I figured it was time that we create a thread for this rather than having it in the grill thread. We might even want to move some of the posts over from there to here even but a mod would need to take care of that.

After much discussion in the other thread I have been working on seasoning my pans a few times just making delicious bacon. I have baked them twice for an hour coated in safflower oil first at 450 degrees. I have then made about 8 batches of 5 strips of bacon to season them as well.

I found one of my new favorite bacon flavors when buying bacon to season the pans. Really just used it as a good reason to eat lots of bacon



Wright brand bacon is some of the thickest bacon I have found in the grocery store. Only places I typically find better bacon is fresh from a local butcher but I don't have one that is super local to go to on a regular basis. This barrel aged bacon flavor is on a whole different level as for flavor. It is just amazing. It is so good I won't use it in making sandwiches and cook I just want to eat it plain.

So Monday night I decided to make some bacon grilled cheese sandwiches. I made the bacon in the cast iron pan and then cooked the grilled cheese in one of my regular pans. Well after making the last batch of bacon I decided to make the last grilled cheese in the bacon pan with the bacon grease instead of butter. Oh glorious bacon you have made another wonderful creation. I think I will be making all grilled cheese in my cast iron with bacon grease. The bread just seemed to stay softer while getting a nice thin crust on the outside that it didn't seem to in the regular pan. Oh and there is the flavor of bacon on the bread.

The grilled cheese consisted of wheat bread, sharp chedder cheese, maple bacon aioli, and hickory smoked bacon.

Always have to have some bacon pictures.


Don't mind the one burnt sandwich. I forgot about it while making sure the bacon came out perfect.

 

I had to quote these posts from the other thread cause I ordered one of these the other and damn Sam you were right. This thing is awesome. After making 3 batches of bacon in a row and then my grilled cheese all I had to do was rinse out the pan, put a little water in it on the stove for about 1min on high, pour that out and wipe with that new metal cleaning rag and everything came out. No brown left in the pan. It was so much easier than using my regular scraper I had bought. Thanks for the suggestion. It was worth every penny. :thumbups:

 

Bacon fat fried sandwiches?



But in for cast iron thread. I don't use mine for much more than steaks these days but I do love that heavy little bugger.

As a data point, I've been having good success with using kosher salt and a paper towel to sop up the extra grease and scour the surface grime without killing the season.

 

shiet, everything in my household gets cooked in a cast iron pot/skillet.

my mom's chinese and she uses them for basic stir fry's to elaborate "American Test Kitchen" recipes

 

Man so glad this thread started! I love me my cast iron skillet and griddle.


Definitely +1 on the Ringer, I use that religiously to clean my skillets too. Bacon is definitely the best way to season it as well.

 

I just pour motor oil on mine to season it


what's the benefit to cooking on cast iron? I have a skillet at home but never use it. It's not even seasoned properly.


Also, once it is seasoned, how do you wash it? I imagine any kind of soap would strip the seasoning, would it not?

 

Awesome heat distribution. Once seasoned, it's virtually non-stick.

Cleaning is with that metal chain thing, or a scraper, or salt, or (fill in personal-preference-that-half-the-people-will-violently-disagree-with here).

No soap. This kills the pan.

 

Interesting, interesting... I may have to finally season mine. It's been sitting in the pan drawer, unused, for like 2 years now


Does it add to the flavor of the food? yeah, yeah, I'm a noob.

 

technically kills the seasoning, not the pan, then you're left with raw iron and will have to start seasoning all over again.

 

no. the "seasoned" pan doesnt add flavor

 

My favorite tool to cook with is a metal "fish turner" spatula :

 

Seasoning means you take some oil and and it to a pan at high temperature to put a nice coating on the pan so your food doesn't stick.

Always preseason after cleaning your pan.

You never want to put meat or chicken on an seasoned pan it will stick to the pan like glue.

 

Technically a light application of soap won't hurt the seasoning but if you lather it up with heavy duty degreaser and go to town with a scraper, you'll damage it.

When you season the oil, it polymerizes so it's not techinically "grease" anymore and therefore isn't able to be removed by normal soap. I wouldn't do it unless necessary but if there's that last little bit of grease on there, go ahead and soap it off. Just make sure to wash, heat dry, and coat with oil (which you should do after every use anyway).

#sciencebitch

 

Awesome, glad you liked it.

Also, thanks for starting this thread. Gonna contribute lots! Though it might have to wait for a few months since it's grilling season here...

Here's some from last winter...

 

And for the non-science peons..:




I give you this!
#yugiohbitches

 

Oh and one more of the results of a cook.

 

Read a NY Times article swearing that a burger in a cast iron skillet is the best out there.

I personally would challenge that because a burger on my weber with natural charcoal is hard to beat.

My Credentials: Chef/Owner of a restaurant for twenty years. Self proclaimed grill master, charcoal of course.

 

I would agree, charcoal seared is second to none but in the dead of winter...the cast iron is hard to beat.

What restaurant do you own/cook at? I went to MSOE so I may have been to it at some point!

 

MSOE, nice. The soccer stadium there is pretty unique. I was an hour west of MKE. No restaurants right now, switched occupations to rehabbing homes for now but buying another restaurant isn`t out of the question. Also had a catering business (Bon Apetit Catering) side by side with the restaurant for 12 years.

Keep on Cooking!

I will share some of my recipes from time to time, but not all.

 

Can't beat cast iron for a steak. I guess anything that I want quick high heat it's my go to, charcoal for pork or anything slow/smoked. Bacon fat in the pan all day, then a quick scrub and back at it.

