Chảo gang - Cast Iron Skillet‎

Chảo gang - Cast Iron Skillet‎

Seriouseats.com/

7 Myths That Need To Go Away

If you haven't noticed, I 'm a big fan of the cast iron. When I packed up my apartment last spring and had to live for a full month with only two pans in my kitchen, you can bet your butt that the first one I grabbed was my trusty cast iron skillet. I use it for the crispest potato hash and for giving my steaks a crazy-good sear. I use it for baking garlic knots or cornbread or the easiest, best pan pizza you'll ever bake (just kidding,this might be the easiest pizza). I use it for a complete chicken dinner with insanely crisp skin and for crispy, creamy pasta bakes.

Point is, it's a versatile workhorse and no other pan even comes close to its league.

But there's also a mysterious, myth-packed lore when it comes to cast iron pans. On the one hand there's the folks who claim you've got to treat your cast iron cookware like a delicate little flower. On the other, there's the macho types who chime in with their my cast iron is hella non-stick or goddam, does my pan heat evenly!

In the world of cast iron, there are unfounded, untested claims left right and center. It's time to put a few of those myths to rest.

Myth #1: "Cast iron is difficult to maintain."

The Theory: Cast iron is a material that can rust, chip, or crack easily. Buying a cast iron skillet is like adopting a newborn baby and a puppy at the same time. You're going to have to pamper it through the early stages of its life, and be gentle when you store it—that seasoning can chip off!

The Reality: Cast iron is tough as nails! There's a reason why there are 75-year-old cast iron pans kicking around at yard sales and antique shops. The stuff is built to last and it's very difficult to completely ruin it. Most new pans even come pre-seasoned, which means that the hard part is already done for you and you're ready to start cooking right away.

And as for storing it? If your seasoning is built up in a nice thin, even layer like it should be, then don't worry. It ain't gonna chip off. I store my cast iron pans nested directly in each other. Guess how many times I've chipped their seasoning? Try doing that to your non-stick skillet without damaging the surface.

Myth #2: "Cast iron heats really evenly."

The Theory: Searing steaks and frying potatoes requires high, even heat. Cast iron is great at searing steaks, so it must be great at heating evenly, right? 

The Reality: Actually, cast iron is terrible at heating evenly. The thermal conductivity—the measure of a material's ability to transfer heat from one part to another—is around a third to a quarter that of a material like aluminum. What does this mean? Throw a cast iron skillet on a burner and you end up forming very clear hot spots right on top of where the flames are, while the rest of the pan remains relatively cool.

The main advantage of cast iron is that it has very high volumetric heat capacity, which means that once it's hot, it stays hot. This is vitally important when searing meat. To really heat cast iron evenly, place it over a burner and let it preheat for at least 10 minutes or so, rotating it every once in a while. Alternatively, heat it up in a hot oven for 20 to 30 minutes (but remember to use a potholder or dish towel!)

For more on this stuff, check out this great article by Dave Arnold at Cooking Issues.

The other advantage is its high emissivity—that is, its tendency to expel a lot of heat energy from its surface in the form of radiation. Stainless steel has an emissivity of around .07. Even when it's extremely hot, you can put your hand close to it and not feel a thing. Only the food directly in contact with it is heating up in any way. Cast iron, on the other hand, has a whopping .64 emissivity rating, which means that when you're cooking in it, you're not just cooking the surface in contact with the metal, but you're cooking a good deal of food above it as well. This makes it ideal for things like making hash or pan roasting chicken and vegetables.

Myth #3: "My well-seasoned cast iron pan is as non-stick as any non-stick pan out there."

The Theory: The better you season your cast iron, the more non-stick it becomes. Perfectly well-seasoned cast iron should be perfectly non-stick. 

The Reality: Your cast iron pan (and mine) may be really really really non-stick—non-stick enough that you can make an omelet in it or fry an egg with no problem—but let's get serious here. It's not anywhere near as non-stick as, say, Teflon, a material so non-stick that we had to develop new technologies just to get it to bond to the bottom of a pan. Can you dump a load of cold eggs into your cast iron pan, slowly heat it up with no oil, then slide those cooked eggs right back out without a spot left behind? Because you can do that in Teflon.

Yeah, didn't think so.

That said, macho posturing aside, so long as your cast iron pan is well seasoned and you make sure to pre-heat it well before adding any food, you should have no problems whatsoever with sticking.

Myth #4: "You should NEVER wash your cast iron pan with soap."

The Theory: Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that coats the inside of your skillet. Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning. 

The Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerizedoil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic-like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal. This is what gives well-seasoned cast iron its non-stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out.

The one thing you shouldn't do? Let it soak in the sink. Try to minimize the time it takes from when you start cleaning to when you dry and re-season your pan. If that means letting it sit on the stovetop until dinner is done, so be it.

Myth #5: "Don't use metal utensils on your cast iron pan!"

The Theory: The seasoning in cast iron pans is delicate and can easily flake out or chip if you use metal. Stick to wood or nylon utensils.

The Reality: The seasoning in cast iron is actually remarkably resilient. It's not just stuck to the surface like tape, it's actually chemically bonded to the metal. Scrape away with a metal spatula and unless you're actually gouging out the surface of the metal, you should be able to continue cooking in it with no issue.

So you occasionally see flakes of black stuff chip out of the pan as you cook in it? It'spossible that's seasoning, but unlikely. In order to get my cast iron pan's seasoning to flake off, I had to store it in the oven for a month's-worth of heating and drying cycles without re-seasoning it before I started to see some scaling.

More likely, those flakes of black stuff are probably carbonized bits of food that were stuck to the surface of the pan because you refused to scrub them out with soap last time you cooked.

Myth #6: "Modern cast iron is just as good as old cast iron. It's all the same material, after all."

The Theory: Metal is metal, cast iron is cast iron, the new stuff is no different than the old Wagner and Griswold pans from early 20th century that people fetishize.

The Reality: The material may be the same, but the production methods have changed. In the old days, cast iron pans were produced by casting in sand-based molds, then polishing the resulting pebbly surfaces until smooth. Vintage cast iron tends to have a satiny smooth finish. By the 1950s, as production scaled up and was streamlined, this final polishing step was dropped from the process. The result? Modern cast iron retains that bumpy, pebbly surface.

The difference is more minor than you may think. So long as you've seasoned your pan properly, both vintage and modern cast iron should take on a nice non-stick surface, but your modern cast iron will never be quite as non-stick as the vintage stuff.

Myth #7: "Never cook acidic foods in cast iron."

The Theory: Acidic food can react with the metal, causing it to leech into your food, giving you an off-flavor and potentially killing you slowly.

The Reality: In a well-seasoned cast iron pan, the food in the pan should only be coming in contact with the layer of polymerized oil in the pan, not the metal itself. So in a perfect world, this should not be a problem. But none of us are perfect and neither are our pans. No matter how well you season, there's still a good chance that there are spots of bare metal and these can indeed interact with acidic ingredients in your food.

For this reason, it's a good idea to avoid long-simmered acidic things, particularly tomato sauce. On the other hand, a little acid is not going to hurt it. I deglaze my pan with wine after pan-roasting chicken all the time. A short simmer won't harm your food, your pan, or your health in any way.

What you SHOULD doe

These are the only rules you need to know to have a successful lifelong relationship with your cast iron.

• • Season it when you get it.Even pre-seasoned cast iron can do with some extra protection. To season your pan, heat it up on the stovetop until its smoking hot, then rub a little oil into it and let it cool. Repeat this process a few times and you're good to go.

  • Clean it after each use. Clean your pan thoroughly after each use by washing it with soap and water and scrubbing out any gunk or debris from the bottom. I use the scrubby side of a sponge for this.

  • Re-season it. Rinse out any excess soap with water, then place the skillet over a burner set to high heat. When most of the water inside the skillet has dried out, add a half teaspoon of a neutral oil like vegetable, canola, flaxseed, or shortening. Rub it around with a paper towel. Continue heating the pan until it just starts to smoke then give it one more good rub. Let it cool and you're done.

  • Fry and Sear in it. The best way to keep your seasoning maintained? Just use your pan a lot! The more you fry, sear, or bake in it, the better that seasoning will become.

  • Don't let it stay wet. Water is the natural enemy of iron and letting even a drop of water sit in your pan when you put it away can lead to a rust spot. Not the end of the world, but rust will require a little scrubbing and reseasoning. I always dry out my pan with a paper towel and coat it with a tiny amount of oil before storage.

There now, was that so hard? Now get out there and start cooking!

Comments a.b cast iron skillet

Kenji, my favorite, often spouted by cookbook authors, is that you can pick up a cast iron skillet at a yard sale for a dollar. I've never seen that yard sale.

armchair1

10:10AM ON 11/07/14

Any best brands?

bobbob

10:18AM ON 11/07/14

I always find it interesting that there are so many myths revolving around cast iron and its care. Its about the most indestructible cooking item there is. You can do almost anything to it and still salvage it.

Kevin R

10:22AM ON 11/07/14

You mentioned using a neutral oil, does it matter which one? What is your favorite? Seems everyone has a favorite oil for seasoning... my dad and I flip between shortening and flaxseed, but I recently started using vegetable oil. Have you figured out which is the best?

Kevin R

10:24AM ON 11/07/14

Also, what things SHOULDN'T you do with cast iron? Obviously using cast iron is much more enjoyable with a quality seasoning, and I've gone through spurts where the seasoning was terrible on it. I know you have to try very hard to permanently damage the pan, but is there anything that will hurt the seasoning where it will take multiple re-season steps to correct?

milziz

10:26AM ON 11/07/14

Perfect. I love my cast iron skillet. It's truly the kitchen thing I use the most!

cooking42

10:34AM ON 11/07/14

A quick swish of dishwashing soap might not hurt the seasoning, but letting a pan full of suds soak for a while WILL eat the finish right off, so don't do that! (Some of the modern super-powered products are stronger than standard dishwashing liquid soap. Don't let the seasoning on your cast iron prove the point.)

Also, I find that after seasoning a pan, it's best to let it cool off upside down in the oven (or somewhere else it won't be disturbed til it cools off). Leaving it right side up, or in some other way that might let a small pool of oil residue collect in one spot. That spot will be thicker than the rest, more prone to chipping or peeling off.

Scott569

10:48AM ON 11/07/14

@Kevin, I like to use saturated fats (lard, bacon fat, coconut oil) for oiling my cast iron. Theory being that any lingering unpolymerized fat on the pan won't go rancid the way unsaturated fats will. (Which is a tacit admission that I don't use my cast iron as much as I could. Very sad.)

benska

10:52AM ON 11/07/14

@Kenji have you tried using cast iron on an induction cooktop? If so, could you tell if the pan heated more evenly?

Kitchenista

11:23AM ON 11/07/14

Wow, number 4 is why I've never owned one, it just grosses me out to think it can't be washed. I've never heard otherwise. Well that's encouraging.

punchjc

11:24AM ON 11/07/14

Unlike the skillets shown, all of mine have a second,smaller, handle opposite the main handle. This allows me to lift the pan with two hands. A very worthwhile feature to look for.

dagaetch

11:27AM ON 11/07/14

I've always cleaned my cast iron by getting it hot then pouring salt in and scrubbing with a towel, then a quick rinse before the re-seasoning step. Is this not a good idea?

koblinski

11:30AM ON 11/07/14

I asked you this on Twitter but I think 140 characters limited my question and I didn't get enough info. I have basically a thick, even fond on the bottom of my cast iron. Is that seasoning? It's thick enough that I cant see the texture of the pan, just smooth, dry layer like a fraction of a millimeter thick. I just don't want to be feeding my family carbonized bits if that's what it is. I never see enough detail in photos of properly seasoned cast iron pans to tell if mine is proper. Thanks.

