CAST IRON Cooking, Cleaning & Seasoning! Everything you Need to Know!

Hello everyone, welcome back to Living Traditions Homestead, happy new year and we hope it's off to a great start for everyone. We wanted to make a video for you today about our

cast

iron

collection. I recently made a video where I was making homemade jerky and in the background was our

cast

iron

collection and since then we have been getting a lot of questions about using cast iron and collecting all types of cast iron so today we decided to bring you a video with tons of information about cast iron. Post a message on Facebook and Instagram asking you to ask us questions about cast iron so we can give you as much information as possible that all of you are looking for now that we use our cast iron every day for ourselves.

It doesn't seem strange or strange to use cast iron, right? I think a lot of people have something lying around that maybe they think is just for cats to wear over a campfire or maybe they think it's just decoration, but today we're going to try I'll show you how to use it on a daily basis and we think it's, with By far the best type of cookware to use and we hope to be able to show you that it is just as easy to use as some of the more modern cookware out there today. cast iron here on these two shelves here are just some of our cast iron this is what we use really on a daily basis we have been collecting cast iron for 15 years now we have a really impressive collection but it also includes things that aren't here like dutch ovens and other things that we use that are bigger than these pans, so one of the first questions that you guys have asked is if you

know

where to find good deals on cast iron, are there certain brands to look for?

You

know

what to look for when looking for cast iron pots and pans. We really have a variety of brands. We don't really look specifically for a certain brand. We have some of the good brands that you would consider good quality. from a long time ago griswold and wagner ware wagner, but we also have some lodge pans that are also very good and some of the pans in our collection do not have any marks when I look for cast iron at garage sales or auctions estate sales things like that don't bother me I worry too much about the name unless I find something that I think is really unique and then I try to look at the name to see why there are certain names like sarah Said like Griswold and Wagner, they will be worth more money, but when you are looking for things to use every day, It is better to look for the quality of the cast iron itself than the name, now just the name.

It really comes into play if you want to resell it or if you are really interested in collecting it for the monetary value. Now the main thing I look for when I find cast iron for sale is how smooth it is on the inside, some of the cheaper cast iron will be very rough on the inside and that will make it harder to cure it to the point where it will be like a surface non-stick. You really want something that's pretty. Smooth on the inside, it doesn't have to be like glass, but it does have to be pretty smooth on the inside.

If you can find something like that, regardless of the brand, it will end up being a good cast iron cookware for you. Now Kevin mentioned a couple of places where we got our cast iron collection. We get a lot of them at rummage sales, garage sales, auctions, estate sales. We can find the best prices there, but sometimes there is only one unique piece or shape you can find. We are looking and in those cases it is easier to go to the hostel's website or just try to find them online somewhere. We have a couple of pieces like that.

I want to also mention that we have a couple of cast iron pieces that are enameled cast iron like this one here and they are fantastic additions to your cast iron collection because I really feel like there is a time and a place where cast iron pots and pans enameled and other things are a better choice depending on what you do. We're

cooking

, so today we're also going to talk a little bit about that, when you should, when I think you should use enameled cast iron instead of bear cast iron that's seasoned. Now, one thing we get a lot of compliments and questions about is the rack here that we have holding our cast iron.

I love this solution for cast iron because it is so easy to use and otherwise you would have them all stacked on top of each other in a cupboard and it is very cumbersome and heavy. try to get the pan you want so this is a fantastic option that Kevin built for me and that's why we want to tell you more details about this particular grate so maybe you can have one at home right now. This rack is actually something we made it's not something you can just go buy, but it's so easy to make and pretty inexpensive that anyone can go ahead and make one, so we'll go over its basic components.

The main bar here is what is called black. black steel pipe or pipe if you go to Home Depot or Lowe's or one of those places just ask where the black pipe is and they will be able to show you this is a super heavy duty steel pipe and it already comes in this black color. As for what's actually holding it to the wall, they're black pipe fittings, so those are also just from your local hardware store. Basically you just screw them into the pipe and it's just a 90 degree elbow and flanges and you just screw them into the wall.

