Cast Iron, Eggs and Sticking

[Four-Sixty]

Friends,

Is there a trick to making scrambled eggs, or eggs in general, in your iron skillet and keeping them from sticking?

I have three iron skillets that I use fairly often. I know what seasoning is. I can get them to where they look like a wet glass inside. However, it seems that whenever I make eggs they stick. They stick, unless, I literally float the eggs on about 2 tablespoons of butter.

Is there some trick I'm missing? Is my skillet too hot?

We have a older stove with cast iron plate type burners. They get very hot, very fast.

Any suggestions?

Wilco, what do you say buddy?

Thanks,

Chris

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Friends,

They stick, unless, I literally float the eggs on about 2 tablespoons of butter.

Chris

Isn't that how eggs are supposed to be cooked? Maybe I'm doing it wrong :mrgreen:

[EMC45]

Chris.......Tons of butter. Let the butter sizzle and brown a bit and then crack the eggs.

[MT Gianni]

Dedicate one of them just for eggs. make sure that it is never washed just wiped clean. Start with a small amount of oil or butter in the bottom. I try to get the smallest pan I can cook the number of eggs I want in it. This is currently a 7" import 3 for $15 from Harbor Freight. I cannot imagine that your could be any more flawed than this one is. I get it seasoned with the oil and or baacon strips cut in half. I get the oil hot then cook the eggs slowly. With a nat gas range and the burner numbers running 1-6 I get it hot on 5 then cut my heat to 3 and cook the eggs. Electric may not have the reactive time so it will stay hot longer. I do all I can not to cook with electricity and cannot help you there but I think this is a temperature issue rather than a seasoning issue.

[Blacksmith]

I have a special skillet for eggs which I cook every day (over easy with broken yolk) I spray the pan with cooking oil cook the egg and wipe it out. Haven't had one stick in years.

[**oneshot**]

I have a cast iron pan for camping. I get the pan really hot over the flames, pull off the flames add butter and put the eggs in. They cook without sticking.

[Firebricker]

Lower heat use oil or crisco and I think its best to mix your eggs in a bowl first with a little milk and lot of pepper. The only other suggestion is to keep them moving don't let them sit like an omelet. FB

[Love Life]

Float them bad boys on some bacon grease. That is the only advice I can offer at this time.

[FISH4BUGS]

I cook 6 eggs every day for breakfast (for two). butter is key....melt it, crack the eggs in, mix 'em up, and keep them moving. I use a spatula to keep turning them over and over and over. Low heat. Done in a cast iron pan that gets cleaned and oiled every use. I use olive oil.

[sqlbullet]

The real trick, I have found, has been mentioned here. Dedicated skillet for eggs. I have about 8 skillets at home as well as a round flat-iron. The only thing that ever gets cooked on that flat iron is eggs, crepes and tortillas. Eggs never stick to it.

The other skillets all do a variety of cooking jobs, and all of them will stick eggs every time, despite being well seasoned.

[10x]

For cast iron.
Dedicate a skillet to eggs, If you chose to wash it, wash with hot water only, no soap.
Season with a high temperature oil but do not get the pan to smoke when seasoning.
Use a high temperature oil to cook the eggs.
Make sure the pan is hotter than 212F when you put the eggs in but too much hotter.
The oil serves as a barrier between the eggs and the pan. Too much heat will cause the oil to get "thin" over the metal and the eggs will stick to the metal there.
When you are done the pan should wipe clean with a paper towel and a few drops of oil. Then wipe out the oil with a dry paper towel. usually you will not need to wash it.
Do not leave the pan with a visible layer of oil, and never overheat the pan, even when seasoning it.

[markinalpine]

Pre heat the pan, but don't get it too hot*. Add the oil or grease or butter just before you add the eggs. I only have one small pan (8") that I use frequently, and cook everything suitable in it. I just wipe it out after cooking with a slightly damp sponge after it has cooled down a bit.
* I've found by experimenting that setting the gas burner on my range to the lowest setting that will stay lit and pre heating the pan for about 15 minutes with the lid on works the best for me, and I use soy oil that I add just before the eggs, swirl the oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and just turn up the heat a little. For an over medium egg, I cook it 1.5 to 2 minutes then flip it for another .5 min with the burner off.
Mark :coffee:

[Tom W.]

