How to Use Cast Iron: Cooking, Cleaning and Seasoning

so you got you some cast iron you did and you don't know what to do with it or how to take care of it well in this video I got you covered from A to Z and everywhere in between how to cook in it how to clean how to re season it you're gonna enjoy them all I needed this help you're gonna need it to stick around [Music] hey thank y'all for stopping by my name is Kent Rollins and we welcome you to another edition of cowboy cooking and what did I use in my cowboy cooking more than anything else that is cast-iron good all American made in the USA cast-iron we have put you together a QuickStart guide on everything you need to know about this cast iron from cooking to cleaning to reese's n' into everyday use in maintenance we have got you covered now we make a lot of references to a lot of different videos and tips and stuff but it'll all be listed below down here in this little description so let's get in the house and see what we can do go over the light source you got and if it is gas or electric still the same method is going to apply let's turn this on to about a medium heat place that skillet on there and we're going to let it get hot how do you know it's hot touch it with your finger just barely then you can turn that down to regulate that temperature it's saving your money in the long run because good cast iron holds heat and distribute its evenly you don't have to just crank it up there on high and leave it you're gonna end up burning something up you take whatever you're frying and there put it in a hot surface it's less apt to stick than it would if you just chuck it in there right when you start and let it go before you put your food in there to fry it whatever you're doing to it in that skillet make sure your skillet is hot can I do this on a glass cooktop that is electric yeah you can you can't slam it around there and everything else now a lot of the old stuff is gonna have a heat ray and that heat ring is going to give you a little buffer on some of these glass top stuff and it won't work on an induction oven because it is not sitting directly covering the eye while counting utensils is best to use in cast iron whether it be a Dutch oven or a skillet now a lot of people tell me I seen you using metal well folks I do be using me a metal spatula on occasion now I'll flip an egg with it turn a pancake over dip something out with it but you won't see me scraping a skillet or a Dutch oven for cleaning purposes on there because when it's metal against metal you're gonna lose some of your seasoning by scraping on it they make these here rubber spatulas and I'm sure Shann might even have your link on Amazon where you can find them now my most preferred thing probably that I like to cook with is a utensil when I'm cooking it's cast-iron it's just a wooden spatula of some kind it can be one of these a homemade but that way folks if you're digging in there to turn something over or you're stirring you're not disrupting any of your seasoning by using wood what can I cook in this cast-iron and what can I not cook in there the only thing that I don't do in cast-iron skillet or a Dutch oven is bowl water based substances now I'm talking purely water based like bowling beans or something like that when it gets to a high temperature and it just continually bolts it is loosening your seasoning and a lot of times you'll get a black film that's on top of them beans or the water it's because you bowled in that cast iron that was seasoning and it's turning some of it loose can you cook acidic foods in there cobblers barbecue bass tomato-based yes you can is it hard on cast iron yes it is to some extent but if it's seasoned well when you start and you clean it well and you re seasoned you can hurt a thing when you're heating it or you're cooling it do it gradual and I'm not gonna set it over in a sink of cold water when I get through with it just by the same purpose too if I'm cooking something really hot in a Dutch oven I'm not gonna set it in a snowbank you gotta be careful not to shock cast iron from one extreme to the other hot or cold can I get this question a lot is about searing a piece of meat now there's me there is two ways that you can do this put that skillet over on that burner gradually warm it up and then crank it to high and when it reaches the smoke point when you see that skillet begin to smoke that thing is hot enough to sear but the way I like the most it is I love to put it in that oven preheated at 450 degrees let her sit in there for about 30 minutes drag that skillet out put it on that burner high heat that thing will sear something a whole lot quicker but when you're cooking in cast iron it's more about the maintenance and the care of it and we're going to talk about that in a minute but remember when you take care of a piece of cast iron and you cook with it you're getting the benefits that you'll never get from any other kind of skillet you're not getting the flavor and you're not getting a utensil that's going to last forever and ever warm water and a sponge is really all you're gonna need soap you say I never soap now sure back way back yonder when soap