UPDATE on first Carbon Steel Pan

DMartin — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:56:39 +0000

Pretty happy with this pan – until I wasn’t.

It is time for a follow-up to my post from Christmas 2020. As a reminder, take a look at my previous post: Review of the BK Carbon Steel 10- inch pan.

As you can see, I was thrilled when I got it. It looked good and it felt great. I debated stripping the initial seasoning but my initial cooking tests looked good – so I spent the next four months using it couple times a week.

I followed my standard iron pan maintenance and it behaved well. It was a joy to use and it cleaned up nicely. But after about 3 months I noticed larger bare spots and it sure looked as if the initial seasoning was coming up in the center of the pan.

When it became apparent that the initial seasoning was flaking off I decided to give it a light rub with the green side of a Scotch Brite sponge. It surprised me to see that the majority of the seasoning came up quickly. So…I continued scrubbing until the bottom was clean.

So last Saturday, I followed my own instructions for initial seasoning and baked on 3 new layers over the course of about half a day. The initial look of the initial seasoning, as always, is awesome…

It never really stays that way but as long as the performance is good then I’m happy. Initial performance this week has been fantastic so this pan is back in circulation!

So I will reduce my wholehearted recommendation for the BK Carbon Steel Pan to a mild recommendation because I really like the feel of this pan. If you just got this pan keep an eye on the initial seasoning and see if you have any difficulty with it in the first 4-6 months. If you have owned it for a while, I would be interested to hear if you have any thoughts on this pan.

Time for my first Carbon Steel Pan

DMartin — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 22:52:56 +0000

Review: BK Carbon Steel 10 inch pan

Check Out this update after 4 months of using this pan!

UPDATE on first Carbon Steel Pan

I have been working with cast iron pans since I was young but I only just purchased my first Carbon Steel pan. Actually, it was a 2020 Christmas gift – but I was very specific with the exact make and model when I asked Santa. And the pan I asked for was the BK Carbon Steel 10 inch pan and I immediately cooked in it for several days.

As some know from other parts of this site…a carbon steel pan is the very close cousin of the cast iron pan. I mention them over in the Pros and Cons section. To summarize, the carbon steel pan is lighter and heats up more quickly than cast iron and the care and maintenance is the same. And like any new iron pan – you are faced with the eternal question of initial seasoning.

I could strip it and start again with my own seasoning process. Then I would know that it was done correctly. But the reviews on the pan were very good and information I read on the company was comforting.

If it was a garage sale or flea market find – I would consider stripping it to the bare iron. But in this case, the pan looked great and came from a reputable company and they suggest that the pan is already pre-seasoned. So I followed my own suggestions on the Restoration section of this website. If it looks good – try cooking in it and see if you are satisfied with the results. So I gave it a good wash to remove any protective wax that companies typically use to protect the iron. Then it was time to get start the ultimate evaluation test – the simple fried egg.

I left the pan on for a while since I noticed a slight odor on its first heat. It dissipated quickly and it was ready for the butter. I admit, I used a bit more butter than I usually do – I wanted to give it the best chance to succeed.

The eggs went in soon after the butter quickly melted. I was anxious to flip them and try out the pan but I knew that was a newbie mistake. Let the food cook.

I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the eggs sliding in the pan before I even flipped them! Check out the videos below!

So on Day 1 and two delicious fried eggs later – I had my answer. I would not have to do anything to this pan – except continue to cook in it, of course. Over the past two weeks the pan is starting to darken, as expected, and it behaves beautifully. Small amounts of burned-on food (from last week’s pork ramen, for instance) cleaned easily with a water soak (about 1 hour) and 10 seconds with a nylon brush.

The look and feel of the pan is quite nice. The handle is long and tends to stay pretty cool while cooking. If they don’t, I have my extra-long Hardmill leather handle covers – see blog post! The rivets that attach the handle are good looking but more importantly – they do the job and clean-up well without food hiding in any crevices. My pan weighed in at 3.0 lbs. and is 10.25 inches across the top and about 8.25 across the bottom. I really like that the whole thing can be popped in the oven for cooking or future re-seasoning.

