Cast Iron

Seared off a piece of ahi tuna for dinner last night. Get the skillet really hot, then about 90 seconds per side, and you're golden. Here's the finished plate

Although technically cast iron, i guess this doesn't belong here, but I need some adivice on these machines, either on reddit or on lemmy. Any suggestion?

Need help identifying this unmarked roughly 6" CI? Any idea of age and manufacturer?

I always use my 10“ and 12“ skillets simultaneously to get them all nice and crispy

Picked up this Unmarked Lodge Dutch Oven for $18 at a thrift store a few weeks ago. The trivet was the biggest pain I think to get the oil on due the holes, but other than that I think it came out pretty good.

Some tips for better crust? It's not bad but not as crunchy as I would like to.

Not exactly traditional shakshouka, as I added potatoes and some leftover steak, but still delicious. And yes, I'm frequently mean to my cast iron and cook tomatoes in it.

[Image description: three eggs poached in a tomato-based sauce with chunks of veggies in a cast iron pan.]

Anyone else notice that their seasoning does better (aka increases more) when baking or roasting as opposed to frying? I guess it’s why we season in the oven generally but I feel like I hear people saying “just cook with it” but never differentiating between in the oven and on the stove.

I was trying to apply a coat of oil to my pan after cooking when I noticed the towel catching on a whole bunch rough spots from carbon build up on the pan. So I took a chain mail scrubber to the worst parts of the pan, and managed to peel off a bunch of build up. But after a few minutes of scrubbing, there was still a lot of carbon build up on the pan (as you can see in the picture), and the remaining stuff is going to be much harder to clean off.

So: Is there a better way to get all this stuff cleaned off of my pan other than elbow grease and time? Am I being foolish for trying to clean it off? Should I let it go and just cook?

Yesterday I made a post about how my brother kinda destroyed our mini cast iron skillet. It's looking amazing after 2 rounds of seasoning! Thanks to the community for a warm welcome. I can't wait to try something out in it other than eggs; any suggestions for such a tiny little guy?

Yesterday I made a post about how my brother kinda destroyed our mini cast iron skillet. It's looking amazing after 2 rounds of seasoning! Thanks to the community for a warm welcome. I can't wait to try something out in it other than eggs; any suggestions for such a tiny little guy?

Yesterday I made a post about how my brother kinda destroyed our mini cast iron skillet. It's looking amazing after 2 rounds of seasoning! Thanks to the community for a warm welcome. I can't wait to try something out in it other than eggs; any suggestions for such a tiny little guy?

Made the switch from reddit and I feel this was the most appropriate place to upload my first image to Lemmy.

TL;DR at the bottom.

I've always been interested in cast iron but the whole seasoning and issues washing and debates seemed too daunting. Not to mention the one time I had my own skillet it was a mess and I could never get anything to not stick in it. Well I just moved back into my family's house and don't have my usual pan for making eggs anymore so my dad tells me he uses this small tiny cast iron skillet. First time didn't go so well but I used more oil the second time, let the pan heat up fully before cracking in the eggs, and it worked just as well as my old The Rock skillet. I've been using it almost daily since.

This morning I go down to make my breakfast and find our little skillet covered in orange, all burnt and looking abused (that's on top of not one but two perfectly round burn marks the same size as the bottom of the pan on our kitchen table). The culprit? My brother. Oh well, at least he tried to move on from his cheap flimsy non-stick pan, but now I don't know what to do.

Cue searching. Usually I'd go to Reddit (or recently, Lemmy) for this but I want to avoid the confusion. I'm ecstatic to find Joshua Weissman's video on seasoning and restoring a cast iron pan. I'm excited that removing the rust wasn't such a chore and while I have no fancy oils I assume vegetable oil would be better than nothing.

So now my little cast iron skillet is in the oven for its first seasoning and I'm actually excited to try and join the community now that I took the first step to actually understanding and appreciating this kind of cookware. I'll make another post with the progress pictures once I'm done!

TL;DR: brother ruined my cast iron I use daily, finally learning how to care for and season it properly. Joining the community :)

The only thing that bothers me a little is the acidity of the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce it attacks the seasoning every time I make this. But it’s totally worth it I just have to reseason the skillet afterwards because it gets sticky the next time I use it and the seasoning looks pale.

What is your experience with this recipe and acidity?

I was a long time lurker at r/castiron and never posted anything. I want to change that here on lemmy. I’m from Germany and imported those three Lodge skillets one after one from the US. We don’t really have cast iron pots or pans here, it’s a small niche primarily for BBQs. I saw them first on YouTube accidentally while searching for Dutch ovens. It was in 2020 at the time of the first lockdown so I wanted to try new things and had lots of time.

The first one I got was the 10” and I absolutely fell in love the moment I opened the box. It was a steep learning curve with stuck food and chipped seasoning but I figured it out and will never go back to nonstick only. (I know my smallest one (I think this is an 8”) needs more love to get a better seasoning btw.)

Ate it with tons of maple syrup (man this is fucking expensive here in Germany...). Pan is a petromax FP25.

Inspired by a comment on another thread with @justhach, I'd enjoy hearing about your cast iron journey.

How did you get started?
Where are you right now?
What are some of your favorite pieces, or most often used pieces?
What are your go to recipes?

And let's be sure this doesn't turn into a competition. I've been collecting and restoring for a decent amount time, but I'm just as interested in hearing from someone who's just starting out as I am from an avid collector...everyone's welcome! I'll post my own in the comments.

Here's a nice and easy cast iron recipe (especially nice when fresh peaches are in season).

Peach Cobbler:

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• pinch of Salt
• 1/4 Cup of Butter
• About 6 Peaches

1. Preheat Oven to 375°F

2. Slice peaches into 12 equal segments, remove skin, place in a bowl. If you like, spinkle some sugar & cinnamon to your liking (I think they're fine on their own).

3. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add milk and whisk until smooth.

4. In a 10"-12" Cast Iron pan, melt 1/4 Cup of Butter on low heat.

5. Once butter is melted, pour batter into pan, then pour fruit on top. Spread fruit around, but don't mix in with the batter too much.

6. Bake in oven at 375°F for 30-45 minutes until golden brown on top.

7. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Bottom view

Top-side view

Still trying to work out if I should bother a longer seasoning cycle to disappear those "milky spots" on the inner edge of the pan. But doesn't effect my cooking right now so I'm not worried about it.