was made out of line and granny made it out there in a big pot and stirred it with the stick that stuff it take the hair off a frog's button a hair off your head - sure dishwashing soaps we have today are much more milder than that do I use soap no not ever so maybe you fried something in there or something stuck in there and you got a little residue in there what's going to happen I'm gonna take this little wooden spatula here that I made out of Mesquite and I'm gonna scrape that oven or skillet to where it is good and clean now this being wood I'm not gonna get rid of none of my seasoning because it's not metal against metal get that all over to one side take a paper towel wipe it out really well discard it warm water and sponge again say you've cleaned this and it's happened to me with warm water and a sponge after you get all your residue out of there but I see a little something in there that don't look right it's a little black speck or it's something that stuck a little harder than what that sponge and that warm water wouldn't take off so what we're gonna do of course sea salt put it some in right there on that spot you can do it with a piece of leather two or three paper towels folded up just give it a good scratching right throw in that little spot I'm not telling you to go all around it just on that spot you see take it back over there rinse it out with good warm water you are good to go another method for cleaning cast iron probably my most favorite and the one I use most of the time to clean cast iron when I have fried something in it and it may be stuck just a little or got a little leftover residue in there wipe all that excess grease out of there you can then make sure you have some hot water whether you've had it on the stove or you're running it out of the sink place the skillet in there pour the hot water over it what happens steam and steam cleans in a hurry folks it is probably the fastest way to clean a piece of cast iron you've got to make sure your skillet is hot and your water is hot because we're not going to shock this like I told you remember from one extreme to the other and let me give you another little tip get you one of their mer sponges or something got a handle on it that way it sort of keeps you away from it as you're running but folks it takes very little effort whatsoever cleaning it every trip I use it every time every day I never let it say it I clean it as soon as I get through with it it just makes it easier but also always check that outside of that skillet and make sure like if you crack the egg on there some of that rundown all you got to do little hot water bristle brush cleaning it right off but if you got you some of that residue that's already built up on there we've got a little link up there above and down below on maintenance for cleaning cast iron seasoning I'm not talking salt and pepper no I'm talking about building up a layer of a good old that is a non-stick surface we just cook something in there we cleaned it whether it was with hot water and a sponge or we did the steam method put it back over here on a burner over medium heat take you a good rag wipe any excess moisture out of there that you see and then we gotta let that thing heat up now how do I know it's hot enough to season touch the top side of the skillet wall because I gotta let it heat plumb through we want this hot but not smoking hot because if you try to season cast iron and you're smoking it out of there you're losing all your seasoning turn it off so now we're gonna add the old how much it don't take much folks a lot of people want to put way too much in there and have some old sticky gummy mess and then what are we gonna do take a good lint-free rag I like to use a bandanna wipe it around there good sides bottom everywhere wipe all that excess off that you can get after a few minutes we're gonna come back and we're going to take that rag and we're gonna wipe it one more time to make sure that we didn't miss any excess oil that didn't get absorbed the first trip so I come back in here to the kitchen maybe 3045 minutes later and I'm fixing to put that skillet up but I noticed that there is a little sticky residue in there maybe I didn't get it wiped out good what we got to do turn that burner back on get it hot wipe that excess out of there make sure you get it on what kind of oil do I like to use well I have three that I really love that is grapeseed oil olive oil and I have started really liking me some avocado now you can use about any basic ol that you want if it's working for you but not pins old trough Artic or phillips 66 or mobile or any of that stuff you might put in your pickup now I know a lot of you always be asking me this question well my mother used to be used just bacon fat that she had cooked in and just wiped that down my mother did too and she used that skillet every day if you ever don't use that skillet very often and you put a lid on there you're gonna get something that begins to smell rancid you always tell us don't use a paper towel now some of y'all might not have heard that yet and y'all be thinking to yourself why can't we use a paper towel well paper towels full of lint