Advice Cooking And Maintaining Cast Iron?

[The Penguin]

I want to ask if you have advice for cooking and maintaining cast iron?

Last year I bought a new BBQ for camping not knowing it was a cast iron one until I open the box. It is a nice design as you can remove either grates and replace it with a stove grate or griddle. I decided to buy the griddle attachment.

I also bought a cast iron flying pan to practice with before going camping next week to test my cast iron BBQ.

 

[Mia]

Seasoning a cast iron pan: Would be the same with the griddle and grates.

1. Scrub new skillet well in hot soapy water to remove machine oil coating from pan.
   
2. Dry thoroughly.
3. Spread a thin layer of melted shortening or vegetable oil over the skillet.
4. Place it upside down on a middle oven rack at 375°. (Place foil on a lower rack to catch drips.)
5. Bake 1 hour; let cool in the oven.

This first cleaning would be the one and only time that you would use soap in a cast iron pan. After this initial cleaning, no soap ever.

After it's seasoned, you would use a stiff bristle brush to clean it after a little soaking in hot water. Dried quickly, never let cast iron sit in water for more than the few minutes required to soak it, it will rust or lift the coating that takes years to form. It should be scraped with a spatula or blunt knife never something sharp which would destroy the coating build up.

The idea is to build up a dark coating to protect the cast iron over time. It requires years to season cast iron.

People often clean them with sand while camping or coarse salt, rinsing and drying them on a fire or a camp stove.

 

[Judge]

With my limited cooking skills I pretty much cringe regarding cooking utensils that lack a non-stick surface.

 

[watersprite]

Agree and I like what @Mia says above except I never use any soap on cast iron as I have found the soapiness smell and taste remains in the porous cast iron, despite rinsing.

I have a 60 year old iron frying pan that works wonderfully. I simply scrub it out with hot water and the scrubby made for non-stick pans. A defunct old credit card works great as a scraper if needed. Then dry. Then rub in a little bit of oil with a paper towel. Store in a dry place.

The new Lodge cast iron comes pre-seasoned. I just bought 2 pans from them specifically for my bbq. We used them already and simply scrubbed them with hot water when done. Dry with paper towel. Re-applied a dab of oil and put away somewhere dry.

 

[Warmheart]

@kestrel and @Mia , thank you for the detailed info!
Penguin, I've really enjoyed your cooking-and-camping videos! I love my Lodge brand cast iron fry pan. It is about 8 inches, and ideal for one person cooking eggs. I hope you love your hew BBQ and skillet set-up!

 

[The Penguin]

@kestrel and @Mia , thank you for the detailed info!
Penguin, I've really enjoyed your cooking-and-camping videos! I love my Lodge brand cast iron fry pan. It is about 8 inches, and ideal for one person cooking eggs. I hope you love your hew BBQ and skillet set-up!

Thanks. I do have many cooking videos I never got a chance to share. Once I return, I will start posting videos of my trips again.

Thanks for the advice everyone shared with me for this post.

 

[Keigan]

I'm in the process of moving across the country, my cast iron is coming with me and every other pan/dish/roaster is being left behind.

I have a large skillet which is great for cooking meats.
Then a small skillet which is perfect for warming something of frying eggs.
Then the best surprise, a crepe pan which I use every Sat and Sun.

Lastly, I found a cast iron waffle iron from France though I have not used it yet.

 

[The Penguin]

Today I finished cleaning my oven.

After, I cleaned my pan with water and a sponge. I dried it with a drying cloth. Then I applied olive oil with a brush and placed it in the oven for 1 hour. After cooling, I decided to make grilled cheese. I'm not sure if it stick to the pan because I was working from frozen bread? Next I tried to cook a hamburger. That turned out well and didn't stick.

I just finished seasoning my griddle for my BBQ as shown below.

Next I'm seasoning my grate. Once this one is done, I have one more grate to do then I'm done. From here is enjoying the BBQ this Monday. I let you know how my first meal turns out after.

 

[The Penguin]

Well I'm done seasoning. The only thing I hate about it my kitchen does not have a vent for smoke so my home been very smokey today. I did open some windows to reduce the smoke.

 

[Destination Unknown]

I just bought a Lodge 5 quart dutch oven at a garage sale. It'd kind of sticky. I should clean it off and re season it.
I studied cast iron seasoning a few years back for some other pieces I have. I bought the correct oil to do the job, but the whole process of building up the layers to get a good hard non-stick seasoning was going to be very time consuming, so I never got around to doing it.

 

[The Penguin]

Well I had fun cooking on cast iron with this lovely BBQ.

This is the results of my season grate and griddle

Had no issues cooking at all. The food didn't stick at all. The camp site did had a dish washing station with hot water hot enough to burn your hands. Water this hot made it easy to clean the griddle and grate.

Some of you might want to know what did I cook? I share with you one day when I'm done eating the videos and photos into another posts.

Thanks for everyone who shared great tips for me.