Cooking on cast iron

[DCP]

The wife says food cooked on cast iron picks up flavor from previous cooks.

Sausage has had a different flavor. She sprayed it with pam
She cooks a hamburger in cast iron and it was terrible. She sprayed it with pam

I told her to stop using the pam. So she says cast iron picks up flavor from previous cooks.

Any help here will be appreciated

[Wayne Smith]

If ya don't scrub it that's true. If you just cooked bacon in it, it's deliberate!

[bob208]

pam is good to spray on shovels to keep show from sticking to them. also good to spray on the sides of dirt cars to keep mud from sticking to them. but for cooking no way.

[Rcmaveric]

Yes and no...

To make cast iron cook like a dream you don't wash it. The metal has a porous surface. Heating it expands the pores to accept oil. Once cooling the oil is locked in. The process of oiling and heating the pan is called seasoning. You want your food to stick wash your cast iron skillet and try cooking with it. The same holds true though for stainless steel cook wear. I used to be a cook and nothing was worse than when the buss boy washes your pants to be nice.

Food does taste different in cast iron. It might also have something to do that when you cook in cast iron, the absorbs some of the iron. It might also have to do with not washing the pan and passing on flavors.

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[Hickory]

I have cooked on cast iron for close to 50 years and love the results that cast iron imparts on cook times, non-stick and flavor of food.
However, I have learned that to keep food taste out of the next cooking session, you need to clean the pot or skillet with hot soapy water dry it immediately and recoat it with your favorite cooking spray.

Having said that, I must say that somethings should never be cooked in cast iron. Two things that comes to mind are fish and anything with acid in it such as tomatoes.

I have been using for the last 12-14 years several stainless pots and skillets that have thick copper bottoms to cook certain foods that I don't want that food taste to stay in the pan for years.
Stainless steel does require a different technique in how you use it over cast iron, but, the few foods I cook in stainless tastes better and has no taste carrying over like cast iron.

[Rapidrob]

I have a cast iron frying pan that we use at least twice a day and I know I bought it in 1974. To say it is seasoned would be an understatement. We have the new wiz-bang diamond infused cookware and it gets hardly used. They promote it is as tough as diamonds. It is not. You cannot even use them on high heat.
I'll stick with the cast iron and old copper bottom pots and pans.

[EDG]

You can buy flavored PAM now. It is mostly canola oil.

If you use regular PAM it is no different than any other cooking oil. There is bound to be some affect on the flavor.
Food cooked in a skillet might vary in taste depending on the reactivity of the food. That would be determined by the acid content of the food and it ability to react with the iron. This means tomatoes.

Cooking on cast iron may alter the food more if you scorch it. I cook a lot of sausage and I usually avoid scorching the surface of the sausage by slow cooking it. Most people use higher heat to cook faster and scorch the outside surfaces of the sausage patty. Most people call it browning - I call it scorching.

[DCP]

The hamburger doesn't taste like hamburger it has an off-taste

[DougGuy]

PAM is only Canola oil in a spray can.

The best way to clean cast iron after use? When the pan is pretty much cooled, (NEVER put cold water in a hot pan) add just enough water to cover the bottom, put it over a burner and use a plastic spatula or scraper to loosen the burned bits as the water heats. Dump the water and wipe out with a paper towel. There will be enough residual fats that the paper towel will pick them up and distribute them on the cooking surface.

Hot soapy water won't usually harm a pan that is gloss black with decades of seasoning cooked into it but a new pan? Yeah it will remove the seasoning and you will have rust if you let it sit dry. The biggest danger of washing a cast iron skillet in hot soapy water, is getting clocked over the head with one by the missus for using hot soapy water!!!!

I cook fish in mine ALL the time, it's great! Put a little olive oil in the pan, drop some butter into it for extra flavor, put some blackened seasoning on the fish, heat the pan so it sizzles when you lay the fish in there, maintain a medium-high heat, cover it with a lid from a stainless steel stock pot and flip it after 5 mins. This makes some awesome salmon, shark, grouper, whatever firm fish you cook this way comes out delicious.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I almost never "wash" my primary cast iron pan...just wipe it out with paper towel. It's gets used once or twice a day.
I've never noticed an off flavor on meat, due to the Iron pan. I suspect if the problem is originating from the Iron it is NOT from a previous cooking session, it is likely caused by her cleaning process or a 'bad' can of Pam?