J.W. Hamner

11:30AM ON 11/07/14

Honestly, why not just get enameled cast iron? Nowadays you can these type pans nearly as cheaply as a regular cast iron pan, and enamel is as "non-stick" as a seasoned cast iron pan in my experience (I imagine people will dispute this). I understand people have emotional/aesthetic attachments to cast iron pans from their grand mammy or whatever, but I just don't see the point of dealing with all of the negatives. I have used a lot of cast iron over the years thanks to advice from the cast iron zealots like Kenji, and they provide no increase in performance over enameled while being significantly more laborious to care for.

badseed1980

11:34AM ON 11/07/14

@Kevin R, from what I've read, flaxseed oil is the best to use for seasoning cast iron. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

imfromzwolle

11:35AM ON 11/07/14

Any thoughts on enamel-coated cast iron, a la le creuset and the like? I've got a couple enamel-coated dutch ovens and absolutely love them. I've always been curious about how the enamel-coated skillets would perform.

BanannaP

11:40AM ON 11/07/14

I was going to ask for your thoughts on enameled cast iron as well. I have one enameled and one regular cast iron from my grandmother, and I've never used either for fear of the myths you just dispelled. I'm excited to start cooking with them, though!

elenaran

11:42AM ON 11/07/14

Another thing to never do in cast iron - use Pam. The non-oil chemicals in Pam form some sort of new polymer with the existing polymerized fats on the cast iron and the result is not pretty. I had to take my pan back down to bare metal with the self-cleaning oven to get rid of that nasty stuff.

blayf

11:43AM ON 11/07/14

Why is it recommended to not use cast iron on glass top stoves? Is it a fear that careless handling of heavy cast iron might break the glass or is there a thermodynamic reason?

pants

11:52AM ON 11/07/14

Re: the acidic foods = metal ingestion thing... If you happen to be a woman of childbearing years, there's a fair-to-good chance you don't have enough iron in your diet anyway. If it were me just cooking for myself, I wouldn't even worry about it.

nwhite

11:58AM ON 11/07/14

@Armchair1, Vintage Griswold is usually considered the best but really anything made before 1950-ish ( even unbranded) is pretty good. If I had to choose only one cast iron Skillet I would put the effort into finding a vintage #10, " chicken fryer, deep skillet" with a lid. A vintage #10 with a lid is like a good chef's knife, it may not be idea for everything but it will get the job done.

@Kevin the worse thing to do is let a dry skillet over heat on a burner, you will burn the seasoning off and possibly warp the pan. Second worse is letting it sit around with water in it.

@Scott569, Once the fat is heated up to near the smocking point there is no chance of it going rancid, with that said I find saturated fats make a better "harder" seasoning.

As far as cleaning goes just try for the least aggressive method. If a wipe with a paper towel works, fine. If you need soapy water and steel wool go for it, just make sure you thoroughly dry and season afterwards.

amckenzie4

12:18PM ON 11/07/14

Regarding the new cast iron that's been sand-cast: the good news is that cast iron is pretty soft. I made the mistake of buying a Lodge "combo cooker" (deep skillet and regular skillet) when I was visiting a friend and needed to cook for them.

I finally gave in two years ago and attacked it with an electric sander and 60-grit paper: it's still not quite as smooth as those old ones I have, but after a couple years of use it's a LOT closer. I've considered trying a cup grinder and valve-paste as the next step, but I haven't been willing to put in the effort yet.

detho

12:23PM ON 11/07/14

I'm glad to see someone standing up for the durability of cast iron. In college I went out and bought my first and only cast iron pan (and I say that not because it was bad but because I have never needed to buy another). I can definitely say that I have not always treated it well: I have always used metal utensils, used it over campfires when camping, used it on the grill, accidentally left it outside for a week, etc. After my initial seasoning, I have only needed to go through the process again once, and that was when my roommate left it soaking in the sink for two days.

To those who want to know the difference between the enameled and regular cast iron, I own and regularly use both kinds (from the basic Lodge brand on up to Le Creuset) and my regular cast iron is far and away a better non-stick surface. The enameled is great for giving things a super crisp crust that wont stick to the enamel and I am more likely to use one of those when the final dish will be baked, but there is no way you are frying an egg or anything else in there without a solid slick of oil to keep it from sticking.

TheFinn

12:25PM ON 11/07/14

Kenji. given #6 If i happen to have an orbital sander and some carbide pads is it worth me to sand the interior of my frying pan?

f r y

12:30PM ON 11/07/14

I concur with all your points, Kenji. I think I do - I didn't go back and check every single one. Something else I believe now, after years of trying things and messing up frequently: don't over-season your pan, and babying it is bad for it. You don't want to build up layers of weak seasoning. Put minimal seasoning on a new pan, keep it oiled, use it a lot, and clean it pretty aggressively to remove both food bits and weak bits of seasoning.

'

dagaetch - the salt thing has always shocked me. Not that it can't be useful, but there are many people who are afraid of soap and scrubbies, yet think grinding little rocks into their seasoning is fine.

The Petite Gourmet

12:41PM ON 11/07/14

I have a Lodge cast iron dutch oven, which isn't enamel coated and I have been having the hardest time maintaining it. First, some of the seasoning came off the underside of the lid, now the entire inside of the pot has a thin layer of rust after I used it, cleaned with soap and water and let it dry fully before putting it away. Any help? What am I doing wrong?

c carlson

12:48PM ON 11/07/14

I have a question; can I use my cast iron pan on my new glass top stove? The pan is a lodge brand. I haven't as I'm bafraid to but wish I could.

nwhite

12:49PM ON 11/07/14

@The Petite Gourmet, oil and re-season after drying as Kenji describes.

nwhite

1:06PM ON 11/07/14

@c carlson, A cast iron pan can scratch or crack your glass top. No fear however there is a cheap fix called a range top heat diffuser, actually they are a pretty good idea to have on hand regardless.

slkinsey

1:08PM ON 11/07/14

I would like to make the proposition that almost everything that is good about cast iron is actually better in heavy carbon steel. Carbon steel seasons, it is completely smooth, it has a better volumetric heat capacity than cast iron, and it is available in a wide variety of shapes and configurations that are way more useful than those available in cast iron.

reeter

1:26PM ON 11/07/14

I have one C282Y gene which means I am a carrier for hereditary hemochromatosis (iron overload disease). My ferritin level, an indicator of how much iron the body is storing, tend to get slightly elevated and is easily controlled by donating blood once or twice a year. I have two siblings who carry two copies of the gene which means they need to have blood drawn much more often as too much iron in your body can lead to some some servere consequences. About 1 in 10 Northern Europeans carry this gene, and about 1 in 100 carry both. So a not insignificant number of people have a tendency to store too much iron.

According to a study published in the July 1986 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that cooking in cast iron skillets added significant amounts of iron to 20 foods tested. For example, the researchers reported that the iron content of three ounces of applesauce increased from 0.35 mg to 7.3 mg and scrambled eggs increased from 1.49 mg to 4.76 mg of iron..

More leeching occurred with applesauce which makes sense because of the acidity and longer cooking, but the scrambled egg results surprised me a bit. I wonder if the pans in the study were correctly seasoned. Kenji, you mentioned that you were recently diagnosed with hemochromatosis, so I wondered if you had conducted any of your own tests on cast iron cookware. The conventional wisdom is for people with iron overload tendencies, to avoid cast iron, so except for a few pizzas a year, I don't use it.

danamoebel

1:33PM ON 11/07/14

very interesting, I learned a lot about the Myths

nwhite

1:38PM ON 11/07/14

@reeter, interesting comment, I have often wondered about how much iron could really leach into food from a well seasoned cast iron skillet. I am of the opinion that it wouldn't be much from a seasoned skillet since the food never actually comes in contact with the metal.

amckenzie4

1:47PM ON 11/07/14

@TheFinn I'm not the expert here, but in my experience it's worth sanding the inside of the pan IF:

- the pan is rough enough that using it is annoying rather than pleasant, 

- you're willing to take quite a lot of time smoothing it and making sure you haven't left divots, and

- you don't mind if you end up destroying the pan.

I did it once, as an experiment to save a pan I would otherwise have donated to an artist I know as scrap to be melted down. The worst that would have happened if it hadn't worked was that I would have continued to not have a pan I could use. Having done it once, I don't think I'd buy another pan that needed that level of "repair". It's just not worth the effort otherwise. There are too many good antique pans with properly cast and machined insides.

That said, if I should someday have easy access to a milling machine, I'd consider buying inexpensive modern cast iron in some of the sizes I haven't found antique and milling them smooth myself. It would be a lot easier, faster, and more accurate than trying to sand them down.

sjthespian

1:57PM ON 11/07/14

I never heard that soap will destroy your seasoning, but that the soap can bind to the polymers in the seasoning and leave you with a soapy taste in your food.

Personally, I generally just boil out any food that's left in the pan and if needed scrub it with a mix of kosher salt and oil, you just wipe off the salt and you're left with a nice coating of oil and it's ready for storage. I learned to do that years ago when using dutch ovens while camping.

TheFinn

2:20PM ON 11/07/14

@slkinsey do you mean like the Matfer Bourgeat style of carbon steel pans? They seem awful thin to hold the same ammount of energy as a cast iron frying pan based on their relative mass, and IIRC as seen in the copper vs. steel pizza article ability to hold a higher capacity is more important than overall heat transfer

NWcajun

3:02PM ON 11/07/14

We found an old rusty cast iron pan in the woods behind our house. After unsuccessfully trying to clean it up ourselves, we took it to a fab shop where they sandblasted it the next time they had their sandblaster out. Took it home, seasoned it and love it. Didn't even cost me the mythical garage sale dollar.

GraveMind

3:05PM ON 11/07/14

I've heard from a couple of people that you should not use cast iron cookware on a ceramic cooktop stove. Is there any truth to this?

ph43drus

3:09PM ON 11/07/14

One other thing about cast iron I don't see mentioned often - it's got some porosity which can hold odors. I've got a recipe for salmon that uses a cast iron pan much as in Kenji's pan pizza recipe - preheated cast pan for bottom cooking, slammed under a broiler for top cooking. I can clean the pan to an odor-free state at room temperature, but the next 4 or 5 times I use it, it'll give off a strong salmon odor upon heating, presumably because of aroma that's physisorbed into pores in the metal.

J. Kenji López-Alt

3:22PM ON 11/07/14

@ron525i

I’ve seen a huge range of prices from $10 to $100 for a vintage Griswold or even a no-name vintage brand. Definitely never seen one for $1 :)

@armchair1

Not really actually. So long as its smooth, sleek, and thick, you’re good. I have a pretty big collection and my three favorite pans are a Griswold, a Wagner, and a no-name brand. All work great (and all are vintage).

@Kevin R

I’ve read that post about how you should use flaxseed. In my experience it really doesn’t matter at all. They important thing is that you just use the pan often so there’s always fresh oil and it’s being resesoned regularly. I just get lazy and grab whatever oil is closest. Sometimes that even means olive oil!

Just about the only things not to do are to leave it out in the rain or to let it soak. Just keep it dry and oiled and it’ll be fine.

@benska

We use cast iron on the induction range at the Serious Eats office. If anything it heats LESS evenly because induction really concentrates energy only above the coils, it doesn’t diffuse the way gas or even electric does.

@dagaetch

Works fine, but no reason to do salt and towel vs a scrubber. They’re both getting the same job done.

@koblinski

Hard to say without seeing it, but it shouldn’t be that thick! Most likely you have built on crud. So long as it doesn’t slough off into your food I’m sure you’re safe, but it’s probably not true seasoning you got in there.

@J.W. Hamner imfromswolle BanannaP

I mentioned this to you over twitter, but there’s actually a couple reasons. First, enameled cast iron has a shorter lifespan. That enamel can scratch, darken, etc, and it’s tough to return to factory finish.

Second, enamel has much lower emissivity than dark cast iron. It simply doesn’t cook the same way.

Third and more important, enamel just isn’t anywhere near as non-stick as properly seasoned cast iron. Try making an omelet in an enameled cast iron pan, even a brand new one and see if you can get it perfect golden yellow and still have it slide out of the pan with no sticking. Or try making, say, a Spanish tortilla. You just can’t do it.

@blayf

It’s because cast iron is heavy and you can accidentally scratch or break the glass. Nothing to do with thermodynamics.

@amckenzie4

That’s a good point! If you’ve got an electric sander, you’re golden even with brand new cast iron.

