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I'd recommend the following: 1. Scrub thoroughly using only hot water and a stainless steel pot cleaner -- this should give you a clean start 2. Make fried po
by hussong 11y ago
I'd recommend the following:
1. Scrub thoroughly using only hot water and a stainless steel pot cleaner -- this should give you a clean start
2. Make fried potatoes using lots of oil, fry potatos until black (throw them away, obviously) -- this should help soak the somewhat porous surface with oil
3. Apply a thin coating of oil and bring to immense heat -- this will create a solid surface
4. After every use, clean gently using only and old towel (or hot water and pot cleaner, if needed) and always rub some oil on it when dry -- this will give you a good start for the next heat-up
Please note that 3. will result in quite a bit of smoke from the burning oil, so you may want to do this on the grill outside your house.
- fluidcruft 11y agoYikes. What makes you think this results in fewer carcinogens on your pan's surface than teflon?
- simoncion 11y agoThe cleaning step. Steps one through three are what is called "seasoning" the pan. It's a process that often makes a bunch of smoke. Ideally, you only ever have to do that once. Cooking on cast iron doesn't produce a smoky mess.
- fluidcruft 11y agoIf "seasoning" the pan achieves anything at all, doesn't it necessarily have to result in some sort of coating of the pan's surface?
- simoncion 11y agoYes. Seasoning leaves a baked-on coating of oil/fat. That doesn't mean that the coating is carcinogenic. IIRC (and I might not RC, I'm no food chemist) the coating is polymerized oil/fat and completely harmless.
- fluidcruft 11y agoAt smoking point, carcinogens are created both in the gas and what's left behind.
- simoncion 11y agoHow sure are you that the non-stick coating left on the pan is more carcinogenic than browned hash browns?
- hussong 11y agoWhat makes you think the pan's surface is more carcinogenic than the steak crust?
- fluidcruft 11y agoI don't, but I'm not sure that's relevant to the hypothesis that cast iron pans are less toxic than teflon pans.
- hussong 11y agoIt's been a while, I'll follow up anyway... I don't use cast iron pans because I believe they're less toxic, but because they make a damn fine crusty steak or fried potatoes. And I use teflon pans to stir-fry or steam veggies and chicken, or to make fried eggs, just because they're more convenient. To be honest, I don't really care all that much about potential toxiticity in cooking equipment. That wasn't really my hypothesis to begin with, I was just sharing my love for cast iron pans :-)