I mean, there's really nothing too fancy about this, but one thing we should add is that it's very important that they are attached to the wall studs because I mean these pants are super heavy, right? You really don't want them to pull. of your wall so make sure you line them up so you can screw them directly into the studs on your walls yeah when you get into a pan like this size this thing probably weighs over 10 pounds so I mean you add that for all these pans and you

need

something really strong to hold it on the wall now the rings that we have here these black rings um I think they're curtain rod rings that you would use as curtains or shower curtain rings I don't remember, we've actually had this for 10 years, oh my God, 10 years, so I don't remember exactly where they were, but it was just his metal ring, his metal rings, black metal rings, they were just sliding on the pole of your pole before. you attach it to the wall and then these hooks are strong hooks that Kevin has bent nicely, yeah it was basically an S hook and I just bent one end so the pots could hang from them so I don't want to say anything fancy, but it makes a good display, it's surprising how many people talk about it when they come, you guys mention it in the videos, um, and it's a good way to start talking to people about cast iron and why we use cast iron right when they tell them. we asked everyone. your questions about using cast iron, there were actually three main topics that you guys want to learn:

seasoning

cast iron,

cooking

with cast iron and

cleaning

, maintaining cast iron, so those are the things we're going to talk to you about today.

Let's start with

seasoning

and actually seasoning a new pan. In fact, I bought a new piece of cast iron cast iron for Christmas this year. It is a cast iron pizza pan. Look at that fool, it's a Lodge brand and we are. I'm going to spice that up with you today, so this is the new pizza pan that Sarah got for Christmas. It actually came in a pet on the package and says it's pre-seasoned. Now there are many misconceptions. I think about what that means when a pan like this one a new one is pre-seasoned it still

need

s to be seasoned it comes with a very light seasoning you can use it as is but it will be much better if you take some extra steps before using it. start using it so today I'm going to show you the easiest and quickest way to season a new pan or season one that you might have found at a garage sale or something else.

I think the whole seasoning process is what makes a Many people start using cast iron, they want to be able to take something home and use it immediately and they are afraid that it will take a long time for cast iron to get to a point where they can use it. That is not true. not at all, but I understand that it's very easy to go to the store and buy some of those, like Teflon coated pans, take them home and immediately be ready to use. The problem with them is that there is increasing evidence that those things are not.

It's not good for you and especially when it starts to come off. I like to think of it like that when you buy one of those Teflon coated pans. The best day you will have is the day you bring her home. that's the best you'll ever get, but with cast iron really the day you bring it home it's probably the worst it'll ever be and from then on it'll get better and better over time, so the more you use it, better. What's going to happen with cast iron is going to last forever if you take care of it.

You know I'm around 40 years old and I can tell you that those like Teflon coated pans when we still used them when we were younger. You know, we wasted a set of those in about five years and then had to replace them so you know the cast iron will last and last. You will give it to your grandchildren when they are ready for it so this is an easy process don't let the seasoning process discourage you from using cast iron okay let's get started so like I said it said it was pre-seasoned , which is good, at least it has a start, let's just make it uniform.

Better, then let's put this on the stove. You would do the same thing whether it's a frying pan or anything else, the Dutch oven, even the exact same process, no matter what you're doing here, put this on the stove. We're going to turn this on not quite high, maybe medium high and let it warm up. We want it to heat up until even the handles are hot. Cast iron is a porous material so when it's heated all those little pores will open up, they'll get bigger and that's what we want to happen before we start putting oil or type of seasoning on it, we want all those pores They open so that when we put the oil in it, it really sinks. those pores so I'm going to let this sit here for a few minutes until I know

everything

is hot, then we'll come back and I'll show you the first step to seasoning this so I had this on for a few minutes and

everything

is warming up.

I lowered it to number two so we don't want it, we don't want this so hot that you'll like to fry something. you just want it hot enough, I mean, you want it hot, but you don't want it so hot that when you put a little bit of oil in here it splatters everywhere, so that's where I have it now. There really isn't an exact temperature, so now. so I have this here let's talk about what type of oils are best for seasoning now there are two that I really recommend the best one is lard lard is going to be one of your best oils it's easy to apply and it's really like that.

It absorbs well and gives a good coating. If you don't eat butter or don't have butter, you can use coconut oil. Coconut oil will also work great and then my third choice would be avocado oil because it's very mild. oil we're also going to use lard today because that's what I have and that's what I like to use so we're going to use lard so what I'm going to do now that this is hot, I'm going to take you know, a tablespoon of lard, I'm going to put it in my pan and let it melt, watching it splatter, I'm actually going to turn off the heat because it's probably getting too hot.

While I'm here talking normally I wouldn't have allowed it to get that hot and then I'm going to use some paper towels and now that that's big, I'm going to do it, now you have to be careful. Don't burn yourself, we're just going to spread that butter all over the surface of the pan and we're just going to spread it all over the top of the pan. We want to make sure the handles sit well on the surface. and actually cover that in the pan, now that we've got it all there, we'll let it sit for a minute.

Now you can do the same process all the way down. My opinion is the seasoning that comes in these pre-season plant trays. it's really okay for the bottom, um, I'm really only concerned with re-seasoning the top of the pan where you're actually going to cook, but I know there are different thoughts on that, that's just what I do, so I cover this whole part top now again. Remember that the heat is off at this point. What we are going to do now is let it sit for about three or four minutes, not long, we don't want it to cool down completely, but the heat is off. off, so we'll let it sit for about three or four minutes and let all that oil absorb and then I'll show you the next step.

Well, it's been about four minutes since we put all that oil in this pan. much has been absorbed, but much is still on the surface. This is probably the most important step in this entire process and I think this is the step that many people neglect, so we keep an old towel just for this purpose this towel is quite saturated with oilold, but we saved it specifically for this purpose and I recommend that if you are going to use cast iron very regularly, you have an old towel like this nearby for the same reason, once you have let this sit, you don't want to leave all the excess oil in the pan, you need to get it out of there, so what are we going to do?

What we're going to do now is take our towel here, we're going to start going over this pan until it's basically dry. We want to remove all the excess oil from this pan now, that may seem counterproductive because you're trying to put a layer of oil on this pan, but trust me, this is the way you want to do it or you'll end up with a disgusting, sticky pan that no one wants to use it, so let's clean this up. until it looks dry now that we've wiped off all that excess oil, you can see it's already a much deeper dark color.

It really looks good to remove that excess oil, like I said, it's one of the most important things because now What we're going to do is let it sit here until it cools completely. When it cools, all those pores that opened when we heated it will close again and trap all that oil. here after it cools down we're going to do this again. We're actually going to do this four or five times this first day before we start using this pan and then it will be as well seasoned and ready to go as it may seem. a lot of work, but trust me, doing it the first time will save you a lot of headaches in the future, so we'll leave this here and repeat the process a few more times.

I'll show you because it will be exactly the same, but in my opinion, that's the best way to season a new piece of cast iron. Now I want to add that just because you've already seasoned it, even after I do it. This five times that does not mean that this pan is going to have a completely non-stick surface. Cast iron will never be 100% non-stick like Teflon or some other artificial type things, but over time it will get much, much better and will be almost non-stick and in fact if you take care of it properly it will get to the point where you won't even You'll notice, in a moment we'll show you how to cook. a few things and then how to clean pans so you can see what it looks like to really take care of them and we'll actually use some of our pans that are already well seasoned so you get an idea.

How good they look over time Now that I've shown you how to season a new pan, there's one more thing I want to talk to you about before we get to the cooking section and that's how to take apart a pan that you can find at a grocery store. garage. I think a lot of people are a little confused about the differences between taking apart an old pan and seasoning it if you find a pan at a garage sale that is already pretty smooth and rust-free. and it looks like you could take it home and start using it.

I would take it home, season it once or twice like I just showed you and it will probably be ready, but sometimes you will find pans at a garage sale or somewhere that need to be completely, you have to start over with them, so this It's a pen I recently bought at a garage sale and this tray needs to be completely disassembled and reset, you can see the inside, I hope you can. I can see there are potholes, there's a lot of old stuff built up there. Someone didn't take care of this pan like it should have been cared for.

It probably still worked fine, but you know there are a couple of ways. that you can do it you can take something like this you can put it in your oven you can put it upside down you can turn the oven on to 450 or even 500 degrees if your oven goes that high and let it sit for a couple of hours What that will do is basically bake every bit of seasoning in this pan and return it to bare metal. If you have an oven that has a self-

cleaning

feature, you can also just put the pans in. there on self clean and let it go through that cycle, it will do the same thing the way I prefer to do it, not in the oven but on a gas grill outside because it will burn off all this old oil. and it's going to smoke a lot and make your house quite dirty, so if you have a gas grill, do it outside on your grass grill, put all the burners on high, throw the pans in there for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half even until you don't see much smoke coming out of it anymore and then let them cool because they'll be super hot, let them cool and then you can start the process of re-seasoning all those pans. and that's a good way to get some at garage sales that might look a little gross and disgusting and start over with them, okay, let's start cooking, today we're going to cook two separate things for you in two different pans and Then we're going to clean both pans so you can see the whole process.

I'm going to start cooking two fried eggs in a smaller cast iron skillet. One thing I've learned with cast iron is that you always start. with oil or some type of fat you need that fat to keep it from sticking so I'm going to put a little bit of oil in that pan, I'm using lard and I'm going to turn this on medium heat, I'm going to wait for that fat to cook. melt completely before adding the eggs, that's another tip, never put food in a cold cast iron skillet. It works best if the pan is already hot and you can start cooking that meal right away.

It's time for eggs. When frying two eggs, our homegrown eggs, one thing I have learned about cooking eggs in cast iron is not to disturb the eggs while they cook for quite a while. You really want them to have a really nice cooked edge so they don't stick to the pan, I think that's one of the tricks you need to learn when cooking eggs in a cast iron skillet, just leave them alone, even scrambled eggs, put scrambled eggs there, leave them alone, don't mix them too much. Wait until they are quite firm on the bottom before you start turning them over, this will prevent them from sticking too much.

I think it's time to flip these fried eggs, so I just want to show you how fantastic it is, look it's like a non-stick. frying pan right there I'm going to separate these eggs because that's what I like to do and flip them. My skillet is well oiled and well seasoned, that's what makes it so easy to cook in these cast iron skillets like this one and this guy. Easy cooking with cast iron skillets doesn't come right away, so don't get frustrated if your skillets don't perform as well as these. We actually had to decide to throw out all of our nonstick Teflon pans so we could force ourselves to work and get used to cooking in cast iron, so if that's the direction you're going in your family, just throw away all those pans and force yourself to work with the cast iron skillet, seriously it's like getting used to cooking on a gas stove when you've had an electric stove there's like an adaptation period, there's a learning period and that's what will happen when you switch from non-stick pans to non-stick pans. cast iron, but it's totally worth it, okay, these guys?

They're done, they're actually a little more done than I like. I'm a medium girl, so our eggs are done and you can see in the pan that there's really nothing stuck in that pan. It looks fantastic now that the eggs are ready. I'm just going to move this hot pan off the heat so it can start to cool down, we're going to cook one more thing and then I'm going to show you how to clean the two pans that we're going to The next thing I'm going to make for you is taco meat and I chose meat for tacos because the end result of the taco meat will leave things stuck in the pan so I want to show you how to clean a pan that has things stuck versus a pan that has nothing stuck in it so let's start like before we start with a little of oil in the pan again.