@ThePetiteGourmet

You should let it fully dry and ALSO rub it with a thin coat of oil before putting it away to prevent any moisture in the air from attacking it.

@C Carlson

They don’t recommend it because it can scratch or crack your glass. That said, I’ve done it many times at the Serious Eats office and have not had a problem. Just be careful.

@slkinsey

True, except most carbon steel pans are pretty thin in comparison, and they’re more expensive.

@reeter

Turns out I was (thankfully) misdiagnosed so it’s not an issue for me personally, but yes, if you’re in that minority, you should probably follow doctor’s orders :)

Steve Fritz

3:24PM ON 11/07/14

My favorite pan is an 80 year old cast iron skillet I got from my grandmother. Its cooking surface is smooth as silk and if a little soap gets on it while I'm scrubbing it, it's no big deal.

lumbergh

3:31PM ON 11/07/14

@blayf anecdotal, but ive been using cast iron pans on my cook top for at least 10 years without any issues and i dont take any special care or anything. just, you know, dont drop them or something.

slkinsey

3:41PM ON 11/07/14

@TheFinn Carbon steel comes in a variety of gauges. De Buyer is a good example. Their Mineral B and Carbone Plus lines are 2.5 - 3.0 mm thick. De Buyer also has the Force Blue line at 2.0 mm, and the La Lyonnaise line at 1.0 - 1.5 mm thick. I'd be interested to see know how thick a typical 11-inch cast iron skillet is on the bottom, but my sense is that they aren't typically thicker than 3 mm. That said, I do have plenty of inherited Griswold and the like around for things like searing steaks and making cornbread. But I don't use it nearly as often as I do my heavy carbon steel pans.

amckenzie4

3:46PM ON 11/07/14

@Gravemind and @blayf, I had ceramic top ranges at my last two houses. In both cases I used cast iron on them routinely (nearly daily). In the first place, that was for five years, and I never had a problem. The stove in the second house was chipped when I moved in, and cracked about six months later. We replaced it with another ceramic top, and it worked fine for another 5 years.

In my new house we have gas, so we've got a gas stove, and I don't have to think about it.

The main thing is that cast iron CAN scratch the surface, so be careful how you treat it. Don't slide the pan around, don't bang it down, and just generally be careful.

Thomas P.

3:48PM ON 11/07/14

the folks at finexusa.com ran a successful kickstarter to get their octagonal cast iron skillets with a CNC milled flat cooking surface and a wire wrapped handle into production a year ago. I think they cost to much but was given one as a gift so am enjoying it.

Pros: The milled smooth bottom is very nice to work with and took very little seasoning before eggs just slid off. The wire wrapped handle is ballooned out so it has a lot of surface area to its mass so stays cooler.

Cons: 12" model is to heavy to really use those octagonal corners to pour from like they claim. They only milled the bottom and not all the way to the sides or up the sides, the rest of the pan is fairly rough and much more prone to have food stick. The finial holding the wire handle on still gets really hot so you need to be carefull where on the handle you place your hand, to close and you hit the pan and to far you hit that finial.

Over all though its still way better than my older Emeril Lagasse CI pan I got during college and I've been using it for just about everything. Its replaced the non stick cookware for just about all applications. Ive been finding Kenji's series of recipes using Cast Iron very inspirational this fall.

slkinsey

3:49PM ON 11/07/14

@Kenji I agree that you have to look for heavy gauge carbon steel to get anything comparable to cast iron, and it will cost around three times as much. But I would argue that carbon steel more than makes up for the difference in price by having a much more useful shape and, especially in comparison to modern cast iron, a much smoother surface. Plus, you can get fish pans and omelette pans and crepe pans, etc.

drawstring

4:09PM ON 11/07/14

@slkinsey, I just bought a very light carbon steel pan, like a wok grade. After seasoning with canola, it performs very well, perhaps better than cast for sticking. A 12" pan is $10 Canadian versus 20-75 for cast. BTW I have a 8" Lodge cast pan, $2 at a garage sale.

drongo

5:04PM ON 11/07/14

Thanks for the myth-debunking, Kenji. 

I have “The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook” by Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne. I like the recipes, but the book is full of misinformation – e.g. “Teflon-coated and stainless steel pans tend to cause food to ‘sweat’… [whereas] cast iron doesn't cause additional moisture to form… cast iron pans heat quickly and evenly... a cast iron skillet is an excellent alternative to a wok”. The last quoted piece about the wok is particularly execrable, because a wok and a cast iron skillet are almost opposites (former heats/cools quickly and has low heat capacity, latter heats/cools slowly and has high heat capacity). But it’s a decent cookbook anyway (with regard to recipes).

slkinsey

5:07PM ON 11/07/14

@drawstring You can certainly get inexpensive, thin carbon steel pans. But those pans won't have performance characteristics similar to cast iron (i.e., it won't be as good at searing due to the lower thermal mass). This is neither here nor there, as you may not want cast iron-like performance qualities and, as you point out, carbon steel is less sticky than cast iron.

ryuthrowsstuff

5:10PM ON 11/07/14

@The Petite Gourmet

My mother has the same dutch oven. Its a bit difficult to season because its so deep, the sides do not consistently get hot the way the bottom does or a skillet would during normal use. Also the lid doesn't really season from use, as its not on the burner. The "season" flaking off the top isn't season, its carbon build up scrape it off. 

Just keep using it frequently. Oil the interior after each use. What I like to do is stick the wet pan on a burner after washing. Heat it up till the water boils off, then rub it down with whatever fat is handy. Let it cool and store it. Don't worry about the lid, it doesn't need to be seasoned the same way the pan does. If its rusty clean it off, oil it, or give it a quick season in the oven. Don't store or dry the pan with the lid on, it traps moisture in there and you'll get rust. It took quite a bit longer to get my mom's dutch oven in fighting shape than it does with skillets. Part of that is how big the damn thing is, part of it is that we live near the beach and all things rust out here at a phenomenal rate, and part of that is she likes to use it to cook tomato sauce. The tomato sauce is fine now, but it kind screwed up the pan when it wasn't fully seasoned. So maybe avoid acidic dishes until you've broken it in.

Steve Baker

6:55PM ON 11/07/14

Although I've never seen a pan for $1, nice used cast iron skillets show up for not too much more at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store. 

(SA stores are a good source for reasonably priced old and unusual cookware, utensils and kitchen gadgets) (and a good organization to support!)

Osomatic

7:11PM ON 11/07/14

Thank you so much for this, Kenji. The cast iron myths bug the heck out of me.

My stepfather has a cast-iron pan that he first acquired as a cook in the Marines, nearly 40 years ago. He cooked with it several times a day for four years, then brought it home (probably wasn't supposed to, but hell, it's a pan not a gun) and continued using it damn near every day since then. When I first started learning to cook, that pan was the first one I ever used. And every time, we washed it by hand with soap, in the sink, just like the rest of the dishes.

Is it non-stick? Nope. But it surely never got ruined either. And the finish on the inside feels like finest satin. It is unbelievably smooth. I don't know if that's from years of the iron being polished by repeated cleanings, or from years of absorbing polymerized fat into every nook and cranny, but either way it's a thing of beauty.

Osomatic

7:15PM ON 11/07/14

Son of a b! I posted that comment before realizing I'd skipped the end of the article. I wonder if it's just that he's got an older pan! Huh. And here all this time I thought something magical had happened over 40 years. I'll have to look at it the next time I see him, but I could've sworn the outside was pebbly, like a modern Lodge. Hmmmmmmm.

oscarb

8:19PM ON 11/07/14

Cast iron is misunderstood by many, so it's great to see this. Yes, it needs some babying in regards to avoiding rust but is otherwise indestructible. The no-soap thing drives me crazy and I'm glad to see it debunked here.

BanannaP

10:36PM ON 11/07/14

Thanks, Kenji! I'm not on the Twitters, so I appreciate the duplication!

LSJones

0:08AM ON 11/08/14

Your piece emphasizes polymerized oil and downplays black iron. Big mistake. Yes, there's polymerized oil but it's much more complex than that. Black iron is created by combining oxygen in small quantities with the cast iron underneath, and like anodized aluminum it is a hard material when compared to polymerized oil, yet it is the substrate needed for the creation of the polymerized layer. And, the oil is key to keeping oxygen at low levels so that black iron rather than rust is created on the pan's surface. When I try to season a heavy stainless steel pan, it fails miserably because black iron is not present.

Zoecooks

1:03AM ON 11/08/14

Whew. Glad to know I can do all the things (and more) to my cast iron. I wonder - is it also bad to leave enameled cast iron soaking? I tell my husband it is and he rolls his eyes. I would appreciate that being seetled once and for all.

ps - I wash my cast iron and then slam it on the stove, cut the flame and rub it down with Pam. I KNOW someone will have to be rushed to the ER for palpitations after reading that, but so far so good and the cas iron pan I used most (10") is older than I am = and I am a wrinkly thing. Both of us are still awesomely serviceable. OK - at least one of us is and that one is covered in Pam.

AgentVX

2:58AM ON 11/08/14

Hey Kenji, interesting point about emissivity - I'm just wondering, does this imply that a stainless steel skillet might be better for certain applications, like searing a steak that's already been cooked to the optimum internal temperature in the oven or a water bath?

amckenzie4

8:22AM ON 11/08/14

@transisteris - First of all, rudest start to a comment I've seen on this site yet, and second, I'm not sure you read the comment thoroughly.

Zoecooks was asking about soaking an enameled pan, like a Le Creuset pan or something. As long as the entire surface area is enameled and there are no cracks in the enamel, soaking it should be fine. That's why the enamel it, so that the iron won't be exposed to the elements and it will be "easier" to clean.

@Zoecooks, as I just said, I think it's fine to soak them, with some caveats. I have a dutch oven (5.5 qt, no idea who it was made by) that's enameled, and I soak it all the time. The catch is that I can't fill it all the way, and have to hand-dry the top edge if water gets on it before soaking, because they didn't enamel all the way around. I also have 35-40 year old pieces, one from Belgium, the other from Denmark (maker's marks are all but illegible), one of which has no visible iron anywhere. That one has also been soaked routinely for years with no damage. The other has enamel only on the inside and upper outside surfaces; I've filled that one with water and put it back on a hot stove to soak, to make sure the bare iron surfaces get dry.

As to the issue of using Pam... I've found it to cause problems, but if it works for you, go for it, and I hope your luck lasts!

dorek

10:41AM ON 11/08/14

"I've always cleaned my cast iron by getting it hot then pouring salt in and scrubbing with a towel, then a quick rinse before the re-seasoning step. Is this not a good idea?"

It's a fine idea. This is how I've been cleaning mine for years.

dorek

10:58AM ON 11/08/14

"A 12" pan is $10 Canadian versus 20-75 for cast."

Where the hell are you regularly seeing $75 cast iron pans?! There's a 17-inch skillet that costs that much, but, uh...not a lot of people are buyin' 17-inch skillets made of any type of metal.

dorek

11:01AM ON 11/08/14

"My mother has the same dutch oven. Its a bit difficult to season because its so deep, the sides do not consistently get hot the way the bottom does or a skillet would during normal use."

Season it in the oven, dude. Upside down so oil doesn't pool in the bottom.

