Cooking tip

How to Season and Care for Your Cast Iron Cookware

You have a skillet that came from your mom
and before that your grandma
and has now fallen into your hands. So how do you take care of it
use it
clean it
and get the best taste possible from it? I hope to answer some of those questions in this article.

I love my cast iron skillets
passed down from my Mom; I remember her using them to make delicious fried chicken dinners
cornbread to go with our Great Northern beans and the best popcorn. The only thing I didn’t remember is just what she did to keep those skillets nice. I do remember her drying them slowly on the stove and then coating them with some sort of grease. Now we would use a thin coat of cooking oil or a pan spray.

That is called seasoning and is important in the care and use of cast iron to prevent rust and create a natural non-stick cooking surface. Even if your inherited skillet or Dutch oven has been neglected and rusty
you can restore it by seasoning it again.

The more you use your cast iron the better seasoned it becomes. A black shiny skillet is a well-seasoned utensil and the one that will give the best flavor. Seasoning is done both for the inside and the outside of your cast iron
and even the lid must be seasoned. Here’s a hint to make your cast iron shiny again is to fry bacon and similar fatty meats. It will help it become seasoned faster and give you that shiny black non-stick interior you are working for.

Here are the steps to seasoning your cast iron utensils.

1. First
wash with hot
soapy water and stiff brush.
2. Rinse and dry
3. Apply a thin coat of shortening both inside and out
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line oven rack with foil to catch drips
5. Put cookware upside down on the upper rack of your oven and bake for one hour.
6. Let the cookware cool before taking it out of the oven.
7. Store it in a cool
dry place and allow air to circulate around it
8. Never wash in a dishwasher.

After using your cast iron
rinse with hot water and no soap. Dry it thoroughly and coat it with a think coat of cooking oil
shortening or pan spray.