I have an electric stove. I also have a small Lodge pan that I use for scrambled eggs, or eggs in general. I use olive oil mostly. Let the pan get hot on medium high heat, while stirring your egg concotion in a seperate bowl. When the pan gets hot, lower the heat, dump the eggs and commence to stirring with a fork, keeping the eggs moving. By the time you turn the heat off and while you're still stirring, the eggs will be done.And they won't stick. :popcorn:

[runfiverun]

if you cook eggs in my pancake pan,or use my pancake spatula,,,,, there will be consequences.
float the eggs on some oil,my mom always flipped some oil on the eggs to help cook the top.

[WILCO]

Any suggestions?

Wilco, what do you say buddy?

Thanks,

Chris

Hey Chris! Thanks for asking for my two cents.

The best advice I can give is the easiest to do! Use a no stick cooking spray after the skillet is hot. It won't take much and remember not to spray into the flames of the burner. Ask me how I know. :shock:

P.S. I've used the Aldi brand of Canola non-stick cooking spray with much success.

[MtGun44]

Don't overwash the skillet, wipe out and rinse well then wipe with a soapy sponge a bit, rinse and dry.

You have to build up a layer of "seasoning" (carbon and oil burned onto the skillet surface) and DON'T
clean it off. Really good seasoning takes weeks or months of use to build up.

Bill

[RED333]

I can count on one hand the number on pans we have that are not cast iron.
Count the cast iron you will need at least 10 people and use all the fingers both hands on them.
Get it to hot first, (electric or gas), turn back to less than half heat have the eggs
or what ever ready).
We use lard, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon is enough.
Cast iron is all we cook in, PERIOD, yall that are using it to make ingots are
just wrong.:confused:

[Hamish]

Float them bad boys on some bacon grease. That is the only advice I can offer at this time.

This is the only reply worth looking at. Anything else is just wrong. Use any technique you like to move them around, dedicate one pan if you wish, but my word, stop screwing around, be a man, and get the bacon out!! @(;^]#>:::

[L1A1Rocker]

Cast iron skillets can be very slick and never have a sticking problem, if they've been properly seasoned. Once seasoned they are not to be washed in the conventional sense - EVER. Do a google search on seasoning cast iron - lots of info out there on it.

[Love Life]

It is hard for me to enjoy eggs that have not been cooked with bacon grease. I have a fat drippings jar that I collect all bacon grease in and keep in the fridge. When it is time to cook eggs, pancakes, or cornbread cakes, the grease comes out of the fridge.

For the eggs I spoon a medium sized blob into the pan while on low to medium heat. Just enough to coat the bottom of the pan with a slight "run" if the pan is tilted. Once hot enough dump in the eggs and cook as you please. My eggs never stick no matter how you cook them.

For my pancakes or cornbread cakes I spoon in a largish blob of bacon grease. Allow to melt, heat up, and coat the bottom of the pan. Once hot spoon in batter, Gives pancakes a great flavor with a wonderful texture.

I wash my cast iron skillet after every use with dawn dish soap and hot water. I scrub the heck out of it. Once clean I coat with a light film of Crisco.

I run a lot so I see no need to watch what I eat at this time. If it ain't sizzlin' then it ain't good.

[Jim]

.....I wash my cast iron skillet after every use with dawn dish soap and hot water. I scrub the heck out of it.....

Oh, LORD! :shock:

If Janet caught you with one of her cast iron pans in one hand and a bottle of Dawn in the other, you'd end up on a milk carton!!

[Love Life]

What if I was helping unload cleaning supplies while trying to move the skillet at the same time?