ALSO, where are you buying your hamburger? It's rare for me to get good 'meat in a tube' (grocery store hamburger) ...I generally only use 'meat in a tube' for tomato based dishes like chili, that will have plenty of spices to cover up the actual taste of the hamburger.

That's my 2¢

[jimlj]

DCP, is this a new pan you are trying to use? If it is new it may take several uses to get it seasoned properly.
A while back I bought a cast iron skillet at wally world. I wanted to experiment with one of the inexpensive ones with the surface about as smooth as a rasp. I took the angle grinder with a sanding disk to it and smoothed it out. It took about 5 heat cycles with some oil applied each time to get it to start turning a dark brown. I cooked some bacon and eggs a few times before I stopped getting a "off" taste. It's now turned black and cooks good and food tastes good cooked in it.

Don't give up on a cast iron pan. There is a bit of a learning curve to using them but the results of a well seasoned pan are hard to beat.

[DCP]

I almost never "wash" my primary cast iron pan...just wipe it out with paper towel. It's gets used once or twice a day.
I've never noticed an off flavor on meat, due to the Iron pan. I suspect if the problem is originating from the Iron it is NOT from a previous cooking session, it is likely caused by her cleaning process or a 'bad' can of Pam?

ALSO, where are you buying your hamburger? It's rare for me to get good 'meat in a tube' (grocery store hamburger) ...I generally only use 'meat in a tube' for tomato based dishes like chili, that will have plenty of spices to cover up the actual taste of the hamburger.

That's my 2¢

The hamburger was prime ground at the butcher 80/20. She said all she does is wipe it with a paper towel and thanks.
We might use Dougguy suggestion without the soap.

That leaves a bad can of pam.

[Petrol & Powder]

Who cooks Hamburgers on a pan? Don't you have a gas grill ? :kidding:

I love cast iron cookware. 90% of the trick is getting it well seasoned. I don't subscribe to the "never wash it" theory and I do wash my pans after every use. However, that is immediately followed with drying the pan on the stove and re-oiling it.

After the pan is washed and well rinsed, it is placed on the cooktop and heated to remove all of the water. When it is dry and hot, I pour a little bit of peanut oil into the pan (not much, maybe 1/2 a teaspoon, probably less) and spread that all over the pan with a clean paper towel. All surfaces are oiled with a very light coating of the oil and the pan is allowed to cool. Done.

My pans are jet black and as slick as they can be. They clean up easily and nothing sticks to them.

I prefer old cast iron such as Griswold and the old Wagner stuff. The newer stuff is heavier (the iron is inferior and they have to make them thicker or the same strength) and the newer stuff is finished rougher.

[Bulldogger]

PAM is only Canola oil in a spray can.

The best way to clean cast iron after use? When the pan is pretty much cooled, (NEVER put cold water in a hot pan) add just enough water to cover the bottom, put it over a burner and use a plastic spatula or scraper to loosen the burned bits as the water heats. Dump the water and wipe out with a paper towel. There will be enough residual fats that the paper towel will pick them up and distribute them on the cooking surface.


+1, this is what I do and it works fine. I also save and reuse bacon grease for most cooking. That might influence flavor, but I LIKE IT so I don't mind.

I agree with those who suggest leaving Pam for outdoors/auto use only...

Bulldogger

[Winger Ed.]

I also save and reuse bacon grease for most cooking. r

Me too. I just like it.
And the first rule of Southern cooking is- SAVE ALL BACON GREASE.

Something I found out about Pam and other spray can canola oils,
They are exactly the same stuff as spray can welder's anti splatter spray, but at a fraction of the price.

[redhawk0]

I'd say stop using PAM and start using canola, corn or olive oil. NEVER put soap on your cast iron. If the pan isn't seasoned in yet...start by putting a generous coat of canola oil on it and put it inside your hot grill for about 45 minutes....take it out, wipe it down, let it cool, then do it again for at least 4-5 cycles. You need to build up that seasoned layer before you start cooking.

If you have seasoned it, then just put hot water in it after you are finished cooking...heat it up again, scrape it out with a spatula followed by just a paper towel, then give it a light coat of olive oil before storing.

redhawk

[sac]

Watch Kent Rollins videos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZMXZfcol8

[pmer]

I would stay away from Pam and don't use soap. I would also cook a couple burgers on the grill just to make sure they turn out normal. If the pan really is bad you may have to start over and cook it upside down in the oven for an hour at 350 and then re season it.

We have a 50's Wagner and a older Wagner Ware pan and they'll outlast me.

