December, Elf on a shelf taking up Coffee & Tea space.

[DeaconKC]

Mornin' All! 62 here right now, pouring rain. Heading out to a Dr. appointment as soon as I fill my travel mug. Have a good one, stay warm and safe.

That was at 9AM, it's 11AM now and has dropped to 45...yuck.

[Major 2]

Coffee's brewing, but fresh out of tea this morning.
I'm thinking cats' paw biscuit & a hunk of bacon is in order...

Off the U see um in short while, just a half day of curating, and then this evening our Christmas party at Jimmy Bears BBQ.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Morning y'all.
Thanks for the coffee.

'Tis 22 and light flurries. "Mostly cloudy. A chance of light snow in the morning. Highs around 30. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 50 percent."

Slim

[DeaconKC]

44 here right now, supposed to get to 47. A "Blustery Day" as ol' Pooh Bear would say. Taking my Nephew and his wife out for his birthday tonight, they are a riot to be with. Coffee's on here and y'all be good today.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Morning y'all.
Coffee and tea are hot.

'Tis 15 and clear. High of 30.

Slim

[Major 2]

Foggy & drizzling here, should burn off with the rain expected tomorrow & Tuesday cooling of to the low 40's by midweek.
I once again procrastinated Christmas shopping, still will avoid any Mall and continue my 12 + boycott of Wally world...
gift cards are my salvation.

Went to Jimmy Bears BBQ for the Museum Christmas party, good time with good folks....food was eh! average, maybe a tad below,
not bad    just nowhere the best BBQ in town, I rate it 3rd or 4th best, out the three in town 

* FATBOY's (5 star), BBQ

* Meat & Fire ...........................................  >>>>>>>>>>>>> Jimmy Bears rate's - 3st !

[The Trinity Kid]

Afternoon all.

Overcast and 25 in Missoula at current. We're supposed to be getting a good size winter storm through in a couple hour. According to local news it's around Superior right now. They're saying total white out, with 50mph winds and over three inches of white stuff per hour. In town we're forecast for between 4-6 inches, but it's supposed to pick up steam and dump a foot or more to the East.

On the agenda today, I'm currently working a new cast iron pan. I got it from a fellow at work who made the move to T-Fal and gave away his cast. This particular pan is a 12" Lodge skillet that never really got used. I sanded the factory coating off, then smoothed the inside down to 220 grit, and am in the process of seasoning it back up to "sunny side up" capable.

—TK

[Delmonico]

On the agenda today, I'm currently working a new cast iron pan. I got it from a fellow at work who made the move to T-Fal and gave away his cast. This particular pan is a 12" Lodge skillet that never really got used. I sanded the factory coating off, then smoothed the inside down to 220 grit, and am in the process of seasoning it back up to "sunny side up" capable.

—TK

You went to a lot of unneeded work, you want some advice from a real expert or did you watch a Youtube video?    If doing Youtube be sure to watch the Martha Stewart one, I use it all the time as an example of how to make a cluster mess, she didn't learn from Jail, she's still lying.    At least 95% on there are garbage including the TV cook guy from Oklahoma.

[Delmonico]

My teaching doc on the subject:



Seasoning Cast Iron



Once we have the piece cleaned and down to bare metal, we need to get it seasoned, this is where it gets confusing for many, despite much of the information out there today, seasoning is not just a coating of an oil that has been heated up for a specific time in an oven at a specific temperature, usually said to be 350F, this misconception causes by far the majority of the problems people have with cast iron cookware with both cooking with it and cleaning with it. So what is seasoning and how do we do it?


The proper seasoning of a cast iron cooking piece is where a thin coating of oil is carbonized in a process similar to making charcoal, the volatile parts of the oil burn off leaving a polymer carbon coating (long chain molecules) that form a fairly non-stick surface on the top of the bare metal, filling the minute pores as well. Different cooking oils and fats carbonize at different temperatures; the point at where they start this process is called the "smoke point" because the volatile substances in the oils start to burn off creating the smoke. The carbonized oils left behind that coat the iron will not burn off till temperatures of 800 to 1000F are reached, beyond any normal cooking temperatures.


