Care & Feeding Of My Cast Iron, Part 2

In my first post I talked about how I became enchanted with cast iron. Then the other day I had a conversation on the phone with Aletta about how we take care of our cast iron skillets. There are a few guidelines, but in the end there are no hard and fast rules about how you seal out water, just as long as you coat the iron!

Then the other night I was about to turn off the tv and Dave had been watching the Food Network (he can watch the Food Network for hours). One of my fav chefs from the Food Network was on – Alton Brown (the other is Tyler Florence). Low and behold, he was doing a show about cast iron. My heart pounded with excitement, and with my trusty DVR, I was able to find the show was repeating and I set it to record. Then I was off to bed.

I woke in the morning thinking about the show (kind of scary that I was thinking about a tv show, I’m not big on tv, well I take that back, the season finales of Fringe and Lost rocked!). Dave and I settled on our crappy couch and watched the show Good Eats.

I really like Alton Brown. He’s funny, and he always tosses in some science and history. I learned quite a bit from the show, and 2 new recipes that I would like to try when I have my outdoor set up going.

Here are some of the things I learned on his show.

Generally, a cast iron dutch oven (I use a 5 quart) has no legs. The cast iron dutch camp stove has legs to place the vessel over coals. Both come with a very tight fitting lid with a lip that holds the additional coals needed for baking on top of the vessel.

The dutch oven was invented by Abraham Darby – an English Quaker – who learned about molds made from compressed sand by the Dutch. The colonials always had a trusty cast iron oven, and the states possibly could not have been settled without it!

Even factory cured cast iron may need to be re-cured once a year. I generally cure my pieces once to twice a year. He also showed how to do the curing with the grill, which I used to do, but we are sans grill at the moment. Basically, the process is the same, if you can get your grill to read between 350 – 400 degrees, with the front and back burners only, cure as directed.

Okay so here are some differences that I want to talk about. I always coat my cast iron with a super thin layer of vegetable shortening (Spectrum makes an excellent one available at most health food stores). Aletta coats hers in olive oil. I think olive oil is fine if you are using your cookware daily. But if you think you might store some pieces that aren’t frequently used, vegetable shortening is the way to go. Also I have only had successful cures with the shortening. I also think that the amount used is negotiable in cooking. It (the shortening) is used to coat the cast iron, not an ingredient in your cooking. But if you are super health conscience, and shortening is in no way shape or form suitable for you, coat with what ever you choose. Alton Brown also suggests using vegetable shortening.

And lastly, the coals. I have used both varieties, but Alton Brown explained the difference. Standard briquettes have lots of nasty stuff in them. All natural briquettes are made from semi-carbonized wood and a bit of starch. Natural briquettes are definitely the way to go (and they smell better).

He gave some other tips about cooking outdoors which I will go into another time!

The next cast iron post will be a yummy recipe

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Care & Feeding Of My Cast Iron