Thursday, January 12, 2012

Add to the tutorial

Good Morning Everyone,

During the night, I was thinking, and I forgot to add some important suggestions to the cast iron care.
When you get done using your cast iron pans, wait until they cool down, then just wash/rinse in hot water only.  The only time you use soap is when you are ready to re-season your pans again, and you want a clean surface for re-seasoning. Soap will remove the oil coating you have baked on.  I sometimes have to soap mine  up because of some burnt something on the pan, I sometimes use baking soda to soak burnt on food off,  just use hot water, and put about a 1/4 cup of baking soda in the water, swish around and leave.  You may have to use a brush or a scraper but it will come off.  I also use baking soda in my stainless steel pans also. Also, do not add nasty chemical cleaners, first, some things will react to the metal and may do damage to the surface, cast iron is tough, but it is also vulnerable to things also. Like temperature, and chemicals.    Thank you Glenda, for the reminder.

Also, the pans I am showing you are my collection, I have new, and  newer Lodge and Wagner pans.  I also have Wagner, Lodge pans that are over 100+ yrs old from a great grandmother, grandmother and mother.
Some of the pans you see in stores, and on line, are cheap imitations from China, or India.  PLEASE, if you are going to spend some money, please buy only Lodge, and Wagner pans.   These are original, and will say on the bottom of the pan, Lodge or Wagner.  I bought two bread loaf pans directly from the Lodge company. www.Lodgemfg.com. Please, please do purchase good cookware, you will not be sorry.  Just purchase one at a time, and this include stainless steel and enamel ware.  I have several pieces of enamelware and porcelain.  Something I want is a dutch oven ceramic on steel pot.   Yes, these are expensive, but what good cookware isn't.  They will last your lifetime, and your children and grandchildren.  I have the proof in  my collection.  Chinese imports crap is just that...crap.  It is made with inferior metals, and they do not season worth a shit, sorry, but that is what I feel about Chinese imports.  Now, you can get french cookware that is good also, but please just look to see if you can find where it is made.  I have a french pan, that is beautiful and seasons very well.  It is a small saute pan, but is good metal and cooks well also.  You just have to be careful,  just like purchasing anything that you want to hold up well to everyday cooking.

I hope that I haven't left anything else out.  That is part of my problem doing any teaching or tutorials.  You do it everyday, and then put a pen or type written word to it, and you forget and miss steps.
Again, please if you have questions, please comment or email me and I will do my best to answer your questions.
Have a great rest of the week.

Hugs

3 comments:

  1. Great tutorial and pictures.

    I agree with buying quality cookware. Cheap stuff is not worth the trouble. I would rather have 1 high quality pan that a dozen cheap ones!

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  2. denimflyz, I bought a set of cast iron skillets back in '79 when working in Grand Island. I'm using those skillets even today after 30 years of use. My daughter married and her husband had a big skillet and a dutch oven which I obtains as he was just going to throw them out. They liked the non stick stuff. Even now I scour the goodwill stores looking for good cast ironware. The durablility of cast iron just can't be beat.

    Thanks for all the cleaning tips.

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  3. Thanks for the update.

    I agree about quality pans. I finally sprung for a set of All-Clad and I love them. The are not non-stick (NOT A BIG FAN) but clean easily. They are very heavy though and sometimes with my wrists DH as to help empty a big pot for me. I wish I could have afforded them years ago. I am not stingy when it comes to cooking tools! I love to cook and practically live in the kitchen.

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