I have just treated myself to a de Buyer pan. Seasoning instructions say " Put some potato peelings in your pan, cover with water and boil for 15mins. Throw away peelings rinse with very hot water, wipe and heat a little oil in the pan."
??? ??? ???
Any comments anyone?
We would usually season cast iron pots by boiling vegetable peelings in water in the pan a few times, not just once. Rubbing the surface with oil just keeps it from rusting (works with woks too).
Hi Katy. Frying potato peelings (or potatoes so you can eat the results) works ok. The last one I bought (a nondescript plain cast iron one), I just coated with oil and put it in a medium oven for a couple of hours. That worked too, but don't use olive oil or sunflower oil because they make the pan sticky apparently. From memory I used lard. The main thing to remember is that it'll get better with use provided you don't wash it. I vaguely remember being slightly disappointed when mine was new.
Geoff.
:-\
Thanks for the quick replies, I know about seasoning with oil, it was the spud peelings that threw me!
I will do the oil thing, but still not sure about boiling anything in it for the first time...seems to me that water in it would defeat the object!
Twas my old mum who put me on to potatoes to season a new pan but I doubt she would have been able to explain the science behind it even if she were still with us. Could be that potatoes/peelings were simply plentiful and cheap. I bet Baccy Man knows. ;D
The use of vegetabe peelings was originally for seasoning glazed eathenware.
Eathenware should be seasoned before its first use. Do this by by filling with potato peelings and salt water. Put in the oven and slowly bring to a simmer. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. The natural oil in the peelings will be released and seal the surface making it less porous.
During the war fat normally used to season pans was in short supply so a variation on the above method was used to season pans too.
Place peelings water & salt in the pan. Boil for a minimum of 15 minutes. Empty the contents, dry and brush with fat to prevent rusting. This method is still favoured by the French.
How I season a pan:
Wash pan in warm soapy water
Use a scouring pad to remove any manufacturing residue; this will also roughen the surface and prepare it for seasoning
Fill pan with salt and leave on a medium heat for at least 1.5 hours without disturbing
Remove pan from heat (handle will be extremely hot) and empty salt into sink (salt will be of extreme temperature, so do not empty into a plastic bin or bin liner!)
Remove any residual salt by rubbing pan with paper towels (remember pan is still red hot!!)
Half fill pan with cooking oil (use one with a high flash point eg. groundnut or soya) and place on a low heat for 30 minutes
Remove from heat and discard the oil
Remove any residual dirty oil with paper towels
Rub or wipe with fresh oil before storage
Adding additional layers of seasoning:
Brush pan with oil (use one with a high flash point eg. groundnut or soya). Place in oven on highest setting for 1 hour. Allow to cool then wipe off any excess oil.
Seasoning a wok:
Wash pan in warm soapy water
Use a scouring pad to remove all manufacturing residue; this will also roughen the surface and prepare it for seasoning
Fill pan 1/8 full with cooking oil (use one with a high flash point eg. groundnut or soya) and place on a low heat for 30 minutes
Remove from heat and discard the oil
Remove any residual dirty oil with paper towels
Rub or wipe with fresh oil before storage
Maintenance:
Never use washing up liquid when cleaning seasoned cookware just use hot water or if you need to clean more thouroughly then heat up some salt in the pan. Dry immediately & brush with oil before storing. Add an additional layer of seasoning every now & then to keep your pans in good condition.
wow im intrigued, my cast steak pan always rusts up and i hardly use it due to this fact, should i do the same, many thanks
May I just remind you all NOT to pour oil down the sink? Apparently the water companies spend millions of our hard-earned money cleaning the sewers of solidified oils and fats. The water here in the southwest is just about the most expensive in the country and one of the (many!) reasons is the cost of clearing blocked sewers of discarded fat.
When I am finished frying - in whatever fat - I layer kitchen towels in the pan to soak up fat residues which I then throw in the waste bin.
Tricia
Quote from: gunnerbee on January 06, 2008, 20:23:22
wow im intrigued, my cast steak pan always rusts up and i hardly use it due to this fact, should i do the same, many thanks
It is going rusty because you don't brush it with oil after drying it. Seasoning it gives it creates a non stick effect considerably better than most non stick coatings.
Tricia whilst you have made a good point I would like to point out waste fat can be filtered & used to power a modified diesel engine or turned into biodiesel & used in unmodified diesel engines or it can be composted there is no point adding to landfill when there are numerous uses for it.
;D
Thanks all, specially Baccy! All done and looking forward to a lifetime of cooking with my lovely new pan!
;)
I have always used salt to season new pans but neve knew how it worked - Baccy Man?
Also composting oil - that's new - just pour it over???
The salt is to thouroughly clean the pan which leaves the it looking very dull since the salt has taken away any excess fat and food particles exposing the bare metal.
Heating the fat bonds it to the metal which is what seasons it, a newly seasoned pan is brownish gradually turning black with time.
I should probably add enamel coated cast iron pans don't require seasoning but do benefit from being cleaned with salt occassionally. I have a set of 60 year old enamelled cast iron Bruxelles Ware (Descoware) pans which are probably in just as good condition as they were when they were new in the 1940s nothing sticks to them & the only maintenance I do is clean them with salt every now & then.
Composting oil is nothing new oil is made from organic matter & all organic matter is compostable. Cooking oil can just be mixed into your heap with everything else.
If you wanted to compost large quantities of oil or things like crude oil or its derivatives petrol diesel etc... then you have to employ mycoremediation techniques (a type of bioremediation) normally used to dispose of toxic or radioactive substances or explosives. Essentially just growing fungi.
If you would like to explore more unusual composting techniques take a look at the forum on http://www.csimba.com
Interesting site, Baccyman, Well worth a visit.
Thanks Baccyman - clearly and simply explained as always. I should clarify that composting oil is a concept new to me, but now I will be adding the used sunflower oil to the heap.
OH can carry on taking the engine oil to the tip ;D