Mamamanger14

11:15AM ON 11/08/14

Great article! I have three beloved and well used cast iron pans that I inherited from previous generations, and I have always been amused and, frankly, baffled by recommendations that cast iron not be washed. Such "advice" always evokes a vision of my late grandmother, who would have taken her skillet, which she washed in hot soapy water, to the backside of any upstart who suggested such a thing! I grew up in kitchens where cast iron pans were routinely scrubbed and treated as the practical implements they were and not as some rarefied objects that needed babying. I don't remember a lot of seasoning being performed, but maybe that's because those pans of my past got a lot of daily use frying bacon and chicken and so maintained their seasoned state. Since I don't use mine as frequently now, I season them with a thin layer of solid vegetable shortening and place in a warm oven or on a warm burner. I made the mistake of using olive oil once and it took forever for my pan to forgive me.

ryuthrowsstuff

11:35AM ON 11/08/14

@Dorek That's exactly what we do (or did pot is well broken in now). I was talking about the sort of seasoning a pan will pick up from regular use. Because of how deep the pot is the normal "heat it on a burner and oil it" method of slowly building season, or regular use on a burner is really only going to season the bottom portion of the pot. Basically just the cooking surface and a few inches up the wall. Like wise the lid really isn't going to pick up a season at all. So you need to be a little more careful about rust than you might be with a skillet, and give it more frequent regular seasons in the oven (or grill) as you describe. The lid also has this weird tendency to pick up thick carbon scale on the interior, so you need to clean that off if you want to keep moisture away and want to build up any level of season on the lid.

f r y

11:53AM ON 11/08/14

"Your piece emphasizes polymerized oil"

This is indisputably true, in that it uses the emphasis tag: "polymerized oil"

I have a stainless steel pan with a very durable coating of seasoning on it. If you want bullet-proof seasoning on stainless or any other pan, the best method, in my experience, is to do it accidentally.

I worked at place where we toasted bread brushed with olive oil on aluminum pizza plates in a wood-fired oven, right next to the roaring fire. The dishwashers [people] would scrub the pans with steel scrubbers then run them through the commercial dishwasher [machine]. They still built up tough-as-nails seasoning, which we occasionally burned off by leaving them in the back of the oven.

f r y

11:56AM ON 11/08/14

I was expecting the tag to show. <em>

HTML!

J. Kenji López-Alt

1:20PM ON 11/08/14

@zoecooks

As others have said, there's no problem soaking enameled cast iron!

So sorry for @ transisteris's really rude comment. We don't tolerate that kind of thing here.

woofermazing

2:36PM ON 11/08/14

Cast iron cookware has always been sand cast. Back in the day there was a final polishing step performed by hand. When foreign competition with cheaper products entered the US market, that was one of the first steps to go. Lodge actually goes out of the way to texture their cookware now. It improves adhesion when they season in the factory. Preseasoning pretty much saved the company, so I'm okay with it. I do like the older stuff in general, but I haven't gotten my hands on any of the old brands that are as heavy as a newer lodge, so I still use it for searing and blackening.

rbrock1225

3:42PM ON 11/08/14

Another fine use of your cast iron pan-- it's great to use to quickly & evenly defrost relatively thin items (like steaks). Simply put the frozen item between two cast iron pans. I believe it works because of the density of the pans. In any case, it's much faster than defrosting items on the counter. Not quite as fast as using the microwave -- but a more even defrosting.

shoshana

3:43PM ON 11/08/14

Heavier doesn't necessarily mean better when it comes to cast iron. The older pans tend to be lighter and thinner than the new Lodge; not to the point where they're flimsy, but thinner and lighter nonetheless. The non-stick claim is somewhat misleading: One still must coat the pan, if lightly, with some kind of cooking fat before using it to fry eggs though I don't find it necessary to do so when cooking a steak. As for seasoning, this approach seems to have the most traction among CI aficianados: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Castironguys

4:15PM ON 11/08/14

Great little article, but you did miss the boat on the casting process. Casting has always been done with sand and not solid forms, it was the finishing level on the piece that determined the level of smoothness that any pan had. There were a number of levels of finishing, from unfinished which was rough an pebbly, vibrational finishing (how most companies finish their pieces today), to polished and even milled. Each producing smoother and smoother finishes.

Another big difference between classic vintage iron and modern is that modern, including Lodge is machine made - that forced the need for pieces to bigger and thicker (as the machines are not capable of handling lighter iron without significant breakage). That is not a plus, and much of the vintage iron can be comparable in weight to more modern steel pans. However, in certain cases, thicker heavier iron is desirable for certain things - those would include blackening, and to a degree searing as the change in temperature of the iron remains higher than that of a less volumetric piece of iron when a cool food is dropped on top of it.

Also note to Shoshana, we don't recommend the Sheryl Canter method for seasoning your iron - you'll find that that is the method most likely to lead to flaking of seasoning. We've had many customers, and even ourselves try it. It's a very flawed method - and any traction it seems to have is due more to internet publicity than solid science.

NWcajun

4:19PM ON 11/08/14

My wife is a spelling nazi. While she says "leech" is not necessarily the wrong word, she believes "leach" would be a better choice. This is what I live with. As a side note, I just pulled an extra creamy squash lasagna from the oven. Thanks again Kenji.

Tom M

5:24PM ON 11/08/14

"deBuyer Carbone Plus Fry Pans

For over 150 years deBuyer has been making "Lyonnaise" fry pans with a high profile and curved skirt. Heavy gauge, 2.5 to 3.0 mm thick..."

Tom M

5:54PM ON 11/08/14

Kenji, I don't know for sure if this is true of not (I meant to ask last time I saw her), but the story goes that back in the day when she was just a married Martha, and not a brand name, she and a buddy used to do catering on the weekend in CT. As she would drive around, they would stop and pick up old rusty cast iron pans at yard sales. (I don't know if they were a $1, but they were really cheap.) She would then sit on the back stoop and scour the rust off with a thick wad of steel wool & rinse with the garden hose. When done, she would throughly re-season them and then sell for a nifty profit to her catering customers. One day a neighbor dropped by, saw what she was doing, and suggested she get a circular sander to which she could attach a steel wool pad. Upon doing so, she found she could create a surface as smooth as a baby's bottom before re-seasoning.

Zoecooks

9:25PM ON 11/08/14

Amckenzie4, Thank you so much for such a thorough answer. I have an enameled one with the cast iron showing at the edge. I will be careful to dry it. I never even considered what might happen if it were left wet. I had an enameled dutch oven that delaminated - I now wonder if there was a little chip inside the pot I did not notice. It did not delaminate until there was food cooking in it. I noticed it when I was stirring. Sigh.

I am glad I missed the mean comment to me. It probably would have hurt my feelings even though I don't even know them. Thank you for the defense. 

: )

marc-the-chef

10:02PM ON 11/08/14

Great article. 

The real key to enjoying your cast iron pans is to avoid becoming anal about the maintenance details. All of those cooks who are wondering exactly what oil to use or what temperature to cook at really need to chill. Cause in the end it doesn't matter. 

As was pointed out in the beginning of the article, cast iron is tough. Any damage that you inflict can be undone.

One more point needs to be made. As Kenji correctly pointed out, cast iron pans heat unevenly. But,to make matters more complicated, every pan has its own unique personality. (No, I'm not kidding!)

Get to know each pan strengths, their weaknesses. It sounds corny but cooking with cast iron is a more personal experience than cooking with aluminum, steel, whatever. Revel in it!

JoJoe68

1:05AM ON 11/09/14

I love my Cast 

Iron Pans.

Recipephany

9:46AM ON 11/09/14

Be aware of this deal breaker: my favorite cast iron pan irreparably stained my oak countertops. I don't mind cut marks or a splotchy stain here or there, but it left black rings. After doing my best to keep the pan off the counter, I finally just gave it away.

ryuthrowsstuff

11:51AM ON 11/09/14

@Recipephany That's quite odd. We cook in almost nothing but cast iron, and never get markings of any kind on our (completely unsealed or finished) maple counter, or anywhere else for that matter. As with any pan (especially over gas) they get a fair bit of carbon buildup on the underside. And this will leave black marks wherever it touches, hand towels, counters etc. if you don't clean it off. We're you regularly oiling and season the exterior of the pan? Did you wipe it down till any black/carbon residue was gone? Generally speaking you don't need to regularly oil or season the exterior beyond the point that prevents rust. The only time I've gotten black marks on counters and cutting boards from pans was when I didn't regularly wash/de-carbonize the exterior. And it was with any pot or pan, not unique to cast iron.

Recipephany

12:34PM ON 11/09/14

@ryuthrowsstuff Thanks for your insights. But you probably don't have this problem because maple isn't as prone to iron staining as oak. I looked it up, and according to the USDA Forest Service, oak, redwood, cedar and cypress are particularly prone to iron stain because the woods contain "large amounts of tannin-like extractives. The discoloration is caused by a chemical reaction between the extractives in the wood and the iron." All you need is water on the counter or on the bottom of the pan, and the extractives and iron will meet and react. The reaction is instant -- by the time you say "oops," it's done. Actually, a carbon build-up on the bottom of a pan might actually help prevent this staining!

ryuthrowsstuff

1:12PM ON 11/09/14

@Recipephany That IS really strange. Aside from sealing the counter tops in some way I wouldn't know what to do there. But that likely wouldn't be good for the wood.

Recipephany

6:39PM ON 11/09/14

@ryuthrowsstuff Yeah, we use our countertops as cuttingboards. Anyway, I have sworn off oak countertops as well as cast iron pans.

Sprayfaint

6:43PM ON 11/09/14

Kenji have you ever thought about doing a post on vintage knives? I've almost completely switched over at this point to a couple of antique carbon steel knives and have been proselytizing ever since.

Sumshee

9:00PM ON 11/09/14

I grew up with cast iron...did so with reverence emphasized. I have my wonderful set...even have an 18-20 incher (approx). But I have never had my iron chip or crack and I have not treated it delicately. This confuses me. Is there really ironware out there that is that vulnerable?

Also, I found a rusty old, dented up steel skillet that says "Savory Spiders" on the handle. After many years of merely displaying it on the wall as a novelty, I cleaned it, seasoned it and used it. I am in love. It is, actually as non-stick or more so as is my iron. Who'd a thunk? I found another on the net and am gonna buy a few more...hoping to find some smaller "Spiders".

danaseilhan

10:22PM ON 11/09/14

About the acid-leaching thing: There is some thinking amongst medical/scientific types that the need for iron in the diet is way overstated for most people. Even women of childbearing age don't lose as much blood as it looks like; they're losing uterine lining, and the only reason it looks like blood is it's got vessels in it. (If you actually do bleed at that time in the month, you need to be looked at.) These same medical/scientific types say that what you need to look at is your ferritin, not your hemoglobin, for an accurate look at your overall iron profile. Apparently, the older we get, the higher our ferritin is and it sets us up for all sorts of health problems if we don't get rid of some of it. (In the olden days we would have had accidents or gotten into fights once in a while!) They suggest we get our ferritin tested and if it's on the high end or actually high, donate blood occasionally to bring it back down.

SO, long story short, don't be scared to use cast iron, but be mindful of your overall iron intake, and maybe save most of your acidic dishes for other cooking containers, like glass dishes for instance. Pyrex in particular is completely inert.

And I'll second (if not third or fourth?) the suggestion to use the more saturated fats to season cast-iron. And I never assume that it will be nonstick, and that was not my experience with Teflon either: ALL my food stuck, no matter what. I always use a fat with my cast iron when I'm cooking. It wasn't the fat that was causing me health problems to start with.

smalzz

4:23AM ON 11/10/14

I have never washed my cast iron pans with soap and water. iwait un til the pan is cooled slightly then gently scrub it with some kosher salt and a little vegetable oil using a paper towel. This gets any stuck on product off. If need be I give a quick rinse with water but never never never soap. The worst thing to happen to my cast iron was returning home one day to find that my roommate had used the pan and the taken steel wool to it to clean it, scrubbing off the 20 years of seasoning I had built up!

Devour Barcelona

4:55AM ON 11/10/14

Really useful info! Thanks for sharing guys!

amckenzie4

8:23AM ON 11/10/14

@recipephany and @ryuthrowsstuff: A common method for ebonizing wood (making it a deep black color without paint or stain) is to dissolve steel wool or iron filings in vinegar, then rub the solution on. It works great on heavily tannic woods, like Oak, and hardly at all on low-tannin woods, like maple. For those, you first wash them with a tanic acid solution. So I'm not surprised those countertops changed color... it's a chemical change, and the only way to get rid of it would be to remove the affected wood.

@marc-the-chef: it's true! Pans have remarkably different performance! My lodge pan heats beautifully evenly, and I still can't figure out why. But there are some things it just doesn't work well for, and BCBs (burnt crunchy bits) are common and tend to stick to it. I have an older pan (Griswold, I think), which is perfectly smooth, and nothing sticks to it, but which doesn't heat evenly at all: heat seems to spread easily to one "side" of the pan, but not at all to the other edge. It still works fine if I move it around on the burner, though.

J. Kenji López-Alt

12:50PM ON 11/10/14

@Sparyfaint

I love a couple of my vintage knives! The problem with them however is that I think they're more work than some home cooks are willing to do. They get crazy sharp but can't hold an edge as long as modern stainless steel does. They also have to be washed IMMEDIATELY after cutting any vegetables as the acid causes pitting and rust. The last issue is that some of the knives I have have been sharpened so many times that their shape is thrown off. I have a 1943 Wusthof 12-inch chef's knife that has a concave section in the blade which doesn't come in contact with the cutting board!

Long story short, I think cast iron is great for everyone, but vintage knives are really more for knife enthusiasts (like us, I guess :) )

Screamin Scott

12:57PM ON 11/10/14

As someone who suffers from Hereditary Hemachromotosis, I have stopped all cooking with cast iron. My condition is the opposite of anemia in that my body can't get rid of the excess iron & I periodically have to have Phelbotomies in order to keep the iron content withing limits... Wish there was something I could do as I did love my old cast iron pans...

Malissa4969

4:41PM ON 11/10/14

I have used cast iron my entire adult life, my great aunt taught us how to cook and she used cast iron. In 1977 I went looking for Aunt Margie's pans and my mother had thrown them out! I cried. 

Boil and oil is all you need to do. I have a scrub brush that is only used on the pans and I boils, scrub if necessary, boil and again and then oil. 

Griswold is great! Wagner too. My others are lodge ware. 

To get a really good seasoning after scrubbing or for a new pan or to repair a neglected pan, boil several times, then oil it heavily. Place skillets/pans up side down in a 200 degree oven and let season. By being up-side-down the oil does not clump.

lrobinl

4:50PM ON 11/10/14

I have three cast iron skillets and I truly believe if I could only cook in one pan for the rest of my life it would be one of them. I cannot think of anything you can't cook in it and since it can go into the oven you can bake in it too. I guess I would need a pot for boiling pasta, but other than that, I consider this the perfect pan, hands down.

Steve H.

4:51PM ON 11/10/14

So one thing I'm paranoid about is cracking due to thermal shock, i.e. putting cold food into a very hot pan. Now it's never happened to me, but I've read enough to suggest that while it's not common, it's not unheard of either. Any thoughts or comments on this?

Nashwill

5:02PM ON 11/10/14

@ Kenji – My basic go-to kitchen knife is a 4" carbon-steel Sabatier. After my first one lost its point I tried to get another from the local cutlery shop, but the owner was one of those old-fashioned modernists – "Carbon steel? Are you nuts? Get stainless!" I did get him to fill out an order, but I think he deliberately lost it. Eventually I went in when he was away and one of his sons sighed, said "Oh, that's Dad!" and took my order. That was 20-some years ago and Yes, I will soon need another – the blade has a definite reverse bow to its profile – but I'm addicted to a sharpness I can't get with any stainless.

Old cast iron – it IS thinner and lighter, and rings when you hit it. My one Lodge pan – had to get a grill pan – just goes Clank. But while I've never gotten one of my dozen or so for $1 I've found plenty for $10 or less. Only one branded, a Wagner #6 with a round flare to the sides (cornbread!), but every one of them good. Mrs. O is gonna make a killing at the estate sale when I go …

sportsfan58

5:10PM ON 11/10/14

After reading through all the comments, I am more confused than before, so I've reluctantly removed it from my wish list and have decided against cast-iron anything. :(

zanne4848

5:23PM ON 11/10/14

I use vintage cast iron every day. While it's still warm, I use a stiff brush and hot water to clean it - rarely have to do anything else. I oil it before storing.

Years ago I found a funny looking, lightweight "griddle?" in a thrift shop. I took it home, cleaned it up & seasoned it. The best pan I ever had, I think it was a Euro crepe pan. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had it on the stove to dry and it overheated and cracked. I'm told there is no way to repair. :(

Bigbananafeet

5:24PM ON 11/10/14

I've got a de Buyer on my Christmas wish list.

Anyone else have an old Findlay cast iron pan? Venerable Canadian company, and the pans have a velvety smooth finish. Seasoning my latest thrift-store find right now, actually....

zooky

5:29PM ON 11/10/14

Decade and a half user of cast iron here. My dutch oven type pot (combo cooker) doesn't really season up the sides naturally with cooking. I solved this by storing my cast iron in the oven. So every time I use the oven, I bake the seasoning on a little bit more. Voilà!

drocto

5:30PM ON 11/10/14

Great article!

I would say, however, that I never use soap on mine and it gets nice and clean. I use hot water and one of those nylon bristle things. Often I'll actually put a little water in the pan and heat on the stove to simmering and scrub. I then just dump the water, wipe, and then do the seasoning.

cousine

5:51PM ON 11/10/14

danaseilhan... what? "It's got vessels in it" emphasis added? Vessels? Menstrual effluent is blood and uterine tissue. Women are all over the map, so YMMV and you may have very little blood--or, of course, you may be a man with no idea what you're talking about--but if like manymanymany women and girls at "that special time" you fill up the number 2 diva cup four or five times a day with bona fide red fluid, no visible "vessels," whatever is meant by that, don't pester the doctor because it's completely normal. OTOH, if when you bleed, whether it's because Aunt Flo's visiting or because you cut your thumb near off with your treasured pampered family heirloom carbon steel knife, if you look at the blood and "it's got vessels in it?" Call an ambulance.

I have used my cast iron skillets (two were my mom's & are about 80 some years old) on glass top stoves since the mid-1970s. I also do a fair amount of canning on it when it is thought to be forbidden also. I won't use anything but cast iron, but I hated the thin Le Creuset enameled skillet I had, which had a wooden handle. I could't get the enamel clean and the handle burned. I threw it away. Its performance couldn't compete with my cast iron skillets. I season with Crisco shortening, and my pans are beautiful. I prepared one old pan I bought used by stripping it in the self cleaning cycle of the oven, and that works perfectly for yard sale purchases.

KPuffer

7:07PM ON 11/10/14

Nice article, nicely done. I've been using Cast iron in many shapes and sizes for many years. I agree with your admonitions entirely.

Grant R

7:27PM ON 11/10/14

I loved this article... and the comments. Thanks, Kenji and all who contributed. As a recent convert to cast iron (two 10 1/4" Lodge pans, one ridged and one unridged), I seasoned my pans with Crisco (which worked well), then had the brainstorm of storing them in the oven between uses. The pans do get a lot of heating and cooling while I'm baking other things, but they stay dust-free, and I thought I'd cut a fat hog. Then, I read the following (in Myth #5: The Reality): 

"In order to get my cast iron pan's seasoning to flake off, I had to store it in the oven for a month's-worth of heating and drying cycles without re-seasoning it before I started to see some scaling."

I'm crushed. Can I really not use this brilliant storage idea? It's soooo convenient. :-)

Mobar

8:07PM ON 11/10/14

I love my cast iron cookware. I have a couple skillets and Dutch ovens, seasoned with Crisco. My littlest skillet was first seasoned with beeswax in a hot oven. It has a shiny black finish, dedicated for eggs over easy. Works beautifully.

CookandSail

8:46PM ON 11/10/14

Toast nuts in them. Keeps them nicely oiled. :)

hgrimes

9:49PM ON 11/10/14

@The Petite Gourmet - Don't let it air dry. Clean it, and then heat it back up on the burner and allow the water to fully evaporate. Then rub a thin layer of oil all around the inside of the dutch oven.

Hassouni

11:27PM ON 11/10/14

Damn it! This post made me pull the trigger on a super clean Griswold. Kenji, you'll bankrupt me!

Perkinsdi

8:25AM ON 11/11/14

Thank you for the article and to the thoughtful comments posted. I am used to cooking for a crowd and used to use my inherited 14" all the time. I found a Dutch Oven from the same period. My pans and this Dutch oven had a lot of build up on the sides from a century of cooking. One night I just placed them all in a bonfire (outside ashes) then sanded them two days later. Pristine and no cracking! A little wash, some seasoning and now they are ready for the next 100 years. 

My issue now is, I don't cook for that many people anymore and tend to overfill the 8 and 10 inch pans.

amckenzie4

9:13AM ON 11/11/14

@sportsfan58, why so confused? Also, don't write off cast iron just because a bunch of people on the internet disagree on how to maintain it: underneath all the argument, there are a few core guidelines I think we all agree on:

1) Use cast iron, because it's awesome for most things.

2) It needs to be seasoned, and while the type of oil and temperature used are up for debate, the process consists of putting a thin layer of oil on the pan, then putting it in the oven to bake on.

3) Cast iron should never be soaked, and should be dried on the stove or in the oven, not allowed to drip dry.

4) Once dry (and while still warm) the pan should be oiled.

I've seen a lot of argument on the details, but I don't think I've ever seen any real disagreement with those guidelines.

DarrenX

9:16AM ON 11/11/14

Non-stick teflon pans all the way for me. Zero maintenance and astonishly effortless cleanup trumps all other considerations.

aswqw

9:51AM ON 11/11/14

Kenji, I think you are still holding on to a myth:) I have cast iron pans that were passed down through the family from at least my great grandmother. They have never been oiled for storage. Or "re-seasoned" as I have heard it called. Just washed with soap and water, and heated on burner to evaporate water before being put up. I questioned my mother and she says that she had never had to do anything to them, never had the coating fail,etc. and she started using them when she was 7. They didn't learn from the internet, but from the previous generation which means this method has worked on these pans for at least 100 years.

MJ Henry Solidteknics

10:57AM ON 11/11/14

Another excellent article: thank you! We've been offering similar advice to Australians, who aren't as familiar with cast iron as most American cooks (no cast iron manufacturing tradition here until recently). So we have one piece of update info: there is now just one cast iron manufacturer, casting in Australia, who does sand the cooking surface smooth on their cast iron pans: Solidteknics. See www.solidteknics.com and www.facebook.com/solidteknics for more info, or let me know if you need more detail. Thanks again and keep up the serious articles - they're always excellent!

Quibbler

11:45AM ON 11/11/14

Suggestions aren't "myths." Opinions aren't "truth."

whizza99

2:07PM ON 11/11/14

I love my cast iron and agree. But I have had a terrible experience with a lodge. I dry my pans on the stove, we have since growing up. and sometimes I wash them right away. We always used brillo pads and had no problem, and then a friend told me never wash cast iron(?) I thought the same thing, yuk. I too have a glass top and never cared. But I cracked my large fryer!!!!! never happened before!. cooled it down too fast i guess. I did find a large one at a flea market/neighborhood garage sale. He wanted like $25. I paid him $20. Worth it for a vintage preseasoned. I also have a dutch oven, can't boil water in it but I can and do make sauce now. I have very few pans, not one for "sets". My real saucepot is heavy stainless steal. I'm anemic so the cast iron helps esp if you have kids. But i'm going back to scrubbing now, I never let them sit. And if they rust, I just put some oil on it before I dry it on the stove. Good article as this cleared up all those ol' wives tales!!! Thx

J. Kenji López-Alt

3:41PM ON 11/11/14

Just a note: based on some more research I've updated the section about sand casting and finishing steps in vintage vs. modern cast iron. End result is the same, but the details are different.

Value Shopper

5:02PM ON 11/11/14

Thanks for this great article. A few "myths" were cleared up. I learned some new things as well, such as the uneven heating...fortunately almost everything mentioned in the article I already do. Two methods for certain I know removes the smooth seasoned surface are. 1. Leaving in an oven during an automatic cleaning session and 2. the dishwasher. Overall value you simply cant beat a cast iron cookware.

Bigbananafeet

10:59PM ON 11/11/14

I've now scrubbed another ancient cast iron pan, oiled it lightly with a paper towel, and stuck it in a warm oven for a couple of hours. The oil has gone sort of blotchy, so I oiled it again and put it back for another couple of hours. Still blotchy. Should i just keep going, or strip it and start again?

This is a GREAT discussion, btw - learning lots of useful info.