I'm using lard and this time because I'm going to use a larger amount of food. I'm going to use a larger amount of oil. It's probably a tablespoon of butter. I'm going to turn the heat back on to medium and let it melt before I put the food in. a hot pan One thing we've learned from cooking with cast iron is that cast iron pans themselves seem to burn more, I guess, than other types of pans. I rarely need to have the burner on high, in fact, when I do, I feel like it. things splatter off the pans, it's really hard not to burn my food on a very, very hot pan that's been on a high temperature, so I just wanted to warn you that when you cook with cast iron you can lower the temperature a lot because the pans cook hotter. hot.

I'm making our taco meat with ground pork. I know it may seem strange to some of you because most people use ground beef, but the only ground meat we have on hand right now is ground pork that we all raise. our own ground pork is what it is today, so I'm going to start by browning some ground pork now like the eggs. In fact, I'm going to let this meat sit there and fry without mixing too much, it will really help the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan now that I can see that some of the meat is quite browned on the bottom layer .

Now I'm going to go ahead and mix it up. This will be almost ready once it is fully cooked. I'm going to add all my seasonings, okay, the meat is ready, it's time for me to put the seasonings on. I actually just turned off the heat for now, this is just a really quick homemade taco seasoning mix that I'm going to make, so I actually put in a couple tablespoons of chili powder. I just measured two on my hand. I'm going to put three in today, about a teaspoon of cumin or cumin. However, you say the same thing with garlic powder, about a teaspoon of garlic powder and a teaspoon of salt we use pink Himalayan salt.

I buy all my salt and spices in bulk from Azure Standard. Put it in there, mix that up. I'm going to add a quarter cup of water. I'll turn the heat back on to medium after I get this. everything well stirred in there, I'm going to let this come to a simmer and I'm going to keep stirring so that all those flavors are distributed very well throughout the meat, okay, I turned off the heat because it's ready and I've cooked this. I've simmered it long enough for all the water to evaporate, so there's really just meat and seasoning left here.

I didn't tell you before that our meat is super lean, so I didn't have to drain the fat. of this before turning it into taco meat, but if yours is very fatty, you may want to drain some, so since our next step is to clean these trays for you, I'm actually going to transfer this meat to a different bowl so we can I can get ready to clean them now, this taco pan is still very hot, so first I'm going to put this on a different burner and let it cool before I clean it, let's start cleaning the other pan, although this is the most easy that it exists, okay?

Now this pan is still very hot, I can barely hold it without an oven mitt so it is very hot, this is probably the easiest it has ever been to clean a cast iron pan, there is really only oil in this pan, There is nothing stuck, there is nothing dirty. In this regard, it's essentially exactly what Kevin did with that pizza pan he seasoned earlier. In this situation we are simply going to eliminate all that oil. This oil. This amount of oil cannot remain in this mold until it cools. It will get thick. and rubbery and then you'll have to remove the pan if that happens so first I'm going to take a paper towel and I'm going to wipe this pan after it's all clean and cooled it'll be ready to can be used again for the next eggs or Whatever you cook here, you don't need to wash it in the sink, so it's a number one cleaning technique, just clean the pan because there's nothing stuck in the pan that we use to make it. taco meat should be washed in the sink because this just won't come off with a paper towel, a lot of the taco seasoning will stay there and get sticky and just won't be very good, next time you cook something, so I'll move on. and I'll put this in the sink and show you how to wash these pans in the sink and what to do with them.

Now cleaning cast iron in the sink is really easy. You're just using hot water, you're not using soap, you're not putting it in the dishwasher, you're not putting it in the sink full of soapy water, just hot water and some kind of scouring pad, you can use a cloth if there's nothing. stuck there, you can use a loofah which is what I have on standby and some type of scraper. Okay, start with hot water and just clean your pan like you normally would with any other type of pan, but you're not using any soap. You're just using hot water, if you have something really stuck in there you're going to want to use something that you can help scrape off the stuck stuff and actually this is just a little square scraper, this one is from the pampered chef. but you can get them anywhere.

