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 ?

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 ?

A woman who did want to go out on an ICE and SNOW covered deck