The Hot Pepper

Link?

You linked to an article on http://www.seriouseats.com in a post some time back. I marked it for later review. Being out with the flu gave me the time for that review and also now reconditioning my first pan with nothing fancy. Next will be the pan with lots o' rust. I am downright giddy about this!

Yeah. Especially the soap myth. http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html

Yep. I searched on "cast iron" and found their other articles, as well. Followed http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/how-to-buy-season-clean-maintain-cast-iron-pans.html for my first pan. I had some stuff stuck so bad I managed to remove the seasoning around it, but the stuck stuff didn't budge. Now it's gone and the pan is all shiny black again. Good times!

Side note, though, is their steamed-hard egg approach did not work for me. Maybe my stove burners don't get hot enough (they aren't hot enough to get candy to the hard-crack stage, so I can see that being possible.)

Interesting comment in that article about using soap. Honestly, isn't a problem getting the pans clean and if there is anything too stubborn, a little coarse salt takes it right off. Whether soap is a good or bad idea, I still don't see the need to buck tradition and start using soap.

My tradition has always been soap. No bucking. No problems either. A lot of people say it just because they heard it. They would never even test it for themselves because they would be too afraid they would ruin the pan. It's culinary fear mongering, lol.

Properly cooked-with cast iron is properly seasoned cast iron. My pans get better every time I use them and I scrub them with soap every time. I have never seasoned one of them.

Boom!

Lotsa cornbread and lotsa pancakes. That's the key.

Further reading: the soap thing is a hang-over from days when dish soaps had lye in them. Modern dish soaps with simple grease solvents and surfactants don't have lye in them. So yes, soap will now be used every time by yours truly, and a salt scrub if anything gets too stubborn.

Good info. And yup.

Calling TB and SL! Calling TB and SL! Y'all need to get on board this train! FD - you too! WHOOT WHOOT!

i make sure i dry them on the stove then rub them down with a little oil , and they stay sweet !

One more bit o' info for those stuck in last century land: Can you say "CANOLA OIL"? Yep, better than Crisco, lard, etc.

See? I made it easy for y'all who don't want to read the long articles! (But do, because they're full of GOOD info!)

g we might just need a cast iron TD!!!

Sponsored by Palmolive.

Yes, canola is a good healthy oil, but Grape seed has a higher smoke point (Dan turned me on to it). You should check it out. Also coconut oil is the slickest oil I've ever used. I don't cook with it much because of the high sat. fat content, but when I do, nothing sticks. I like to season with it for that reason.

But if the goal is to force the oil to polymerize, wouldn't a low smoke point be better?

I made juevos ranchero in CI with coconut oil this morning. Go figure.