Bear with me, some of these questions are probably pretty obvious but for some reason I'm having trouble getting answers to my satisfaction from the other places I've looked.
1)with regards to the cleaning process, I understand about not using soap and generally sticking to water and something to scrub food particles away with, the drying the pan in the oven or stovetop makes sense, but my hangup comes with applying the oil afterwards. Should I be wiping out any excess oil before storing the pan, or even sticking it a heated oven for a few minutes after wiping on the oil as if I'm doing a mini-seasoning cycle? I'm concerned about this anti-rust layer being too think and getting sticky, but I also thought that if I did some of these mini-seasoning cycles I could get that non-stick awesomeness sooner
2)I've read a few places about not boiling water in CI, and other places that say it's not bad as long as it's not for so long that you promote rust. Some places even recommend boiling water in the CI as a step in cleaning crusted on food. Where's the truth here? I ask because I like cooking rice, and I'd like to use my CI to do it. Will the 20 minutes or so of boiling water in making rice really be detrimental to my CI or the seasoning?
I'll end with a recount of my first attempt at using CI to cook with, which was last night. I had bought a new Lodge (pre-seasoned) because I figured if I mess up and ruin the pan I won't feel as bad as if it was a vintage pan. I made pork chops, and I started by searing the chops on the stove top with olive oil (which made the house smoky. Going to have to watch that in the future). I expected some sticking both from the new pan and also because of the high heat, but even still it was only the initial couple seconds, and once I lifted the chops off the pan and set them back down I didn't have any more sticking problems.
After the sear I baked them the rest of the way in the oven at 350. They came out really nice and had a good flavor even without any salt or pepper. After they were baked, I put the chops on a plate to rest and then cleaned the pan (room temp. tap water, nylon bristle brush). The pork bits and most of the fat came out pretty easily. I rinsed until the water stopped coming out brown and then wiped everything down really well. I put the pan back in the oven (which was turned off, but still pretty hot)to finish drying and made the rest of the stuff for dinner. After I got the sides made I took out the pan (been in the oven for about 15 min.) and wiped it down with a little olive oil all over, and then I wiped off the excess oil and put it away.
So any critiques on my technique? I've decided to start using PAM instead of olive oil just so there's not so much smoke in my house (my stove hood does not vent well). And I've got a vintage Griswold #6 coming, so the addiction has well and truly begun :biggrin:
1)with regards to the cleaning process, I understand about not using soap and generally sticking to water and something to scrub food particles away with, the drying the pan in the oven or stovetop makes sense, but my hangup comes with applying the oil afterwards. Should I be wiping out any excess oil before storing the pan, or even sticking it a heated oven for a few minutes after wiping on the oil as if I'm doing a mini-seasoning cycle? I'm concerned about this anti-rust layer being too think and getting sticky, but I also thought that if I did some of these mini-seasoning cycles I could get that non-stick awesomeness sooner
2)I've read a few places about not boiling water in CI, and other places that say it's not bad as long as it's not for so long that you promote rust. Some places even recommend boiling water in the CI as a step in cleaning crusted on food. Where's the truth here? I ask because I like cooking rice, and I'd like to use my CI to do it. Will the 20 minutes or so of boiling water in making rice really be detrimental to my CI or the seasoning?
I'll end with a recount of my first attempt at using CI to cook with, which was last night. I had bought a new Lodge (pre-seasoned) because I figured if I mess up and ruin the pan I won't feel as bad as if it was a vintage pan. I made pork chops, and I started by searing the chops on the stove top with olive oil (which made the house smoky. Going to have to watch that in the future). I expected some sticking both from the new pan and also because of the high heat, but even still it was only the initial couple seconds, and once I lifted the chops off the pan and set them back down I didn't have any more sticking problems.
After the sear I baked them the rest of the way in the oven at 350. They came out really nice and had a good flavor even without any salt or pepper. After they were baked, I put the chops on a plate to rest and then cleaned the pan (room temp. tap water, nylon bristle brush). The pork bits and most of the fat came out pretty easily. I rinsed until the water stopped coming out brown and then wiped everything down really well. I put the pan back in the oven (which was turned off, but still pretty hot)to finish drying and made the rest of the stuff for dinner. After I got the sides made I took out the pan (been in the oven for about 15 min.) and wiped it down with a little olive oil all over, and then I wiped off the excess oil and put it away.
So any critiques on my technique? I've decided to start using PAM instead of olive oil just so there's not so much smoke in my house (my stove hood does not vent well). And I've got a vintage Griswold #6 coming, so the addiction has well and truly begun :biggrin:
