Cast Iron is considered to be an excellent cooking utensil because of its heat retention properties. So in this article, we are going to discuss some ways of using as well as taking care of a cast iron skillet.
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Seasoning:
- Start by getting some steel wool. Scrub it down with steel wool with mild dish soap, just keep scrubbing along all of the sides, on the back of it, turn it over, and get the handle. Once you’re happy that it’s all clean, you can go give it a rinse under hot water.
- Dry it off with a towel and then put it onto your stove and turn it on. And let all of that excess water, any extra moisture dry off.
- Apply a thin layer of oil. Flax seed oil is the best oil for the job. It creates the best non-stick, longest lasting seasoning, but canola oil will also work just fine.
- The surface is actually porous, so we want to fill up to make a nice, smooth cooking surface. So once we have this thin layer of oil all over the skillet,
- Wipe all the excess oil off.rub off as much of the oil as you can. If you don’t wipe off enough oil and have too thick of a layer, then it comes out of the oven very sticky and does not provide the best results
- Put your cast iron in your oven on the highest temperature it can go, between 450 and 500 degrees. So this process is going to take about an hour. The reason we need our oven so high is that we actually want the oil to bond with the cast iron. So if you’ve ever taken your skillet and it’s still kind of brown and sticky, it’s probably because your oven wasn’t hot enough.
- After an hour, you can turn off your oven and let it cool in there. The result is a hard glassy layer that we’re looking for that helps make our cast iron non-stick.
- A good rule to remember whenever you’re dealing with cast iron is water will make it rust. We always want to get it as dry as possible.
Cooking:
- Preheat it onto a low to medium heat. This may take five to ten minutes.
- If the food is sticking to the pan. Usually, that’s because you’re putting cold food in a cold cast iron pan.
- When you put any meat in your hot skillet, just leave it, as you want it to sear and caramelize. Let it cook. When you see the kind of brown crust forming on the outside, that’s when you know it’s ready to flip.
- You can get a nice layer of caramelization from a high heat on the stove and then finish something cooking in the oven on a much gentler, radiant heat.
Cleaning:
As you are beginning to clean your cast iron, you need to hit a sweet spot. On the off chance that it’s chilled off excessively, the nourishment will follow and truly adhere to the container. What’s more, if it’s excessively hot and you put it under cool water, you can chance it splitting. So you need to wash the container quite not long after you utilize it.
The tenderest approach to clean your skillet is with boiling point water and salt and a non-metal scouring cushion or the unpleasant side of your wipe. The salt acts as a rough and scours off any sustenance that is on there without harming the flavoring by any means.
Once you’re upbeat that your skillet is spotless, give it another towel dry and after that let it totally get dry either on the stove or in a warm broiler just to ensure there’s no waiting moisture or dampness. What’s more, that is going to shield it from rusting later on.
So the last thing, we’re going to put a defensive layer of oil on the skillet before we store it. Precisely with a paper towel, rub that up and down within. Turn up the warmth until the oil is smoking, at that point turn it off and let it cool on the stove. The motivation behind why we need to take up to the smoking point is so that the oil doesn’t turn rotten.
