Joined Sep 2003
6K Posts | 0+
Wilmington, DelaWhere?
This has been discussed before but since The Bistro is officially opened I'll start a new thread... besides I've been messing around with a cast iron skillet a bit for the past week or so.
I mentioned to my parents that I was thinking about getting a cast iron skillet so my dad dug one out of his basement. Other than some light rusting it looked to be in pretty good shape but it was very light in color, not the usual black you would expect to see on an older piece.
I applied steel wool and lots of elbow grease to remove the rust, then scrubbed it well with a mild detergent and hot water. Towel dried it and put in on the stove to make sure it was completely dry. From reading earlier posts here and all I could find on the web, I decided to apply some cooking oil and put it in a 250 degree oven for two hours. It came out a bit darker but not much. My eggs stuck but there was an improvement. I tried it a couple more times and it just wasn't doing it for me. So, after more web research I fired up my GrillDome got it up to 500-600 degrees, spread the coals out and just laid the pan on the coals, with the lid shut, for an hour. After an hour I closed the vents so the fire would go out and let it cool down on its own all afternoon.
The pan came out very clean and shiny but I still scrubbed it with mild soap and hot water, towel dried and finished on the stove.
This time I used a good coating of Crisco and put the pan upside down in a 350 oven over some foil for one hour, shut the oven off and let it cool on in the oven. BIG difference! Nice and black and it works like a champ now. My inaugural cook was cornbread and it turned out great. Crisp, not only on the top but the sides and bottom as well and nice and moist on the inside. Two ribeye steaks tonight weren't too hard to eat either. :thumbsup:
I mentioned to my parents that I was thinking about getting a cast iron skillet so my dad dug one out of his basement. Other than some light rusting it looked to be in pretty good shape but it was very light in color, not the usual black you would expect to see on an older piece.
I applied steel wool and lots of elbow grease to remove the rust, then scrubbed it well with a mild detergent and hot water. Towel dried it and put in on the stove to make sure it was completely dry. From reading earlier posts here and all I could find on the web, I decided to apply some cooking oil and put it in a 250 degree oven for two hours. It came out a bit darker but not much. My eggs stuck but there was an improvement. I tried it a couple more times and it just wasn't doing it for me. So, after more web research I fired up my GrillDome got it up to 500-600 degrees, spread the coals out and just laid the pan on the coals, with the lid shut, for an hour. After an hour I closed the vents so the fire would go out and let it cool down on its own all afternoon.
The pan came out very clean and shiny but I still scrubbed it with mild soap and hot water, towel dried and finished on the stove.
This time I used a good coating of Crisco and put the pan upside down in a 350 oven over some foil for one hour, shut the oven off and let it cool on in the oven. BIG difference! Nice and black and it works like a champ now. My inaugural cook was cornbread and it turned out great. Crisp, not only on the top but the sides and bottom as well and nice and moist on the inside. Two ribeye steaks tonight weren't too hard to eat either. :thumbsup:
