Cast Iron newbie in need of seasoning, cooking, general cast iron help.

KYoung

New member
So I recently became interested in cast iron because I like cooking steaks, but it's kind of a pain to get the grill going for just a single steak, and from what I heard cast iron is perfect for cooking singles steaks.

I found a Griswold at a local antique store and restored it (lye bath followed by vinegar bath and elbow grease). I seasoned it w/ 6 coats of canola oil before use. First I cooked bacon on it, and ended up with a fair amount of black crap stuck on, that I had to clean off with oil and kosher salt and a fair bit of scrubbing. I felt like I was probably scraping away my seasoning, but after drying it looked alright. Then I cooked a steak using the Alton Brown recipe (high heat on the stove minute for a minute each side, and then into an oven heated at 450 degrees). I noticed I must have melted some seasoning off as there was a big black "drip" in the middle of the stove top coil. After eating my steak, I went to clean the skillet. On the bottom, there was a big brown circle where the coil was in contact with the skillet, and when I wipe it off with a damp paper towel, I got a ton of black stuff on the paper towel. On the inside of the skillet, it seemed like I must have cooked off the seasoning as it was, maybe not quite bare metal, but it was more grey in color than black or brown.

Any ideas/insight? Because I sure as heck feel like I'm doing something wrong, even though I feel like I'm following the "Beginner's tips" to a tee. Am I cooking with it wrong? Did I not season it right?
 
There's really no benefit to seasoning the outside of the pan beyond 1 or 2 initial coats-- you're only trying to rust-proof there. On the cooking surface, however, manually applied and baked on coats need to be as absolutely thin as possible-- too thick, and you will get those areas that release.

Even after these first applied coats, your pan is not yet going to be the non-stick marvel that it will later become after repeated use. You'll therefore need some added cooking fat in the form of an oil, or, as in the AB technique, a coating of oil on the meat. Also, since the steak method requires a temp of 450°F, you'll want a high smoke point oil like peanut or refined grapeseed.
 
There's really no benefit to seasoning the outside of the pan beyond 1 or 2 initial coats-- you're only trying to rust-proof there. On the cooking surface, however, manually applied and baked on coats need to be as absolutely thin as possible-- too thick, and you will get those areas that release.

Even after these first applied coats, your pan is not yet going to be the non-stick marvel that it will later become after repeated use. You'll therefore need some added cooking fat in the form of an oil, or, as in the AB technique, a coating of oil on the meat. Also, since the steak method requires a temp of 450°F, you'll want a high smoke point oil like peanut or refined grapeseed.

Spent yesterday reseasoning a new pan, making sure to use very thin coats. Used avocado oil on my steak, as it's supposed to have the highest smoke point, made it again using the Alton Brown method.

After I'm done, I'm down to bare metal again. Don't know what I'm doing wrong, but cast iron just isn't working for me.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:58 PM ----------

Also, looks like the bottom is also bare metal as well.
 
Absent anything you're doing seasoning it that we can't account for, I would have to guess it's something about the cooking. Bearing in mind again that the pan is not going to be non-stick/well-seasoned after the initial manual seasoning, maybe it's the high heat from the electric burner. Even if the pan is being properly pre-heated in the oven, I could see where a super hot coil in the middle might be burning it off on the outside and causing an adhesion of the meat on the inside to the point it's pulling the seasoning off there, too. Maybe one of those heat diffuser gizmos might be in order. If you have some photos of the aftermath we could take a look at, it might be helpful in determining what's going on.
 
I know of people who use lemon juice as part of marinade for steak, could that be it?or some other acidic substance?
 
Hi Everyone,

I don't post often and lurk as I have time. I am no expert by any means, but I do love a good steak seared on a CI pan and have learned a thing or three doing this.

First of all, don't use a freshly seasoned pan for this. As Doug mentioned, it's going to take a little while to build up a good non stick finish. When I used a freshly seasoned pan to do a steak, I had a bit of a mess. It cleaned up well enough but it just didn't work as well as when I used a better seasoned pan.

Just my 2 cents. Take it as you wish. Listen to these guys, they know what they talk of. Use that pan for fried taters and other things for a few weeks then try it again.

Oh... I always coat the steak with oil before throwing her in the hot pan. Good Luck! :)
 
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