I believe it was about $40.00 (Amazon) and I am pleasantly surprised with this pan. I did not know the company, but I will keep it in mind for my next needed purchase and if you couldn’t tell – I highly recommend it.

Click for BK Cookware website.

Check out the company website, if interested. For the record, I am not associated with the company and receive nothing from linking to their information.

Cast Iron – Restoration

DMartin — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:57:55 +0000

Most of this information is presented within the Cast Iron Pan – Restoration section of this website – but I wanted to have a place that people could comment on this specific topic. I know that people into Cast Iron have wonderful and often loud opinions!

If the thought of restoring an old and ugly cast iron pan scares you – I would like to offer a few words of encouragement. Follow these simple steps and you will see that it is not too difficult. And let me tell you a secret. You do not need to be perfect. Cast iron is strong and durable and as long as you do a moderate job – you will be fine.

Re-Seasoning vs. Restoring

Beginners may get confused by the terminology here. Re-seasoning is when you build an initial seasoning onto your pan by baking a couple layers of oil onto a bare iron pan. Restoring is when you strip that pan down to the bare iron through a few different methods. In fact, restore first and re-season after. You can find all the seasoning information you want in the Initial Seasoning section.

When do you make the decision to strip a pan and start again?

Maybe you have an old pan that someone gave you, or maybe this is a pan that you bought at a second-hand store, or maybe you found it in your basement. Surprisingly enough…maybe it is a brand-new pan and you don’t know or trust the initial seasoning. Let’s look at some examples.

If you have an old rusty pan – take a close look at it. If you see what seems to be just surface rust – give it a good scrub. Another good idea is soaking the whole pan in a large sink or tub with a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water. Let it sit for a couple hours and that alone may remove most of the rust. Use a Scotch-Brite green scouring pad or a steel Chore Boy and give it a good scrub. It is possible that may be enough to revive the pan. Then re-season and you are good to go.

But maybe the rust is more pervasive or there is old, baked-on food stuck to the pan. There is no escaping the fact that it all has to come off and you have to take it down to the bare iron and start again. Don’t worry – it is not too difficult and we will review how to do it in just a moment.

If you purchased a used pan and it is already seasoned – you still need to take a close look. As explained above, if you see rust or food – you will have to restore it and re-season. If it is clean but seems sticky – better to restore it. That stickiness is someone’s poor attempt at an initial seasoning. You have to strip it and start over. You will not be happy with it.

But if the pan passed all those tests and it looks good – give it a light scrub and try to cook with it. Get some butter or oil in the pan and see how it behaves. If you are satisfied, then you are good to go. Using the pan will improve the seasoning over time or you can put a few additional layers of seasoning on it as explained in the section of seasoning.

The same goes for a brand-new pan. Don’t assume that a new pan will have acceptable seasoning. Cheap imported pans may have an initial season that will only cause annoyance and trouble. If you are not satisfied with the performance then better to get rid of it and start again.

But by the same respect – don’t assume that it will be bad either. If the seasoning looks good – try it out. Reputable manufacturing companies will spend more time and effort with the initial seasoning before they ship it. I was recently faced with this situation with the purchase of my first carbon steel pan. It stated it was “pre-seasoned” – and the blog post on that experience is coming soon!

So how do you restore a cast iron pan?

If you have determined that you need to strip the pan and start again you have a few options. The most common ones are listed below.

The easiest, as mentioned above, can be a good scrubbing with a vinegar soak. Your goal is to get all the rust off and trust the seasoning below it is still ok. This method only works if the pan is lightly rusted. But my preference is to take it one step farther.

