I want to love my cast iron pan
nicsflyingcircus
Posts: 2,899 Member
But I don't! I have seasoned the damn thing multiple times, cooked so much bacon in it, etc, but nothing makes it close to non stick and it's just such a hassle to clean stuck food off of something you are not supposed to scrub with hot water and soap. I am pretty close to giving it up as a lost cause.
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I don't have that problem with mine.....what type grease did you season with and for how long, may I ask?0
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Lard, at 500, in the oven for an hour then left it to cool in the oven itself. It gave the pan a great, glossy black finish that seems like it shouldn't stick, but does. I tried other methods (thank you internet) like lower temps, but those just left the pan feeling tacky and sticky. When I first got the pan, I put it through 3-4 cycles of the seasoning, then cooked bacon. That was okay, some dry scrubbing got little bits of stuck bacon off. Hamburgers in the pan was a disaster (hence the re-seasoning cycle) and steak not much better. Today was bacon and eggs and I even dumped most of a tablespoon of bacon fat into the pan to liquefy before I even added the bacon. The bacon didn't stick, but the eggs, despite floating in a pool of bacon fat, stuck in places.0
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I feel you on this one. Mine is similar, and I always add fat to the pan first. Ive usually cook eggs in mine, so just a quick 2 minutes for sunny side up. I usually cook my food in it, scoop the eggs out and leave it in the oven for the next morning and dont bother cleaning it. Not much sticking with eggs, but if I put anything in there for more than a few minutes I get the dreaded stick too.
When food gets stuck, put water in your pan while still hot then put back on the stove. Bring it to boiling and gently scrape the stuck food off. Rinse, dry thoroughly and coat with oil. I refuse to cook with "non stick" coated pans and have a lot of sticking with stainless. Its worth it to me to keep the "non stick" poisons out of my food...so I just put up with the sticking.
Pan fried, skin on thighs on the stove top dont seem to stick badly, but bacon is a *kitten*!0 -
I usually have a tad of an issue with eggs in my newer pan, but I just keep on keeping on....it sounds like you're doing it right, though. I don't season mine upside down, but right side up....it sounds like you've done it correctly though...0
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Might be pan dependent? I use 2 cast iron skillets. One is completely nonstick and a pleasure to use. The other one (I know I'm playing favorites) has sticky spots. I don't treat one differently from the other.1
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Standsfast wrote: »Might be pan dependent? I use 2 cast iron skillets. One is completely nonstick and a pleasure to use. The other one (I know I'm playing favorites) has sticky spots. I don't treat one differently from the other.
I have the same thing. one is great. One, not so much, but I am working on it.
I do use soap and water on mine. Tried all the methods of seasoning and cleaning. Everything including coarse salt does work but soap and water is simpler. After, washing, (I have even been known to leave it soaking), I dry on the stove burner on high, and some oil, rub it around and then turn off the burner and let it sit while the heat cools. I do this every time I use them. Gets that glossy shine.
That being said, we do have a special non stick pan, (hidden in a fleece bag I made) called the "egg pan" and stored away from other pans. Fried eggs work well in the cast iron, but scrambled, better in the non stick. We don't use it for anything else except the occasional fried eggs when we have lots of guests. And guests don't get it to cook with at all nor do they clean it. I know that sounds over the top, but I was so tired of scratched pans having to be replaced. This is a family procedure. My brother keeps his "egg pan" out in his attached garage. You know you are a welcome guest when you are offered the 'egg pan' to use.4 -
dasher602014 wrote: »Standsfast wrote: »Might be pan dependent? I use 2 cast iron skillets. One is completely nonstick and a pleasure to use. The other one (I know I'm playing favorites) has sticky spots. I don't treat one differently from the other.
I have the same thing. one is great. One, not so much, but I am working on it.
I do use soap and water on mine. Tried all the methods of seasoning and cleaning. Everything including coarse salt does work but soap and water is simpler. After, washing, (I have even been known to leave it soaking), I dry on the stove burner on high, and some oil, rub it around and then turn off the burner and let it sit while the heat cools. I do this every time I use them. Gets that glossy shine.
