Cooking in Cast Iron

[fnmag]

MacTech, now you've done it! I just checked in before "turning in" and I see all this "flap" about CI and the foods you've cooked.....I can't sleep! I'm salivating like a horse. I'm going to look into this. All the talk about searing a big steak has me wired.

 

[Hikaru]

WoW, I have this friend in NYC that is also what I call "born again about cast iron cooking," I didn't think there were any others that feel the same. Now you got me curious as to what I am missing. Do they still make this anymore? If so, what are good brands?

I have to be honest that I'm having a hard time imagining not washing up any pan/pot/plate/cup/glass/utensil with soap, and preferably run through the dishwasher with the "sanitize" feature turned on. I think I would always be worried that I'm gonna get some salmonella, or hookworm infection. LOL!

"Lodge" is a good brand, and they sell pre-seasoned skillets that save you a lot of the initial hassle, especially if you aren't familiar with what a properly seasoned pan should look like.

As for sanitizing, wash it with hot water while heating the pan and then heat it to dry it off (after dumping the water) anything left will carbonize. 300-400 degrees of stovetop heat should kill everything better than even the dish-washer.

 

[Hikaru]

[in the time it took my browser to double-post, bfg9000 gave you basically the same info]

 

[LuxLuthor]

Looks like a cool company. Now I have to figure out what to try out. My friend is going to soil his BVD's when he finds out about this after how I laughed at him over beers.

 

[chmsam]

I'm a food guy and that's my job, so permit me my two cents' worth. What people tend to ignore is that bacteria are not the only reason you clean pans. Bacteria produce toxins. Toxins are basically waste byproducts of bacteria and will make you as sick as any other food poisoning. You do need to use hot water and scrubbing to clean pans. Cast iron may require less cleaning but just wiping it out won't keep you healthy. You just do not need to scrub it until your fingers bleed.

Besides, re-seasoning if you need it is no big woof. Heat the pan on medium heat, let it cool a bit, wipe with oil and a clean cloth, and pop it in a low heat oven for a few minutes. That's a lot less hassle than getting to deal with toxins.

Lots of good cast iron cookware around and it is easy to use, but it does take a little change in cooking styles. Now, if you have a strong wallet, check out Le Crueset pans. Porcelain enamel interior and exterior over cast iron. Great stuff, but what a price tag! If you have old cast iron that's rough or rusty, you can re-do the surface, but really scrub it out afterward (bits of iron and rust will not add a great flavor to your eggs or stew) and when fully dry, season it like it was new.

 

[MacTech]

The problem I have with the porcelan-clad CI pans is that you lose two of the most endearing parts of CI cooking, the pan adding to the flavor of the food, and the small increase in iron content, you do get the nice even heat, and you get a lot easier cleanup, and the ability to scrub it down with soap and water, but you're giving up two of CI's biggest advantages to get it

that, and they're too bloody expensive, my current CI arsenal cost me less than a SureFire 6PL...

Lodge Combo Cooker "Dutch Oven" (a deep skillet and shallow skillet that doubles as a lid for the Combo Cooker, three pans in two) $40
Lodge 10" flat round griddle ($15)
Lodge 3" Mini-Pan ($3) (the Mini-Pan is perfect for a single fried egg)

4 CI pans for under $60......

 

[bfg9000]

Target carries a porcelainized cast iron dutch oven (made in China) for $39.95 that works just as well as a Le Creuset that is 5x the price. They had matching fry pans too but cleared them out at $6.24 a while ago.

Porcelain surfaces stick rather badly though so the "easy care" can come at the expense of "easy to use." Recommended for cooking wetter things, or for creating fond in gourmet cooking (yes, you could do this in an uncoated cast iron pan too but the black surface makes it really hard to see what you are doing). A plain (not nonstick) stainless lined pan works great for that too.

As an aside, I really prefer bare cast iron over HAIII (Calphalon) or ceramic-titanium (Scanpan) surfaces for cooking because things simply stick less. The only nonstick pans I've found worth considering (and there are things that nonstick does best) are the ones with the nonstick applied to stainless, because none of the coatings seem to stick too well to aluminum. And an aluminum core or pad under the stainless helps to distribute heat evenly (yes, copper would work better but is so expensive that even some very expensive pans only have a thin electroplating of it that is mostly for show). The cast iron pans demonstrate that given enough mass, even plain cast iron can distribute heat evenly so copper is overkill.

