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I few years ago my family went with some friends to a Dutch Oven Gathering (DOG for short). Basically a pot luck where everyone makes the food on site, and of course, in dutch ovens. It was fun and my friend bought me a dutch oven to get me further interested.
It didn't work. I have never been big on cooking and I think we used it twice...in the oven and both times I dutifully scrubbed it out with soap and water (the second time I am sure I let it soak in the sink for a bit). I decided that it was too much work to clean and put it in the garage and all but forgot about it.
Fast forward to now. The little part of my brain that remembers things that might be useful someday decided that, since we are planning our first family camping trip that dutch oven might be useful. So, I do something smart for a change. Research. I know that you should season cast iron but I didn't really know what that meant.
At this point I would like to say that the internet in general can be a wonderful thing. I found out why it is not just a good idea but an absolute necessity to season cast iron. I found out what is does and a ton of different ways to do it. Unfortunately most of the ways to do it, while they all followed the same general guidelines, were different. Different oil, different temperatures and slightly different processes. And none of them really said why you do it this way. Not in a way that made me feel confident in what they were saying. But I figured that all of these processed worked or the people wouldn't be using them. After all, isn't the non-stick coating the final goal? Who cares how you get there right?
Now, through all this research and discovery, my dutch oven was safely (about the only smart thing that I did before was to let it completely dry before putting it away) in its metal box in the garage. I go out to the garage, grab the metal box and lug it into the house. On the way inside, I am thinking that this thing is so heavy I don't know if I am going to use it at all. I put it on the table and open the box to discover not only my dutch oven, but a skillet and frying pan as well. :D Apparently I have better friends than I thought.
Armed with my new knowledge (and a great set of cast iron) I set out to season my cookware. I used vegetable oil and heated it in the oven. I also failed. They came out blotchy and sticky. I failed to scrub off the factory coating, used too much oil (I think) and didn't cook it long enough (I think). Obviously some more research was in order.
Going back to the internet I found this...http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/20...ing-cast-iron/. It is a fascinating read on this ladies own adventure in cast iron and something I think is worth sharing. She seems to know what she is talking about and everything that she says makes sense. Well, at least to me it does.
Anyway, I am now starting from scratch. I don't have a self cleaning oven so I used some oven cleaner. In fact I JUST used the oven cleaner. I put some cardboard down outside and sprayed the cookware with the oven cleaner about 2 hours ago and just finished cleaning it off. They are all a fabulous shade of grey with the exception of a couple of spots on the skillet. (I may hit that one again tomorrow)
I am excited to season this stuff and hope I can get to it tomorrow. I will let you all know how it turns out. Hopefully I don't screw it up again.
It didn't work. I have never been big on cooking and I think we used it twice...in the oven and both times I dutifully scrubbed it out with soap and water (the second time I am sure I let it soak in the sink for a bit). I decided that it was too much work to clean and put it in the garage and all but forgot about it.
Fast forward to now. The little part of my brain that remembers things that might be useful someday decided that, since we are planning our first family camping trip that dutch oven might be useful. So, I do something smart for a change. Research. I know that you should season cast iron but I didn't really know what that meant.
At this point I would like to say that the internet in general can be a wonderful thing. I found out why it is not just a good idea but an absolute necessity to season cast iron. I found out what is does and a ton of different ways to do it. Unfortunately most of the ways to do it, while they all followed the same general guidelines, were different. Different oil, different temperatures and slightly different processes. And none of them really said why you do it this way. Not in a way that made me feel confident in what they were saying. But I figured that all of these processed worked or the people wouldn't be using them. After all, isn't the non-stick coating the final goal? Who cares how you get there right?
Now, through all this research and discovery, my dutch oven was safely (about the only smart thing that I did before was to let it completely dry before putting it away) in its metal box in the garage. I go out to the garage, grab the metal box and lug it into the house. On the way inside, I am thinking that this thing is so heavy I don't know if I am going to use it at all. I put it on the table and open the box to discover not only my dutch oven, but a skillet and frying pan as well. :D Apparently I have better friends than I thought.
Armed with my new knowledge (and a great set of cast iron) I set out to season my cookware. I used vegetable oil and heated it in the oven. I also failed. They came out blotchy and sticky. I failed to scrub off the factory coating, used too much oil (I think) and didn't cook it long enough (I think). Obviously some more research was in order.
Going back to the internet I found this...http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/20...ing-cast-iron/. It is a fascinating read on this ladies own adventure in cast iron and something I think is worth sharing. She seems to know what she is talking about and everything that she says makes sense. Well, at least to me it does.
Anyway, I am now starting from scratch. I don't have a self cleaning oven so I used some oven cleaner. In fact I JUST used the oven cleaner. I put some cardboard down outside and sprayed the cookware with the oven cleaner about 2 hours ago and just finished cleaning it off. They are all a fabulous shade of grey with the exception of a couple of spots on the skillet. (I may hit that one again tomorrow)
I am excited to season this stuff and hope I can get to it tomorrow. I will let you all know how it turns out. Hopefully I don't screw it up again.
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