on a farm and all we had was cast iron pans. the local store didnt sell any other kind of pan. never "seasoned" pans or even heard of "seasoning", just used them as normal and cleaned them normally.

>>16912933
>>16912933
Did food ever stick on the cast iron like when you made eggs?

>>16912937
of course not, every morning i would melt butter in the pan and fry 2 strips of bacon and 2 eggs

like pic related

>>16912942
Its probably the butter acting as seasoning. How do you wash it then?

>>16912971
soap and water

>>16913014
Cookbro can i kiss you?

*sticks tongue in your mouth*

>>16907343
Hit your your wife with it if your a white american

>>16908120
>hour to warm up
my shitty electric stove from the 80's heats it up to 5 minutes flat. Why would you spread lies so blatantly on the internet?

>>16912231
SorryIforgotthatbasicparagraphingissooffensivetoyoubraindeaddipshits

>>16912231
If you use reddit too much you end up doing that unintentionally.

>>16913993
This is unironically better to read than your reddit spacing bullshit.

>>16908442
>>16908747
>>16908135
>>16908141
>>16911684
Based. Doing gods work anons.
>>16907366
Don't do this, try to find the shittiest most highest refined shit avocado oil and season it. Trust me, has just about the highest smoke point and that's what you want to season it with a few times. You do know how to season a pan right? You oil it up and shove it up your

>>16912942
>>16912942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLVKXl0-fVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V6ugaADoPg

>>16907343
Everything.

>>16914857
>the handle was greasy and I broke my toes
laughin

>>16914857
this is fucking funny. nice one, anon.

>>16914857
Fukken saved. Now put a bottle of flax oil in his other hand.

>>16907924
I did this when I ditched the teflon shit, I like it.

>>16907343
>now what?
Buy a Raspberry PI

>>16914857
Saved

>>16914966
>>16915030
>>16915055
>>16915404
Glad I could give a few people a chuckle.

in the last two days I reseasoned my pan twice (without removing previous seasoning)
first with sesame oil
then with bacon fat
who knows
I might do it with olive oil
and then something else
and then flax seed
and then maybe peanut oil
cry about it

>>16907924
>rivets
gross

>>16912915
Shortening, vegetable oil, canola, really anything works. The idea is to heat the iron so it's "pores" expand, fill those gaps with some lubrication and let them get baked into it until they form a new slick surface. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't immediately work, the only way you're going to make your pan yours is by constantly using it. Also even when you do manage to get your nonstick finish, be mindful that certain food will still need additional fat like butter or vegetable oil to cook properly.
You can wash a cast iron pan however you like, but do not let it soak in soapy water. In fact, the only way you'll really put a dent in a deep cure is by soaking it or boiling baking soda with it, a normal handwash with a non-abrasive scrubber won't hurt.
I never actually wash mine as it gets used once or twice a day and so it just sits on the stove. If I ever want to clean it I just give it some heat to melt whatever fat is inside and use paper towels to wipe a pile of salt around it. The salt is abrasive enough to knock off bits of food and the paper towels absorb the old grease. Once the salt is filthy I let it all cool down, throw out the salt and dry off the pan, it's never anywhere near the sink.