Price matters little for things you only buy once in a lifetime (well, except the nonstick pans that will need replacing) but Cook's Illustrated did a pan "shoot out" that found high price does not necessarily mean better, and extending the aluminum core into the sides of the pan (All-Clad) has little effect on cooking performance.

 

[Bright Scouter]

I might be different than most because I use mine in the outdoors. Either over a fire or with charcoal on a dutch oven table. Because of that, I usually use camp dutch ovens with legs. I prefer the Lodge brand. But I do have one from Cabela's that is very nice also. I also prefer the deep versions because of what they can hold. But for baked items, the deep can be harder to work with and get everything baked evenly.

Now, when are we going to start with the special dutch oven recipes?

 

[raggie33]

i bought another cast iron pan a lodge 12 inch preseasened i already made it so food sticks to it. i love how they do heat but they always stick for me.i also bought a tfal non stick and its awesome but it don't hold heat good but nothing sticks to it

 

[MacTech]

Raggie, what did you cook in it that stuck? the first few things you should cook in it are things like bacon, steak, burgers, foods with fats/oils

the factory "preseasoning" is just a starting point, don't expect to cook eggs or veggies and the like and have them not stick to the pan, build up the seasoning layer first, eggs are a tough one, my CI cookware is *almost* up to doing an egg with no additional oil, but i've been cooking burgers, bacon and the like on it almost exclusively, and grilled/seared veggies come out brilliantly well

keep in mind that you also don't need to use as high a heat as you do on other cooking surfaces, use low to mid temps, i have yet to take my CI cookware above setting 5 on my cooktop, cooking on lower heat/slower also makes food taste better, high heat increases the chances of sticking

the first egg i cooked on my skillet basically molecularly bonded to the pan, but i figured the seasoning layer wasn't built up enough yet, so I scraped off as much as i could, let the pan cool and removed the residue, didn't hurt the seasoning a bit

it just takes time, don't give up yet, it's definitely worth it, the taste difference is amazing

 

[LuxLuthor]

Our favorite pan that gets used for everything is a 12" Calphalon deep skillet with glass cover. We got it at Macy's a couple years ago and were so excited that they had a lifetime guarantee on the non-stick, thinking....FINALLY a REAL NON-STICK surface!!! While it truly was way ahead of any other non-stick we had bought, with almost daily use and proper care/utensils, it has progressively lost much of that magical non-stick surface after about 18-24 months. So disappointing.

I don't know how well Calphalon backs their guarantee....but it may be time to try one of the large Lodge skillets.

I did my best to google search for possible bacterial/toxin contamination dangers of food cooked in cast iron, but have not come up with anything of significance. Thus, on that basis, it seems likely that this bacterial/toxin is not a significant C.I. issue, or search hits would have been more obvious.

One other question I wondered about is why don't strong food flavors get "trapped" in the oil based pan seasoning? It seems like garlic and other pungent spices would affect subsequent cooked items...but I have no experience with using it.

 

[raggie33]

weird thing it was a hamburger that stuck i mean stuck like i glued it.i was sop mad i almost threw the pan. now it is uneven colored like black in middle and lighter grey around sides.im sure its user problem

 

[MacTech]

Hmm, are you sure it was a Lodge Logic series, Lodge has three types of CI cookware

standard unseasoned Lodge cookware is silvery-gray, and must be seasoned before use, unseasoned CI is the exact opposite of non-stick

Lodge Logic is their preseasoned line, they are a rich black color, the preseasoned surface is a good starting point, but just that, a starting point

Lodge Pro Logic is their more "curvy" preseasoned cookware, it looks more "aerodynamic" for lack of a better term

if your Lodge pan wasn't black, it was probably unseasoned, give it a good scrubdown, dry it off, and follow the seasoning instructions upthread

 

[Nitro]

I did my best to google search for possible bacterial/toxin contamination dangers of food cooked in cast iron, but have not come up with anything of significance. Thus, on that basis, it seems likely that this bacterial/toxin is not a significant C.I. issue, or search hits would have been more obvious.

