Cooking with cast iron...

[Mister Obvious]

I always hand dry and oil a cast iron skillet after each use.

Today's recipe. A pound of 80/20 ground beef, three diced potatoes, half an onion, chopped, a can of green peas, drained, and a packet of pepper gravy mixed with water. Brown the meat, add the veggies and simmer, covered. Add the gravy mix towards the end.

I should have figured you were all about the cast iron...

I even thought of you during my first time...

[Mister Obvious]

That said, hardcore cast iron lovers, like intense cowboy, horsewranglin' men are all about cooking whatever the fuck you want in it and abusing the shit out of it.

Cuz I mean think about it, how else were they cooking their cowboy beans back in the day??

They were using cast iron.

I'd imagine on a cowboy piece of cast iron, the seasoning would be so hardcore that you probably could cook acidic foods in it and just really not make much of a dent on it, lol!

[user328]

I actually found a lightweight skillet that I liked as much as cast iron. I think it may have had a cast iron lining. I can't remember who made it. Maybe I'll look for another one sometime.

[Mister Obvious]

Hey, cooking on anything is awesome.

I'm a fan.

But I've been wanting to check out this whole cast iron thing for years, so it was finally time.

"Just got my great grandma's cast iron skillet for Christmas"
https://www.sectual.com/thread-18357.html

Ever since I got that antique pan for Christmas, it's been on my mind. Even before that, really.

In fact, it was heavy on my mind around the time I received that gift, which was weird cuz I had never said anything about it.

The pan isn't in "bad" shape by any means, only a couple spots of rust... very uneven and flaky seasoning on it, and my concern is that there may be rust hidden under those layers.

Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Either way, for me to begin using it, I'd have to do some work on it that I ain't ready for yet.

In years down the line, once I'm a SEASONED cast iron user, I may take on that project.

I opted instead to grab a few Lodge pans...

Got an 8 inch and a 9 inch.

The great-grandma pan is over 10 inches and it's heavy.

Just slightly too large for me, I wanted a girly starter sized pan.

The 8 inch is 100% perfect for me, and I think maybe a guy who would eat more food in one meal might go for a 9 inch if he was just cooking for himself.

Grizzled cast iron fellas tend to stick with the 12 inch varieties, both pan and dutch oven. But they're feeding families stuff, I'm just cooking smaller portions.

I might have to utilize the 9 inch pan for bigger cuts of meat though.

I only cooked on the 8 inch today, I have yet to use the other one for the first time.

I can't wait to pre-heat that baby and sear a nice cut of meat in it...

[user328]

You can use a sander on it. Don't grind it all the way down to the bare metal, just enough to remove the bumps. Then season it.

New cast iron always has bumps because it's cast in black casting sand.

[NotAllowed]

I told you this ages ago.
Sodium hydroxide aka caustic soda aka lye.
Similar to over cleaner but they rip you off with that.
It will remove any traces of anything biological.
Then you have to season it.
Rust needs an acid like hydrochloric acid. All this works on anything other than aluminium.
What meat did you cook? Are you ever going to tell me that?
All I wanted to know is what you cooked lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[Mister Obvious]

Yeah I'd have to land a sander attachment and devote some time to it... I have watched tutorials and know what to do for the most part.

It's just the doing that I... don't wanna do at this time, lol.

It is not in bad shape at all, just needs a slight bit of working with like you said.

I am gonna store it properly with some moisture absorber (gonna use a breathable sachet of rice) just to make sure it doesn't get any more rusty until I'm ready to work on it.

I'm stoked on the smaller pans though, still heavy but much easier to handle.

In my YouTube travels through Cast Iron Land, most people I've seen have an entire wall of various sized pans hanging behind them, lol.

I think that's awesome, but I just want a couple sweet pieces that can be my main absolute tools for years.

Eventually I wanna get a campfire style dutch oven (the kind with the legs) and a regular one as well.

The legged pot is gonna be good just to have on hand for TSHTF scenarios, and the regular dutch oven is gonna be...

Wild. Not ready for that yet, but I will acquire them next regardless.

