- So there's a rumor going around town that some of you are
scared of cast iron pans. Is this true? I don't know why y'all are afraid of it, but I'm here today to show you that you don't have to be afraid of it. I'm gonna show you how you cook in it. I'm gonna show you how you clean it. I'm gonna show you how to take care of it and I'm gonna show you how to season it. But really, it's much
easier than you think to own and take care of a cast iron pan. So why do I love this
cast iron pan so much? Because it's affordable, it can last you lifetimes
if you take care of it, and you can practically
cook anything in it. For someone who doesn't
like specialized gadgets or unitaskers, the cast iron pan is one of the most intensely
hardworking work courses in the kitchen. (rhythmic banging) That's a nice tune. The cast iron pan is really
just one solid piece of metal, meaning it's very, very durable. If you do end up shattering it or blasting a bullet through
it, it might shatter. But otherwise, in a normal
kitchen circumstance, it probably will not break. Unlike non-stick pans, you
can transfer the cast iron from stove to oven in one fell swoop, and it's totally food safe. While cast iron is not great
at conducting heat evenly, it retains heat super well. Which means that nice golden
bottom is yours to have. Cast iron also has this
intimidation factor where you're always afraid that
your food is gonna get stuck to it when you cook in it. Unlike non-stick pans, cast
iron pans don't have a coating that ensures a clean release. All that means is it
depends on the quality of your seasoning and the amount of fat that you're using in your cooking to let that food slide
right out of the pan. Please don't be stingy when you're cooking in your
cast iron with your fats. Do you always have trouble flipping that pancake upside down, getting both sides nice and golden brown? No more. Today is the day we make some dank pancakes in our cast iron pan. (upbeat music) Looks about right (upbeat music) (pan sizzling) (upbeat music) Smells like the best kind of pancakes. It's so good, you can only whisper. If your pan isn't even too gunky by the end of your cooking session and you're about to cook another thing, you don't even need to wash it. Take a paper towel, wipe it out, good to go. I don't like to cook a lot of meat but I do like to roast
veggies from time to time and I sometimes like to start off my veggies on the
stove and transfer them into the oven for a nice
tender creamy finish. One of my favorite things to
make in the cast iron pan, potatoes. Because it is one solid piece of metal and it's great at retaining
heat, you have to be careful. Use a towel when you're handling your pan so that you don't burn your hands. (upbeat music) Once your oven is preheated and your potatoes are nice and golden, go ahead and just
transfer them to the oven. (upbeat music) Delicious but hot. If you're dropping your stuff before the pan is completely hot, it might have a slightly
elevated risk of being sticky. So my best bet is just
to let the pan heat up completely first. That being said, when you
have enough oil in your pan it should release just fine. One advice I have for you when cooking with cast iron on the stove top is to move your pan around
on your fire a little bit. To ensure even heating,
move your pan around on the heat source so
that every bit of that pan is getting nice amounts of heat applied. Is that non-stick enough for ya? Perfect eggs, every time. You've got the crispy, crispy bottoms and you got the nice runny yolks. I don't know if you've heard
the same rumors as I have but some people think you
can't cook anything acidic in cast iron, including
tomatoes, tomato sauce and I'm here to tell you
today that ain't true. The belief is that because
of the increased acidity in tomatoes they wear
away at the cast iron and they can corrode them
or the metallic tastes will leach into your food. Which in my experience has not been true. But of course, if you cook tomatoes for an hour plus in cast
iron, I can't vouch for that. I think at half an hour,
45 minutes, even an hour it should be totally okay. Unlike non-stick you
can use wooden utensils, you can use silicone spatulas, you can use metal on cast iron. They won't scratch unless
you're intentionally chipping away your pan,
which please don't do. But metal is perfectly
safe on cast iron pans. I truly have no idea
what I'm making there, but you get my point. You know, food. I threw in a couple of eggs
in there just to show you what happens when your
food does indeed get stuck to the cast iron pan. Stickage usually happens when
you have two things going on probably at the same time. One, you didn't use enough
fat to lubricate that pan and create that nice little barrier. And two, you were cooking
something that has a lot of protein and moisture in it. Whatever you do do not
continuously shovel at it, hoping that it releases
while your heat is still on. As soon as you see stickage
starting to happen, turn your heat off and if you can, cover your pan so that you're trapping all the moisture that is still in your batch of food. Let it rest for a couple of minutes and over time that moisture
will kind of just rain down to the bottom of the pan. And then after a few minutes unlid, give it a nice gentle
scrape with a wooden spoon and see if it comes off. Again, I'm not quite sure what I made here but it looks pretty edible guys. And just in case, you're wondering if there's a taste of cast iron in here. No cast iron here, but it
does taste damn delicious. Once you got a dirty
pan, how do you clean it? In most cases, I like to go
in with really hot tap water and a scrubby, not even soap. Soap is unnecessary unless you
have extreme grime in there. You're really, really
disgusting and worn out scrubby on that really old sponge
is actually perfect for cleaning cast irons, because this has a little
bit of abrasiveness, but not too much. There's still a little bit of residue, so we'll put on a little bit of salt and go in with our toothbrush. Stiff toothbrushes are