My grandfather lived to 89, and ate Eggs and Bacon, EVERYDAY of his life, cooked in cast iron. I DOUBT waste/toxins from bacteria has any effect what so ever on the human body when ingested, AFTER it's cooked. Think about all this bacterial waste on the food itself.

One other question I wondered about is why don't strong food flavors get "trapped" in the oil based pan seasoning? It seems like garlic and other pungent spices would affect subsequent cooked items...but I have no experience with using it.

Maybe if you cook eggs immediately after frying garlic, you might get a taste. However if you scrape everything out, heat, then oil up, all will be fine. Everything turns to carbon eventually.

 

[Nitro]

weird thing it was a hamburger that stuck i mean stuck like i glued it.i was sop mad i almost threw the pan. now it is uneven colored like black in middle and lighter grey around sides.im sure its user problem

Raggie, it sounds like your pan isn't seasoned enough. When seasoned correctlly it should look BLACK as night. You need to cook tons of bacon in it. Try making a Hamburger wrapped in Bacon. Also, when pre-heating, don't let it get too hot, or it will burn some of the seasoning off.

 

[raggie33]

there just something i have bad luck with .i want a non stick pan thats really really heavy maybe made out a copper or another good heat source the pan i bought was from walmart it was a pre seasened lodge

 

[savumaki]

MacTech. you should consider a career selling CI :thumbsup:;

My seven fry pans and dutch oven agree with you.

One serious drawback is they cannot be used on glass top stoves, apparently there is a danger of scratching the glass which is many $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to replace.
If I go near the stove now with CI the wife threatens to use it on me .

I have been relegated to the barbie.

 

[MacTech]

there just something i have bad luck with .i want a non stick pan thats really really heavy maybe made out a copper or another good heat source the pan i bought was from walmart it was a pre seasened lodge

Strange.... it's possible you could have had it too hot, or maybe, like you say, it's just bad luck

I never go higher than the #5 setting on my cooktop, i just let the pan heat up and drop a drop of water on it, if the water drop dances, sizzles and evaporates, it's at the right temperature, if it just hisses and evaporates, it's too hot

I start off on setting 4 and adjust upward as needed, half a setting at a time, CI holds heat exceptionally well, so you don't have to worry about your food cooling the pan when it hits it, CI has exceptional thermal stability and heat retention

when I cook burgers (thick one inchers), I generally sear each side for 30 seconds to a minute, then flip them at least twice when cooking, the 30 second sear seals the meat and creates that yummy crust, the rest of the cooktime is to cook the rest of the meat to medium rare

don't give up just yet, scrape the stuck on burger residue clean, cook bacon two or three times to get a nice heavy seasoning layer, then try a burger again

Heh, tonight my co-workers and I are hitting Texas Roadhouse (a new one just opened up here in Portsmouth, NH), so we'll see how they compare to my homemade rare steaks

 

[raggie33]

o i did make a rib eye in it that made me almost cry it was yummy.but i did have heat way to much it was on high i just droped the rib eye in the pan let it stay for like 25 seconds then flipped cooked 45 seconds more then aite it lol.bare in mind i like my steaks very very very very rare.i just bought this cast iron pan last 2 weeks ago. its a 12 incher.is it true ya cant cook tomatoes in em?like chilli etc etc

 

[MacTech]

If you had the heat on "High" it was probably far too hot, on my cooktop, bare burner element temperature can reach 1200 degrees, heck, on "2", the cooking temperature is around 350 degrees, I'd guestimate that 4.5 to 5 would be in the 500-600 degree range

I'd say that you were more than likely cooking too hot....

just to give you an idea, the cleaning cycle on a self-cleaning oven is generally around 900 degrees, and putting a CI pan through the self-cleaning cycle is an effective way to "unseason" a pan so it could be reseasoned again

more than likely you accidentally burned off the seasoning on the skillet

just for the record, the melting point of iron is around 1500 degrees.....

tomatoes and other acidic foods *can* be cooked in CI, but they do damage the seasoning, a well seasoned pan should be able to handle the occasional acidic food, just don't do it on a newly seasoned pan or preseasoned pan