That being said, we do have a special non stick pan, (hidden in a fleece bag I made) called the "egg pan" and stored away from other pans. Fried eggs work well in the cast iron, but scrambled, better in the non stick. We don't use it for anything else except the occasional fried eggs when we have lots of guests. And guests don't get it to cook with at all nor do they clean it. I know that sounds over the top, but I was so tired of scratched pans having to be replaced. This is a family procedure. My brother keeps his "egg pan" out in his attached garage. You know you are a welcome guest when you are offered the 'egg pan' to use.
I was much the same but when the kids wash and dry them on the stove, they forget them and they wound up ruined until I start all over with seasoning them...so I stopped with the soap and water. Only occasionally I'll let them sit in just plain water then I wipe em out good. If needed I'll scrape them then wipe them out but generally they are really easy to clean and most stuff does not stick. I also have an egg pan. It's small and meant for one egg at a time, maybe two if you don't mind em not so pretty. I don't cook eggs in anything else - even when I'm making eggs for all 4 of us. It's the only pan I can make an over easy egg in - which Rowdy loves. For our first year together I'd ask him what kind of eggs he wanted. He'd say "whatever" so I scrambled them. I noticed however that he always asked for over easy when we were out. "Duh!" I couldn't make an over easy egg to save my life (which he knew) then I got that little pan that is ONLY for eggs. The first time I put over easy down in front of him he chuckled and said "I though you couldn't make over easy" In my new pan I can! I become a little over the top if I see someone trying to put anything other than butter and eggs in that pan.2 -
Love cast iron! Never touch it with soap, just a scrub pad and some water. Heat and add a touch of oil before putting it away. Im sure not all cast iron pans are the same, i have Lodge and its great.3
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Okay, I'm gonna brag here...please forgive that.
I can cook perfect fried eggs or pancakes (Low carb, of course) with no sticking in both my stainless steel and my cast iron pans, and to be truthful, I prefer my stainless steel. Although, my currently most used are the ceramic non-stick pans.
Here is most likely the deal, you are cooking with your pan too hot or too cold. Food caramelizes at 320 degrees. If you try and move food after caramelization starts but before the rest has time to set, it's always going to stick. I would never try and cook bacon (cook on medium) and eggs (cook on low in plenty of butter) in the same pan and not expect the eggs to stick if the bacon were going to be done in any sort of a reasonable amount of time. The eggs are a much more tender/fragile food stuff than the bacon and requires a more gentle temperature. Another frequent culprit in sticking is putting things into the pan when it's still cold/heating up. This makes all the proteins shrink over a much longer period of time making them tougher and more sticky.
Hopefully something in here will help.7 -
Okay, I'm gonna brag here...please forgive that.
I can cook perfect fried eggs or pancakes (Low carb, of course) with no sticking in both my stainless steel and my cast iron pans, and to be truthful, I prefer my stainless steel. Although, my currently most used are the ceramic non-stick pans.
Here is most likely the deal, you are cooking with your pan too hot or too cold. Food caramelizes at 320 degrees. If you try and move food after caramelization starts but before the rest has time to set, it's always going to stick. I would never try and cook bacon (cook on medium) and eggs (cook on low in plenty of butter) in the same pan and not expect the eggs to stick if the bacon were going to be done in any sort of a reasonable amount of time. The eggs are a much more tender/fragile food stuff than the bacon and requires a more gentle temperature. Another frequent culprit in sticking is putting things into the pan when it's still cold/heating up. This makes all the proteins shrink over a much longer period of time making them tougher and more sticky.
Hopefully something in here will help.
from your fingers to my kids' eyes....How I wish they grasped this concept!2 -
No idea but I wanted to say that you can use hot soapy water as the fat has polymerized on the surface and will not get taken away by the soap. That may help with the clean up. My favourite thing to cook to add to the surface are chicken thighs in coconut oil...my pan just gets better and better. Is it perfectly non-stick? Not in the slightest. So there are some things I don't cook in there and still prefer a non-stick pan - like if I want to keep the yolks intact on my eggs etc.
The other thing with the pans is that can be pretty temperamental about temperature so maybe play around a bit with how hot your pan is. I find I have to turn it down a lot once it heats up.1 -
Okay, I'm gonna brag here...please forgive that.
