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How to Use a Cast Iron Skillet - Bon App. They're durable, efficient, endlessly useful, and make a pretty photo to boot. And yet, for so many, cast iron pans remain tucked away in the furthest cabinet, shrouded in mystery. There's the endless questioning of whether you're cleaning it correctly or not, of course, but equally crippling is the constant wondering: Am I actually using this thing correctly? This pan is consistently referred to as the workhorse of any kitchen—and it is!—but you've also probably heard that there are certain things you should never, ever cook in a cast iron. What should go for a spin in this heaviest of pans? What should be reserved for stainless steel and nonstick? We've got answers. But first, a brush- up on proper cast iron care. Conventional wisdom says not to wash your cast iron pans with detergent, and while that does hold true, . Equally important is to avoid metal scouring pads, which can scratch, damage, and remove the layers of seasoning and expose the metal. Sam is a trusted home cook. Stuff You Should NEVER Cook In A Cast-Iron Pan. Likewise, it’s not the greatest idea to cook things that require deglazing with wine or vinegar;. Read the Can you deglaze in a cast iron pan. Home Cooking Cast Iron Can you deglaze in a cast. I was wondering if I could use some white wine and. Ever cook in a cast iron. What should go for a spin in this heaviest of pans? On the same token, it's best not to deglaze a cast iron with vinegar or wine. 5 Myths of Cast Iron Cookware. Here are five myths Mark dispelled for us. Myth #1: You should only use nonstick utensils, not metal, when cooking with cast iron. If your dinner has imparted stubborn crusty bits onto the pan, the best way to clean it is by rubbing it down with kosher salt and a kitchen towel while it's still warm, then wiping it down with fat (flaxseed oil or lard do the trick nicely). Water is not the enemy of cast iron, unless you allow it to soak. Your safest bet is to scour, wash with water if necessary, and then dry and rub it down immediately. If your pan needs extra loving, you can re- season it by scrubbing it clean and applying a film of fat all over the pan's interior and exterior, then placing it in a 3. Unlike thinner pans, like aluminum, the heat level doesn't fluctuate in a cast iron. This makes the cast iron an ideal choice for foods that need high heat. Meats that need a hard sear but shouldn't be scorched, like steak, or roasts that should be browned before braising, perform beautifully in a cast iron. The surface of the meat takes on a deep brown color and crust without accumulating burnt, black bits at the bottom of the pan (not to be confused with delicious brown bits). To get the most out of your cast iron- meat searing experience, preheat the pan over the flame so it has time to absorb the heat. As an added bonus, the cast iron is oven- safe, so you can take it from the stovetop directly into the oven. Stir- fries are another great cast iron option because the pan's ability to hold heat is similar to that of a wok. A proper stir- fry cooks up in minutes, crisping the rice and/or meat, while allowing the vegetables to retain some crunch. To achieve this, you need a pan that won't experience a temperature drop as soon as you add food to it. That's where cast iron really shines. Mitchell Feinberg. Skillet- fried chicken Photo: Mitchell Feinberg. If you're a fan of perfectly golden- brown roasted vegetables with a crunchy exterior crust (and who isn't?), consider dumping your trusty rimmed sheet pan in favor of a large cast iron skillet. Direct contact with a super- hot surface is what imparts that hue, and a sheet pan just can't compare to cast iron when it comes to steady, hot heat. A diligently cared- for and well- maintained pan can also fry eggs nicely. Be wary of scrambled eggs and frittatas, which can get gummy and stick to a poorly- seasoned pan. There's no need to spring for a deep fryer if you have a cast iron pan on hand: This sturdy pan is the perfect vehicle for frying. In fact, we often prefer to fry up chicken in our favorite skillet. If you're frying large or heavy food that has the potential to splatter when added to the oil, reach for a deeper, Dutch oven- style cast iron. We'd be remiss not to mention cornbread here—it's one of the most ubiquitous cast iron dishes there is, and for good reason! Preheating the pan as the oven comes to temperature will impart a crunchy, golden crust to your cornbread: The batter will sizzle when you spread it into the pan, and that's a very good thing. Photo: Marcus Nilsson. Delicate pieces of fish are not the best option for a heavy- duty cast iron, especially one that hasn't been carefully seasoned. If presentation matters, saut. Intent on using the cast iron? Perry suggests choosing thicker, meatier pieces of fish, and cooking them skin- side down. They'll stand up to the heat far better. Friendly reminder here that more so than a nonstick or stainless steel pan, the cast iron takes on the flavors of whatever it's cooking. If you fry batches of breaded halibut, give your pan a half- hearted wipe, and then use it to bake your favorite peach cobbler, don't be surprised