That next option is a lye treatment – also known as your friendly everyday oven cleaner. The standard product used for this task is Heavy Duty Easy-Off oven cleaner. Well, maybe “friendly” is not exactly the right word. This oven cleaner contains lye, also known as sodium hydroxide or caustic soda, and you absolutely need to be careful. It will strongly react to anything organic – which is why it cleans baked-on food from the pans. Click the hazard identification diamond below or here for the Safety Data Sheet. It shows that the product contains 2.5-10% lye. Please take all necessary precautions described on the can. You don’t want it on your skin and certainly not in your eyes. Some other oven cleaner products are made to be low odor and they use ingredients other than lye. You want the Heavy Duty can because it does contain lye and it does the job.

The oven cleaner is easy to use. Using gloves, spray the entire pan (top, bottom, handle) then place it in a closed trash bag for a couple hours to a couple days. The trash bag will keep it from drying quickly. In my personal experience, sometimes I have checked on the pan and reapplied with an additional coat of oven cleaner. This method has never failed me. It will do a really nice job to remove just about everything from its past life.

When you check it – give it a scrape and once you feel the old junk is softened then it is time to wash it off. Again – use hand protection and be careful with the lye. Use lots of water to rinse the pan then give it a good scrub. Use a Scotch-Brite green scouring pad or a steel Chore Boy. You will find everything comes off pretty well.

The oven cleaner will remove much of the gunk covering the pan and it is the only method I use. However, I am not a cast iron collector and I do not resell pans. I am an avid cast iron user. My pans are loved, well cared for and used everyday because they are an essential kitchen tool. I treat them carefully, but I do not baby them. I state that fact because when I restore a pan I use oven cleaner and it gets mostly everything off. If you want to restore an old pan to clean bare iron and bring back its former glory from 60+ years ago – you may want to try the next method.

Just add electricity

In general terms, this method uses a plastic tub large enough to suspend your cast iron pan. You fill that tub with water mixed with sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and that acts as your electrolyte solution. The system needs 2 more things. You need to incorporate another piece of metal to act as a sacrificial anode – a piece of rebar, for instance. The anode is called sacrificial because you are literally forcing it to corrode instead of the pan. The last ingredient to this mix is electricity. By correctly hooking up an electricity source (like a car battery charger) you can produce an electrical current flowing from your pan to the anode.

If you are interested in this method – I strongly encourage you to follow the safety precautions and the instructions carefully. As I mentioned, this is not my preferred method so I will rely on others when it comes to explaining each step. People have been using this method for many years and they restore not only cast iron pans but also old woodworking tools, horseshoes and other iron objects.

A word on sandblasting, wire cup brushes, sandpaper and grinders

The methods explained in the above sections involve some hand scrubbing, chemistry and electrolysis. You can also choose to take the aggressive, physical approach. If your pan is covered with unwanted rust and crud – you can choose to sandblast it off. That works too but it might leave some marks if that bothers you.

Other physical methods would be a grinding wheel or a steel wire cup attached to a drill. These things can work alone or in conjunction with the methods above. But they also have a tendency to physically alter your pan. Grinding marks and swirls left on your pan are a real possibility. A professional restorer or a collector would rarely suggest these methods.

Hardmill Pan Handle Covers

DMartin — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 19:55:58 +0000

This is a nice Christmas gift!

Christmas tends to come and go with me giving out most of the surprises. Truthfully, I rarely get any surprises – any good ones anyway.

But this year was different (talking about 2020 that is quite an understatement, I know). I just received a gift that fits me so well…a cast iron pan handle cover made of beautiful leather. We all have seen the handle covers made of cloth or silicone.

Here is the one Lodge sells – click to head over to the site, if you want more information.

I do not have one but I would assume it works pretty well. If I am being honest…it is boring and I do not like the bright color.

What I do embarrassingly own is a couple cloth ones that work OK and have definitely seen better days. Yes, they have caught on fire more than once.

But now I have just been given two of these (by my in-laws)!

These are made by a company called Hardmill. I did not know the company but what wonderful items they make. I suggest a trip over to Hardmill.com to see what they have to offer – looks like industrial aprons, wallets, totes and other leather items. They look to be carefully made of quality materials.

The handle covers are beautiful in a simple and elegant way. I love cast iron because it is simple, rugged, long-lasting and classic. All the same reasons these handle covers fit wonderfully in my kitchen and my life.

Expensive? Yep. They are about $20 each. But they are only expensive compared to the cheapy cloth ones or even the Lodge above (which is less than $5.00). Are leather handles worth it? To me, yes, it is worth it (and not because they were given to me – read on)!

On one end, the leather is loosely folded so it fits onto the pan handle. They look great and work great. However, I do wish that they were a tad longer (the two I have are 4 inches long). My hands are not small and holding a pan with my thumb on top is a little too close to the hot iron.

But apparently, Hardmill also sells an extra-long handle cover and it measures 5.75 inches. So I ordered one as part of my after-Christmas shopping. This one is a couple bucks more…about $25.00. Too expensive? Maybe. But these fit my hands better and they also fit where I am now in my life. I want to fill my house (and my life) with simple, high-quality things that are a joy to use. That doesn’t always mean expensive. There are lots of very expensive things out there that are total junk.

I strive to find things that are worth the money. I want to be reminded every time I use it that it is high quality. This is why I love things like cast iron pans and double-edged safety razors and don’t even get me started on acoustic guitars.

I have no connection to any company on this page (Lodge, Hardmill, etc) and I receive nothing for the links to their site or the items I mentioned. But if Martin, Taylor, Collings, Lowden or Larrivée Guitars wants to contact me – I am right here. Waiting. Impatiently.

Click here to get back to the Cast Iron Magic homepage to look around.

Cast Iron – Initial Seasoning

DMartin — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 17:03:14 +0000

More information on this matter is presented within the website – but I wanted to have a place that people could comment on this specific topic. I know that people into Cast Iron have wonderful and often loud opinions!

We all have the same goal. We take a piece of cast iron, cover it with oil then bake it at a temperature that turns the oil into a hardened surface. Some users will argue for a certain type of oil, a certain oven temperature, a specific baking time, the exact number of oil layers, etc. Remember, there are many ways to achieve our common goal. Below you will find an initial seasoning process that is easy to follow and works every time.

Please note (and this is important)…the magic of a perfect cast iron seasoning is NOT in the initial seasoning. The initial seasoning is a very important step but remember that the seasoning will improve every time you use it. If you follow some suggestions and avoid the big mistakes, you will have beautiful cast iron that is non-stick, easy to clean and wonderful to work with.

Seasoning Basics

The heart of the seasoning process comes down to 2 things: 1) oven conditions (time and temperature) and 2) using the right oil. And there are 2 more things you need to know, polymerization and smoke point. Polymerization is the chemical process where our thin coat of oil changes and hardens into the stick-free surface we all want. And a smoke point is simply the temperature where the oil starts decomposing and burning off.

Oils and smoke point

Different oils have different smoke points and that smoking temperature changes if the oil is refined, unrefined, or even partially refined. For example, extra-virgin olive oil is an extremely common oil to find in people’s homes. It is good for salad dressings, sauces and marinades but generally considered bad for initial seasoning. It is because the the smoke point is too low which means you may have smoke detectors going off. This is exactly what happened to me about 20 years ago and my daughter still remembers me rushing her out of the house. And she still mentions it.

Use the table in the website (Cast Iron Initial Seasoning) as a guide and choose a clear, refined oil with a high smoke point for seasoning your cast iron. Unless you are using Crisco shortening, of course. And I highly recommend using Crisco.

Here are my top four oils:

Crisco Shortening
Canola Oil
Peanut Oil
Grapeseed Oil

Using Crisco is easy and cooks on beautifully. One of the greatest things about Crisco is that it is the same every time. There is no confusion in what you are using. It is cheap, usually available and the very little amount that you are using to cover the pans forms an extremely hard coating.

Simple Initial Seasoning Instructions

We are going to bake on 3 layers of seasoning. In total, all the steps below take about 4 hours. Tip: Use paper towels to spread on oil and a lint free cloth to take it off.

Preheat to 375 degrees F. After oven reaches 375 degrees F then place pan into oven.
When the pan is hot – take pan out carefully and spread oil all over it. Use Crisco or the other oils mentioned above. Inside, outside, top and bottom (and handle). You do not need much and you will be wiping almost all of it off. Use a lint free cloth for this step (paper towels tend to shred) and take off everything you just put on. Buff the whole thing.
Place back in oven (upside down) but just for 15 minutes. If you buffed well – there should be just a sheen on the pan and certainly no oil pooling on the pan or dripping in the oven. Take it out and use the cloth again to buff the entire surface.
Place pan back in oven (upside down) for 1 hour. After 1 hour, if you took enough oil off during the buffing it will be dry and not sticky. Perfect. If you left on too much oil – put the pan back in the oven until dry.
Repeat Steps 2 – 4.
Repeat Steps 2 – 4.
After the last layer has baked on, turn off the oven and let the pans cool inside.
This will give you a great base seasoning but remember that this is the start of your seasoning process. Follow the cooking, cleaning and maintenance guidelines on CastIronMagic.com and the seasoning will continue to improve over time.

Remember!

Thin coats of oil then buff it all off. Believe me – a thin film is all that is needed.
Crisco is recommended as the seasoning oil of choice. If you want you can use Canola, Peanut, or Grapeseed oil.
If your pan is sticky – the oil went on too thick. An oven temperature of 375 degrees F for 1 hour is hot enough to polymerize a thin coat of any of these oils.

Cast Iron – Care and Maintenance

DMartin — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 18:17:36 +0000

Most of this information is presented within the Care and Maintenance section of this website – but I wanted to have a place that people could comment on this specific topic. I know that people into Cast Iron have wonderful and often loud opinions!

Would you like this information (and more) in one document. CLICK HERE for Care and Cooking Tips.

Daily care of your cast iron pan is not difficult. Just follow a few simple steps for a lifetime of use.

1. Get some water in the pan
Cover the bottom of the pan with water soon after cooking – but not right away! You do not want to put water is a searing hot pan. If the water spits, sizzles and steams – you put it in too soon. This could damage your pan so just wait 10 minutes or so. The pan will still be hot (but not too hot). Put it back on the stove until you are ready to clean it. If you cooked something particularly messy – let it soak for a good long time. Try not to leave water in the pan overnight and definitely do not immerse the pan in water.

2. Get the food off the pan
After a soak, the food in the pan should come right off. It is OK if the pan looks a bit ugly after cooking. Remember, having a great non-stick seasoning layer does not guarantee you a spot-free pan. But it does allow you to just wipe most of it away with little or no effort.

Take a look at the tools I use every day.

The white brush is all I need to clean the pan 80% of the time. If you have some persistent food then put water back in the pan for another half hour or so. After the brush has done its work, if necessary, a light scrub with the green side of the sponge usually takes care of the rest.

I only rarely need to scrape the pan – I have the black and red plastic scrapers but barely use them. The last time I used one was when I made a pan of well-done caramelized onions (oh – they were glorious). But even with a good soak there was a spotty layer of baked-on gunk. Looks like the sugars from the onions really got baked onto the pan. After a soak and a scrub with the brush, I put some water in the pan and brought it up to a boil for 5 minutes. I gently used the scraper on the rough layer of cooked-on food and that is all it took. At first, I wondered if the black flakes I saw were the onions or the seasoning layers. But it was the crusty food for sure. The seasoning layer looked to be in great shape. Then I finished up the cleaning normally.

Lastly, I have a chainmail scrubber. I think this is super cool – it causes no harm and does a really good job. But here is a small but significant point…if you follow the steps above you probably won’t need any serious scrubbing. But perhaps it could be handy if you have some serious stuck on food or you just get impatient.