[sac]

If you are not the one who seasoned the pan and it is funky, you should strip the seasoning off and start over. I have a flat cast skillet I bought for flap jacks and it was that war, stripped it and seasoned it again and is great.

[DCP]

Who cooks Hamburgers on a pan? Don't you have a gas grill ? :kidding:



A woman who did want to go out on an ICE and SNOW covered deck :bigsmyl2:[smilie=p:

[Petrol & Powder]

A woman who did want to go out on an ICE and SNOW covered deck :bigsmyl2:[smilie=p:
I've shoveled show to get to the grill many, many times.

And BTW, PAM is nothing more than oil in an aerosol can.

[DCP]

I've shoveled show to get to the grill many, many times.

And BTW, PAM is nothing more than oil in an aerosol can.

We both have fallen on Ice and (show)Our neighbor 72 fell on his gravel driveway on Ice and snow after he went to the hospital his brain swelled and he died.

We don't do Ice and snow any longer.

[lightman]

We love our cast iron. We cook fish in ours but not tomato based foods.

[Love Life]

I’ve cooked tomato based foods in my cast iron for the last 14 years. No pinholes and nobody has died. I got the cast iron from my mother, who got it from her mother. Grandma was a straight off the boat Italian and cooked a lot of tomato based foods in the cast iron. I’d say that the oldest pan I got is near 70 years old.

[MT Gianni]

I cook tomato based dishes in one dutch oven and am sure to clean it and reseason after. To clean boil an inch or more water for twenty minutes with the lid on and let it cool.
If food tastes like the last thing cooked it means you used enough garlic.

[tunnug]

One of the best cleaning suggestions I've seen for unseasoned cast iron that food still sticks to. Scrape heavy stuff off, make a paste out of backing soda and water, scrub pan with paste and a scrub sponge, scrub side, rinse, heat to dry, oil. Done.

[fiberoptik]

The hamburger was prime ground at the butcher 80/20. She said all she does is wipe it with a paper towel and thanks.
We might use Dougguy suggestion without the soap.

That leaves a bad can of pam.

Every can of Pam is bad. Canola oil is bad stuff. Canola kills! Loose the soap as well.


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[3leggedturtle]

What a HORRIBLE thread! I gotta get up and make pancakes now! todd/3leg

[JimB..]

You guys don’t use Crisco to season your cast iron?

I’ve heard that some new cast iron comes preseasoned. No idea what that means or if might impart a flavor.

I’d quit the Pam, and does your beef have enough fat in it?

[osteodoc08]

Pam has other additives and will leave a residue. Don’t use it on cast iron.

Cheap cast iron sucks. Period. Most of it is made in China from inferior metals.

As mentioned Griswold and Wagner or the newer quality ones like ButterPat or Field.

I use a stainless scour pad Specifically for cast iron and hot water to get crusted bits off and reseason with oil

[osteodoc08]

What a HORRIBLE thread! I gotta get up and make pancakes now! todd/3leg

Just cooked pancakes with sausage and eggs for me and my 4 boys this morning. It was delicious.

[NyFirefighter357]

Never use soap in a cast iron pan!. It will not only remove the seasoning but will absorb into the metal & hold the taste. For the most part a season pan should just be wiped out after use. To clean a cast iron pan just a little bit of water left to boil and scraped out with a plastic specula or scrub with course salt. Wipe to dry allow the heat of the warm pan to dry it completely, them wipe it with oil. Don't cook acidic foods as it will remove the seasoning as well. Season your cast iron with vegetable shortening, apply to warm pan inside & out. Place on top rack of oven at 375F-400F for 1 hr with cookie sheet on bottom rack. Allow to cool before removing.

https://www.thekitchn.com/caring-for-cast-iron-259463

https://www.southernliving.com/food/how-to/how-t0-season-a-cast-iron-skillet

[Tom W.]

I used to use Pam, but found it was better to lubricate the pedistals of the chairs on my Ranger. Not so good for cast iron. And leaves a funny taste, too.

[chuck40219]

Reading post about the makes of cast iron, got me thinking what my cast iron maker was.

All I can find is a R on the underside of the handel. Any ideal. The bottoms are not smooth. These came from my mother and she got them from her mother. Could be 100 years old, but don' know.

Chuck40219

[GhostHawk]

2 nights ago, fried chicken in our old well seasoned 10" round pan. Fry chicken parts on stove top. After I turned them I dumped 4 potatoes pealed and cut into wedges into the pan. Once chicken was golden on both sides it went into the oven to finish.

