Curing a cast iron skillet. What's the deal?

Question

I've been watching the Food Netwok a lot lately and a heavy skillet, "preferably cast iron" is often recommended. I'm a novice, half-way cook (Sandra Lee, that's me!) and I've only used non-stick cookware and thought cast-iron was old school. So these need to be cured or seasoned? And you can't wash them? Why?

Answer 1

yes .. you can season your cast iron skillet with oil & salt. EASY! You handwash them ... but don't soak them ... its a wash and dry. The cast iron will rust .. then you will have to oil it and season it all over again.

The reason I like cooking with a cast iron skillet is that it evenly distributes heat. That way I am able to gauge my cooking time as well as the end-product to my liking.

Answer 2

CAST IRON IS THE BEST YOU CAN GET. IT IS NOT OLD SCHOOL, I LOVE THE STUFF, AND AROUND HERE IT COST AN ARM AN A LEG IF YOU GO FOR THE OLD STUFF BUT HERE YOU GO FOR THE SEASONING OF CAST IRON.

Curing Cast Iron
So you bought a new cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. Now what? There are several things you need to do before you use it. In the old days people would cure their cast iron by putting it in the fire, till it was glowing hot. Then they would coat with fat and put it back into the fire till it was black; this method is still used today. Another method is to put it in your oven.
Over the years of camping, hunting and fishing I have found the following method to work best for me and is a real easy process. Be it a Dutch oven or a skillet.
1. Take cast iron put into your sink with hot water (the hotter the better). Make sure that there is no soap of any kind.
2. Now take some real fine grit wet sand paper gently scrub inside of cast iron, you don’t need to put a lot of pressure here your goal is to clean the inside of the cast iron and make it as smooth as possible.
3. Dry pan well
4. Coat the pan inside and out with shorting.
5. Take cast iron outside to your gas BBQ grill and lay on grill. Let it cook for about 30 min on medium heat.
6. Remove and let cool.
7. Once it has cooled down recoat inside of cast iron and repeat on grill for 1 hour on high heat
When done your cast iron should be black inside and out. The inside of the cast iron should look like your non-stick pans. And make sure when cleaning cast iron you never use any type of soap, or metal scrub brush of any kind. This will cause the inside of pan to loose its non-stick service; I use hot water and one of those plastic pads. Make sure you dry your cast iron well and add a small amount of cooking oil and spread all over the inside of the pan when not in use.

Answer 3

Wash it quickly. Put it on a hot burner long enough for it to thoroughly dry. Remove it from the heat. Put a little cooking oil on a piece of paper towel and rub it all around the inside of the pan and put it away. If you do this everytime you use the pan it will be as good as a non-stick pan and you will use it for every thing.

Answer 4

Did you ever see your Mom or Grandmom cook with a black frying pan? That is the perfectly seasoned cast iron pan.

I tried to steal my Mom's but she threatened to hit me with it. So, I had to start from scratch.

You are supposed to rub them with cooking oil all over, and bake them for an hour at 350. Over and over again. It doesn't work.

My small cast iron fry pan, I use it to cook bacon, and it's slowly turning black.

You don't wash them because you don't need to. Nothing sticks to them. You simply wipe them out with a few paper towels.

Answer 5

They are soposed to colect oils. So it tastes better. By washing them the soap will get stuck in the oils and everything you cook will taste like soap.

Answer 6

If you are looking for one thats already seasoned try buying a used one at the thrift store , yard sale or flea market