I can cook perfect fried eggs or pancakes (Low carb, of course) with no sticking in both my stainless steel and my cast iron pans, and to be truthful, I prefer my stainless steel. Although, my currently most used are the ceramic non-stick pans.
Here is most likely the deal, you are cooking with your pan too hot or too cold. Food caramelizes at 320 degrees. If you try and move food after caramelization starts but before the rest has time to set, it's always going to stick. I would never try and cook bacon (cook on medium) and eggs (cook on low in plenty of butter) in the same pan and not expect the eggs to stick if the bacon were going to be done in any sort of a reasonable amount of time. The eggs are a much more tender/fragile food stuff than the bacon and requires a more gentle temperature. Another frequent culprit in sticking is putting things into the pan when it's still cold/heating up. This makes all the proteins shrink over a much longer period of time making them tougher and more sticky.
Hopefully something in here will help.
Thank you! Very helpful indeed. Love my cast iron but hadn't really thought this through.2 -
Okay, I'm gonna brag here...please forgive that.
I can cook perfect fried eggs or pancakes (Low carb, of course) with no sticking in both my stainless steel and my cast iron pans, and to be truthful, I prefer my stainless steel. Although, my currently most used are the ceramic non-stick pans.
Here is most likely the deal, you are cooking with your pan too hot or too cold. Food caramelizes at 320 degrees. If you try and move food after caramelization starts but before the rest has time to set, it's always going to stick. I would never try and cook bacon (cook on medium) and eggs (cook on low in plenty of butter) in the same pan and not expect the eggs to stick if the bacon were going to be done in any sort of a reasonable amount of time. The eggs are a much more tender/fragile food stuff than the bacon and requires a more gentle temperature. Another frequent culprit in sticking is putting things into the pan when it's still cold/heating up. This makes all the proteins shrink over a much longer period of time making them tougher and more sticky.
Hopefully something in here will help.
I don't cook the bacon and eggs together. I cook the bacon on medium heat (5-6), then take the pan off the heat for about 5 minutes, then cook the eggs over lower heat (3ish). As I said, my eggs were practically floating in bacon fat and still stuck.
I also never out anything in the pan until it's heated up to proper temp.
I do know how to cook. I make beautiful meat on my infrared grill with cast iron grates (including great criss-cross in grill marks and no sticking), I have absolutely no trouble searing things over medium to medium-high heat with my ceramic coated pans. I know to place meat and not move it to get an appropriate sear.
My cast-iron pan makes a great paper-weight0 -
@nicsflyingcircus One last thought for you then, my eggs are much more likely to stick if I use either coconut oil or bacon fat (no matter how much is in the pan, floating as you say), but if I use butter they're fine.
I never intended to imply you couldn't cook, and I'm sorry if it came off that way.2 -
I use my ci pan pretty much everyday for my bacon and eggs. Ive been using it for years and it is a work horse but there's always some sticking with eggs. My best results are making fried eggs in a good amount of butter. I cover the pan with a sheet of tin foil so that the eggs sort of Cook from the top and bottom. That way I don't have to flip them. I can then generally coax them out of the pan without breaking and minimal sticking. However, if I have to cook bacon first then I generally will have scrambled and I just scrap up the bacon bits with the eggs. No matter what some scrambled egg is be left in the pan but it's minimal.
For cleaning, I almost never use soap. Just hot water and a good scrapping brush/pad. I thoroughly dry and then oil it before putting away. Good luck!2 -
Always in butter for my egg pan.... I'm weird that way1
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@nicsflyingcircus One last thought for you then, my eggs are much more likely to stick if I use either coconut oil or bacon fat (no matter how much is in the pan, floating as you say), but if I use butter they're fine.
I never intended to imply you couldn't cook, and I'm sorry if it came off that way.