MRubenzahl

1:08AM ON 11/12/14

Great article, great comments.l 

One advantage of cast iron is that it's inexpensive and for me, that means having some pieces I otherwise would not own. In particular: A really big-ass skillet. I don't often need a huge skillet but when I do, it's a godsend. For $47, how else can you get a 15-inch skillet?

I have this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00063RWUM/?tag=serieats-20

Of course you need to be a Schwartzenegger to handle this beast!

Tom M

5:53AM ON 11/12/14

@MRubenzahl

Interestingly enough, Rhee Drumond "The Pioneer Woman", just did a TV segment where she apparently used your skillet to cook 4 very large rib eye's all at once!

Bigbananafeet

7:23AM ON 11/12/14

@ Tom - sure, but she's a 6'4" superwoman, and has a flock of husky men to help her. ;~)

Tom M

7:43AM ON 11/12/14

Naw, she's "only" 5' 9". But you're right about the flock! I can't look at them without being reminded of the Monty Python "I'm a Lumberjack" skit...

Malissa4969

8:21AM ON 11/12/14

@bigbannanafeet: did you turn your pan upside down in the oven? Put some foil under it to catch the excess oil. This stops blotches. Low oven 200 several hours

Bigbananafeet

8:26AM ON 11/12/14

Yes, it was upside down - I was pretty sparing with the oil, though - is it supposed to be slathered on? I've got an ancient Aga, on all the time, so no problem with leaving the pan in the oven pretty much indefinitely, lol. It was in the 350' oven, by the way.

Malissa4969

9:02AM ON 11/12/14

@bigbananafeet: I would slather it on and do the low oven, IMO that allows the oil to soak in and not cook quickly. Hopefully this works. I would then use it for a while before trying to re-season it . What type size is the pan? if it is shallow, cook bacon in it.

Bigbananafeet

10:14AM ON 11/12/14

@ Malissa - two, actually - an 8" and a 9" - same manufacturer (Findlay), but one's much older than the other. I'll get slathering - thanks!

LKM

4:06PM ON 11/12/14

I have a question about cast iron treatment. My Mom gave me her old cornbread molds(the ones in the shape of a ear of corn) and they are in pretty bad shape. After getting them cleaned up, what is the best way to take care of them after use? Obviously I can't really heat them on the stove(or can I?)

sportsfan58

4:31PM ON 11/12/14

@amckenzie4 Thank you! I really do want to use cast iron because my mother used it very successfully, way back when. I have the recipes, just need the skillet. (Unknown to me at the time, her skillets were thrown away after she died.)

Thanks for the Crepes

11:46AM ON 11/13/14

Great article!

I have a very old Wagner 10-1/2 skillet I use frequently, and a smaller one, stored upstairs that I almost never use. If I had two of the little ones they'd be great vehicles to serve hot meals that stayed that way through service.

I wash mine out with soap too, then oil lightly, and wipe with a paper towel.

I used to cook free range eggs that we raised in well-seasoned cast iron at my grandparent's house. Now I prefer non-stick, but cast iron definitely has its uses.

It's about the most resilient cookware I'm aware of.

kcAA

4:09PM ON 11/13/14

Nice list - especially for including a couple of limitations of cast iron. #2 is the one that I learned through experience. I replaced an anodized Al two burner griddle with a cast iron one from Lodge. Most of my use is for pancakes, french toast, grilled cheese, etc.. In the time it takes to heat up the cast iron I could cook a couple of batches of pancakes on the aluminum, and the space on the griddle between the burners is pretty useless.

I love my CI fry pans and the griddle's OK for other things, but it's back to Al for pancakes in the morning.

Twinwillow

4:55PM ON 11/13/14

I bought my 100 year old 10" Wagner cast iron pan at an outdoor antique sale (15 years ago) from a dealer for only $15.00.

It is without a doubt, the finest purchase I've ever made for the very best pan I've ever owned. Or, will ever own.

Twinwillow

4:56PM ON 11/13/14

I bought my 100 year old 10" Wagner cast iron pan at an outdoor antique sale (15 years ago) from a dealer for only $15.00.

It is without a doubt, the finest purchase I've ever made for the very best pan I've ever owned. Or, will ever own.

Archagon

5:18PM ON 11/13/14

I'm starting to get the feeling that "you need to season it" is just as much of a myth as all these other ones. Why not just use the pan day-to-day and let it acquire a seasoning naturally?

bruce9432

10:11AM ON 11/14/14

They work on induction cook tops, just put a sheet of parchment paper between the pan and the cook top. Super easy clean up.

Kingduckford

12:14PM ON 11/14/14

I've cooked in nothing but cast iron for the last 12 years, and mine get used 1-3 times a day. I can't tell you how terrible your advice is for using soap on cast iron. For all my experience and daily use, and letting other people use my cast iron, I have NEVER seen an instance where detergent didn't destroy seasoning, NEVER a situation where it was appropriate, NEVER a situation where it wasn't completely detrimental to the state of a good pan with good seasoning. Whatever good was in your article, your nonsense of using soap EVER, unless you intend to completely destroy the seasoning to re season a pan, is so terrible it not only negates the good this article could have served, and turns it toxic, you would have been better not writing it at all.

Seasoning a pan through careful constant use is an art. By careful selection of fats and foods, to the heat and general usage to build a good seasoning is a slow and delicate thing. The entire idea of using detergent, and re seasoning EVERY time AFTER you cook and clean is a sign you aren't doing it right, and implies you never build a seasoning. If you have to re oil the pan after you clean it, you cleaned it too hard, and you destroyed any seasoning the pan gained from the last cooking. Proper frying with fats and fatty foods will season the pan well, and will not require further oiling after the fact. Good seasoning does not have to be undone and redone, it builds naturally by careful use.

The need to use soap is not good advice, it is a sign that the person is so anal about cleaning that they can't possibly live in a world where their cookwear isn't cleaned absolutely, they can't tolerate any cooking piece that isn't purged to absolute nothing. Its a sign that the person fears filth more than they appreciate and respect the material they are using. 

Simply put, if you NEED to completely purge your cook wear, DON'T buy cast iron. If you can't live with the idea that the last thing you cooked will stay with your dutch over or pan, cast iron isn't your style. If you demand absolute thorough cleaning, cast iron is something you will not enjoy. And if you advise people to clean their cast iron with soap and water, you shoulnd't be advising anyone, or writing articles about, cast iron.

Azirkah

4:55PM ON 11/14/14

Hi there… I have two quibbles with this article.

First, I disagree that seasoning makes cast iron non-stick. Any protein that goes in almost any pan is going to stick at least a little, even if you start with a bit of fat in the pan. The big trick is heat management. If you think it’s time to flip but you have to dig and scrape to get your protein unstuck from the pan, well then, it’s not time to flip. Turn down the heat and have a little patience, you will be rewarded! If your protein is stuck on and burning, the pan is too hot. Again, turn down the heat and have a little patience. You're shooting for "golden brown on both sides with only one flip", and it lives in the sweet spot between "not cooking" and "burning". Keep practicing… Eventually you should be able to read the “stickiness” of the meat as an indication of whether it’s ready to flip or not.

Second, I strongly disagree with the advice to soap a seasoned cast iron pan. I've been served food that's been made in soaped pans and I definitely think it affects the taste of the food. In addition, soap breaks down fat. While the base layers of your seasoning may be well cooked and aren’t going anywhere without some serious elbow grease (or maybe even a mechanical sander), the most recent layers are not. I’d bet soaping the pan slows down the hardening of the most recent layers, which is what I’d bet is what the soapy flavor adheres to.

If cleanliness is your concern, think about this... If you fry a pork chop or a steak or a boneless skinless chicken breast or whatever and then rinse a hot cast iron pan in hot running water, there’s so much heat left in the pan that even hot water sizzles and boils upon contact. If you then scrub the pan with an unsoaped brush or scrubby to get any remaining schmutz off the bottom, honestly, that's probably enough.

Bear with me though, there’s more.

OK, so you’ve rinsed and had a soap-free scrub… pour off the excess water and put the hot pan right back on the hot burner from whence it came. Keep the pan over medium or medium-high heat until it’s just dry. How long it takes to dry depends on your cooktop, so just watch until the last of the water evaporates. It won’t be long, though… maybe a minute or two. IF (and this is a big “if”) anything survived the hot rinse and the scrub, the heated dry should kill it.

The second all the water has evaporated, turn off the heat and wipe a very thin coat of neutral oil onto the hot pan. You want just an even shine, not a greasy drippy puddle. Leave the lightly oiled pan on the stovetop to cool completely, then put it away… or not. Mine gets used almost every day so it pretty much lives on the stovetop. Conveniently, the amount of time it takes to rinse, scrub, dry and oil the pan is usually about the perfect amount of time to rest a piece of meat before cutting into it.

Bear with me though, there’s more.

OK, so it’s the next day and you wanna fry a pork chop or a steak or a boneless skinless chicken breast or whatever. Do all your mise en place, put your cast iron on a burner to heat, then wait until you see smoke. Not a lot of smoke, just a little bit of very fine smoke. You’re not trying to reduce the visibility in the kitchen, you just wanna know that the pan is hot enough to cook on. How long it takes to reach this point depends on your cooktop. My last stove took about 5 minutes, my current stove takes about a minute and a half. IF (and this is a big “if”) anything survived the hot rinse, the scrub and the heated dry, the preaheat should kill it.

In addition, once the pan has just barely started to smoke, that means it will heat a small amount of oil on contact, so go ahead and pour it on. The oil should should run easily around the pan and shimmer almost immediately. Once the oil shimmers, you’re ready to cook.

IMHO, the beauty of cast iron is that it gets better with each use. The main thing is, you gotta USE it or it won’t improve. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of “cook, rinse, dry, oil”, and once you get it down, it’s no big deal. In the end, years of repeating that “cook, rinse, dry, oil” process makes a wonderfully consistent, reliable surface on which to cook.

CitizenKate

10:03PM ON 11/15/14

Under NO circumstances will anyone convince me to use detergent on my pans.

A good seasoning will stand up to metal utensils and scrubbers - unlike a non-stick coated pan - but will not stand up to regular applications of solvent (aka detergent). It may not totally destroy it, but it definitely does put a stop to the gradual process of building it up by stripping oils that eventually become part of the permanent coating.

If you have a good seasoning, food may stick slightly, but the pans will mostly rinse clean. Mechanically scrub it if necessary, but don't strip the leftover oils from the pan with solvent, and you won't have to worry about re-seasoning it constantly. Heating the pan to dry it after washing and then pre-heating prior to the next use will sterilize the pan.

Oh, and there's another reason it's called "seasoning". That lingering coat of oil left from the last dish you cook also contains traces of the seasonings that were used, and that's one of the reasons food cooked in CI is so tasty! Don't spoil it by stripping the pans with detergent.

Raggio Lunare

11:29PM ON 11/15/14

Could you provide any source for the emissivity claim ? I am no expert by any means, but I believe that you are comparing the emissivity of oxidized iron with that of polished steel. With surfaces in similar conditions the emissivity would probably be similar. Perhaps more importantly, I believe that once the surfaces are seasoned, only the emissivity of the seasoning itself would matter, in the same way that you can change the emissivity of a material (for example, for measuring its temperature with an IR thermometer) by applying a coat of paint.

Either way, I am intrigued by the idea that the emissivity of a material can be a factor when cooking and would appreciate any additional information that you may have about it.

kamil2228

12:11PM ON 11/16/14

http://blackcheatsteam.com/fifa-15-ultimate-team-hack-android-and-ios-cheats

J. Kenji López-Alt

7:08PM ON 11/16/14

@Raggio Lunare

Surface conditions are not similar. Cast iron is pretty much always well-seasoned when you use it, not shiny. Stainless steel, on the other hand, is shiny. It's the emissivity of the black body cast iron vs. the reflective stainless steel that you want to compare.

