Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Cast Iron Skillet TLC

For dinner tonight I baked a sweet potato and spinach fritatta in one of my cast iron skillets.  When it was done and I removed it from the pan I noticed a thick layer of baked-on egg all along the sides of the pan and realized it was time to re-season it.

I've had my cast iron for decades.  I used to use it on top of the stove and in the oven, but several years ago we got a range with a glass cook top.  I was afraid the heavy pans would scratch it up, so now I only used it for baking.  I like how cast iron cooks food evenly,  but I don't like that evenly-cooked food stuck on the pan!




The seasoning process is easy but time consuming.  First I removed the cooked-on crud by scrubbing it with a mixture of salt and oil, rinsed the pan thoroughly in hot water, and dried it well.  Next, I smeared it with a light layer of shortening (inside and out, while I was at it), then put it in a 300 degree oven and baked it for 2 hours.  When it was done I took it out and wiped it down with a paper towel.  I noticed the outside was nicely seasoned, but the inside still looked a little dull so I repeated the whole process again. This time it looked better, but I'll know for sure the next time I use it. 

A good seasoning should last for months, as long as the person cleaning up after dinner remembers not to wash the pan with soap!

8 comments:

  1. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my cast iron collection.

    Happy Baking.

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  2. I had a cast iron pan once when I was just learning to cook and this was before the google days and I had no idea how to season it so didn't do it properly. That was the end of that.

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  3. Great information, thank you. I was just recently writing about cast iron griddles and learned there that you cannot use soap for cleaning it. Things like that are so important to know.

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    1. Cecilia, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. You're right about soap and cast iron. They're a bad combination.

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  4. Ut oh! I know I've watched my MIL cast iron pan with soap. Yikes. I don't own one.

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    1. No worries....that's what reseasoning is for.

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