My pan is frustrating me, lol! I really wanted to love it but it is honestly so much easier to just slap some tinfoil in a sheet tray, bake my bacon, then do my eggs in butter or bacon fat in the ceramic pan. Ditto steak/hamburger. It's less work to turn on the grill and let it preheat and all that, than to use my cast iron skillet.1 -
I never use cast iron for eggs, I only use it for higher heat items like bacon and steak. I use ceramic pans for eggs, never an issue with sticking.0
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nicsflyingcircus wrote: »
My pan is frustrating me, lol! I really wanted to love it but it is honestly so much easier to just slap some tinfoil in a sheet tray, bake my bacon, then do my eggs in butter or bacon fat in the ceramic pan. Ditto steak/hamburger. It's less work to turn on the grill and let it preheat and all that, than to use my cast iron skillet.
Why anyone would want to cook bacon in a frying pan is beyond me. You clearly have more tenacity, patience, and constitution than I... Bacon on the stove bites....Parchment on your baking tray....now that's the ticket! I cook two pans at a time at 400 degrees. 20 minutes, then rotate the pans then about another 15 or so minutes (I use thick cut bacon). That gets it to the point where when I stick it in the fridge for the week about 20 seconds in the microwave crisps it right up. Bacon on the stove top seems......futile to me :-) So messy and takes too long and it NEVER cooks evenly. Cook up a huge batch at once in your oven....yep that's the way to go! Bacon keeps forever in the fridge in a container with a lid.
As for the burgers and steaks - I also agree they are so much better on the grill. I use cast iron for eggs (but only my special little egg pan), saute of veggies, making gravy (low carb, I promise), and making sausage, skillet steaks, deer etc.0 -
RowdysLady wrote: »nicsflyingcircus wrote: »
My pan is frustrating me, lol! I really wanted to love it but it is honestly so much easier to just slap some tinfoil in a sheet tray, bake my bacon, then do my eggs in butter or bacon fat in the ceramic pan. Ditto steak/hamburger. It's less work to turn on the grill and let it preheat and all that, than to use my cast iron skillet.
Why anyone would want to cook bacon in a frying pan is beyond me. You clearly have more tenacity, patience, and constitution than I... Bacon on the stove bites....Parchment on your baking tray....now that's the ticket! I cook two pans at a time at 400 degrees. 20 minutes, then rotate the pans then about another 15 or so minutes (I use thick cut bacon). That gets it to the point where when I stick it in the fridge for the week about 20 seconds in the microwave crisps it right up. Bacon on the stove top seems......futile to me :-) So messy and takes too long and it NEVER cooks evenly. Cook up a huge batch at once in your oven....yep that's the way to go! Bacon keeps forever in the fridge in a container with a lid.
As for the burgers and steaks - I also agree they are so much better on the grill. I use cast iron for eggs (but only my special little egg pan), saute of veggies, making gravy (low carb, I promise), and making sausage, skillet steaks, deer etc.
Yeah, I generally do bacon in the oven, but I am still trying to get my pan greased up good... So bacon.
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I've eaten baked bacon. Perhaps the person baking it didn't do it right. Seemed to have a tough texture to me. I might eat bacon a couple times a week but enjoy frying it as part of the routine-the joy of cooking bacon. I also like wiping the splatter off the stove.
Crazy, I know. 3 -
Wow.... I use my cast iron pans so much that they never leave my stove top. I seasoned them initially in the oven with coconut oil years ago.
They have remained non stick, much more non stick than my ceramic non stick pans. If I cook bacon in them, I don't bother to clean them at all, just leave a bit of bacon fat in them, which helps cook the next dish. Eggs cooked in the bacon grease left in the pan are usually done perfectly and do not stick. The odd time they stick a bit, but rarely.
If I cook something like pork chops, hamburgers, or steak, I wash the pan after use. I never submerge them in water and never use soap on them, just run hot water over them while tilted in the sink, and scrub them with a brush to get stuck bits off. Sometimes s light scrubbing is all that is needed. I dry them with paper towels.
I always make sure the pan is completely dry by putting them back on the stove and turning it on low for a while. I then apply coconut oil to the whole inside surface and wipe excess off with a paper towel. They are always ready to use.
Hope this helps. If the pans are not behaving, I would re season and start again.3 -
My grandmother and mother always season new cast iron by cooking cornbread a few times. Heat a thin layer of oil in the pan in the oven, pour in batter, then bake. The cornbread the first couple of times will stick, but the pan gets seasoned as it cooks.1
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