Laura Ainsworth

12:03PM ON 11/17/14

Another reason to use cast iron: I take in homeless and disabled parrots and write a column for Companion Parrot Quarterly magazine. We're always trying to get out the word to bird owners that chemical non-stick surfaces like Teflon give out invisible gases when heated that can be toxic to birds' delicate respiratory systems. Leaving a dry non-stick pan on a burner can kill a bird a room away within minutes. I have heard too many heartbreaking stories of people whose beloved pet birds suddenly fell ill and died for no apparent reason, and that turned out to be the cause. Some of the new non-stick ceramic pans seem to be bird safe, but I've been so spooked by previous experiences, I stay with traditional pans and just use oil or butter.

lewissan

12:17PM ON 11/17/14

Great article. Thanks!

dog44321

1:54PM ON 11/19/14

CLEAN IT WITH SALT, a little water to get the salt into a slushy coarse sort of stage, too much water and it all melts and doesnt scratch the surface to clean it well, then scrub with a napkin or dish towel all over, scrub hard to get all food bits out, then rinse with hot and then cold water, dont ever use soap, you will probably not clean out all of it from the porous iron surface and will then end up cooking and eating some of it

and i dont know where this acceptance of using paper towel directly on food or food surfaces came from. Paper towel is loaded with all sorts of bad chemicals to get it into that shape and color. Ive seen so many recipes where people use paper towel directly in contact with hot and liquid food, insane, would you eat paper towel? nope

if you do the salt method after about a year or so you get the surface much smoother as the salt is very abrasive

season it after washing by adding a little peanut oil in spots around it, then spread the oil all over in a thin layer with a dish towel, then rinse it again under hot water to even more smooth out the oil all over and to wash out any dish towel fibers stuck in the oil, then rinse out with cold water a bit, then heat it up slowly on a burner until all water is evaporated. 

This is the correct way to wash it, all other ways are inferior and potentially unhealthy if you are not THOROUGHLY washing out the soap, soap which you dont need

dog44321

1:59PM ON 11/19/14

also anyone who uses a teflon or any other synthetic non stick coated pan is COMPLETELY INSANE. Even the manufacturers themselves say heating them up too much melts off the coating, Well guess what, heating it up even a little and rubbing it with food and even a silicon spatula REMOVES some of the coating as well. Why would you want to risk eating even a bit of that? 

Especially if you have KIDS, THROW THOSE PANS IN THE GARBAGE RIGHT NOW and get cast iron pans of different sizes for all your cooking needs. Young developing brains are much more severely affected by the chemicals in these pans. Damage that can affect them for the rest of their lives.

dog44321

2:32PM ON 11/19/14

just wanted to add that when seasoning it, after you wash it with water and salt you then heat the pan a bit until all water is evaporated, then turn off fire, let the pan cool 5 or 10 minutes, then wipe it with the oil, you dont want to wipe it with a napking or towel when its wet because you will end up with fibers in the water and oil

so dry it, then oil it, then rinse with hot water to get any fibers and excess oil smoothed out, then rinse with cold water, then heat up until all water is evaporated

acakeandwine

12:27PM ON 11/20/14

I've never been a huge cast iron cooker for two very good reasons - 1) a little hard to clean and 2) space, in a small NYC apartment I have to limit the pans and cooking equipment to those must haves. I do very much appreciate your run down on the myths and facts though. Given the opportunity I'll give it whirl one time.

Mamma_buddha

3:52PM ON 11/20/14

I've read a number of articles from cast iron dutch oven cooks that between good seasonings, they rub the inside of their pan with beeswax. I will wash mine out and put it on the stove to dry. When it's dry, I take a beeswax stick and put a thin coating on the bottom and sides. It dries/solidifies and keeps it from sticking fairly well.

tomnov

5:54PM ON 11/20/14

@ fry

The salt scrub should only be used to clean rust. Not for everyday cleaning or food removal.

brother

8:51PM ON 11/20/14

I use the hot water spatula/scrub brush method, no soap. Just scrap,brush and rinse when the pan is hot. Soap will remove the pan oils so don't use it. Never had a problem, never will.

carved

3:33AM ON 11/29/14

If you do happen to pick up a severely gucked up cast iron pan at a thrift store or yard sale (I even found one on the street in the garbage) you can restore it to like new easily by running it through the self cleaning cycle in a self cleaning oven. When it's done, cool it, brush the ash off, and season like a new pan.

renorose

7:34AM ON 11/29/14

I've had most of my cast iron for 20+ years and it performs reliably well. More recently I ran across an interesting article on seasoning with flaxseed oil that I've used on all the iron pots/pans, with great result.

guycooking

8:02AM ON 11/29/14

Again? This subject is always fun and, with no "Always perfect" answers, will never be finished. In that vein, I offer my own contribution...

If, perhaps by accident or by new Yard Sale acquisition, one has the need to fully refinish and re-season almost any piece of raw, cast iron cookware, please don't forget that Self-Cleaning oven for which you paid so much. I am not kidding! Simply place the cast iron piece(s), face DOWN into your S.C. oven run the complete cycle and let everything cool naturally, perhaps overnight. When cold, scrub that 'new' C.I. with whatever pad feels good, rinse and dry. Now... begin a new Seasoning cycle. I start low and aim for a finished temperature of almost 400, but a lot longer at 350 is perfectly OK.. Cool, rinse, wipe and repeat, allowing 4+ hours for each cycle. Obviously, if the patina is already satisfactory, no additional treatment, beyond a good scrub - is necessary. If the patina is too thick, has chips or is not yo one's liking, a full-cycle ride through a self-cleaning oven and a little washing, will restore it to base iron. Then, light oil, a long bake at 350 then 375 then - etc. ... will work just fine. I have Zero Fear of garage sale cast iron items, IF... IF they are items that I will use. (My favorite to date: a 4 x 3 (12) muffin pan from 1895. I use it often, have developed a perfect patina heck no, I won't sell. the only (basic) baking changes that I make are to preheat the pan to temp, fill it as quickly as possible and get it back into the hot oven. In my experience, when using a preheated C.I. muffin pan, cutting the bake time by ~~five minutes is about right. 

Other C.I> shapes and sizes? I have plenty and love them all. The older and smoother, the better I like them. -GC

Estoy Listo

9:04PM ON 11/29/14

This confirms everything I believe about using cast iron. It's not a miracle material, but it works very well in many situations. Grew up using cast iron (b.1949) and use it still. Seasoning used to be a matter of leaving fry pan on the back burner when not in use, filled to 1/4 inch of congealed bacon fat. Every house had one.

ryanwart27

3:39PM ON 11/30/14

I always love to read this great....... You can found the every great method of cocking, showering as well as Stable thinking. SO i am happy to found this great thing from there. keep posting guys because i am always looking forward to read new amd interesting things from there..

Behrens

0:12AM ON 12/02/14

Great article and lots of good comments and questions. I'm not new to cooking but I've had three CI pieces setting in my cupboard since our wedding 5 years ago and decided to get them down and take advantage. The large Lodge skillet came preseasoned so I figured it would be good to go. Not so, stickier than flypaper. So I figured I'd stored them too long and the seasoning was gone. I washed and reseasoned per the popular flaxseed oil method on a different blog and the coating looked and felt great after 5-6 times through the seasoning process described there (it's similar to most others, it just tells you to leave a really thin coating and cook at 500 v 350). Again, still super sticky. I've now used canola oil as well as tried olive oil in the pan. I've always tried it with pancakes first as it should be a no brainer to get these off the pan if the seasoning is good. Am I totally missing something here, or is there a step in the CI cooking process that I'm missing? My grandma would always cook pancakes on her CI without issue! I hate to give away they're nice pieces cause they don't work for me!

amckenzie4

9:36AM ON 12/02/14

Do you mean things stick to it when you're cooking, or do you mean it's sticky if you touch it cold?

If it's sticky when you touch it cold, something has gone very wrong, and you may need to take drastic steps to get it clean, up to and including submerging it in boiling soapy water to get rid of whatever is on it. (Try running it through the self-clean cycle on the oven first, though... that usually works.)

If you mean food sticks to it while you're cooking, there are a few things that could be going on.

1) The pan may be too rough. As has been discussed earlier, Lodge pans in particular, and modern cast iron in general, tend to be much rougher than the old stuff. I went after it with 60 grit sandpaper in an electric sander, and that helped a lot.

2) You may be using the wrong technique. In a lot of cases, newer cast iron (probably due to insufficient seasoning) seems to "bind" to food until it's thoroughly cooked. If you're trying to flip pancakes and they don't let go, let them cook another minute and see what happens. The rhythm of cooking is different with cast iron.

3) You might not be using enough grease. I like melted butter for most things, but olive oil works well too. I've found that corn oil frequently seems to leave the pan tacky, so I don't use it. Cast iron is not "non-stick" the way teflon is, no matter what the claims. If I'm scrambling eggs, I usually use an anodized Calphalon pan, rather than cast iron. For frying eggs, pancakes, or anything like that, I love my cast iron.

Behrens

11:55AM ON 12/02/14

amckenzie4...thanks, you're probably partially right, I agree the timing of cooking on these pans are probably different. I've never really used them for any extended period of time as I've just been frustrated too quickly and never bothered with trial and error. The Teflon and ceramic coated pans were just a no brainer to use. I'll make the effort here to see how things go. 

One other question if anyone cares to answer...

Between meals the pan seems to develope sticky (tacky) spots despite washing with water and wiping clean. I know in this article he says to use a little soap but I'm reluctant. I'm a little it of a germaphobe so these sticky spots drive me crazy (even though they're probably not a big deal). What's worse is they probably drive my wife more crazy as it just doesn't appear that the pan is clean. Is this just what I live with if I stick (no pun intended) with the CI?

f r y

1:24PM ON 12/02/14

Behrens - it sounds like you have partially polymerized oil spots. If so, then further cooking might turn them into finished (hard & slick) seasoning. However, you might not want that. Relatively thick, spotty seasoning isn't really what you want.

A pan that is sticky after long periods of non-use probably doesn't indicate that the seasoning came off, but that it was left with unsaturated oil residue which has "dried" - somewhat polymerized, but not hardened. I would try to remove it without removing the seasoning beneath. Moderate heat might soften it to the point where a lot of rubbing, maybe with soap, could remove it.

amckenzie4

1:27PM ON 12/02/14

Tacky spots are a sign of something wrong, and shouldn't be there.

I'd give them a wash with just a little bit of dish soap: not a lot, and don't soak them, but wash it out with soap. Here's the approach I'd take:

1) Wash the pan all over with some soap. Just a drop on a clean(ish) sponge, with very hot water. If the water isn't steaming, it's not hot enough. A lot of pans are shipped, even seasoned, with a wax coating, and that may be what's creating the sticky spots.

2) Wipe it dry with paper towels. At this point, there should be no tacky spots. If there are, you'll have to take more drastic action.

3) Assuming it's not sticky, put it back on the stove over low heat, with some butter in the bottom. As the butter melts, coat the entire inside of the pan; a little around the lip wouldn't hurt anything either.

4) At this point, you could let it cool and see what happens. Or, you could take the next step right away. Drop in some more butter, more than you think you need: you're still seasoning the pan here, so extra fat is all to the good. Once it's hot (sizzling), crack an egg in. 

5) No matter how you normally eat them, you're making this egg fully cooked, over hard. Wait until the edges are visibly cooked, and you can see that the yolk is starting to cook at the bottom. Keep the heat high during this... it should only take a couple of minutes. Once the bottom is thoroughly cooked, flip the egg. This side should take a minute or less if the pan is really hot and you cooked the bottom enough. If you try to flip it and it won't let go, give it another 30 seconds and try again. If it still won't go, your pan is probably too rough, and needs smoothing.

6) Once the egg is cooked, wipe the dish out with a paper towel, to get any loose bits out. Turn off the heat, and grease lightly with butter. DON'T wash it this time. Give it a couple hours to cool, and see if there's anything tacky inside. If it doesn't develop tacky spots, then the pan's OK, and you've been doing something wrong in the past, or else you had that wax coating I talked about.

After future uses, you can wash it if you want. I generally find that wiping it out with a sponge or a paper towel is enough, unless I've been doing something like bacon that leaves crusted on stuff (burnt sugar, in the case of bacon). In that case, I run the tap until the water steams, then run it into the still hot pan, and scrub with a nylon brush. That gets rid of almost everything. After, I dry it on the stove and grease it lightly with butter. 

