Cast Iron Cookware discussion thread...

[Litos]

They were both purchased from an indiginous group in a small town in Mexico called Ozuluama Veracruz...

My dad is from there and brought them back about 7 or 8 years ago...

Hand made at a guy's "house" that has no walls, electricity or working bathrooms...

He's been making cast iron pots/pans for over 3 decades...

these things are super awesome...

 

[kronin323]

They were both purchased from an indiginous group in a small town in Mexico called Ozuluama Veracruz...

My dad is from there and brought them back about 7 or 8 years ago...

Hand made at a guy's "house" that has no walls, electricity or working bathrooms...

He's been making cast iron pots/pans for over 3 decades...

these things are super awesome...

Interesting. Are the cooking surfaces the raw sand-cast finish or have they been ground smooth?

 

[The_Darkone]

"...I use multiple cast iron pots and pans when I cook at The Gazebo, sometimes both at the same time in any given BBQ Sesh..."

Sincerely,
Oakley Forum Pit Master

P.S.
If any of y'all are ever in Texas, your first stop should be at my dad's house in the Houston area




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That food looks incredible!!!

 

[Litos]

Interesting. Are the cooking surfaces the raw sand-cast finish or have they been ground smooth?

I wish I could tell you - last time I visited that place I was 15 and didn't care about how they made it lol...

Actually, I lie, I was 19...I last went to Ozulama in 1999 when I was still in the Marines

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

I wish I could tell you - last time I visited that place I was 15 and didn't care about how they made it lol...

Actually, I lie, I was 19...I last went to Ozulama in 1999 when I was still in the Marines

For some reason I just started thinking of this.

 

[Orion]

"...I use multiple cast iron pots and pans when I cook at The Gazebo, sometimes both at the same time in any given BBQ Sesh..."

Sincerely,
Oakley Forum Pit Master

P.S.
If any of y'all are ever in Texas, your first stop should be at my dad's house in the Houston area




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Seriously man that looks awesome. If I didn't have a meeting in 15 mins (and enough vacation time), I'd be on my way to the airport for a road trip to Texas. Now I'm going to have to have BBQ this weekend.

 

[Orion]

Thanks for starting this thread @kronin323, I started to read but got stuck on Litos pics of all that good looking food. I'm trying to catch up but have a meeting in 7 mins.

I have but one lonely pan and it was given to me a a gift for Xmas. Probably bought at Macy's or some other dept store. To be honest I don't know the name and can't recall if it's pre-seasoned or not. I season it periodically with Crisco or olive oil but I have a long way to go.

 

[kronin323]

Speaking of seasoning, we've discussed a little on maintaining the seasoning after it's already there (pre-seasoned or DIY), but what about seasoning one from scratch? What's the best way?

For that you won't find any real consensus. Stovetop vs. oven? Low heat or high heat? Which oil? Lots of different "answers" out there.

I've tried a bunch of different variations, and from my experience, oven at high heat works best. Usually you first strip any of the existing seasoning that still remains, then rinse and dry completely. Lodge publishes these steps for reseasoning:

"- Apply a very thin, even coating of MELTED solid vegetable shortening (or cooking oil of your choice) to the cookware inside and out. Too much oil will result in a sticky finish.

- Place aluminum foil on the bottom rack of the oven (not directly on bottom) to catch any drips.

- Set oven temperature to 350 – 400 degrees F.

- Place cookware upside down on the top rack of the oven to prevent pooling.

- Bake the cookware for at least one hour. After the hour, turn the oven off and let the cookware cool in the oven."

I tried that using canola oil. It works but I wasn't really happy with the results; despite using a minimal amount of oil the seasoning, though complete, was obviously uneven, like it had pooled a bit during the process. Kept happening no matter how hard I tried to remove excess oil beforehand.

Then I found an article that promoted a superior variation. The key is which oil to use, and they said to use flaxseed oil. Why? The belief is it has to do with how flaxseed oil is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids in comparison to vegetable oil, and those fatty acids polymerize under high heat to a stronger, more durable matrix.

They tested this by seasoning two pans, one with flaxseed oil and one with vegetable oil, then ran them both through a dishwasher with a squirt of degreaser. The vegetable oil one had the seasoning strip and showed rust spots but the flaxseed oil one survived intact (not saying this treatment makes cast iron dishwasher-safe, it's only a testament of the durability of the seasoning from this method).