[blueeyephil]

Oil or butter and pepper the pan before putting the eggs in it. The pepper will help keep the eggs from sticking.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2

[Jim]

What if I was helping unload cleaning supplies while trying to move the skillet at the same time?

You're pushin' yer luck hard there, LL. When Janet comes outa' her office with that model 19 Smith, I'm gone, brother! You're on yer own!

[Love Life]

Yikes! No dawn near the cast iron at your place. I'm to young to be perforated.

[B R Shooter]

I use a stiff metal spatula, you have to scrape the pan to be sure there is no build up. You can feel it with the spatula. I often cook bacon then my eggs, same pan. Once the bacon is done, and before I pour out the grease, I scrape the pan, using the grease as a "cleaner" so to speak. When it feels slick, you're good to go. Maybe a dedicated pan is better....

[Boerrancher]

A trick I learned at the Rendezvous was to take your dirty cast iron, fill it with water and a couple cups of the white ash from the fire, not the charcoal gray stuff. Let it boil for 15 to 20 min, then scrub it real good with a brush and get it real clean. Super extra clean is the key before you go on to this next step. The last and final key to not sticking is after it is super extra clean put it back in the fire and pull out your tin of bee's wax. Once the pan is good and hot give the inside of it a good coat of bee's wax and cook it down to carbon. Keep doing this until your skillet is nice and slick on the inside. The last go around on the bee's wax you will not want to cook it to carbon. You want a thin layer of wax to protect your carbon layer. Unlike other fats and oils the bee's wax will not go off and taint your skillet. After each use boil water in it wipe it out and re-coat with bee's wax. If you get a good carbon layer and keep a thin layer of bee's wax on it, you will never have a problem with your eggs sticking whether you cook them in butter or bacon grease.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Jim]

I remember watchin' my Uncle John make breakfast for him and me using a cast iron pan. All he did when done was pour out any grease left over, wipe the pan out with a paper towel or two and put it back under the stove. That's it. That pan was black as graphite and slick as teflon. Janet does the same thing and she's got two pans that look like that.

[blackthorn]

Jim---I treat my cast iron just like your Uncle John!!

[bob208]

get pan hot then some olive oil. do the eggs . then it will wipe out with a dry paper towel. or fry the bacon or sauage first then hen eggs in the grease left.

[Four-Sixty]

Thank you for all the replies Gentlemen. I can say I tried lowering the temperature of my stove, and had great luck. I did not ruin the seasoning I had on there when I was done. I was able to just wipe it out and put it back. Getting another smaller skillet just for eggs sounds like a good idea to. There are many good ideas here; there are too many to mention. Thank you.

True story...

I sat on Grand Jury Duty about 6 years ago in Middle Georgia. One of the cases we heard was of a divorced couple, who still lived in the same house. They had a fight over the left over bacon grease. The question was who did it belong to. Mind you, they were divorced, and living in the same house. Well, the woman stabbed the man with a kitchen knife over that bacon grease. We handed down a felonly charge of assualt with a deadly weapon... over bacon grease.

[Love Life]

Bacon grease is a hot commodity throughout the south east. I know if somebody tried to take my fat drippings jar a bout of fisticuffs would ensue.

[WILCO]

I can count on one hand the number on pans we have that are not cast iron.
Count the cast iron you will need at least 10 people and use all the fingers both hands on them.
Cast iron is all we cook in, PERIOD, yall that are using it to make ingots are
just wrong.

Keep preaching brother! I hear ya!

[Jammersix]

I cook half a pound to a pound of bacon in the skillet first, and then just dump the eggs in on top of what's left.

[Jim]

I cook half a pound to a pound of bacon in the skillet first, and then just dump the eggs in on top of what's left.

Jammer, I read your post to my wife. She said "That's what I'M talkin' about!"

[Tom W.]

I read the posts again and couldn't stand it any more. I just finished up some eggs in my cast Iron, and they were good, too! With not a hint of sticking....

