- So there's a rumor going around town
that some of you are scared of cast iron pans.
Is this true?
I don't know why y'all are afraid of it,
but I'm here today to show you
that you don't have to be afraid of it.
I'm gonna show you how you cook in it.
I'm gonna show you how you clean it.
I'm gonna show you how to take care of it
and I'm gonna show you how to season it.
But really, it's much easier than you think
to own and take care of a cast iron pan.
So why do I love this cast iron pan so much?
Because it's affordable,
it can last you lifetimes if you take care of it,
and you can practically cook anything in it.
For someone who doesn't like specialized gadgets
or unitaskers, the cast iron pan is one
of the most intensely hardworking work courses
in the kitchen.
(rhythmic banging)
That's a nice tune.
The cast iron pan is really just one solid piece of metal,
meaning it's very, very durable.
If you do end up shattering it
or blasting a bullet through it, it might shatter.
But otherwise, in a normal kitchen circumstance,
it probably will not break.
Unlike non-stick pans, you can transfer the cast iron
from stove to oven in one fell swoop,
and it's totally food safe.
While cast iron is not great at conducting heat evenly,
it retains heat super well.
Which means that nice golden bottom is yours to have.
Cast iron also has this intimidation factor
where you're always afraid that your food is gonna get stuck
to it when you cook in it.
Unlike non-stick pans, cast iron pans don't have a coating
that ensures a clean release.
All that means is it depends on the quality
of your seasoning and the amount of fat
that you're using in your cooking
to let that food slide right out of the pan.
Please don't be stingy
when you're cooking in your cast iron with your fats.
Do you always have trouble flipping
that pancake upside down,
getting both sides nice and golden brown?
No more.
Today is the day we make some
dank pancakes in our cast iron pan.
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Looks about right
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(pan sizzling)
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Smells like the best kind of pancakes.
It's so good, you can only whisper.
If your pan isn't even too gunky
by the end of your cooking session
and you're about to cook another thing,
you don't even need to wash it.
Take a paper towel,
wipe it out, good to go.
I don't like to cook a lot of meat
but I do like to roast veggies from time to time
and I sometimes like to start
off my veggies on the stove and transfer them
into the oven for a nice tender creamy finish.
One of my favorite things to make in the cast iron pan,
potatoes.
Because it is one solid piece of metal
and it's great at retaining heat, you have to be careful.
Use a towel when you're handling your pan
so that you don't burn your hands.
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Once your oven is preheated
and your potatoes are nice and golden,
go ahead and just transfer them to the oven.
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Delicious but hot.
If you're dropping your stuff
before the pan is completely hot,
it might have a slightly elevated risk of being sticky.
So my best bet is just to let the pan heat up
completely first.
That being said, when you have enough oil in your pan
it should release just fine.
One advice I have for you when cooking
with cast iron on the stove top
is to move your pan around on your fire a little bit.
To ensure even heating, move your pan around
on the heat source so that every bit of that pan
is getting nice amounts of heat applied.
Is that non-stick enough for ya?
Perfect eggs, every time.
You've got the crispy, crispy bottoms
and you got the nice runny yolks.
I don't know if you've heard the same rumors as I have
but some people think you can't cook anything acidic
in cast iron, including tomatoes, tomato sauce
and I'm here to tell you today that ain't true.
The belief is that because of the increased acidity
in tomatoes they wear away at the cast iron
and they can corrode them or the metallic tastes
will leach into your food.
Which in my experience has not been true.
But of course, if you cook tomatoes
for an hour plus in cast iron, I can't vouch for that.
I think at half an hour, 45 minutes, even an hour
it should be totally okay.
Unlike non-stick you can use wooden utensils,
you can use silicone spatulas,
you can use metal on cast iron.
They won't scratch unless you're intentionally
chipping away your pan, which please don't do.
But metal is perfectly safe on cast iron pans.
I truly have no idea what I'm making there,
but you get my point.
You know, food.
I threw in a couple of eggs in there just to show you
what happens when your food does indeed get stuck
to the cast iron pan.
Stickage usually happens when you have two things going on
probably at the same time.
One, you didn't use enough fat to lubricate that pan
and create that nice little barrier.
And two, you were cooking something that has a lot
of protein and moisture in it.
Whatever you do do not continuously shovel at it,
hoping that it releases while your heat is still on.
As soon as you see stickage starting to happen,
turn your heat off
and if you can, cover your pan
so that you're trapping all the moisture
that is still in your batch of food.
Let it rest for a couple of minutes
and over time that moisture will kind of just rain down
to the bottom of the pan.
And then after a few minutes unlid,
give it a nice gentle scrape with a wooden spoon
and see if it comes off.
Again, I'm not quite sure what I made here
but it looks pretty edible guys.
And just in case, you're wondering
if there's a taste of cast iron in here.
No cast iron here, but it does taste damn delicious.
Once you got a dirty pan, how do you clean it?
In most cases, I like to go in with really hot tap water
and a scrubby, not even soap.
Soap is unnecessary unless you have extreme grime in there.
You're really, really disgusting and worn out scrubby
on that really old sponge is actually perfect
for cleaning cast irons,
because this has a little bit of abrasiveness,
but not too much.