I tried it myself. You don't typically find flaxseed oil with other cooking oils at the store. But you can find it in the nutritional supplement section; with its high omega-3 fatty acid content people just down tablespoons of it straight. Or there's always amazon. I've used this on several pans so far and the results have been much much better. The process is similar to the Lodge procedure, with a few minor changes:

- First warm the unseasoned pan in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees (Fahrenheit). This is supposed to "open the iron's pores"; I don't know if that's really BS or not but it doesn't hurt.

- Remove it from the oven and apply a thin layer of flaxseed oil, wiping off any excess.

- Put it upside down back in the oven and increase the heat to the max temperature (I've been afraid to max it out so I've used 450 degrees).

- Bake it for an hour then let it cool on its own in the oven, at least two hours (hey @OakleyFrankFMJ I finally found a practical use for my oven's off timer!)

- Repeat the seasoning process five more times.

This has given the best results I've seen, reseasoning from scratch. The next question is, should you use flaxseed oil to give it the regular maintenance coat after each use? I don't know. I'm still using canola oil after I clean and dry them, haven't tried flaxseed for that yet.

 

[Orion]

Great tips on seasoning. All of a sudden I'm finding myself drawn back into cooking......

You mentioned in an earlier post a steel WOK. I have one as well and that one is really difficult to keep "seasoned". I usually clean it with water and a sponge but seems like I keep stripping off the seasoning is areas everytime. I wondering if I just don't have a good base layer to begin with.

I also have issues when "stir frying" at high heat moving food around. I usually use a metal spatula and find I will "scrape off" the seasoning during the cooking process.

 

[kronin323]

Great tips on seasoning. All of a sudden I'm finding myself drawn back into cooking......

You mentioned in an earlier post a steel WOK. I have one as well and that one is really difficult to keep "seasoned". I usually clean it with water and a sponge but seems like I keep stripping off the seasoning is areas everytime. I wondering if I just don't have a good base layer to begin with.

I also have issues when "stir frying" at high heat moving food around. I usually use a metal spatula and find I will "scrape off" the seasoning during the cooking process.

Yeah the wok's a little different (congrats on getting a carbon steel one instead of a non-stick piece of crap BTW). I guess you could use the same oven method for it, but you'd have to remove the handles, if you can.

The initial seasoning of my wok used a traditional stovetop method. After cleaning off any factory protectant, dry and preheat it. Then, though you normally stir-fry on high heat, for this procedure you reduce the heat to medium:

- Put in a couple tablespoons of oil, a bunch of green onion cut into 2" pieces, and about 1/2 cup of unpeeled ginger sliced into 1/4" slices.

- Stir-fry for at least 20 minutes, adding oil as necessary. Be sure to push the onion / ginger all the way up the sides while you do this; that's the main purpose they serve, to move the oil all over the wok's inner surface during the seasoning.

- Discard onion/ginger, cool down, wipe clean.

But that's just starting the process, it takes a lot of using it to build up a proper patina, up to a year of use. Initially when I was oiling it after cleaning I'd do the bottom as well, but that soon baked dark from the direct flame and I don't do that anymore, it's good enough. While the seasoning is still young food will stick more so you need to be careful to add plenty of oil and only use it for stir-frying, avoid boiling-liquid recipes. Then when you heat it to dry after cleaning, don't overheat it.

I also had a problem with my choice of utensils. I initially used a cheapo metal wok spatula from the local Asian supermarket. It worked fine but soon the wooden handle kept coming off. So I replaced it with a popular metal wok spatula from amazon, with a well-fixed bamboo handle. It worked great but there must have been something about the kind of steel it was made of, it kept scraping off my seasoning. I kept using it a long time, almost a year, thinking maybe it'd wear down or something, but it never did.

About a month ago I finally gave up on it and replaced it with a burnished bamboo spatula. I had just been visiting some in-laws in Australia and used their wooden utensils, had liked them. I got the Joyce Chen 14" one on amazon. The spatula size is a little smaller than I'm used to but it still works fine and my seasoning has been slowly recovering.

And of course I use that aforementioned wok whisk to avoid damaging the seasoning while cleaning.

Here's a recent pic of my wok in use next to that large 13" cast iron skillet. You can see on the sides the path from my stir-fry stroke where the seasoning's been damaged.