[BD]

Olive oil for cooking eggs, and no soap in a cast iron pan ever. If the oil smokes, you're running it too hot. If you screw up and stick something, when you're done cooking just put a cup off plain water in while it's still hot and use a chore boy on it 2 minutes later. NO SOAP, EVER. I use a Griswold handle griddle for eggs. It's been in the family at least three generations.
BD

[Love Life]

Why no soap? I use soap and scrub out all my cast iron after I cook. Nothing ever sticks. Does that mean my cast iron is magic?

On to a more serious note. Ever sine this thread started I have been dreaming about them sweet potato donuts Jim mentioned on the cookbook thread.

[Fishman]

There are some things that no-stick pans are really good for. Eggs over easy is one of them. I loves my cast iron but to me eggs taste better not drenched in oil.

[DukeInFlorida]

You can re-season a good frying pan by rubbing the entire interior surface with olive oil, and allowing it to soak in for 5 minutes.
Heat your oven to about 250 degrees, and place the empty frying pan in the oven for about a half hour. The olive oil will bake onto the surface of the pan, and create a thin non-stick surface. 2-3 times doing that will create a pretty rugged stick free surface.

It's the same technique that you use when you buy NEW cast iron item, and want to condition it.

I've had my well meaning kids run my best fry pan through the dishwasher........... got all rusty........ sanded the rust out, and reconditioned it, and it's as good as new.

[MT Gianni]

Why no soap? I use soap and scrub out all my cast iron after I cook. Nothing ever sticks. Does that mean my cast iron is magic?

On to a more serious note. Ever sine this thread started I have been dreaming about them sweet potato donuts Jim mentioned on the cookbook thread.

Cast iron is porous, seasoned or not. Soap can enter the pores and affect taste. Do you soap your coffee pot as well?

[scottiemom]

hey guys, this is Janet - Jims wife. I side with the guys who cook their eggs in bacon grease! I found that works the best and the eggs over easy never stick as long as there is enough bacon grease in the pan. If I am out of bacon (a very bad thing in this house!), I resort to using a non-stick pan to fry the eggs. if you do get crud on your cast iron pans, don't use soap!! use a paste of kosher salt and water and scrub out with a paper towel then rinse well and reseason with a bit of Crisco. Using soap will take every bit of seasoning off the pan that you have worked so hard to build up - not to mention it does tend to add a certain soapy aftertaste to your food!

Lovelife - trash the Dawn...don't make me put on my shoes and come and find you!! [smilie=s:

[Jammersix]

Twenty bucks on Janet. Odds to be negotiated if he sasses her.

:popcorn:

[geargnasher]

I've been cooking eggs in the same pan since I was seven years old (confiscated it from my stepmother who doesn't value such things when I left home), and it has never seen a drop of soap in that time.

The trick is to clean it when it's still hot from cooking. Wipe it out with a paper towel, napkin, or in a pinch a sheet of clean paper, then into the sink with a dribble of HOT water from the tap and a brisk go-round with a plastic-bristle scrub brush (the kind with the round wooden head and wooden handle attached with a galvanized wire loop). It should be hot enough when done cleaning and rinsing that it flash-dries in about ten seconds. That's it. If you don't use soap, you never break the surface tension of the oil and it won't ever rust unless you leave it outside in the weather. Anything that might be living on the oil film is dead by 300F during the next cooking, so there are no sanitation issues with this procedure.

Gear

[Jim]

Twenty bucks on Janet. Odds to be negotiated if he sasses her.

:popcorn:

I'm puttin' up my rifle collection an' my truck. He ain't got a snow ball's chance in a brick oven.

[doctorggg]

If I am frying eggs I do it over the bacon grease. I use low -medium heat on an electric stove. It takes a while for an iron skillet to heat up this way. If I am scrambling eggs I use some PAM olive oil spray in a wiped out pan that I just fried my bacon or sausage in. No problems with sticking. I agree with everyone else, no soap, clean it while it's hot and reapply a light coat of olive oil for the next go round. There's nothing like eggs cooked in a cast iron skillet.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I'm trying to conjure up a picture of my dear, sainted, great-grandmother cooking with 'cooking spray' or even olive oil. Bacon grease, lard, sausage drippings, butter, maybe, but that was it. Well, somewhere in the 1960's she started using 'Crisco' when the trip to twon took less than an eight-hour day.