Today there are products on the market made and sold specifically for seasoning cast iron, I have never used any of these, and I have never had any problems seasoning cast iron with the different cooking oils and fats, many of those who have used them claim good results, but I have never had anything less than good results using normal cooking oils and fats, also if you think these products are some sort of magic, think again, they are mostly either soy bean/Canola oil for the liquid ones, or beeswax based for the solid ones with some soy or other oils added.


A quick check shows the liquid ones are about $7-$10 for 8 ounce, the solid is around $10 for 6 ½ ounce unless you decide to buy it in the handy container that looks like stick deodorant and then it is $10 for slightly over 2 ½ ounces. For comparison a bottle of soy bean oil in the liter size can be bought many times for around $1, I find this interesting because no matter what oil you use as we discussed above, you end up with carbon, also most instructions that come with these do not recommend heating high enough to fully burn off the volatile substances, this is not seasoning, but heated up oils.


The following is a list of some of the common cooking oils and fats listing the smoke point, (sources will show slightly different temps, it depends on the exact composition of the fat/oil which can vary slightly, and this is just a guide with averages). I really don't have a favorite for actual seasoning, I normally use corn oil because it is fairly cheap and I use it some in the kitchen, the bottle is easy to grab.


Safflower Oil..............................510F/265C
Soybean Oil................................450F/230C
Peanut Oil...................................450F/230C
Corn Oil........................................450F/230C
Sunflower Oil..............................440F/225C
Beef Tallow..................................400F/205C
Canola Oil.....................................400F/205C
Grape seed Oil..............................390F/195C
Lard...............................................370F/185C
Vegetable Shortening..................360F/180
Coconut Oil...................................350F/175C
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.....................350F/175C


Although seasoning is not difficult, it is a step that many seem to have trouble with, one problem many have is when they are done, the piece is sticky and gummy feeling, this is a result of putting too much oil and fat on the surface before attempting to carbonize it as well as not getting the piece hot enough to carbonize the fats/oils. The other is the piece does not have a good non-stick surface, also a result of not getting the piece hot enough to carbonize the fats/oils fully.


Let's address the using to much oils and fats first, I prefer cooking oils which are liquid at room temperature for seasoning, just because they are easier to work with on cold cast iron, I take a rag with the oil on it and I wipe and coat the surface to be seasoned with the oil, I then take a clean dry rag (paper towel will work) and I wipe as much of the oil back off as I can, just leaving a thin film. With a fat that is solid at room temperature it is best to heat the piece up above the melting point of the fat and wipe as much back off as you can just like the oil, one just has to be careful not to burn yourself in the process. The secret to seasoning is to not get more than a very thin film on it; any extra will just make a gummy surface. I have often seen it recommended turning the piece up-side down and putting a cookie sheet under the piece to catch any drips, but if you have enough that it will drip, you have too much on the surface already, it is better to remove all you can with the dry rag, it's ok to do it up-side down, but if it's on right it won't drip.

So now we are ready to heat the piece up and carbonize the oils/fats, so how high do we heat it? Well if one wants to make it a bit scientific, then look at the smoke point of the oil/fat you are using and go a little higher than the smoke point, many sources today say 350F for seasoning which is barely the smoke point of the lowest oils and who is to say 350F on the dial is 350F inside, instructions often say to recoat it and heat it several times to build it up, done right it's not needed.


I have found that no matter what oil/fat I am using, I put the piece in the oven, turn the thermostat to the last notch before the broiler kicks in and let it run a ½ hour or so or when it quits smoking. On my oven control it says 550F and my thermometer says it's about 530F, I am not sure which is right, but when the piece cools I give it a thin coat of oil and it is ready to use. If you use the high temperature and really carbonize the oils, there is no need to repeat several more times; all you do is risk building up a heavy thickness that can even be prone to flaking off.


Our properly seasoned oven is now ready to use, forget these warnings about not using metal utensils in it, "you'll scrape off the seasoning" if it does you didn't season it right.

[Delmonico]

I thought I was in inflow the other day.
Rating: EF-2
Estimated Peak Wind: 118 mph
Path Length /Statute/: 23.937 miles
Path Width /Maximum/: 70.0 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0
Start Date: 12/15/2021
Start Time: 03:11 PM CST
Start Location: 3 SE Dorchester / Saline County / NE
Start Lat/Lon: 40.6179 / -97.0722
End Date: 12/15/2021
End Time: 03:29 PM CST
End Location: 3 ESE Malcolm / Lancaster County / NE
End Lat/Lon: 40.8957 / -96.8085
A is where it started, B is where it lifted and C is where I was, looks like 6 1/2 to 7 miles,
.  (D is center of town)
Mostly open pasture land.

