Season the Cast Iron :)

Three skillets that I have cooked food from in my 50 years of cooking.  No I'm not 50, that would be nice but that age is long gone.  I was 14 when I started to take interest in the kitchen.  My mom had these skillets and used them everyday.  I can not remember her using anything else.  This is what they looked like this morning before "seasoning" them.  How wonderful cast iron is, it stays usable and very rarely is ruined.  I have seem cast iron go through a house fire that was a total loss and be usable with proper refurbishing.   I have had other types of cookware but they went to the lawn sales of  long ago, nothing out shines the dull black set.

If you have some and they need seasoned let me tell you how I do it :)  I know one gal that has her mom's set and had asked me about 2 years ago how to season them.  I wonder...........did she do it ?

Set your oven on low or around 320 degrees.  Clean your cast iron and dry.  Rub canola oil in the bottom and sides of the inside of the pan, this is a very thin coat so it won't have little "puddles" of oil while seasoning.  It usually takes 3 applications of the oil to complete. Every 30 minutes take the pan out and rub the oil around so it doesn't "puddle". You may have to add a little more oil  it doesn't cover well. When it's done the bottom of the pan will be smooth with a nice shine to it.  Once you have put a good season finish in the cast iron it should be good to go for another year or so.  What will take the seasoning off is putting spaghetti sauce or any acidic type food in it.  You will be seasoning more often if you do.  Good luck if you are going to try and restore some old cast iron and if you already use it I don't have to tell you how great it is!

Another tip, if your cast iron skillets have rust on them.   Just wipe it with a damp cloth and then take a very fine steel wool either 00 or 000 and buff the inside with it.  Wipe with a dry cloth and start the seasoning process.

I have read articles recently about the dangers of cast iron for cooking, supposedly it gives off too much iron and your system absorbs it.  I will ignore the warning as  I have no records of any family members with too much iron in their system ;)  It's like years ago when they said butter was not good for you so eat margarine and oleo instead.  Now we see articles of the dangers of those nasty substitutes.  I believe nothing is better than the real deal..

     The picture below is the skillets after being seasoned today. It took about three hours at 320 degrees.  Well worth the time because they actually work like those nasty teflon pans when you first buy them.  You know the ones, even the expensive ones that eventually start flaking.

So much for a promise!  Another recipe for tommorow ;)  I have to share what I found today it is just to delicious not to "pass it on"