Frying Burgers Question

JeffreyL

Member
So I'm learning to cook in cast iron, I have cornbread, pies, omelets, scrambled eggs, and fish down pretty good. Tonight I decided to try a couple burgers, in a newly seasoned Favorite smiley 8, it's had 5 rounds of crisco. The burgers fried ok, but my question is why I got the mess in the bottom of the pan. Being a newly seasoned pan I added just a bit of bacon grease I keep in the fridge, just enough to make the surface slick. Did the stickiness bits come from the bacon grease, or is it because the beef is raised by a friend and not very fatty? Also what is recommended for cleaning this up? This pic is after I used a Lodge scraper, and the edge of my metal spatula but didn't want to dig at it. Or just leave it and keep cooking? Trouble I have with that is all the time you spend cleaning and restoring a skillet it's hard to leave it looking like that, any help is appreciated.
https://imgur.com/a/E98gO
 
Simmer a half inch of water in it for a minute and let cool enough to handle. A non-abrasive plastic scrub pad will take off the softened residue without harming your seasoning.
 
Thanks I will try that, is this normal? Or because of the bacon grease? Limited seasoning? Type of beef? Or technique?
 
Meat will typically at a point release on its own. Sticking can often be more the result of trying to turn it before that happens. Use tongs or spatula to try to gently move the meat sideways to test if it has released. Then flip once it has.
 
Musta tried to flip to early, my wife accuses me of "playing" with food to much, next time I'll try to leave it alone, thanks
 
I always run my scraper across the bottom of the pan while the meat is resting and the pan is still warm. Everything comes right up in a little pile that I just scoop out and then I eat. For me I have found that if I always scrape right when I'm done there is never any issues and clean up later is next to nil.
 
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