[Mister Obvious]

All I wanted to know is what you cooked

Everything besides overly acidic stuff like tomato sauce etc.

I did say what I cooked in the prior posts, but you didn't read that part, not my problem.

[Mister Obvious]

I intend to cook everything in it besides beans or watery stuff like soup.

Boiling pasta, obviously wouldn't use cast iron.

I mean, any type of stir fry kinda stuff is gonna get cooked in cast iron.

All the vegetables and the meats and so on.

I mean how does one answer a question like that?

I cook a lot of different foods.

[Mister Obvious]

I am gonna be baking bread in it too.

Stoked as hell on that.

[user328]

I like Dutch ovens, but I didn't use my last one enough to make it worth buying another one. I'm gonna have as few pans and utensils as possible next time around. I know what I'll use everyday now, so that's all I'm gonna buy.

[NotAllowed]

Ok I will answer it for you.
I got a boneless leg of pork.
I cut it into steaks.
Some I grilled some I baked.
In fact I used foil on a plate with a rack thing so I didn't have to do so much greasy washing up I hate that shit.
Just a plate with foil with this little rack thing, and can put it under the gas grill or in oven.
I like the fat and grease to go away.

[Mister Obvious]

I like Dutch ovens, but I didn't use my last one enough to make it worth buying another one. I'm gonna have as few pans and utensils as possible next time around. I know what I'll use everyday now, so that's all I'm gonna buy.

That's the thing about cooking in general...

After so long, you learn EXACTLY the tools you like the most and it becomes this highly personalized type of art.

It's very fulfilling.

Ok I will answer it for you.
I got a boneless leg of pork.
I cut it into steaks.
Some I grilled some I baked.
In fact I used foil on a plate with a rack thing so I didn't have to do so much greasy washing up I hate that shit.
Just a plate with foil with this little rack thing, and can put it under the gas grill or in oven.
I like the fat and grease to go away.

Okay, I think I kinda get how you work a little more now, Fung.

Well, pork is chill I guess...

If I have it, I want it to be bacon though.

Or maybe ham.

To tell you the truth, I am not really gonna go for the modern American meats, aside from delicious steak/ribeye/fillet.

I am planning on going for some lamb actually.

[Mister Obvious]

I wanna get some SUPER quality salmon and cook that up too...

I have heard about cast iron absorbing flavors, but I am not concerned about it.

Could dedicate a pan just to fish but...

Meh, I dunno.

I'd imagine flakier fish would be a little harder to cook in cast iron, but I think the secret is really pre-heating that pan beforehand and searing the shit out of it so it holds together.

[Mister Obvious]

Gonna be steering away from pork and chicken in my diet...

Definitely no chicken, but maybe some bacon now and then.

Like come on, what the fuck is life without bacon? Please.

[user328]

There are some things I use so often that I leave them in the dish drainer instead of putting them away. I prefer grabbing things from the drainer instead of digging through drawers and cabinets to find them.

[Mister Obvious]

Yeah that kinda thing is ESPECIALLY easy to do when you live alone.

[user328]

Salmon is for smoking. I can't imagine cooking it any other way.

Leftover smoked salmon is good mixed with potato salad.

[Mister Obvious]

Hmmm... that is a good point.

[NotAllowed]

Chicken breasts are ok but you Mercans have no chickens or eggs cos you let the vegan animal fundies kill all your chickens from some threat of avian influenza.
Me and my mates have sold eggs to USA for $19 per egg hahahaha and the fuckers bought them.
There is currently hijackings of chicken and eggs trucks in the US lol
Now pork is the cheapest meat here. But its like $9 a kilo but when you remove all the skin and fat you aint left with much.
But its still cheaper if you remove all that fat and cut lean steaks.
So its kind of a scam really. Pork is high protein low fat if you cut all the lard off and grill them so the fat leaks off kind of like a george foreman grill.
Personally I just eat skipjack wild caught tuna caught in the ocean 0 fat massive protein comes in cans.
They don't live long so have minimal mercury.