when you're wiping something down you're transferring lent to your cast iron I prefer a bandanna and old t-shirts work will they do now I'll use them two or three days in a row then what do I do I'll get me some hot water in the sink and I'll take this wrestle and I use simple green and I wet her down floor in there but I always let them soak then I'll take them out ring all the water out of them good and the only thing that I'm gonna put in the washing machine is just these rags so make sure that you store them somewhere to where they're all combined they're all the same thing not in there with your wife's favorite cook wait a minute you in the back y'all turn your phone's off and pay attention because what I'm fitting to tell you now is probably one of the most important things you're gonna hear come out of my mouth you're going to reese's in' every time you use that skillet if I used it three times today I'm gonna re season it three times I like a slick glossy black finish and that's how you get it by reese's me every trip you use that skillet you heard me talk about Reese's in the inside of this skillet let's talk about Reese seasoning the outside of that skillet if you're cooking mainly indoors with this you're not going to quite get a biggest buildup as you would if you were cooking outside over a wood fire there's more soot there's more smoke and you're gonna have to clean and seasoned more often I'll do this about maybe once a week in the house if I'm outside I try to do it about every trip I'm cooking with one of them and it's just a light coat oil but I using that good ole over here that cost more money I'll get me a cheap vegetable and just wipe around the outside even the bottom because it's got to be hot remember same principle applies from inside to outside when you cook something that's got a lid on it you gonna get condensation what will that make if you don't clean it it will eventually make rust so make sure you it is wiped off it is heated season the inside with the same thing you do in the bottom of that skillet and then make sure this is good and dry on the outside season it with a vegetable or something like that it will last you forever deep-frying something it folks it does a great wonders because you've got a depth of all in there that's at a constant temperature above 350 degrees cast iron loves some deep frying it does you might want to do this maybe once a week twice a month it'll help keep that seasoning in there it's gonna build it but also it's going to firm up that foundation the seasoning that you already have on there hey I've got me one of them griddles how do you take care of it how you clean it how do you season it it's cast iron folks it is the same method throughout I clean it the same way most of the time with the steam method and I Reese's in it the same way storage I get so many people how I live in an apartment well I don't know where to put my cast iron I can't hang it on the wall well my mother stored hers in the oven for years I like to hang my on the wall if you've got a place that you can do that we've got a video we did on how to store cast iron and you can check that out but make sure you don't stack it oven to oven or skill it to skillet you're gonna scratch some of this season off so let's make this the year throughout the world that we begin to cook in cast iron you're gonna have the benefits of your food tasting so much better when you cook out of a cast iron skillet also there's a health benefit there is number one don't get hit in head by number two you're gonna absorb iron from eating out of iron cast iron is not intimidating folks it really isn't it's something that's gonna last you a lifetime and with the maintenance and the tips that we give you today it will perform and you will be so proud you have it we got a lot of additional information that will help you out and everything that we used or we talked about in this video shann will have in the little description below you won't be lost I want to thank our veterans and all our service members for keeping this country free that we can all enjoy eating out a good cast iron remember now hit them little buttons share and like god bless you each and every one and see you down the cast iron trail now there's so many myths and everything that our boy you didn't take long they screw that up did it help hey you're gonna cooking this stuff you got to throw it on that burner and a bagel wants outside it won't be just second you can show him scratching coming back in I'll talk about cooking in cast on the face of loveliness big says

Channel: Cowboy Kent Rollins

Views: 1,459,839

Keywords: cast iron skillet, cast iron skillet cleaning, cast iron skillet recipes, cast iron skillet seasoning, how to take care of cast iron skillet, how to take care of cast iron pans, cast iron cookware, how to take care of cast iron after cooking, how to take care of dutch oven, how to clean cast iron, how to season cast iron, how to cook in cast iron, re seasoning cast iron, cast iron cooking, outdoor cooking channel, campfire cooking

Id: rRZMXZfcol8

Length: 14min 41sec (881 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 02 2019