Cooking on your stove/cast iron cookware question

So glad I stumbled onto this thread! THANKS for the 'how to' pictures.....I can't wait to get
some stew ready to cook!

eclecticcottage said:

Used the dutch oven again yesterday, and figured out the taste-now I have to figure out what to do about it. It's the oil, I could tell this time. Could it be that it's not seasoned enough? We used the skillets on the range and that food was fine.

Click to expand...

I am not sure what is going on in your Dutch oven. Could be you used too much oil when seasoning it, maybe. You want a very light coating of whatever oil wiped thoroughly around the inside and outside of the pot. You can put the cover on or leave the cover off and separate. I left mine on. Anyhow, then into the oven with it and let it heat for several hours. 300 to 350 degrees is fine. We have a wood range in the kitchen, so winters are perfect for seasoning: I put the pan into the oven and leave it all day or overnight. Some people put a bunch of oil or fat into the pan for seasoning; I've found that that can leave a sticky surface and a taste to the first few meals prepared in them. I pour in a tablespoon or so of olive oil or canola oil and wipe it around completely with a paper towel, not leaving any oil pooled in the bottom. Just get it coated. Then let it sit in the oven.

I've read about fifty different "perfect and sure-fire" ways to season. I don't think it matters. The above process works perfectly for us. In a year I season maybe once. The only time I had a problem was I forgot to clean the Dutch oven after we made chili. Overnight, as the pot of chili cooled, water condensed inside and there was a little line of rust around the top edge of the chili. After cleaning the residue with hot water, I used our usual technique and everything was back to normal with the pot.

By the way, as an aside, my mother uses a technique for her cast iron stuff that I've known a lot of older folks to use. She just never cleans her frying pans. Not even with hot water. Just wipes them out with a rag. Only trouble is, this way she has a gradual build-up of gunk on the outside of her pans. It gets really thick after a few years. She then sends the pans out with my brother when he goes hunting and he places the pans in the middle of a big campfire and that burns off the gunk. I can attest that this works: her pans are slick as Teflon. Personally, I prefer to clean mine with a brush or plastic scrubber pad and very hot water. The gunk never builds up on mine, either. Mom's 84 yr. old and been doing it her way all her life. So all sorts of methods do work.

SteveKG said:

Mom's 84 yr. old and been doing it her way all her life. So all sorts of methods do work.

Click to expand...

It's always a pleasure to learn from old people, not only do they have so much to teach, it gives them a real sense of worthwhile to still be able to do things.......

Like sending a pot out on a hunting trip and having it come home clean and shiny ;-)

eclecticcottage said:

Used the dutch oven again yesterday, and figured out the taste-now I have to figure out what to do about it. It's the oil, I could tell this time. Could it be that it's not seasoned enough?

Click to expand...

If you heat the pan until the smoke stops you won't taste the oil. There are other ways, but just burning it off is pretty simple and leaves no room for error (aside from putting too much oil in the pan, I suppose).

pen said:

Sure the oil hasn't gone rancid?

If you season again I'd recommend using lard or crisco.

When seasoning, I use the gas grill and place the cookware on it upside down so that if there were any excess oil, it would drip out.

pen

Click to expand...

Good thinking, I suspect the main reason oil would go rancid is if some tried to season the cast iron with a huge dose of oil rather than several light layers painted on and seasoned one at a time.

Takes longer, but it's something you only need to do once if looked after