Cookin again

[Sacrosanct]

I would only use vegetable oil to season a pan if nothing else is available. Flax seed oil is the best.
For initial seasoning, I preheat oven to 400 and put a thin layer of oil all over pan with a lint free cloth. Put in oven for an hour and let cool. Repeat process five times.

for maintenance seasoning, heat up clean pan after coating inside with thin layer (thin as you can get) of oil and heat until it starts to smoke. Turn off heat and let cool. If the pan is tacky or sticky, the oil was too thick or you didn’t heat enough.

Never use soap. After doing the above, I can cook about anything and nothing will stick. Clean up is literally running hot water into it and using a sponge to wipe out the food. No scrubbing ever needed. Even with eggs.

 

[CleverNickName]

Something else to remember when cooking with cast iron: acid will react with iron. If you're cooking with something fairly acidic, like tomato sauce or lemon juice, you will likely have to re-season the pan when you're done.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This video is about seasoning carbon steel- again, very similar to cast iron- and I post it because he answers the often unanswered question: “how much oil” should be used when seasoning a pan. Turns out it’s a lot less than most people- myself included- would think.

He also points out that your seasoning temp should vary depending on which oil you use.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pleasing variation taught to me by some cookbook or other...

Replace the bullion/flavor packet in ramen with a teaspoon of white miso. Float a soft-boiled egg in there is you're feeling like that will fit the bill.

Based on this post and the ones about congee, I’d guess you have more than a passing familiarity with cooking asian cuisine.

I know little beyond the odd simple stir fry. That’s despite having a few cookbooks, the fact that I LOVE asian food and can frequently be found shopping in asian groceries. I just haven‘t gotten the courage to experiment with the unfamiliar spices.

 

[prabe]

And, I know this is probably a dumb question - that cleaning it didn't involve any dish soap, right?

The cleaning didn't involve any soap. The seasoning on at least one occasion came off with the meat I was browning in the skillet.

I re-seasoned it, and the seasoning came off again. More than once.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I probably woudn't make a long-slow simmered tomato sauce in cast iron, but other cooking should not remove seasoning.

I tend to make pan sauces, with hard spirits and often tomato paste and/or vinegar. They're not so acidic or in for so long that I'd expect it to be a problem (if cast iron worked for me as advertised ;-)) but they work more than well enough in my stainless pans.

I've got a big enameled dutch oven for braises and soups and some baking. Not Le Creuset, because those things are so damned expensive. I didn't have the cash for it in my younger days. I simply note that cast iron skillets and enameled cast iron dutch ovens are just for different uses, much like your saute pan and your soup pot are for different uses.

The Le Cresuet Dutch ovens were a wedding gift for my wife's previous wedding. From my perspective, they were free. BONUS!

 

[Umbran]

The cleaning didn't involve any soap. The seasoning on at least one occasion came off with the meat I was browning in the skillet.

I re-seasoned it, and the seasoning came off again. More than once.

Okay, to be clear - you are by no means required to justify what you are saying. But I am curious - what did you observe that indicated to you that, "the seasoning came off"?

The Le Cresuet Dutch ovens were a wedding gift for my wife's previous wedding. From my perspective, they were free. BONUS!

Can't argue with free!

 

[prabe]

Okay, to be clear - you are by no means required to justify what you are saying. But I am curious - what did you observe that indicated to you that, "the seasoning came off"?

I assure I am more amused than bothered by my failure with seasoned cast iron, and by discussing it. If I've seemed terse, it wasn't that.

When I say the seasoning "came off" I mean that there was a visible difference where the [pork chops IIRC, but that's less relevant] had been, and that visible difference looked like the difference between seasoned and unseasoned cast iron, and that the difference remained visible after cleaning (salt then water then well-dried), and that cooking on the pan thereafter there was a difference in how (not) easy it was to pull something off the pan if it ended up on those visible spots.

 

[Umbran]

Something else to remember when cooking with cast iron: acid will react with iron. If you're cooking with something fairly acidic, like tomato sauce or lemon juice, you will likely have to re-season the pan when you're done.

Seasoning is a protective layer of baked on, carbonized oil. That acid reacts with iron doesn't mean the seasoning comes off more quickly, because in a seasoned pan, if the acid is reacting with the metal, the seasoning on the pan is already gone!

Yes, acidic foods will take some of the protective layer off. But it shouldn't strip it bare so that the regular oiling after each use won't be sufficient to maintain the pan's condition.

 

[Umbran]

When I say the seasoning "came off" I mean that there was a visible difference where the [pork chops IIRC, but that's less relevant] had been, and that visible difference looked like the difference between seasoned and unseasoned cast iron, and that the difference remained visible after cleaning (salt then water then well-dried),

And then oiled, right? If you are not re-oiling the pan after the drying, yes, you will find yourself without a protective coating on the pan.

 

[Umbran]

Based on this post and the ones about congee, I’d guess you have more than a passing familiarity with cooking asian cuisine.

I know little beyond the odd simple stir fry. That’s despite having a few cookbooks, the fact that I LOVE asian food and can frequently be found shopping in asian groceries. I just haven‘t gotten the courage to experiment with the unfamiliar spices.

I would only claim a passing familiarity - Asian cuisine is a huge field, after all.

For a few years a while back, my wife did lunches by making bento boxes. And more recently my wife has developed chronic migraine, with attendant GI issues - Asian foods tend to lean to using less meat and less fat which seems to sit more easily when she's having a bad day.

Oh, by the way, for those who are interested - apparently congee reheats in the microwave astoundingly well.