[The Trinity Kid]

You went to a lot of unneeded work, you want some advice from a real expert or did you watch a Youtube video?    If doing Youtube be sure to watch the Martha Stewart one, I use it all the time as an example of how to make a cluster mess, she didn't learn from Jail, she's still lying.    At least 95% on there are garbage including the TV cook guy from Oklahoma.

This piece was cast a bit rough (more so than usual), and all of the little bumps in it just annoyed me. Also, I didn't have anything better to do than sand it, so it wasn't a terrible inconvenience.

Regarding seasoning, my go-to process is to give it a light coat of extra virgin olive oil, toss it in the 400 degree oven until it stops smoking, and call her good.

—TK

[Delmonico]

Above the smoke point so good, I just use what is at hand, most often sunflower or corn and do the full bore to get it done.   I laugh because my newer Lodge stuff that ain't polished is the most non-stick, not that any of it is a problem.  I just love it though when some of these yuppies who have bought a little cast iron and watch videos try to tell me what I've been doing for 50-60 years won't work.  Right close to 60 at least.   One of my most well liked teaching memes. 

[Delmonico]

Why you can't make bread like Grandma's

How many times have you heard someone say that they just can't make bread like their grandma, many times even mentioning they have the recipe grandma wrote down for them? Most times if the person is any kind of a cook, the bread they make is fine; it just doesn't have quite the taste of Grandma's.

When ever anyone mentions this, something I discovered many years ago comes to mind, my brother loves homemade bread, but he had told me one time that it was good, very good, but just didn't taste like Grandma's bread did and he was right. He wanted to know if I had Grandma's recipe, but she never used one that I ever saw, not for just plain old white bread, she just mixed it up, they way I do it, a couple tablespoon's of lard, maybe a teaspoon or so of sugar, a dash of salt and work in enough flour for a stiff dough.

Well as I started traveling around with my cook camp, I noticed that my bread tasted different at different places, not a lot, but it was different, none of which was exactly like Grandma's. I realized the places I went to had well water, and depending on where it was, it tasted different. I also remember a class I had on water treatment years before I remembered something from the class, a lot of national brands of many items uses water treatment to make them taste the same where ever they are made.

I also remembered Grandma's bread was never quite the same after she moved to town. What I did the next time we were hunting at the farm was to use the water out of the well. The well has very old pipes and a slight nitrate level, not serious, but we just haul our drinking water from Lincoln and refill at the neighbors who has a much better well. At supper time, my brother went over to the dutch oven full of bread, got himself a couple large pieces, covered it with butter and took a bite. The look on his face was priceless, "you did find Grandma's recipe!"
I had to tell him again, there was no written down recipe I'd ever seen. "You had better remember what you did different, this is Grandma's bread." I explained what I had done and now when I'm at the farm I use the water from the well.

her of my well liked one, this has people going Duh, why didn't I think of that.

[The Trinity Kid]

That actually explains why my pancakes never taste the same as Grandma's did. She had her pancakes down to a science, weighing the ingredients to the gram. I have tried to duplicate it, with the same meticulous measurements, but never got it the same. But she used water from the well on her property, and I bet that is the difference. Alas, I will never access that well again, as it is no longer a family possession, but at least now I know.

Regarding cast iron maintenance, what do you suggest Del? I will let the pan cool after cooking, rinse with hot water and wipe it out with a paper towel for cleaning, and depending on what I cooked, I will give it a light coat of oil (especially if I cooked something acidic like tomatoes or peppers). But for my little 6" skillet that I use to make breakfast (eggs and fried bread), I just wipe it with a towel the next morning. Both work well.

—TK

[Silver Creek Slim]

Morning y'all.
Coffee and tea are hot.

'Tis 20 and clear. High of 33.

Slim

[Major 2]

Sadly, I never knew my Mothers Mother she passed when my mom was just a young girl.
And barely knew my Dad's mother as she passed when I was 4, I do know she was a grand master in the kitchen, from stories told.