if dessert tastes suspiciously fishy. A pan that's used frequently for savory recipes is not a great vehicle for sweet things and dessert. It's helpful to have two dedicated pans, but if you've only got the one, it's worth the effort to thoroughly salt- scrub your pan (don't forget the sides and seams!) and re- season it before proceeding with the baking portion of the food prep. Although we love a long, slow- simmered marinara or bolognese, the acidity in tomato sauce can be too harsh for a cast iron pan. Caveat: A really, really well- seasoned pan has a film of fat (oil, lard) that protects the metal from whatever food or kitchen tools that come in contact with it. If you've religiously cared for your pan, feel free to simmer that tomato sauce. The rest of us mortals should avoid overly acidic foods in our cast irons. On the same token, it's best not to deglaze a cast iron with vinegar or wine. Not only will the acidity of the liquid potentially react with exposed metal causing damage to the pan, it can impart a metallic taste to the food. Ready to fire it up? Check out these cast iron recipes. Or watch the video to learn how to cook the perfect steak in your cast iron. Can I touch- up paint cast iron cook top grates?(0. Touched. Gather round children! Today's slang session concerns TOUCHED, which is either a nice thing, or a not- so- nice thing. In this brand- new series, we devote time to the words and phrases chefs hold near and dear to their sweaty, stressed out, crass little hearts.(0. Should You Freeze Grated Cheese? The texture's already ruined, so you're in the clear.(0. Grate Cheese the Easy Way. Sometimes grating cheese can be a real pain in the arm. In this CHOW Tip, Jenny Stewart eases that pain with a slick trick to make the process smoother. The Truth About Cast Iron Pans: 7 Myths That Need To Go Away. Kenji Lopez- Alt. Video: Vicky Wasik. When I packed up my apartment last spring and had to live for a full month with only two pans in my kitchen, you can bet your butt that the first one I grabbed was my trusty cast iron skillet. I use it for the crispest potato hash and for giving my steaks a crazy- good sear. I use it for baking garlic knots or cornbread or the easiest, best pan pizza you'll ever bake (just kidding, this might be the easiest pizza). I use it for a complete chicken dinner with insanely crisp skin and for crispy, creamy pasta bakes. Point is, it's a versatile workhorse and no other pan even comes close to its league. But there's also a mysterious, myth- packed lore when it comes to cast iron pans. On the one hand there's the folks who claim you've got to treat your cast iron cookware like a delicate little flower. On the other, there's the macho types who chime in with their my cast iron is hella non- stick or damn, does my pan heat evenly! In the world of cast iron, there are unfounded, untested claims left right and center. It's time to put a few of those myths to rest. Myth #1: . Buying a cast iron skillet is like adopting a newborn baby and a puppy at the same time. You're going to have to pamper it through the early stages of its life, and be gentle when you store it—that seasoning can chip off! The Reality: Cast iron is tough as nails! There's a reason why there are 7. The stuff is built to last and it's very difficult to completely ruin it. Most new pans even come pre- seasoned, which means that the hard part is already done for you and you're ready to start cooking right away. And as for storing it? If your seasoning is built up in a nice thin, even layer like it should be, then don't worry. It ain't gonna chip off. I store my cast iron pans nested directly in each other. Guess how many times I've chipped their seasoning? Try doing that to your non- stick skillet without damaging the surface. Myth #2: . Cast iron is great at searing steaks, so it must be great at heating evenly, right? The Reality: Actually, cast iron is terrible at heating evenly. The thermal conductivity—the measure of a material's ability to transfer heat from one part to another—is around a third to a quarter that of a material like aluminum. What does this mean? Throw a cast iron skillet on a burner and you end up forming very clear hot spots right on top of where the flames are, while the rest of the pan remains relatively cool. The main advantage of cast iron is that it has very high volumetric heat capacity, which means that once it's hot, it stays hot. This is vitally important when searing meat. To really heat cast iron evenly, place it over a burner and let it preheat for at least 1. Alternatively, heat it up in a hot oven for 2. For more on this stuff, check out this great article by Dave Arnold at Cooking Issues. The other advantage is its high emissivity—that is, its tendency to expel a lot of heat energy from its surface in the form of radiation. Stainless steel has an emissivity of around . Even when it's extremely hot, you can put your hand close to it and not feel a thing. Only the food directly in contact with it is heating up in any way. Cast iron, on the other hand, has a whopping . This makes it ideal for things like making hash or pan roasting chicken and vegetables. Myth #3: . Perfectly well- seasoned cast iron should be perfectly