Chicken was removed, potatoe wedges arranged, then chicken placed on top. Turn everything after 20 min and give it another 15-20 min.

Potatoes were browned, crispy edges, tender centers and the chicken was awesome. Really simple one pan meal that is worth the time.

[jsizemore]

We used to get inexpensive/cheap 22lr that had too much wax or had got hot and the wax had built up on the meplat. We'd clean the wax off and put the rounds in a baggie. Just a little Pam in the bag and swirl/shake them around and they shoot without leading the bore. Won't gum up the mag like that excess wax will.

Now, you don't have to throw the Pam out and wonder what this post has to do with cast iron.

[Petander]

To the left is my first own cast iron pan,I bought it in -75 when I was 12. My Grandma was using a similar one and those eggs... I had to get those eggs at home,too.

I have quite a collection of cast iron cookware by now.

250693

[Walks]

My Wife has a 2 Wagner skillets a 10" from Her Mother and a 8" skillet for Her 14th Birthday, XXyrs ago. I have a 6" Wagner skillet and 8" Camp Oven that My Dad gave Me along with the Chuck Wagon style Camp Kitchen. Both are 70+ yrs old.
They are all cleaned in BOILING HOT WATER ONLY. When still hot from cooking.

We also have a big set of WAGNERWARE, cast aluminum cookware. I prefer my eggs in a cast iron skillet. Have a "New Lodge" 9" skillet w/lid. And square grill pan, and square cornbread pan from them. All "New Stuff" works well.

Sometimes I'll light up the little camp oven with charcoal briquets and make a cobbler. Got a small spot just outside the back door.

Pam works great for adding a bit of lube when sizing PC'ed bullets.

[Reverend Al]

I have quite a collection of cast iron cookware by now.250693

Yeah, I have to admit that my addiction to cast iron comes close to my addiction to shooting ...

https://i.imgur.com/a8KnMKE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CxMSmBs.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IcDaPJR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/cM1tgGy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/acw9biY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zbpK8Hz.jpg

[smilie=l:

[pmer]

Who is this Pam, she must be trouble

[MaryB]

Pam has other stuff in it to thin it and make it spray better... it will instantly gum up a teflon pan.. only thing I use pam for is to coat the bbq pit and to spray the inside of the pellet stove in spring so it doesn't rust

[Duckiller]

Reseason your cast iron pans with hot flax oil.

[PB234]

Favorite pan is a roughly 1900 8 inch skillet made by Erie. Acquired it in about 1980 at a flea market. It sits on my stovetop used very ofter. Get great results. Look on Amazon for products called cast iron clean. It will be a pad made up of circles of steel which one rubs over the cooking surface after using the pan and placing some water in the pan. To reduce grease in the pan try placing some really hot water in and then scrub it with this ad of steel links. The run water over the pan and dry it off.

Suggest not using Pam and trying Canola or Olive Oil. My pan is going strong and how many tools from 1900 are doing the same. Probably would not buy the newly made pans and continue to search eBay or Facebook groups to add to my cast iron tools. The old ones are better.

[redneck1]

I never knew a frying pan could be so complicated :)
I have two cast iron pans that I use for pretty much everything.
A big one and a little one , and I do mean everything , from eggs to pizza .

I can vaguely remember using lard to season them way back when .
I've washed them with soap , without soap and I've even run them threw the dishwasher a time or two .

No matter what I do , just as long as I remember to warm them and give em a light coat of oil after washing nothing seems to change .

If something does stick to them it always seems like it's because I either forgot to oil after washing or I oiled them cold .
I've never had to re-season either pan. Just warm them up , oil , let cool and they are back to normal .

Edit .. thinking about pans made me think about food so I had to put mine to work
250720

[Wayne Smith]

Stainless Steel wool size 0 is what I use to clean my pans.

[jsizemore]

Edit .. thinking about pans made me think about food so I had to put mine to work
250720

Looks like they did a fine job!

[yeahbub]

I vote for flavors passed on from prior cooking. One of the problems in the restaurant business is over-using the shortening in the deep-fryer and having annoying off flavors as a result. It could be something was cooked or overdone in your cookware and the remaining oils are tainting the current endeavor. I've used various pan sprays and suffered no bad tastes from them, but I like oil and pour my canola out of a bottle. I do prefer pan spray for making pancakes and crepes, though. No one seems to go for oily pan cakes.