3. Dry the Pan – Add a Thin Coat of Oil
After cleaning, dry the pan with a towel. You may think that you are going to heat it on the stove anyway – why dry it? Because water is pervasive and persistent. Remember, cast iron transmits heat slowly. The water will typically not have enough time to evaporate from the whole pan. The simple answer is to get most of the water off with a towel first.

After toweling the pan dry – put it on the stove for maybe 5 minutes until the pan is completely dry and hot. I usually flip the pan upside down for a few minutes during drying. Put a small amount of oil in the pan (I recommend canola oil) and spread it with a paper towel. You are just using enough to cover the bottom and sides with an oily sheen (I usually do not do the bottom of the pan during this daily maintenance). Some people would stop here – but I definitely recommend 2 more short steps.

Do not put an oily pan away because old oil will turn sticky and rancid. So once the hot pan is covered with a small amount of oil, buff it out with a cloth. Take off all the oil you put on because this is where I see many problems develop. Too much oil will leave spots or become sticky. So after buffing with a cloth put it back on the stove for a minute or two and make sure it is hot to the touch. Then turn it off and leave it out to dry. Done. Perfect.

Paper Towels and Cloth
It is very useful to use a small washcloth for buffing oil out of the pan and I have one dedicated for this purpose. It is the cotton checkered cloth in the photo above (after one wash it was pretty much lint free). Anytime I am covering the pan with a light coat of oil I am typically using a paper towel. When I am taking the oil out of the pan (either in initial seasoning or maintenance) I use the dedicated washcloth. The cloth is easier when dealing with a hot pan and paper towels can shred if things get abrasive. And why use a ton of paper towels all the time? Highly recommended!

Cooking Tips for Cast Iron Pans

DMartin — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 17:50:12 +0000

Most of this information is presented within the Cooking Tips section of this website – but I wanted to have a place that people could comment on this specific topic. I know that people into Cast Iron have wonderful and often loud opinions!

If you would like this information (and more) in a simple and clear document…CLICK HERE for Care and Cooking Tips!

Always preheat the pan before you use it!

Cast iron works better when you put your food in a pan that is already hot. Just leave the pan on a low / medium heat for 5-10 minutes before use.

Remember, cast iron is not great at dispersing heat so it will develop a hotter spot directly over the burner. If desired, the whole pan can go in the oven to bring it up to temperature. This is especially handy when you want your steak to get a good even sear. For searing meat, preheat the pan in the oven to a pretty high temperature – say 450 degrees F. Take the pan out and put it on your stovetop for cooking. Remember to turn on the ventilation in your kitchen because your steak will quickly sear across the whole piece of meat generating sizzle and steam.

Use a sufficient amount of butter or oil when cooking!

Use plenty of oil or butter, especially in the first several uses after initial seasoning. Remember, the seasoning will improve just by using the pan normally. Use your oil or fat of choice here. I mostly use butter, canola or olive oil depending on what I am cooking (be aware of the smoke points for your oils). You will gain experience the more you cook and you will learn the correct amount to achieve the perfect results.

You rarely use the pan dry – but I have seen a few recipes that call for a no-oil pan. But you better have built up a good seasoning on your pan before trying that!

Don’t flip the food right away!

Let your food cook before you start trying to flip it. Chemically speaking, there is a lot going on when the food hits the pan. For instance, Maillard reactions (browning), caramelization of sugars, and a release of water all occur over time. Experiment with this on your own. You will find the correct cooking time for your favorite foods.

The Fried Egg Test
Fried eggs are a perennial favorite and an excellent test of your pan’s seasoning. If you cook them sunny side up that means the egg is fried with the yolk up and not flipped. If you like the egg over easy that means the egg is flipped once and the yolk is still soft and runny. Personally, I like mine over medium (not too runny). Use a lot of butter at first as you learn how to get those eggs on your plate. Eventually, the eggs will come right out and the pan will be almost as clean as when you started.