Rotel Tomatoes & Green Chilies

So, I have a recipe that calls for 6-8 cans of rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies. I haven't cooked it in a long while and was going to throw it into the Dutch oven. Well, there is always that thought of tomatoes and tomatoes. Thoughts??

The recipe calls for hamburger, corn, ranch seasoning, 3 kinds of beans, onion, er cetera. The tomatoes get pulsed to a liquid. Appreciate your input.
 
Some of the guys here have done tomato based foods in well seasoned Dutch ovens with little to no real loss of seasoning. And a couple mentioned that they would pop popcorn in it later to add a coat of fresh seasoning for lack of better words. Just remember not to let it sit in it for while after you finish eating.

I sometimes soften tomatoes in my skillets for omelets and never really seen any difference after.
 
It's a combination of the overall acidity of the dish and the length of exposure, not just the cook time but until cleanup. That's why I ask how long.
 
I would be less concerned about a slightly acidic dish in a well seasoned CI vessel. I regularly make tomato dishes in mine. However a high ph (basic) dish is a different matter. I wouldn't make masa from corn and pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) in my CI.
 
It's a combination of the overall acidity of the dish and the length of exposure, not just the cook time but until cleanup. That's why I ask how long.

I normally let it cook a few hours. Was thinking of doing it over the fire, but may just resort to hot coals to.
 
I normally let it cook a few hours. Was thinking of doing it over the fire, but may just resort to hot coals to.

In my opinion it does sound like it will damage the seasoning. Will it cut all the way through to the iron, can't say. But the seasoning will suffer.

However, you're not going to get a definitive answer here, just a handful of opinions that will likely contradict to some degree.

So either play it safe or go ahead and give it a shot. You can always rebuild seasoning. If it goes through to the iron and gives the food a metallic taste, it'll just be a learning lesson. But then you'll know for sure, not just speculation, for future reference.

In my personal experience, I have gotten away with cooking tomatoes and/or wine for brief exposures. I also have had seasoning eaten away to the iron on longer cooks and it's taught me caution.
 
So, it basically depends on will the seasoning on your particular pan hold up to (or react to) what you're exposing it to and for how long. I doubt you're going to eat a well-established seasoning off a pan in the time it takes to cook even a long-cooking recipe. But I don't think I'd test the theory on a pan with just a couple of oven-baked layers.
 
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