Cast Iron, Eggs and Sticking

[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!!

[Jammersix]

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

[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.

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.