{"id":2022,"date":"2012-10-02T22:45:07","date_gmt":"2012-10-02T22:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/?p=2022"},"modified":"2023-06-03T19:40:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T02:40:54","slug":"cast-iron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/cast-iron\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips:  Cast Iron Skillets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/meet-grandpa\/medal\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/medal.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" align=\"right\"><\/a>This page was created for my brother Steve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Please also review my post: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/non-stick\/\"><strong>Care of your Non-Stick Skillets<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>Starting to Rust?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Steve,<\/p>\n<p>You said that your cast iron was starting to rust.&nbsp; Also, food probably sticks to it when you use it.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Seasoning Your Cast Iron<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>You will want to do this with a new cast iron pan as well.<\/li>\n<li>Wash it in warm, soapy water and scrub all rust off of it using steel wool or other abrasive surface.&nbsp; Towel dry immediately.<\/li>\n<li>Put into your oven and turn heat to 350\u00ba.<\/li>\n<li>Using peanut oil, canola oil or corn oil pour oil and smear it in with a paper towel, rubbing it into the iron.&nbsp; Both sides, including handles, etc!&nbsp; Be careful not to burn yourself.<\/li>\n<li>After it has been coated with oil turn off the oven, put in upside down on a baking sheet, and let rest for 1 hour<\/li>\n<li>Let it cool completely, then wipe excess oil off it.&nbsp; Reseasoning your pan only has to be done once unless it burns or you use soap on it.&nbsp; Also, don&#8217;t cook acidic things like tomato sauce<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>Cooking with Your Cast Iron<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>If it has been weeks (or more) since using your cast iron, rinse it before starting to heat the pan.<\/li>\n<li>Always rub a bit of Canola oil on your pan when it begins to heat up<\/li>\n<li>Spread the oil over the surface<\/li>\n<li>Use medium to medium-high heat<\/li>\n<li>Always let it preheat completely before cooking in it.<\/li>\n<li>NEVER cook over 500\u00ba<\/li>\n<li>Always use potholders or mitts.&nbsp; The handle will be hot.<\/li>\n<li>Never use in a microwave<\/li>\n<li>Never allow liquids to completely boil away.<\/li>\n<li>If cooking on a ceramic or halogen cooking surface always lift the pan, do not slide it.&nbsp; Sliding it will damage your cooking surface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>THE PENNY TRICK &#8211; If you are boiling water, put a penny in the bottom of your pan.&nbsp; If it boils dry (which will ruin your pan) the penny will start to rattle because of the boiling water beneath the penny.&nbsp; The rattling will tell you your pan is nearly empty (usually) before your pot is destroyed.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cleaning Your Cast Iron<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Never put water onto the cooking surface until it is UNDER 250\u00ba in temperature<\/li>\n<li>Let the hot water tap get as HOT as possible.<\/li>\n<li>If you want, boil water on the stove.<\/li>\n<li>Pour the hot water over the cooking surface.<\/li>\n<li>Scrape with a metal spatula if necessary.<\/li>\n<li>NEVER use soap on it, that will remove the coating.<br \/>\nIf you DO use soap on it, you must season it again from the beginning.<\/li>\n<li>Dry immediately and completely with a towel before putting it away.<\/li>\n<li>If I&#8217;ve used the oven, I put it into the warm oven to help it thoroughly dry.<\/li>\n<li>Never use bleach<\/li>\n<li>Never use oven cleaner<\/li>\n<li>Never clean in a dish washing machine<\/li>\n<li>Never use a Brillo pad without seasoning it afterward.<\/li>\n<li>Do not store your pan with the lid on, as it inhibits air flow, or if you do keep the lid on it, place a towel in between the pan and the lid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why you Never Want to use Soap<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The oil eventually creates almost a Teflon surface on the skillet.<\/li>\n<li>It was the hot oil time after time after time that gave scientists the idea for Teflon, but cast iron is better because there are no chemicals.<\/li>\n<li>If you use soap, it cuts the oil and your pan starts to rust again.<\/li>\n<li>If you ever HAVE to wash it in soap, repeat the entire seasoning process again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page was created for my brother Steve. Please also review my post: Care of your Non-Stick Skillets Starting to Rust? Steve, You said that your cast iron was starting to rust.&nbsp; Also, food probably sticks to it when you use it. Seasoning Your Cast Iron You will want to do this with a new &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/cast-iron\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tips:  Cast Iron Skillets&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,205,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-tricks-and-tools","category-medallion-recipe","category-non-cooking-reference-material"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2022"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22887,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022\/revisions\/22887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}