- [Narrator] We use cast iron skillets all the time
in the Tasty Kitchen for a million different reasons.
They're virtually indestructible, they last forever,
and unlike a lot of things you're gonna have in the kitchen,
they actually tend to get better with age.
People are often a little bit intimidated by cast iron,
thinking it's, you know, very hard to deal with
or hard to clean.
It's actually really easy,
you just have to know what you're looking for.
So, seasoning is a process you want to go through
even if it's new or you have an old cast iron that
was passed down to you.
Often when you have a new cast iron and there's been
any water that's left on,
they're really susceptible to rust.
We're gonna help you figure out how to prevent that from
happening and how to clean that off.
So we're gonna start by getting some steel wool.
Whether it's knew or has a bunch or rust on it,
we're just gonna scrub it down with steel wool
with a mild dish soap and just get it down to its
kind of base layer.
The way that cast irons are made,
it's all kinda one piece and you can't just season
the part that you cook with.
You want to season the entire thing.
While we're here we're just gonna keep scrubbing along
all of the sides, on the back of it, turn it over,
get the handle.
Once you're happy that all the rust and or gunk off there,
you can go give it a rinse under hot water.
And either use one of those non-abrasive scouring pads
or the tough side of a sponge.
Just do another quick go around,
making sure you got every nook and cranny.
A good rule to remember whenever you're dealing with cast
iron is water will make it rust.
We always want to get it as dry as possible before we store
or move onto the next step.
So because of that, we're gonna dry it off with a towel
and then you're gonna put it onto your stove
and turn it on.
And let all of that excess water, any extra moisture,
boil off.
Once you're happy your skillet is bone dry,
we're gonna take it off the heat and start our seasoning
process with a thin layer of oil.
The new standard is that flax seed oil is the best oil
for the job.
It actually drys the hardest and creates the best non-stick,
longest lasting seasoning.
The only downfall is it is pretty expensive
and if you don't want to spend that much money
or frankly, you just don't have it in your pantry,
canola oil will work just fine.
A little background on your skillet.
The surface is actually porous,
which just means there's kind of small holes or pores even
that we kinda want to fill up to make a nice,
smooth cooking surface.
So once we have this thin layer of oil all over the skillet,
we're actually gonna do our best to wipe it all off.
There's enough oil that has soaked into those open pores.
So take the clean side of your paper towel
and rub off as much of the oil as you can.
One of the biggest problems people have is they don't
wipe off enough oil and they have too thick of a layer,
and then it comes out of the oven very sticky still
and not giving them the result that they want.
So you're gonna put your cast iron in your oven
on the highest temperature it can go,
between 450 and 500 degrees.
So this process is gonna take about an hour.
The reason we need our oven so high is that we actually
want to take the oil past its smoking point so that the oil
actually starts to breakdown and bond with the cast iron.
So if you've ever taken our your skillet and it's still
kind of brown and sticky,
it's probably because your oven wasn't hot enough.
So after an hour, you can turn off your oven and let it cool
in there.
The result is a hard glassy layer that we're looking for
that helps make our cast iron non-stick.
So, intro to cooking with cast iron.
You actually really do have to pre-heat it.
It doesn't necessarily heat evenly,
but it keeps the heat really well.
So just take your time, heat it on a low to medium heat.
This may take five to ten minutes.
Because cast iron is such a great conductor of heat,
if you actually just carefully hover your hand over
the bottom of the skillet,
you can feel when the pan's ready to go.
A lot of people are confused.
You know, they did all the seasoning
and their food is sticking to the pan.
Usually that's because they're putting cold food
in a cold cast iron pan.
One reason to get a cast iron skillet really is to sear
things like meat.
So another things that people are maybe confused about
when they're cooking with a cast iron is they tend to wanna
just move the food around a lot.
And actually what we're trying to do here is build up
a nice caramelized crust.
So when you put any meat in your hot skillet,
just leave it.
Let it cook.
When you see the kinda brown crust forming on the outside,
that's when you know it's ready to flip.
So if you're trying to lift up your steak and it just will
not give, it's probably just not ready yet.
The meat will self release when the crust has formed.
Why we love using cast iron skillet for Tasty too
is because you can start something on the stove
and finish it in the oven.
So you oven here that you can't cook acidic foods
in a cast iron skillets.
However, if you have a good layer of seasoning on there,
that's totally fine.
You don't want to do a ton of, you know,
a big tomato sauce or a bunch of wine or vinegar,
but a little bit's not really gonna kill your seasoning.
Don't be afraid to roast things like tomatoes
in your cast iron skillet.
The great thing about being able to cook with something
on the stove top and finish it in the oven
is you just have a lot more control.
You can get a nice layer of caramelization from a high heat
on the stove and then finish something cooking in the oven
on a much gentler, radiant heat.
So when you're cleaning your cast iron,
you want to hit a sweet spot.
If it's cooled down too much,
the food will adhere and really stick to the pan.
And if it's too hot and you put it under cold water,
you can risk it cracking.
So you want to wash the pan pretty soon after you use it.
The most gentle way to clean your skillet is with hot water
and salt and a non-metal scouring pad
or the rough side of your sponge.
The salt works as an abrasive and helps to scrub off
any food that's on there without damaging
the seasoning at all.
Once you're happy that your pan is clean,
give it another towel dry and then let it completely dry off
either on the stove or in a warm oven just to make sure
there's no lingering moisture.
And that's gonna protect it from rusting in the future.
So last thing, we're gonna put a protective layer of oil
on the skillet before we store it.
Carefully with a paper towel,
rub that all along the inside.
Turn up the heat until the oil is smoking,
then turn it off and let it cool on the stove.
The reason why we want to take up to the smoking point
is so that the oil doesn't turn rancid.
Cast iron skillets may seem like a lot of work
but just follow these simple rules of seasoning and cleaning
and these pans will last you a lifetime.
It's like loving a good woman.
The more you give, the more you get back.
(laughing)