So, no grandmothers to relate to, I did have a aunt (Mom's sister) and her Cats head biscuits were desirable enough to die for.
She used water from her cold NC mountain spring.
I've never found anything quite like hers.

And her garden grown and cooked with her spring water Collards were slap your momma good. 

[Delmonico]

It's in the water, that's why it's yellow.

[Delmonico]

Regarding cast iron maintenance, what do you suggest Del? I will let the pan cool after cooking, rinse with hot water and wipe it out with a paper towel for cleaning, and depending on what I cooked, I will give it a light coat of oil (especially if I cooked something acidic like tomatoes or peppers). But for my little 6" skillet that I use to make breakfast (eggs and fried bread), I just wipe it with a towel the next morning. Both work well.

—TK

Cleaning and Care of Cast Iron

Once the cast iron is seasoned and is used to cook with, we come to having to properly clean it after use, this is another place where the methods differ between people, I have seen long internet discussions on this that have almost turned hostile, most seem to think the seasoning on cast iron is delicate, which as we discussed above, it is not if done properly.

I will state right now those words that cause all kinds of problems in discussions on cleaning cast iron, "I am not afraid to use dish soap in my cast iron" in fact if something really greasy has been cooked in it like a pork roast, I will use it to help get rid of the excess grease which can turn rancid. I also am not afraid to use scrubbing pads such as the green and brown 3M type or even stainless steel ones. What are not hard to remove are any oils that are on the surface of the seasoning, these may have been put on to preserve the piece from rust or it may be left over from cooking. I often cook large meals that use 10-12 dutch ovens and most times I am doing everything on my own, it just makes things easier and quicker and since there is truly no harm in doing it, why make things more difficult than it needs to be?

Many times I have been told to not use soap because the pores in the cast iron will soak up the soap and anything cooked in it will have soap in it. Well the surface of the cast iron has some microscopic pores in it, true, although the carbonized oils do fill them, but what is more important is if these pores are not fully filled with the seasoning any soap that goes in is so minute as to not be noticed, plus it will rinse out just fine, the cast iron is not as porous as many think as well as the seasoning filling and sealing any pores.

One argument I've seen a lot is that "people way back then didn't clean with soap."  I have studied a lot of the old cook books with their hints and other documents and I can not find anything to confirm this.  I include the title page from on of the most famous books of the late 19th Century and the information inside on cleaning with soap.  Mrs Lincoln ran The Boston Cooking School and one of her students was Fanny Farmer who would later be the principal and would go on to write here own cook book.

Then there is the fact that most if not all the now defunct old makers recommend soap as well as Lodge today. Many will tell you there Mom and Grandma taught them not to use soap, well that's fine and dandy but both of mine taught me to use it.  With that it might not be a good idea to go down that road since besides what I present above, I have also been using it for almost 60 years and have never damaged a true and proper seasoning with any type of soap or detergent.

In the pictures you will see a couple dutch ovens soaking in a big claw foot sink, yes they are mine, no harm was done.
Another item to use for those really tough to clean messes is washing soda (Sodium carbonate which is not the same as baking soda or Sodium Bicarbonate) available in the same area as laundry detergent in most stores. This is not soap, but it does soften the water so it cleans better than plain water, a lot of the water in wells where I cook is very hard and this just helps my dish soap work better.

One item often said to be bad on cast iron is the dish washer, I do not having one of these devices so I can't say I have never tried one with cast iron, but rather than the dish washer itself being the problem, my thoughts are it's the piece sitting wet in that damp environment that causes the problem, wash a cast iron piece with any method using water and let it slowly dry in a damp environment and you will get rusting, not anything you can't fix, but it will rust.

[Delmonico]

A good seasoning protects them.  Why oil it to let it collect dirt and dust?    You are making it harder than it has to be and that is one of the principals of Yuppism, make it harder than it needs to be.  Next thing you'll be buying a Prius and trying to pickm your nose through you ass hole at stop lights.

[Delmonico]

Had to size that one.

If you are on FB a lot of my materials are in this group, read the intro to the group, red neck tech but it works and makes it easy to share, more coming.


  https://www.facebook.com/groups/606494777062616