non- stick. The Reality: Your cast iron pan (and mine) may be really really really non- stick—non- stick enough that you can make an omelet in it or fry an egg with no problem—but let's get serious here. It's not anywhere near as non- stick as, say, Teflon, a material so non- stick that we had to develop new technologies just to get it to bond to the bottom of a pan. Can you dump a load of cold eggs into your cast iron pan, slowly heat it up with no oil, then slide those cooked eggs right back out without a spot left behind? Because you can do that in Teflon. Yeah, didn't think so. That said, macho posturing aside, so long as your cast iron pan is well seasoned and you make sure to pre- heat it well before adding any food, you should have no problems whatsoever with sticking. Myth #4: . Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning. The Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerized oil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic- like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal. This is what gives well- seasoned cast iron its non- stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out. The one thing you shouldn't do? Let it soak in the sink. Try to minimize the time it takes from when you start cleaning to when you dry and re- season your pan. If that means letting it sit on the stovetop until dinner is done, so be it. Myth #5: . Stick to wood or nylon utensils. The Reality: The seasoning in cast iron is actually remarkably resilient. It's not just stuck to the surface like tape, it's actually chemically bonded to the metal. Scrape away with a metal spatula and unless you're actually gouging out the surface of the metal, you should be able to continue cooking in it with no issue. So you occasionally see flakes of black stuff chip out of the pan as you cook in it? It's possible that's seasoning, but unlikely. In order to get my cast iron pan's seasoning to flake off, I had to store it in the oven for a month's- worth of heating and drying cycles without re- seasoning it before I started to see some scaling. More likely, those flakes of black stuff are probably carbonized bits of food that were stuck to the surface of the pan because you refused to scrub them out with soap last time you cooked. Myth #6: . It's all the same material, after all. In the old days, cast iron pans were produced by casting in sand- based molds, then polishing the resulting pebbly surfaces until smooth. Vintage cast iron tends to have a satiny smooth finish. By the 1. 95. 0s, as production scaled up and was streamlined, this final polishing step was dropped from the process. Modern cast iron retains that bumpy, pebbly surface. The difference is more minor than you may think. So long as you've seasoned your pan properly, both vintage and modern cast iron should take on a nice non- stick surface, but your modern cast iron will never be quite as non- stick as the vintage stuff. Myth #7: . So in a perfect world, this should not be a problem. But none of us are perfect and neither are our pans. No matter how well you season, there's still a good chance that there are spots of bare metal and these can indeed interact with acidic ingredients in your food. For this reason, it's a good idea to avoid long- simmered acidic things, particularly tomato sauce. On the other hand, a little acid is not going to hurt it. I deglaze my pan with wine after pan- roasting chicken all the time. A short simmer won't harm your food, your pan, or your health in any way. What you SHOULD do. These are the only rules you need to know to have a successful lifelong relationship with your cast iron. Season it when you get it. Even pre- seasoned cast iron can do with some extra protection. To season your pan, heat it up on the stovetop until its smoking hot, then rub a little oil into it and let it cool. Repeat this process a few times and you're good to go. Clean it after each use. Clean your pan thoroughly after each use by washing it with soap and water and scrubbing out any gunk or debris from the bottom. I use the scrubby side of a sponge for this. Re- season it. Rinse out any excess soap with water, then place the skillet over a burner set to high heat. When most of the water inside the skillet has dried out, add a half teaspoon of a neutral oil like vegetable, canola, flaxseed, or shortening. Rub it around with a paper towel. Continue heating the pan until it just starts to smoke then give it one more good rub. Let it cool and you're done. Fry and Sear in it. The best way to keep your seasoning maintained? Just use your pan a lot! The more you fry, sear, or bake in it, the better that seasoning will become. Don't let it stay wet. Water is the natural enemy of iron and letting even a drop of water sit in your pan when you put it away can lead to a rust spot. Not the end of the world, but rust will require a little scrubbing and reseasoning. I always dry out my pan with a paper towel and coat it with a tiny amount of oil before storage. There now, was that so hard? Now get out there and start cooking! For more information on cast iron, check out our guide to How to Buy, Season, and Maintain Cast Iron Cookware. 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