Charred Burnt Cast Iron

[c0cc0]

I noticed that there was a mark where you wiped the skillet after cleaning it (7:05). I spent a lot of time today heating up my skillet with salt, boiling water with salt and baking soda, and scrubbing vigourously. I still had something wipe off on the paper towel. How do I remove that? Is that part of the seasoning?

Thanks for making this video, by the way. It helped get the majority of the burnt stuff off.

[V5R7N]

When my mother passed all that I wanted were her CI skillets. I never saw them....

I have my own that we've cooked on for the past thirty-five years. Now that I'm doing all of the cooking it's all that I use. Enjoy your videos. Thank you for your time and effort.

[0987654321libra]

Very, very good. Most helpful, well demonstrated.

[mummachocolatte]

I noticed you said don't cook a bolognese sauce in a cast iron pan....pardon my ignorance, but why? :)

[tastygarlic]

@mummachocolatte The acid in tomato sauce will leech the seasoning from cast iron and give an off taste to the sauce. If I have a really well seasoned cast pan, and am cooking on low heat for a short amount of time - no big deal. ust don't want to stew a sauce in the pan. An example would be cooking hamburger, draining and then adding tomato-based sauce just before serving -- that would be fine. But not good if you added the sauce and just left the pan to sit on heat for a half hour

[richardpurves]

What kind of brush are you using to clean your pans? Just a standard kitchen brush? Also, do you prefer a metal or plastic turner when you're cooking? (I'm about to replace a lot of the implements we have here after the new kitchen finally gets fitted!)

[tastygarlic]

@richardpurves Just a standard black nylon bristle brush is perfect.

I prefer a steel slotted turner. Forchner makes a perfect-size, wooden-handle one.

[richardpurves]

@tastygarlic Sweet! I ended up with a £3 bristle brush from John Lewis and a KitchenCraft steel fish slice turner ... mainly because i'm the wrong side of the atlantic :) Thanks for the confirmation though: my pan is doing a lot better for these two items. Starting to smooth out and go very shiny instead of slightly shiny.

[Sandrina777]

My husband has his grandmother´s cast iron skillet and I honestly did not know how to take care of it. Washed it with soap to take the rust and found some charred in the bottom of the pan. Do you think it will come out with your method even though that happened years ago?? It also has wooden handle, how would you recommend I cover that if I want to season it ???

[Sandrina777]

My husband has his grandmother´s cast iron skillet and I honestly did not know how to take care of it. Washed it with soap to take the rust and found some charred in the bottom of the pan. Do you think it will come out with your method even though that happened years ago?? It also has wooden handle, how would you recommend I cover that if I want to season it ???

[PimpitySnicket]

Thanks for the tips. I cook chicken every day in my moms teflon (cast iron w/ teflon coating??? it's heavy) & it charred a bunch of crap to it which I could never get off. She threw it away yesterday & I finally found a real cast iron skillet today which I can't wait to use. Almost bought another teflon pan that I had my eye on for a while (came w/ a press that fills the whole pan unlike my bacon press) but luckily I came across the skillet when I did.& compared the 2.

[tastygarlic]

@PimpitySnicket You will find that your new cast iron pan out-performs teflon in every event... : )

[MinhSaChau]

I kept your pans in mint condition! Thanks again brandee and brent!

[tastygarlic]

Chef John and Food Network subbed you - I see a TV show in your future! =D

[dontlikenumbers]

Good video. I can't tell you how many times I have done that with my pans.

How do you get smells out of the pans? If I make something with garlic or onion, it seems that the smell and flavor don't come all the way out.

And how do you like the stove you have? I have the same glass top and really don't like it.

[tastygarlic]

I pre-heat pans before starting food in them; Heat them after the dry and re-oil stage on 3-4 heat setting for 5-8 minutes or so - that should mitigate (kill) systemic odor... I like my flat cooktop much better than the exposed electric coil type - In fact, I could see having both a gas cooktop and keeping the flat-electric cooktop; using them for different things. I don't like how small and close the burners are - They make better configured models. When this one breaks, we'll have a new plan.

[dontlikenumbers]

Thanks for the pointers.

I am used to the gas stoves so this is a hard adjustment. Sometimes I just start a fire in the pit out back and cook on that, LOL, tastes better that way. The big cast iron sure does crowd up the stove top fast!