Smoke

[W. Hilditch]

Smoke is steam with impurities such as grease. Cast iron hollowware can create a lot of smoke one way or the other. It starts if you season a piece correctly. It then gets worse with searing, frying and burning all those things you cook in your CI. Ever open the oven door and release a cloud that would give a volcano a run for it’s money? Of course you have.

Do a favor for yourself, the ceiling, people dear to you, the cabinets and everything within 100 feet. Get a good stove hood exhaust fan that sends the smoke and grease outdoors. It needs to be rated an honest 350 plus CFM. I used a GE one rated at 400 CFM when it should have been CFH (Cubic Feet/ Hour) hiding behind a microwave oven. Useless.

On the topic of useless; if your hood blows the smoke back into the kitchen, there is no sense in even turning it on. The irritating noise will outweigh any grease it may catch and put a light coating of seasoning on everything in the kitchen including you.

In 1950 my grandparents built a new house. In 1951 I ‘helped’ my dad and grandfather cut a 12” round hole through a outside wall and install a 10” fan with louvers next to the stove. Not great when there was a North wind at 0°, but it was great when she seared his steak 4 or 5 times a week for the next 15 years.

Hilditch

 

[Doug D.]

Smoke isn't steam. It is combustion gases which contain soot and can also contain water vapor from moisture in the burning substance. Water vapor by definition is not steam. Steam is water in the gas phase, achieved by raising its temperature to 212°F, and by its truest definition does not contain impurities or particulates. If smoke were steam, you could not, as an example, hold your hand in a column of smoke or inhale smoke from a cigarette without risking burns.

Probably the worst part of CI seasoning and cooking is vaporized grease, which sticks to anything it contacts and causes the lingering odor. That, and smoke, are what you want your exhaust system to remove efficiently. And be sure to check and clean your exhaust system filter regularly or it won't.

 

[W. Hilditch]

OK, smoke is water vapor with impurities. If the water vapor/smoke is still at the boiling point or higher in temperature then the water vapor is steam. When it comes out of the oven at 500° that smoke will burn.

Hilditch