I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong. What are your guys' usage patterns for it? I've seen all the rando interwebs advice ranging from the standard "coat it with lard and put it upside down in the oven for an hour," to ridiculously detailed stuff like "heat the pan lightly to open the iron's pores (...lols), then perform three cycles of rubbing food-grade flaxseed oil and heating the pan to 500F then letting it cool," to probably what the original instructions for them were back in the 1800s: "quit asking advice and just go cook some bacon in it, pussy." I've been using the "just go cook some bacon in it, pussy" method, after initially rubbing it with a bit of olive oil just to make sure the metal was covered so it wouldn't rust. This thing works great for bacon. Bacon's not my problem, I can fry up some bacon like a muthafucka. It's the goddamn eggs. They don't stick to it ridiculously, and I figured they'd stick more than to some Teflon zero-friction super-bearing coated pan, but the problem is that they're only manageable if i leave most of the bacon grease in the pan. And frankly, I hate greasy food. When I cook bacon + eggs in a normal pan, I take the bacon out and put it on a paper towel to drain, and then dump the grease. Often I'll go as far as wiping the pan down with a paper towel before I put in the eggs. If it's not the aforementioned super-ultra-Teflon-magic stuff, I'll leave in just enough grease to let the eggs move around, but I mean just enough. With the cast iron pan, "just enough" seems to be a freakin 1/8" deep puddle of bacon grease. I feel like I'm deep-frying the damn things. Is that how it's supposed to be? Does my distaste for grease simply make me not manly enough for cast iron? Am I cooking wrong? (Thinking, perhaps, maybe my cooking temperatures aren't high enough to polymerize the fats, so I'm never really forming that nonstick seasoning layer? I cook B&E on medium-low, and the foods themselves cook perfectly.) Or am I just expecting this nonstick layer to form too quickly? (Only been using the pan regularly for a couple weeks.)
You need fat in the pan, more than if you would have if you drain off bacon grease and wipe clean. I leave approx 2 T in the pan. When you drop the eggs in let them be for at least 2 minutes. Once the bottoms cook they will release easier. If you mess with them too soon they'll break and stick. For scrambled eggs, I basically wait until the edges are cooked through and starting to curl. A good season that stays takes awhile. No soap while cleaning. If there's crap stuck on the bottom put 1/4 cup of kosher salt in and scrub with that. It will break up chunks and make them easy to wash out. My routine for bacon and eggs is to basically clean out with hot water and a cloth. Immediately wipe dry with paper towels (whole pan) and just a wipe with about 1 t of oil or reserved bacon grease. Store it back in oven.
Pam.... even before bacon goes in... Also clean the iron with Pam after... A well seasoned skillet or griddle can't be beat...
I lean towards Crisco for seasoning as it won't go rancid. I also store the one that isn't used weekly in the oven so it bakes whenever anything else does. The one I use all the time gets wiped out when I'm done and that's it. I make sure when it's heating it gets a couple few tablespoons of olive oil and then I cook. Any stuck on stuff gets some water put on it while it's still hot and that works great.
If someone has a real answer to this, I'd love to know too. I honestly haven't put too much effort into properly seasoning the couple iron skillets I have, but it's kinda for the same reason - too many different opinions out there... I have used a properly seasoned cast iron skillet and it's awesome. It's hard for me to use a bunch of lard/butter/bacon at all anyway these days b/c I married a dietitian.
I'm just waiting for Sheik to come in and chime in with some crazy super duper cast iron pan that us mere mortals cant afford. Sheik?
Ha! Even he will know the best cast iron is the stuff great grandma passed down I've got one Emeril pan I found cheap and one Lodge.
When you've finished leave a little fat of whatever you cooked in the pan. Then dump in a tablespoon or two of kosher salt. Take a couple paper towels and scrub the crusty bits off. Wipe the salt and crusty bits out into the trash. Done. (This is the Alton Brown method.)
I depends, ill use a cast iron wok in the BGE to make stir-fry or hibachi rice and both will get som egg every now and then. When it comes to cooking in the kitchen, the woman uses either a cast iron griddle or non-stick pan. When I seasoned the wok, I rubbed it down with oil and threw it in the oven for 30 minutes. Never had any issues afterwards.
Season it with lard in the oven. But not too much. There's a thread I started about that. Once it's seasoned, always coat it with oil when you're done.
I did a dumb thing the other day after cleaning my lodge I set in on the counter with oil in it....not noticing the counter was a bit wet. Now I have rust on the bottom. Now what? Put it in the oven upside down with oil on it and then wipe the rust off while hot? I bought the lodge to preserve the one's Grandma left me, I only use those like twice a year when making breakfast for house guests.