Give that a try, and let us know what happens. Good luck!

S. Prince

10:13PM ON 12/02/14

Kenji, I'm so glad you wrote this (Thanks for all the hard work), I've been wondering:

Fact or Myth? (/What is going on in this situation?)

Does flavour build up in a cast iron pan (In the polymerized oil or otherwise, I'm not certain in what if any or multiple layers, so I'm being broad) from past food cooked within it?

Is this normal?

Is this a sign of properly done seasoning or poorly done seasoning? Or a sign of improper cleaning or care?

Is the pan/seasonings supposed to take in these flavours and keep them?

Will a pan always hold onto these flavours unless washed too heavily or stripped down completely (A.k.a. hold them if taken care of properly)?

Do they hold them but lose them over time? What makes them get lost?

Sorry if this is unclear, ask questions if you're unsure about something, I had more clear questions but forgot what they were, sorry.

Thank you, great post : )

bleu

7:41PM ON 12/03/14

Kenji- Thank you so much for the very informative post. I adore my cast iron pieces (some have been inherited and some have been bought at auctions and garage sales). I use mine on a glass top as hubs wouldn't spend $400 to bring our propane into the kitchen. I must admit that I am ever so careful as it could easily "swing around" should I become careless. 

I find that if I deglaze a pan (water, wine, broth whatever, the clean-up is very easy. I have been known to use a mild soap and coarse salt to clean and have had no serious repercussions. Thank you so much for de-mystifying such a wonderful product or application.

az060693

0:07AM ON 12/06/14

Easiest way to get a modern cast iron pan smoother and more nonstick is to just take a rotary sander to it, then re-season. Not as good as milling or sandblasting, but much more accessible.

I've found that fried eggs don't actually tend to stick too much; chicken breast, especially when sliced up for stir fry, is a much tougher test. Cast iron is great, but for steaks, I've actually gotten a better sear with All-clad.

As for cleaning, I rarely truly clean my cast iron and carbon steel cookware. After cooking, I fill them with water, leave them for 10 or more minutes, scrub them with a brush, rinse them out, and then dry them on the stove top. Periodically, when gunk make build up, I pour salt and oil in the pan, turn the stove onto medium, take a heavily folded up piece of paper towel, and scrub it.

Swizzy

8:42AM ON 12/20/14

Recently I've discovered an easy way to season a cast iron, so here's the story. Several months ago I purchased a new 10" cast iron skillet, and as you said, they are no longer smooth like the ones of yesteryear. Although it was supposedly pre seasoned I found it's non-stick properties lacking, especially when making egg white omelettes. I tried reseasoning the pan in the oven which helped considerably but still didn't work that well with my omelettes. I was getting very frustrated, so I stripped the pan and proceeded to use a drill and rotary sander to smooth the surface which took a ridiculously long time. I reasoned the pan in the oven again and still I wasn't happy with the non-stick performance. One day I had a desire for home fried potatoes and grabbed the cast iron skillet. I preheated the pan as you mentioned with some olive oil until a little smoke appeared and threw in the diced russet potatoes. Needless to say they stuck like glue to the pan. I just kept scraping them loose every couple of minutes and to my surprise after about 10 minutes they no longer stuck to the pan but rather slid around like in there like it was a new teflon pan. They weren't fully cooked yet so I lowered the heat and covered the pan for another 10 minutes until they were done. To my surprise, subsequent use of the pan was amazing and my egg white omelettes don't stick at all. If the pan ever starts to stick a little I just fry up some potatoes and it's good to go. The best part about this is that seasoning the pan produces something good to eat.

dorek

7:19PM ON 12/26/14

"The salt scrub should only be used to clean rust. Not for everyday cleaning or food removal."

Why not?

pjcamp

0:08AM ON 01/01/15

Skip the reseason step in cleaning. Get a brush whose only dedicated use is cleaning the skillet. Use it and some hot water to knock out any solid matter, then dry it with paper towels. You're done. Store it. The leftover oil from your cooking adventure will become the seasoning the next time you heat the skillet up.

Whatever you do, do NOT clean it with kosher salt like the TV chefs say. I got suckered into that and scrubbed all the seasoning off my 10 inch and had to start all over.

bulldogbuck

4:03PM ON 01/04/15

I'm new, and this is the first well rounded article I've read on this site. I do wish you would include a couple of things. Cast is resilient, but can be a brittle beast, don't drop or overheat thinner cookware. I cleaned a Belgian dutchoven, one of the best pots I had, and promptly dropped it on the vinyl (concrete) floor where it hit just right to snap off a large piece of the side. I still have the lid, though, and I actually found that pot in a rental, but I can't afford to replace things of that quality often. Second, cooking with cast can actually affect flavor. This is due to the reactivity mentioned, as cooking scrambled eggs in cast iron can result in trace amounts of iron salts (harmless) that subtly change the flavor. One more thing, cleaning cast iron while it is still hot is a good idea, but use hot water or let it cool a little before using cold. A relatively hot pan air dries rapidly. Hey, your pot is clean and dry before you even fill your plate. I do this, but seldom use soap as it just isn't always necessary. I do periodically soap and scrub and completely reseason my cast iron, but otherwise use heat for sterilization. I am constantly reseasoning with each use, but uaually rub a little oil on from time to time, and I rub some on the outside when I plan to use it in the oven, I hate getting oil on eyes (I currently am stuck with electric eyes, I really do hate them). I find that pieces that get used less often are the only ones that actually seem to require extra care from time to time. Overall, a very informative article a good read.

BlogZilla

6:57AM ON 01/06/15

There are some really bad brands of cast iron skillets out there. Whatever you do, DON'T buy the Emeril brand of iron skillet. It doesn't come pre-seasoned, and it's difficult to season, besides being crudely fired and riddled with uneven pits, flecks, bubbles, etc..

Harry H

4:23PM ON 01/19/15

What a great article--one I've been waiting for to teach friends what they're doing right, and wrong, with their cast-iron pans. Respectfully, though, one of the items is incorrect.

"The thermal conductivity—the measure of a material's ability to transfer heat from one part to another—is around a third to a quarter that of a material like aluminum. What does this mean? Throw a cast iron skillet on a burner and you end up forming very clear hot spots right on top of where the flames are...."

This interpretation of the physics of heat transfer is 180 degrees from the truth. The relatively low thermal conductivity, combined with the relatively high thermal capacity, of iron is precisely what makes the heat even. Think about it: A material with high thermal conductivity, like aluminum, conducts the hot spots from the burner directly through to the surface of the pan. Cast iron buffers those underlying hot spots to create a more evenly heated cooking surface.

Contact any physicist, chemist, mechanical engineer, heat-transfer engineer, and many mathematicians (like me) who have studied the properties of heat transfer, and they will corroborate the above.

J. Kenji López-Alt

4:57PM ON 01/19/15

@Harry H

While what you're saying intuitively makes sense, some simple testing bears out the opposite conclusion. Place a cast iron pan on a burner and measure its temperature at various points (or more easy: place a round piece of parchment paper on top of the pan and watch its patterns of discoloration). Repeat with an aluminum or aluminum core pan. You'll see that the cast iron shows very clear hot and cold spots that match the pattern of the burner underneath.

In fact, pan manufacturers will sandwich a layer of copper or aluminum between slabs of stainless steel precisely because it distributes heat more evenly around the base of the pan.

There are some good photos of this effect right here.

Hilditch

6:35PM ON 01/26/15

Normal. Some good information, some bad, and some, well, never mind. Example: Seasoning: "it's a thin layer of polymerized oil". Well seasoned cast iron is a thick layer of carbon (think graphite). It's porosity will hold some polymerized oil until the impurities are burned away, as well as dish washing soap and odor. A well seasoned piece never needs reseasoning or soap and will release a bowl of eggs when they are ready.

Other statements in article don't seem to match grandma's experience with cast iron. More homework would be appropriate. Technique rules for even heating, etc.

Hilditch

SmartmilToys

2:06PM ON 02/02/15

My issue I think is I've never been able to create a proper seasoning before ruining it.

I'll try seasoning in the oven a few times, then cook a steak or beef or something. Afterwards I have to scrub it so hard to clean it that I think I end up removing my fledgling seasoning and have to start over.

Maybe I'm doing something completely wrong somewhere.

paizley

11:50AM ON 02/03/15

I love my skillet. It is so well seasoned (12 years worth!)my friends are envious, especially when I make perfectly seared steaks! I usually put my skillet right on the heating element at the bottom of the oven at 550° for 20 minutes or so before cooking the steaks. Works great! I even use it on my grill. Mine is so easy to clean. I have been seasoning my stainless steel cookware also. The one I use for rice never has a sticking problem and it can be washed quickly with just water and a sponge. The sauté pan is great for eggs, almost like my iron skillet. All my Teflon is LONG gone, like years and years!!!!! Gee, what can I cook later....

FoodJunkieNB

1:57PM ON 02/13/15

Oh thank you so much for debunking all the nonsense about cast iron, especially the don't use soap one. I really don't want to eat food cooked in frying pan that never gets properly washed.

Olivero

5:58PM ON 02/20/15

Rather than re-heat the entire pan, I use a blow torch to re-season. Quick, effective, less energy expended overall, and .. well .. it's a blow torch! :)

Stackowax

2:31PM ON 02/25/15

Good article. I'm agnostic about soup use but it is interesting that in their video for how to clean cast iron (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCePEY9x9H0, Lodge uses soap. Anybody use chainmail scrubber on their cast iron (http://www.amazon.com/Knapp-Made-CM-Scrubber-trade/dp/B0087UYR1S?tag=serieats-20). I believe Cook's Illustrated recommend this.

anthonyswifey

2:39PM ON 02/26/15

"Can you dump a load of cold eggs into your cast iron pan, slowly heat it up with no oil, then slide those cooked eggs right back out without a spot left behind? Because you can do that in Teflon."

Um...yes. Yes I can do that in my cast iron, in fact I can even to that with SCRAMBLED eggs in my cast iron, and being able to slide eggs right out with no mess is what made me fall in love with cast iron. If you can't do that in your skillet, you're probably not seasoning right, and seeing as you recommend cleaning with soap I'd say there's your problem. Cleaning with soap every time you cook is going to strip the seasoning.

To learn how to correctly clean and season your cast iron (so that you CAN slide eggs right out), I recommend the guides on http://cookingwithcastiron.com/

fbiocavalcantirocha31

7:07PM ON 03/02/15

realy great stuff

Wolfsbane

2:08PM ON 03/04/15

I'd be very careful about old cast iron pots and Dutch ovens, as opposed to skillets, which you pick up second hand. 

Cast iron pots of that type are used to melt lead in order to cast bullets for hand reloading and still are in fact. 

I'd ask the person selling it, especially if you're obtaining in a rural area.

jdchan

10:59PM ON 03/10/15

Hi Kenji, do you have any tips for maintaining a cast iron grill pan? I find that despite my seasoning, when I grill steaks on it, things get stuck in between the grill lines. I tried a nylon brush and soaking the pan in water but the only way I seem to be able to clean it is using a butter knife to scrape stuff off (I'm sure that's not good for the pan). 

Also, do you think a cast iron skillet can be replaced in most kitchens for a good quality skillet (say an all clad) or vice versa? Thanks!

Nenona

2:21PM ON 03/13/15

I had an issue with a roommate basically....well, she would "lightly scrub" which would remove all the oil from the pan but leave the stuck-on food+a gross soap taste.

So I don't let anyone else touch my cast iron.

I actually use the Alton brown way of cleaning it--I heat up the pan empty, then pour in some salt and scrub with an old rag or a wad of paper towels. works like a charm.

shiggity

0:06AM ON 03/19/15

You should write a book - your cooking tips are among the best I've seen

Steve Puu

10:42PM ON 03/20/15

You can use Fry/Grill Pan with little or no oil for cooking much healthier. Read more here http://airfryerreviews.com/best-grill-pan-review/

e------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------