How I (finally) Fell In Love With My Cast Iron

How to maintain your cast iron

About 10 years ago my mom gave me a beautiful 13.25″ pre-seasoned cast iron skillet. This sucker is large and HEAVY, almost 10 pounds (without food in it). She new I needed BIG, I was feeding 6 people at the time, two of which were boys entering their teenage years. I loved the new skillet and immediately started ~~cooking~~ burning food with it. I think my biggest mistake was that I tried to cook eggs first.

About the time I figured out how to use the pan without destroying a whole meal, it got all rusty on me! Being frustrated and disgusted with my failed attempts I put it on a storage shelf and left it there…..for several years.

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What is “seasoning”?

Seasoning is oil baked into the pores of the iron at a high temperature. It prevents rust and provides a natural finish that continues to improve with use.

A couple years ago I decided I was ready to try again. I did some research on how to clean and re-season cast iron, scrubbed the rust off, seasoned it, and it was beautiful! I started using it again and all was well…..for a while. Then the rust returned. I again set it on the shelf and moved on with life.

A year ago I came across this little 8 inch skillet on Amazon for $10.59! THIS was a very good purchase! Small enough to pick up with one hand and big enough to make a grilled cheese sandwich or fry a few eggs. We literally use this one everyday. I did more research on how to care for cast iron and discovered that everyone seems to have there own process (some of them the opposite of helpful), but most acheived the same goal. I finally realized what I was doing wrong and mastered the art of cooking with cast iron on my little skillet.

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Here is my list of do’s and don’ts for maintaining cast iron:

Don’t ever, ever, ever, use soap on them. I know it’s a little scary at first but remember that when you heat your skillet on medium heat for 4 minutes it will reach 400°. At 212° it will be sterile! When you use soap it will start to take your seasoning off and you will soon have rust.
Do hand wash your skillet with water and a sponge or a stiff brush(not a metal scouring pad). If you have a bunch of dried on gunk using one of these pan scrapers work wonders! Dry the pan immediately and completely after washing.
Don’t leave the pan to soak, and don’t put water in the pan to boil off stuck on food. I had read that this was a good way to clean the pan but it just caused my pan to lose it’s seasoning and rusted very quickly.
Do oil your pan after each cleaning. I pour a teaspoon to a tablespoon of olive or avocado oil into the dried pan and use a paper towel to oil the inside of the pan. Then it’s ready for the next use.
Do fry something. That’s right, it’s rough, but if it looks like you’re loosing your seasoning you can re-season it or fry something….onion rings, tater cakes, Indian fry bread, doughnuts, whatever your heart desires, just FRY it! Your pan will love you for it and so will your family. 😉

Once I felt comfortable with the little pan I unburied the BIG one and Jess cleaned it up for me. He took a (new) wire wheel and stripped the entire pan. Here is a picture after he had started striping it. You can see the huge difference.

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After he was done with the wire brush I seasoned it with palm shortening using the method I learned from this Youtube video. It worked GREAT!

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Now that I finally have this cast iron thing figured out I use this pan everyday too. It’s the right size to substitute for a 9×13″ baking dish so I’ve been baking pretty much everything in it. I love how evenly they cook, and once seasoned and maintained correctly they really are like using a nonstick pan!

Here is some more tips and info about cast iron that I have learned.

Season your pan as soon as you get it, even if the pan has already been pre-seasoned.When looking for info on how and why to season and maintain your cast iron, only use a trusted source like the web site for the manufacturer of your piece.
Hot pad handles are a MUST. These are what I have, or I have read silicone works great too. These are WAY better than looking for a hot pad every time you need to grab the handle.
If you need to measure a pan you already have or are looking on line and need help picturing how big the pan will be; cast iron is measured from the outside rim to outside rim across the top of the pan. The top of the pan is usually bigger in diameter than the bottom of the pan.
You should avoid cooking highly acidic foods like tomato sauce until your pan is highly seasoned. The acidic foods will strip the seasoning.

Do you have any good tips for using cast iron? I would love to hear them! As I learn more I will add them to this list. I hope by reading my do’s and don’t list and learning from my mistakes it will not take you 10 years to truly appreciate your cast iron!