 

Quoting these posts from the other thread.

So I don't want to use the Safflower oil any more after I seasoned it twice for an hour each at 450 degrees in the over before I started cooking?

Now that I have started cooking what should I coat it with when I am finished? I have been coating it with Safflower oil lightly before putting it away the first two times. The rest of the times I have been coating it with left over bacon grease.

 

That looks excellent.

I have one of these as well but being as it is warm enough to grill hear for a while now I have not bothered to season that pan yet. Is it any harder to season evenly and also clean with the grooves?

I have only seasoned my 8in and 10in pans so far. Starting to regret having not gotten a 12in instead. Can only fit about 5 slices of bacon in the 10in.

With how you said that are you a chef by profession or just one at home? Either way that looks really good.

 

Safflower Oil’s Risks:

Safflower oil is a potent source of polyunsaturated fats or PUFAs. PUFAs assist in the lowering of bad cholesterol levels in the blood, and can therefore mitigate the risks of developing heart diseases especially if PUFAs are utilized as a substitute for saturated fats and trans fats. But there is a downside to this. As it turns out, PUFAs not only lower the bad cholesterol levels called low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, PUFAs simultaneously decrease the good cholesterol levels called high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol as well. So unless safflower oil is taken alongside edible oils like olive oil, which by the way are high in monounsaturated fats and therefore will not lower the HDL levels, then steering clear of safflower oil would then be prudent.

 

I used to use olive oil but switched to grape seed oil a couple years ago. No issues that I've found.

 

You're fine. Safflower oil has a smoke point over 500F which is perfect. Flaxseed is good because it creates a better non-stick layer. You're fine though, next time you season use something else. No need to re-do it though.

Bacon grease is fine to recoat, I use canola oil just because it's less greasy feeling after the fact.

Nope, not hard at all to clean and work with. The chainmail cleaner fits in the grooves to clean them out. I like the smooth pan better but the grill pan makes things pretty looking.

I'm not a chef, I'm an engineer lol. Nicks2001tl is a chef.

Sure, that's only if you cook with it though right? If using to season the pan, shouldn't be problem since you're not eating it.

 

If you have some on hand season the pan with it, no issues. It doesn`t really matter what oil you use to season the pan, even for us health conscious people. It is just meant to create a coating so the pan doesn`t stick.

 

Didn`t mean to scare anyone.

But since I am in a scaring mood, stay away from Acorn Oil. Turns out this heavy oil touted by many health food stores as being healthy (there right) can cause massive iron deficiency. Greek Gov`t banned it.

Olive Oil, you just can`t miss with it.

Sea Salt can cause thyroid problems when used exclusively, no iodine. Body needs iodine so a little table salt is okay and so is a little sea salt.

 

You guys talked me into buying a couple cast iron pans. I picked up a lodge 12in last night and a cast iron griddle pan this weekend. I bought some wright's bacon, and crisco, watched a few videos on youtube and seasoned my two pans last night. Excited to try this out, I'm going to have to find a use for all this bacon grease.

 

Strain it well. Divide in half and keep one in the fridge and one in the freezer. If strained well it'll pretty much last indefinitely. Hell back in the day they didn't even refrigerate it.

Use it whenever! I generally always cook eggs with bacon fat. Sear chicken destined for a salad with it. Pan fried burgers in it. Etc.

 

I used to never refrigerate my bacon fat ever. I have started doing so recently after reading that most people do but I never had any issues not doing it. Just kept it in a car with a tight sealing lid under my sink actually.

Any major reason to strain it? I don't even bother doing that either.

 

Well for one you're going to use it as a cooking oil. So any solids in there can burn. The solids can also be the reason it goes sour.

Like *most* oils the more refined the better it's cooking properties generally are.

 

Ok I guess I will need to start doing that then.

For now I don't keep it for more than a month as I have been making bacon so much I already have about 10oz in less than a month lol. I can't stop making bacon now that I am making it in the cast iron pan. It just tastes so good.

 

I think i went through 4 pounds of bacon in two weeks when i first was 'seasoning' the pan

 

I got about a cup of bacon grease. I strained it as best as I can, there's some really small grains at the bottom but the rest is pretty clear. Do you guys use the bacon grease to season your pan?

Noob question: After I wash it with water, heat it on the stove to evaporate any remaining water and then season with crisco or whatever is it normal for it to be a little sticky or whatnot the next day? Am I putting on too much season"? I'm worried dust might get caught in it or attract bugs. It wasn't really sticky this morning but I wiped it down with a paper towel to get any remaining "residue" off.

 

I have been using the bacon grease to wipe mine down with after I am done with it and it has dried on the stove.

 

If it's sticky you just used too much oil.

 

This.

All you need is an extremely thin coat of oil on it. There shouldn't be any pooling at all. I heat mine up and then flip it upside down to let any excess drip off.

 

I also make sure it gets to smoking before turning it off and letting it cool.


Turning it upside down as well!

 

You guys do this everytime after you are done? I haven't been heating mine up at all after putting a light coating on it after cleaning it. Am I doing it wrong?

 

I finish cooking, rinse in the sink and use my Ringer chain mail cleaner lightly brushing off any large pieces, then wipe it down with a towel and put it back on the stovetop on max heat to dry off excess water, then put a layer of coconut oil, wipe it down, wait until it smokes, turn off the stove and flip it upside down and let it cool till morning.