Cast Iron Obsession

Yikes!  It has been awhile  - as always, life keeps us busy! :)  So I find myself watching Sherlock on Netflix tonight and typing away.  Since I last updated, the Hubby and I have traveled a bit - to North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  We've enjoyed the surprisingly warm weather by spending some time enjoying the outdoors and I have even started my garden (planted brussel sprouts, herbs and kale).  I have recently discovered that I actually like brussel sprouts.  Growing up, I could not stand the vegetable, but now I cannot get enough of them!  I read somewhere that tastebuds expand every seven years, so maybe that explains my new brussel sprout obsession.  

A few weeks ago the Mister and I took a "cast iron cooking" class and Williams Sonoma.  They have weekly tutorials on an array of cooking topics, but I found the cast iron class to be beneficial.  I inherited 2 skillets (a 3 and 8 inch) a few years ago, but have never used them.  I don't know why I haven't use them.  Maybe I thought they were too much work or too tricky to use, I don't know.  But after the class, I had the confidence to give them a try.  Being that my skillets were unloved for so many years, the first thing that we had to do was season the skillets.  

My husband actually was the one who really did the hard work to season the skillets - he started by taking a metal scrubber, soap and water to remove the thick residue left on the skillets.  When he was done, the skillets were worn down to the bare metal.  

We then used a rag to spread a thin coating of oil (we used flaxseed oil because it has a higher smoking point) on the inside and outside of the skillet.  Since we used flaxseed oil, we could season the skillets at a higher temperature - we used 500 degrees for about 1 hour.  Other oils, should probably be seasoned at 350 degrees.  When in the oven, the skillet should be upside down so that the oil doesn't pool at the bottom of the pan.  We put a piece of aluminum foil at the bottom of the oven for the oil to drip, which made for easy clean up!  When the hour is up, we turned off the oven and let the skillets cool down in the oven.  Once cooled, we started the oil/coating/heating/cooling process again, again & again (we did four coats of oil).  When it was all said and done, our very old cast iron skillets look beautiful and new!  In fact, they are now my favorite thing to cook by beloved brussel sprouts in! :) :P

The truth is, since I now have usable cast iron skillets, I haven't touched my once cherished non-stick skillets and have been using the cast iron for everything.  We even splurged and bought a cast iron dutch oven to be able to cook more variety in cast iron.  We have become cast iron people. :)

Until the next time...