We'll put a link to something like this in our Amazon store. If you want to take a look, this is what you'll use to scrape something off the bottom or side of your pan. These little scrapers work great and won't damage your pan, they won't remove any of that nice seasoning thatyou've worked so hard to achieve and that's really what we're trying to do here. clean these pans without affecting the seasoning that's in the pan, that's exactly why you don't want to use soap, you want to keep your precious seasoning in your pan and if you wash the seasoning out of the pan with the soap, those pores can suck a little bit of that soap or any of the chemicals that you would try to use to clean this, you don't want them in your pan, you just need to remove the food, we're going to dry this off and I'm going to show you what we areWhat I'm going to do next, I am going to dry this pan very well with all the water, water in your cast iron pan will cause it to rust, regardless of how well you have seasoned it, your cast iron pan cannot be stored wet. or with some water, so first we're going to dry it very, very well, we're going to put it back on the stove and we're going to turn the heat back on because even though you dried a lot of water, the cast iron is still a little bit wet, so we need to heat it up and evaporate it. the remaining water.

This pan is hot enough that the handle is hot, so I'll turn off the heat and season again. this pan with a little bit of oil using the exact same technique that Kevin used when he was seasoning my pizza pan for the first time. The reason I'm doing this is to make sure that wonderful seasoning stays there every time. after every time I wash it I put a little bit of oil in there, rub it with a paper towel or you know, with a rag or an oil brush. I'll let it sit here again for three or four minutes and I'll come.

Go back and wipe off the excess like Kevin said now. When you're just starting out with a new pan, you'll want to do this process every time you wash the pan, but when your pans are super well-seasoned, you won't. You really have to do this every time you wash it, but maybe every sixth time by then you'll probably learn when you need to reseason your pans and when you don't, but the best thing you can do is continue adding the seasoning to your pans. I have cleaned all that excess oil. Just look at how beautiful it looks now, once it cools it's ready to go back on the wall rack of all your other cast iron pans.

I have a lot of questions about whether the wall behind our pans is oily because the pans are there because we wiped off all the excess oil. The wall doesn't have even a hint of oil. That is important. That's another reason why it's important. Clean your pan so your wall doesn't get greasy Now, the last thing we wanted to touch on today is when it's appropriate to use enameled cast iron instead of just regular cast iron With regular cast iron pans, there are some things you don't want to do with them, The biggest thing is you don't want to cook anything that's really acidic, so anything that has a tomato as the main base, anything that has a lot of vinegar or citrus juice.

I mean a little splatter on something isn't a big deal, but if that's the main base, you want to keep it out of a regular cast iron skillet because that acidity will actually take away the seasoning from your pan in those situations. We use our enamel pots because there won't be a seasoning like that here the enamel is the seasoning also when we boil water to cook pasta and things like that. We have received questions. Do we use our cast iron for that? No. that's a situation where we use our enameled cast iron exactly right or our stainless steel pots exactly right, guys we hope you learned a lot about cast iron.

We also hope that we have taken away some of the fear and perhaps some of the anxiety about cooking and drinking. Take care of your cast iron and maybe you'll have a little more confidence now that you can try those. You can take out the cast iron that your grandmother gave you and try it. The main thing with cast iron is to just start using it. There is a learning curve, but once you get used to it, you'll never want to go back to those other pans. Cast iron beats it in many ways, but again, you just need to get used to it, give yourself time to do it, we love it and in fact our daughters love it.

They have been cooking in cast iron since they started cooking. This will be a great skill for them to take back to their husbands and families, so if you are. enjoying our content and you are not yet subscribed I hope you press the subscribe button before you leave, do not forget that the best way you can help us as always is by sharing our videos on all your social networks. so that others can learn about this way of life too and until next time thank you very much for stopping by our farm, take care and God bless you, God bless you.