Many of you hit the nail on the head about heat, too. A lot of people are of the opinion that if a little heat is good, a lot is better, when it comes to cooking eggs. We call these people 'idiots'.

dale in Louisiana

[atom73]

Wow, three pages of responses on eggs.

[Jammersix]

Uhm, no, three pages of responses about cast iron.

[StratsMan]

I love bacon too, but nothin' goes into my dedicated egg pan but eggs... I'll pour in bacon grease, or use butter, but only eggs actually get cooked in it. And I like to get it hot slowly, putting eggs in before it's fully up to temperature. That way the edges of the egg aren't frazzled by the heat and nothing sticks. I don't even use a spatula. Just let the egg white set, give the pan 1 jiggle and the egg is free... Flip the egg to finish cooking from the top, and slide 'em out onto a bed of fried potatoes... Wipe the pan out with a paper towel and call it good...

Oh, and that pan is a no-name, no-texture pan. Smooth as can be in that pan....

[atom73]

Ok, three pages on cast iron. On a boolit casting website, don't get me wrong, not criticizing, I think its funny/cool. My family raises birds and my girls sell eggs. Sounds like I have some 'sperimenting to do. I bet fresh eggs cooked in hand churned butter on cast iron will taste mighty good. Then I will be satiated enough to cast boolits. ;)

[geargnasher]

Here's one on eggs. My grandfather's principle method of judging a man's character was by how he cooked an egg.

Gear

[Jammersix]

Huh.

Dad taught me to steam them.

I've never met anyone else who knew what "steamed" meant.

Does that make me one of the good guys?

[badbob454]

For cast iron.
Dedicate a skillet to eggs, If you chose to wash it, wash with hot water only, no soap.
Season with a high temperature oil but do not get the pan to smoke when seasoning.
Use a high temperature oil to cook the eggs.
Make sure the pan is hotter than 212F when you put the eggs in but too much hotter.
The oil serves as a barrier between the eggs and the pan. Too much heat will cause the oil to get "thin" over the metal and the eggs will stick to the metal there.
When you are done the pan should wipe clean with a paper towel and a few drops of oil. Then wipe out the oil with a dry paper towel. usually you will not need to wash it.
Do not leave the pan with a visible layer of oil, and never overheat the pan, even when seasoning it.

i agree 99% with this ... if you must wash do not use soap , 1% not reccommended to even hot water wash ../ ,wipe clean ,add a few drops of oil heat pan to @ 200 degrees and wipe with a paper towel and put away is the beat way to season a pan.

[jeepguy242]

ok, to properly season a new cast iron pan... cook 3 pounds of bacon, scrape any stuck bacon with a steel spatula then pour bacon drippings out, gently wipe pan with a paper towel, put pan away...

any cooking that needs to be done in said pan must be done after, and only after cooking more bacon!!!!!!!



after all, what are eggs without bacon to go with them..... MAN UP!!!!!

[nanuk]

I cook half a pound to a pound of bacon in the skillet first, and then just dump the eggs in on top of what's left.

that is exactly how I cook at moose camp... but I cook in a coffee tin over open fire

[nanuk]

Huh.

Dad taught me to steam them.

I've never met anyone else who knew what "steamed" meant.

Does that make me one of the good guys?

Steam? as in cooked in water? (poached?) or cooked sunny side up, then a splash of water on the pan and a lid over to trap steam and cook the top? ( Basted?)

I know basting them with the steam really cooks them FAST!

[nanuk]

I have a question.

I was watching a cooking show on Wokking....

the cook said, HOT PAN, COLD OIL, NO STICK!

when you guys use Cast, do you heat the pan first, then add the fat? or do you add the fat in the cold pan, then heat?