fantastic for scrubbing at those hard to reach spots and it really gives you some leverage to really work in those little stickies that just refuse to come off. Because toothbrushes are
still made for human teeth, they probably won't be harsh
enough to ruin your seasoning. Soap will not strip off your seasoning but just don't use any harsh scrubbies to really get at those
corners and stickies. Another commonly asked question is, can I let my cast iron pans soak? My answer is yes, but not for too long. Soaking does great wonders for
lifting food particles off. So, if that means you have
to scrub it less later, than yes let it soak. I like to do maybe a 10
to 15 minutes soak, max. Rinse it off in nice hot water and shake off all of your
moisture and you're done, right? Wrong. Because cast iron is porous
and it is basically just metal, it can rust. To ensure that your cast
iron is actually dry and that it does not
rust while you store it you got to put it on your
stove top and heat it off. I like to do a nice,
solid, medium high heat. and I'm going to look for
wisps of smoke from that pan. Initially the water droplets
will evaporate and sizzle away but you really want to
get that pan hot enough that you can start to smell
the metal just a little bit. I don't know about you but that seems like a pretty
manageable cleanup routine to me. At this stage, you can
take it one step further and you can apply a very
thin layer of oil on there while the pan is still hot. One thing to note here is you
don't want a whole lot of oil, you actually just want the
barest amount of oil on there and you want to buff it out
with a nice little paper towel. Really go ahead and
spread it all over the pan and if you really want to be
a good cast iron pan owner, spread it on the under side too. As you can see, I didn't spread it on the
under side and it is rusty. But it's okay, because
cooking on that side, guys. You want to be working this in so that it doesn't even look oily. It just looks like a
very nice matte sheen. A lot of people ask me what
brand of cast iron to get and it really doesn't matter, guys. I don't even know what brand I have here. It just says Taiwan on the bottom and it truly has no other insignia. Beats me. Sexy, huh? If you ever see that your pan
did rust while in storage, don't freak out it is fine,
it's easy to take care of. As you can see, I just
buffed it with a paper towel and most of the rust is
pretty much gone now. If your rust happens inside your pot, just be sure that you're
rinsing it all out and you're giving it a nice scrub so that you remove all of the rust first before proceeding on to
oiling and seasoning. No, it does not mean salting it and peppering it and putting
delicious spices in it. What it refers to is this
nice thin layer of oil that we just applied. To grow your seasoning or to maintain your seasoning on your pan, you basically have to apply heat to it so that the oil you put on
there hits its smoking point and polymerizes. That means that essentially
your oil is being cooked to such a high temperature
that it turns into a thin layer of plastic-y coating. In essence, you're making
your own non-stick pan. So it's a seasoning process. Some cooks believe that
it's a really good idea that when you first get your cast iron pan that you season it well because while most pans come pre-seasoned, it's a very loose layer
of commercial seasoning. And if you really want to
give your pan that nice TLC, you've got to do it yourself. Do you have to season your
pan every time you cook? Absolutely not. That last step of oiling
it, I don't even do that maybe every month. I just did it for you
guys, to show you guys. I'm not a good cast iron mother. But as you can see, even with plenty of abuse
it's still fine, guys. What you really don't want to do is put too much oil on there, because what happens is this. This happens when you put too much oil on. We got too greedy with the seasoning and we went on really thick with the oils and then when we heated it up in the oven, it started flaking. Why? Because that thick layer of oil turned in to that plastic polymerize
state and started flaking. It wasn't just a nice baked in layer, it basically sat on top of the
pan and as you cook with it it's very fragile and
it will start flaking. So don't be greedy, just go light. If you want to season your pan, you can do so by applying
that layer of oil like we just did, buffing it in and then turning your oven
up to 475, 500 degrees. Really hot, sliding your pan in there and letting it bake for about an hour. After that hour is up, I
recommend you turn off the oven and leave the pan in there to cool with the oven as it cools. That way, you're using
every last bit of energy to make sure that seasoning
is nice and baked in. I won't be showing you that process today because one, my pan is pretty
good looking, I would say. And two, because I have a cat named Fred who is unfortunately asthmatic. So that is something to note that when you season your
cast iron pan in the oven it will create a very smoky atmosphere in your kitchen or house. This is because the
whole point of seasoning is to let that oil hit
pass its smoking point so that it can polymerize. If you don't hit past that smoking point, it's not turning into that layer of coating, AKA seasoning. Be prepared and keep your
kitchen very well ventilated and if you have people or
animals who suffer from asthma just take dear note of that. Please don't stress
about getting that nice, perfect, magazine ready
seasoning on your cast iron pan because seasoning will come with time. Every time you cook in your pan, that's a layer of seasoning. You don't need to clean that much, guys. To me, the cast iron pan is amazing and it's super easy to take care of. It's really not high maintenance at all. I hope you found this
video helpful and useful and I want you to let me
know what other explainers would you like to see. I'm open to talking about everything