Posted by jimlj: Don't give up on a cast iron pan. There is a bit of a learning curve to using them but the results of a well seasoned pan are hard to beat.

I agree. I had to cycle through all the "old wives tales" about cast iron cooking before I acquired a decent understanding of what works. I hate to break it to all the loyal followers, but that business of only cleaning a skillet on odd-numbered Tuesdays under a full moon while yodeling and holding one foot off the floor? Not true. We can all stop now. I've learned that washing cast iron cookware with hot soapy water does no harm, as long as it is done in a couple of minutes and doesn't remove all the oil in the seasoned surface. Rinse, then back to the stove to be heated until hot to the touch to thoroughly dry it and apply enough oil to restore the black shine. Throwing it in a sink-full of soapy dish water and leaving it soaking for hours will slowly strip the remaining oils and introduce that metallic off taste to future dishes as well as open it to rust. The same for throwing water into a very hot skillet, which will de-glaze it the same as deglazing a restaurant grill, which cleans it very well, but cast iron will need to be re-seasoned.

Pan spray tends to be a little thicker than bottled vegetable oil and makes excellent case lube in sparing amounts. A light spritz across a tub of clean cases, thoroughly mix them and they'll size slick as a whistle. Oven cleaner and dish soap to get large quantities squeaky clean again. Roll them in a folded old towel for small quantities.

[Todd N.]

I never knew a frying pan could be so complicated :)
I have two cast iron pans that I use for pretty much everything.
A big one and a little one , and I do mean everything , from eggs to pizza .

I can vaguely remember using lard to season them way back when .
I've washed them with soap , without soap and I've even run them threw the dishwasher a time or two .

No matter what I do , just as long as I remember to warm them and give em a light coat of oil after washing nothing seems to change .

If something does stick to them it always seems like it's because I either forgot to oil after washing or I oiled them cold .
I've never had to re-season either pan. Just warm them up , oil , let cool and they are back to normal .

Edit .. thinking about pans made me think about food so I had to put mine to work
250720

I am with you 100%.

After nearly 40 years with the 10" Lodge skillet we were given as a wedding present, I have learned how simple they are to use and maintain. Use and maintain them properly and there will not be any odors retained in the pans.

[WILCO]

Did I ever tell you folks that I love cast iron cookware?
Redheaded women too. :)

[Squeeze]

I have this stainless steel chain mail kitchen scrubber that I love for the cast iron. 250735

[facetious]

cooking spray's have lecithin in them that will build up to make the pan stickie.

I Googled it for fun and it would seem most think it's the worst thing you can do to cast iron, and some who use it to season with.

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-remove-baked-on-cooking-spray-from-pans/

https://oureverydaylife.com/how-to-use-pam-to-season-cast-iron-grills-12346043.html

[PbHurler]

You guys don’t use Crisco to season your cast iron?

That's what I use. Got the idea from this website:
http://www.castironcollector.com/

A wealth of good information here, how to remove rust, strip, season etc.

[waksupi]

I have this stainless steel chain mail kitchen scrubber that I love for the cast iron. 250735

Absolutely! I have one in the kitchen and one in my camper.

[Tom W.]

When I met Lori she had two or three pans that were her grandmother's pans and she'd put them in the dishwasher all the time. When they got done she'd re-season them and put them away. The bottoms are as smooth as anything....Old pans made in Japan, believe it or not. My Lodge pans seldom if ever got soap to clean them.I did have to take a pancake skillet out to the shed and put my angle grinder with the sandpaper head on it to get it squared away, you couldn't fry anything on it without having it stick and tear badly. Even scrambled eggs came out bad.
Today I fried some deer backstrap butterflies in the Lodge pan I got at Walmart some years ago that was labeled as a chicken fryer. The meat was pretty, but I haven't had deer that tasted that bad in several years. If I do get to go this season and get one it will be ground into burger......I can use it better that way.....especially on the CHARCOAL grill....

[tja6435]

I’ve found lard to be the best for seasoning cast iron with. I bought a Stargazer 10” skillet last year, was polished smooth inside, it took a while to build up a good seasoning, but now I can fry eggs with zero sticking.
I also have an old deep, 10.25” BSR skillet that was my grandmother’s, it is fantastic. I found a lid for it on eBay for $50

[Walks]

I use a little round whisk broom thingy if it doesn't come clean for some bizarre reason.

Pan is a slippery Redhead. She's a good lube for push thru sizing. But I wouldn't trust her to do anything else.