Since seeing that show, I have always heated the pan first, and it sure does work for Stainless steel. Haven't tried the cast yet, as the pan I have is a LeCruset (sp?) and it doesn't really need seasoning.

[Tom W.]

I heat the pan and then add the grease... It doesn't smoke that way. Smoke isn't really good...

[KCSO]

Have used cast iron since I was a kid and the biggest problem I see is that most folks insist on cleaning the pan too much. Our EGG pan makes breakfast and then gets wiped down. IF we have to wash it we use hot water and very little soap and then grease it good before putting it in the drawer. Joy, Dawn ect willl take out the seasoning real quick and are last resort. A properly seasoned pan will be almost black inside and always have a greasy feel to it.

[Love Life]

So no more dish soap. I have been scrubbing my pans for years with no soapy taste to my food, but if a good scrubbing while still hot will do the trick then I will give it a try.

To answer Mt. Gianni-I also wash my coffee pot with soap. I have never had a soapy aftertaste to my coffee.

Have mercy on me Janet. I am still young and inexperienced in the world (as I easy out of the back door to begin my flight for life).

[Silvercreek Farmer]

get pan hot then some olive oil. do the eggs . then it will wipe out with a dry paper towel. or fry the bacon or sauage first then hen eggs in the grease left.

Those hen eggs are a heck of a lot better than rooster eggs!:kidding:

[scottiemom]

Have mercy on me Janet. I am still young and inexperienced in the world (as I easy out of the back door to begin my flight for life).

you have a reprieve coming! you're a good man. there is hope for you yet!!

made bacon and eggs for dinner myself tonight after all that talk about 'em -but don't tell Jim as he was gone and alas....no more bacon. the dogs and I ate it all.

[Jim]

you have a reprieve coming! you're a good man. there is hope for you yet!!

made bacon and eggs for dinner myself tonight after all that talk about 'em -but don't tell Jim as he was gone and alas....no more bacon. the dogs and I ate it all.

Oh! I see how it is, now!

[shooterg]

Soap ? In a cast iron pan ? Oh, the insanity ! My favorite pan belonged to my great-grandmother, gets wiped out after cooking and that's it. Plus 100 on bacon grease, only thing better is real fatback grease. And save enough of that to make gravy for the biscuits ! And after reading about half way through this thread, I stopped and cooked breakfast for supper ! Is this really Cast Boolits or the Cooking Channel ?

[Love Life]

I made breakfast tonight as well. Pancakes, eggs, and some maple bacon.

[Jammersix]

Oh! I see how it is, now!

Well, yeah...

He who makes nice with She shall be pardoned, rewarded and...

...something, something...

I missed some of the details.

[Jim]

I made breakfast tonight as well. Pancakes, eggs, and some maple bacon.

That just ain't right. I put on the face and go to the Sheriff's Department Christmas party and y'all are home makin' breakfast. :cry:

Gran'daddy always told me "It don't take long to figger out who ya' friends are." :kidding:

[Jammersix]

Sometimes, I do the naked Bacon & Eggs Boom-Boom- Boogie, and dance around the kitchen cooking eggs & bacon in nothing but an apron.

I don't know why my wife won't watch...

She used to watch, in 1978...

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

quit washing your pan , and fry something in it

a pan is pest seasoned after it had been frying something , like eggplant, fried green tomatoes or other fried food

hot water and a brush just till the food is out , then wipe heat and wipe with oil

and a touch of oil helps right before you fry the egg like others said medium heat and pre heat

then wash with only hot water and a brush and fry something in it once in a while

I do like to fry the bacon in the pan then fill it with scrambled eggs after removng the bacon but not the grease

[Fishman]

Just finished up breakfast with the family. Bacon out of the dedicated cast iron bacon skillet, eggs from the henhouse, some skillet rice seasoned with Tony's, green onions and dill from the garden, and cracked pepper, and a big mug of coffee. How am I supposed to get any work done now?! :)