There's still a little bit of residue,
so we'll put on a little bit of salt
and go in with our toothbrush.
Stiff toothbrushes are fantastic for scrubbing
at those hard to reach spots
and it really gives you some leverage
to really work in those little stickies
that just refuse to come off.
Because toothbrushes are still made for human teeth,
they probably won't be harsh enough to ruin your seasoning.
Soap will not strip off your seasoning
but just don't use any harsh scrubbies
to really get at those corners and stickies.
Another commonly asked question is,
can I let my cast iron pans soak?
My answer is yes, but not for too long.
Soaking does great wonders for lifting food particles off.
So, if that means you have to scrub it less later,
than yes let it soak.
I like to do maybe a 10 to 15 minutes soak, max.
Rinse it off in nice hot water
and shake off all of your moisture and you're done, right?
Wrong.
Because cast iron is porous and it is basically just metal,
it can rust.
To ensure that your cast iron is actually dry
and that it does not rust while you store it
you got to put it on your stove top and heat it off.
I like to do a nice, solid, medium high heat.
and I'm going to look for wisps of smoke from that pan.
Initially the water droplets will evaporate and sizzle away
but you really want to get that pan hot enough
that you can start to smell the metal just a little bit.
I don't know about you
but that seems like a pretty manageable cleanup routine
to me.
At this stage, you can take it one step further
and you can apply a very thin layer of oil on there
while the pan is still hot.
One thing to note here is you don't want a whole lot of oil,
you actually just want the barest amount of oil on there
and you want to buff it out with a nice little paper towel.
Really go ahead and spread it all over the pan
and if you really want to be a good cast iron pan owner,
spread it on the under side too.
As you can see,
I didn't spread it on the under side and it is rusty.
But it's okay, because cooking on that side, guys.
You want to be working this in
so that it doesn't even look oily.
It just looks like a very nice matte sheen.
A lot of people ask me what brand of cast iron to get
and it really doesn't matter, guys.
I don't even know what brand I have here.
It just says Taiwan on the bottom
and it truly has no other insignia.
Beats me.
Sexy, huh?
If you ever see that your pan did rust while in storage,
don't freak out it is fine, it's easy to take care of.
As you can see, I just buffed it with a paper towel
and most of the rust is pretty much gone now.
If your rust happens inside your pot,
just be sure that you're rinsing it all out
and you're giving it a nice scrub
so that you remove all of the rust first
before proceeding on to oiling and seasoning.
No, it does not mean salting it
and peppering it and putting delicious spices in it.
What it refers to is this nice thin layer of oil
that we just applied.
To grow your seasoning
or to maintain your seasoning on your pan,
you basically have to apply heat to it
so that the oil you put on there hits its smoking point
and polymerizes.
That means that essentially your oil is being cooked
to such a high temperature that it turns into a thin layer
of plastic-y coating.
In essence, you're making your own non-stick pan.
So it's a seasoning process.
Some cooks believe that it's a really good idea
that when you first get your cast iron pan
that you season it well
because while most pans come pre-seasoned,
it's a very loose layer of commercial seasoning.
And if you really want to give your pan that nice TLC,
you've got to do it yourself.
Do you have to season your pan every time you cook?
Absolutely not.
That last step of oiling it, I don't even do that
maybe every month.
I just did it for you guys, to show you guys.
I'm not a good cast iron mother.
But as you can see,
even with plenty of abuse it's still fine, guys.
What you really don't want to do
is put too much oil on there,
because what happens is this.
This happens when you put too much oil on.
We got too greedy with the seasoning
and we went on really thick with the oils
and then when we heated it up in the oven,
it started flaking.
Why?
Because that thick layer of oil turned in
to that plastic polymerize state and started flaking.
It wasn't just a nice baked in layer,
it basically sat on top of the pan and as you cook with it
it's very fragile and it will start flaking.
So don't be greedy, just go light.
If you want to season your pan,
you can do so by applying that layer of oil
like we just did, buffing it in
and then turning your oven up to 475, 500 degrees.
Really hot, sliding your pan in there
and letting it bake for about an hour.
After that hour is up, I recommend you turn off the oven
and leave the pan in there to cool
with the oven as it cools.
That way, you're using every last bit of energy
to make sure that seasoning is nice and baked in.
I won't be showing you that process today
because one, my pan is pretty good looking, I would say.
And two, because I have a cat named Fred
who is unfortunately asthmatic.
So that is something to note
that when you season your cast iron pan in the oven
it will create a very smoky atmosphere
in your kitchen or house.
This is because the whole point of seasoning
is to let that oil hit pass its smoking point
so that it can polymerize.
If you don't hit past that smoking point,
it's not turning into that layer
of coating, AKA seasoning.
Be prepared and keep your kitchen very well ventilated
and if you have people or animals who suffer from asthma
just take dear note of that.
Please don't stress about getting that nice,
perfect, magazine ready seasoning on your cast iron pan
because seasoning will come with time.
Every time you cook in your pan,
that's a layer of seasoning.
You don't need to clean that much, guys.
To me, the cast iron pan is amazing
and it's super easy to take care of.
It's really not high maintenance at all.
I hope you found this video helpful and useful
and I want you to let me know what other explainers
would you like to see.
I'm open to talking about everything