A cast iron skillet tip...

[johngalt]

I got rid of almost all of my teflon and cook mostly in cast iron. However, some things stick even in my ancient well seasoned skillet (from approximately the 1930's) unless I use an excessive amount of oil.

This method works better for me:

Heat dry pan. When hot, pour in a little oil. I like avocado oil, as it has a very high smoke point. Sprinkle a layer of kosher salt on the bottom. Cook food.

The layer of salt seems reduce reduce the contact of the food with the pan, and it sticks less, but browns just as well. I salt the food much less, if any, to account for the salt that will be picked up from the pan.

Cleanup is to pour a little water in while still hot, scrape the bottom with a plastic straight edge spatula, dump it, wipe it down, and oil it. Anything stuck to the bottom comes up pretty easily.

 

[Redeker]

After you clean and oil it, reheat it a little to set the season. When using the oven I put it back in as it cools.

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[Rustyt1953]

My mother has a set of Griswolds and we have a set of Lodges.

No home should be without cast iron cookware.

PS: I don't believe any of us has ever washed them.

 

[runscott]

When through cooking, I get as much out as I can with a plastic tool, then wipe out the smaller bits with a paper towel, heat on the stove-top to burn off a little more residue, let it cool, wipe in a little Canola oil (doesn't spoil like some others), put away.

Thanks to others for their tips. I don't have sticking problems, but will try that salt idea and see what happens.

 

[armorer951]

Thanks for the tip. The good thing about cast iron is, the food tastes better, and your body gets a bit of iron from the pan. A win win.

 

[Krogen]

Heat dry pan. When hot, pour in a little oil. I like avocado oil, as it has a very high smoke point. Sprinkle a layer of kosher salt on the bottom. Cook food.

The layer of salt seems reduce reduce the contact of the food with the pan, and it sticks less, but browns just as well. I salt the food much less, if any, to account for the salt that will be picked up from the pan.

Mom used to do something similar when frying hamburger. She'd sprinkle a layer of table salt in the skillet without added oil and then pop in the raw hamburger patties. Of course the hamburger had plenty of fat in it, but they never stuck with that method.

She also used to fry eggs in Fleishman's margarine and afterwards put the cast iron skillet in the dishwasher!

Gasp!

These days, margarine has a bad name and we think soap or (shudder) a dishwasher will kill the seasoning. I inherited Mom's skillets and they are jet black and slippery as teflon. Seems the dishwasher did no harm or.... it just couldn't destroy seasoning made of margarine. Regardless, I use butter or oil in them and then just some hot water to clean them. And they stay slippery.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Been cooking with Iron Skillets as long as I can remember.
Mine are so old I don't know who made them.
Never put one in a Dishwasher. Really?
When my Mother passed, I brought one of her Iron Skillets back to NM.
When my Dau told me she didn't have a Iron Skillet, I passed her GM's down to her.
Iron Skillets should be passed down in the Family, IMO.

 

[VaTom]

Love the iron skillets. If you haven't tried cooking with them in the oven rather than frying on the stove top you should try it. Not just corn bread. Pork chops, chicken, vegtables, etc. Takes a loittle longer bbut food comes out great. 350-375 Degrees.

 

[S&W ucla]

Y'all might appreciate this if you haven't seen it before

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5tqE293T_8[/ame]

 

[Jessie]

Just cooked steak in one tonight!
What a coincidence, and it came out great btw.

 

[arjay]

One of my favorite dishes
A little oil in a hot skillet
Chicken thighs sprinkled with salt,paprika and cayenne
Brown both sides over medium high heat for a few minutes
Put the skillet in a a 350° oven for 35 minutes

 

[1morethan8]

Kent is telling it right...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZMXZfcol8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZMXZfcol8[/ame]

 

[Krogen]

Somebody said CORNBREAD a bit ago. Here's my own recipe; fiddled with and modified over the years. Yep, I'm a Yankee, but I love my cornbread. Don't get me started on Shrimp n' Grits. Love that too. You Southerners sure know how to cook!

BTW, there's no sugar in my cornbread! Sacrilegious to some, perhaps . . . . And the tart Bulgarian buttermilk makes all the difference.

Granite Bob's Cornbread

Ingredients

- 2 cups fine cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups Bulgarian buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp butter, melted


Directions

- Preheat oven to 425 deg F.

- Mix dry ingredients well.

- Grease a 10" cast-iron skillet lightly with butter.

- Place greased skillet in the preheated oven for 8-10
minutes. (It should be almost smoking when removed.)

- While the skillet is heating, add the buttermilk and
egg to the dry ingredients. Mix only until smooth.

- Add the melted butter and mix until incorporated.

- Remove the hot skillet from the oven and immediately
pour in the batter. It will sizzle and begin to form
a crust.

- Return the skillet to the oven and bake at 425 deg F
for 20 minutes. The cornbread will start to pull
away from the wall of the skillet as cooks.

- Cool on a rack until you can't wait any longer.

 

[mtgianni]

Don't forget cast iron griddles. Ours get a ton of use.

 

[KalamazooKid]

Bluegills in mine last Friday eve. Don’t even own anything else!

And yes, a little hot water in the pan, scrape with spatula, rinse, and apply a very light coat of oil and good to go again!

 

[STCM(SW)]

I season mine with 5 thin coats of Flaxseed oil.
Great looking and nothing sticks.....

 

[Texas40]

Wash with COLD water only no soap
dry on stove burner and add a small amount of oil after water gone spread thin coat around pan and continue heat til oil just starts to smoke.

Cool and put away I can fry eggs in um and they dont stick.


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[Rule3]

"Hot Pan- Cold oil
Foods don't stick"

Works for stainless as well. IE: get the pan hot first THEN add oil.

 

[Chukar60]

I have a set of old Griswold that took me years to collect.
Everybody who uses iron regularly has a ritual for maintaining it and I find them all very interesting.
I only use animal fat in mine. Had poor luck in the early years with vegetable oil and cheap iron. Probably more to do with cheap iron than the oil, But lard works so I stick with it.
I heat my pan until the lard will melt in it. When the oil starts to smoke, I take it off the heat until the smoke quits. Then add whatever I am cooking and adjust heat accordingly. Nothing sticks and I just wipe the pan with a paper towel then a light coat of lard before it cools..

 

[Skeet 028]

We do wash ours occasionally. With soap and water....NO DISHWASHER! Since my wife won't use lard to cook anymore "sigh" When we get it cleaned up I use ...yep...bacon grease and in the winter put it on the woodstove for a bit and wipe the grease in lightly. No problems keeping our ol Griswolds and others clean. In the summer we just warm it on the stove top. My wife's father called cornbread with sugar johnnycake...and cornbread was supposed to be made with white cornmeal. He was raised by his grandparents whose housekeeper had been a former slave(he was born in 1899) and that lady ran the kitchen and house. She taught him to make cornbread and his own breakfast before he was 10. He told me she swatted him when he needed it and he learned stuff right from her. He used cast iron pans too. He really was a pretty good cook even when he was about a hundred...but since we made johnnycake with yeller cornmeal he just groaned a little and ate it anyway. My 1st mother in law had and used a fireplace with built in oven and cast iron pans...even had cast iron bread pans but liked glass ones better for the loaves; That was one warm kitchen in the spring. Summer was an outdoor woodstove till my future wife was about 18 or so. That ole house is still there . Built around 1750