Category: cast iron

  • How long does it take to season a cast iron pan?

    Probably one of the most well-known bits of cast iron lore is that the more that you use your pan the better it will get. This rule of thumb is referring to the seasoning, the thin, black layers of polymerized oil that have been converted to this state by heat and have adhered to the…

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  • Honey Brown Sourdough (Part Two)

    Honey Brown Sourdough (Part Two)

    Yesterday morning I started preparing an experimental loaf of sourdough where I replaced all but a little of the water in the recipe with a honey brown lager. Today, the loaf has been proofed, baked and sampled. But let’s back up a step. I’ve been pondering sourdough mix-ins. In the past year of pandemic lockdown…

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  • Can I use a cast iron pot or pan to boil water?

    One of the adages of cast iron cooking is that to improve your cast iron cookware, just use it. What is not necessarily clear in that basic advice is that to make any cast iron seasoning better, stronger, and more resilient, the use of your cast iron should follow a couple basic principles about how…

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  • What’s the best first cast iron pan to buy?

    First, always consider that the tool you’re most likely to get the most use out of is the tool you have the most reason to use. Buy a pan to suit the type of cooking you like to do. A big flat skillet will let you cook big batches of pancakes or grilled sandwiches. A…

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  • Can I use a self-cleaning oven to strip a cast iron pan?

    Can I use a self-cleaning oven to strip a cast iron pan?

    The short answer is yes. The more complex answer is … maybe. A self-cleaning oven is the closest most of us have to a blast furnace inside of our homes. And as many people will tell you while there are multiple ways to strip old seasoning from cast iron, the high heat of an oven’s…

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