Congratulations on your purchase of a brand-new Cottage™ twelve-inch cast-iron skillet! For more than a hundred years, Cottage™ has been a leading manufacturer of quality pans, free weights, and kettlebells. And, for just eight dollars (plus a one-dollar-per-pound shipping fee, so $48 total), cast iron gives you the most skilleting pleasure for your cookware buck. Just keep these basic guidelines in mind, and your pan will never rust, break, or allow you to suffer from any sort of iron-deficiency-induced anemia.
Before you use your pan for the first time, you'll need to "season" it. Luckily, that process couldn't be simpler:
Join your neighborhood food co-op. If your neighborhood doesn't have a food co-op, you may want to reëxamine your life choices before continuing.
Put your pan on the stove and turn your burner all the way up to high. You do have a gas range, don't you? Did they have electric stoves on the Oregon Trail? Then why would you think that you could use a cast-iron pan on one?
O.K., now let it sit there until it gets good and hot. Twenty-nine hours should do the trick, but you may have to leave it for up to thirty, depending on your altitude.
Take a towel and rub some oil on the hot pan. You'll know you've added enough oil when the towel you're using has completely disintegrated into a pile of ash.
Repeat this process eleven or twelve times and you're good to go!
Sometimes I feel the need to scream (silently, lest they hear) into the void when I see what the cloth-eared heathens have done to my pans. Life would be so much simpler if they just let the fucking things heat up sufficiently before putting anything in them. "I did heat it" No you fucking didn't. The temperature at which butter melts is not sufficient. Did I mention those things are triggering? And the scrubbing and scrubbing. Why? Why? If you just did the first thing right, the second would not be necessary.
bahahaha. I've turned into one of those people. Ever since i threw the stick non stick pan out in frustration because i went away for work and it got put in the dishwasher and so brought the old camping skillet out of retirement. Now it does inside and outside jobs and quite frankly i can't look back. Plus it can multipurpose as a shield/weapon/cooking device in the apocalypse. Anything that hasn't got a minimum of three purposes has got to go. I have three very grave looking holes outside the kitchen window as a constant reminder for proper respect and use of cooking implements : )
I moved into a new house last year and we have an induction cooktop. Had to buy all new pans as our older stuff, whilst still in good nick, just didn't work with induction. Spent a year using all the new stuff and was quite happy with it but then had an issue with the cooktop. A service bloke came out and did some repairs and when he wanted to test it, I handed him one of the new pans.
He sniffed, he actually sniffed in a disdainful manner. "Haven't you got any decent cast iron" was his question. I had one lying in the bottom drawer and pulled it out. I'd always been too scared to use something that weighed about 17 kgs on top of the stove.
Jaysus, the heat difference. The cast iron on the induction is just a dream. OK, if you want to put it into the oven after searing on the cooktop you may need to use a forklift, but for use on the induction it is just the best. Went out and bought a few different sizes and learned how to season them without resorting to a neighborhood food co-op.
Yeah, I've got an induction top and a vintage cast iron skillet. I can get that 60 year old slab of iron fair glowing red if I'm not paying attention when I pre-heat it to to cook the perfect steak or lamb loin fillet.
Agreed. I do love my induction cook top and it has some useful smart functions. Works beautifully with a double sized flat iron grill plate for those spectacular caramelised bars on meat and garlic bread. Now I'm hungry.
hey, I know you've already bought a block of iron, but check out these guys https://www.solidteknics.com/ they make single piece wrought iron pans, thinner and somewhat lighter than a cast iron pan.
They are very awesome - I have a few that I use regularly ... it can be a bit difficult if you want to see / hold one before you purchase as they don't have too many resellers around the place that carry much stock (that I've found yet)
ahhh....fellow connoisseur.... I've got them from the original cast iron to the new stainless steel. Indestructible. I know the brand in the photo and these are much nicer and lighter. Solidteknics is more expensive than the one above - but literally last forever. In the Facebook group there is a photo from someone in Gippsland area who lost their home in the 2020 bushfires. In the photo is a stack of pans (yes - Solid) they survived - all they need to do is re-season them. I recovered a pan I left outside for nearly 3 years (long story) with just vinegar to remove the rush and then re-season 3 times and it's like new. Plus you're supporting an Australian company.
Rant of the day...so we're going to spend a squalling on some dinky submarines. We'll need at least twice that to get a nuclear power capability. Plus it's very difficult to recruit submariners.
Meanwhile we are dragging the chain on health, education and a swag of other stuff. The cost of one of these toys,vthat we have no idea how to operate, could fix first nation health issues in the wink of an eye.
So let's go ahead and destabilise our strategic position and why not paint a target on the roof of parliament house...
Things have changed a bit. I didn’t receive a cast iron skillet when I was a youngster. I believe my parents bought me a case of top ramen . Microwaved with whatever scrap of meat I could conjur up I somehow survived . But good for you guys .
That photo is fucking triggering.
<rant>
Sometimes I feel the need to scream (silently, lest they hear) into the void when I see what the cloth-eared heathens have done to my pans. Life would be so much simpler if they just let the fucking things heat up sufficiently before putting anything in them. "I did heat it" No you fucking didn't. The temperature at which butter melts is not sufficient. Did I mention those things are triggering? And the scrubbing and scrubbing. Why? Why? If you just did the first thing right, the second would not be necessary.
</rant>
bahahaha. I've turned into one of those people. Ever since i threw the stick non stick pan out in frustration because i went away for work and it got put in the dishwasher and so brought the old camping skillet out of retirement. Now it does inside and outside jobs and quite frankly i can't look back. Plus it can multipurpose as a shield/weapon/cooking device in the apocalypse. Anything that hasn't got a minimum of three purposes has got to go. I have three very grave looking holes outside the kitchen window as a constant reminder for proper respect and use of cooking implements : )
All the best shoot-em-up movies have someone wielding a skillet as either shield or weapon or both.
I think the leather skinned pensioners of the Gold Coast use a similar process but with UV rays.
Ok, wiz some cornflakes gently and then make an egg an flour batter with the cornflake stuff.
Bake some veges to par backed, and then when cool., roll them in the batter, or pour the batter over the tray.
return the veges to the oven and bake them hard.
Yum, Chrunchy baked veg...
I think that's similar to the way my mother seasoned her wok back in the '80s!
I moved into a new house last year and we have an induction cooktop. Had to buy all new pans as our older stuff, whilst still in good nick, just didn't work with induction. Spent a year using all the new stuff and was quite happy with it but then had an issue with the cooktop. A service bloke came out and did some repairs and when he wanted to test it, I handed him one of the new pans.
He sniffed, he actually sniffed in a disdainful manner. "Haven't you got any decent cast iron" was his question. I had one lying in the bottom drawer and pulled it out. I'd always been too scared to use something that weighed about 17 kgs on top of the stove.
Jaysus, the heat difference. The cast iron on the induction is just a dream. OK, if you want to put it into the oven after searing on the cooktop you may need to use a forklift, but for use on the induction it is just the best. Went out and bought a few different sizes and learned how to season them without resorting to a neighborhood food co-op.
Yeah, we've got an induction top too. It does cook with the heat of a hundred exploding stars.
Yeah, I've got an induction top and a vintage cast iron skillet. I can get that 60 year old slab of iron fair glowing red if I'm not paying attention when I pre-heat it to to cook the perfect steak or lamb loin fillet.
This makes me want an induction cooktop so badly.
Agreed. I do love my induction cook top and it has some useful smart functions. Works beautifully with a double sized flat iron grill plate for those spectacular caramelised bars on meat and garlic bread. Now I'm hungry.
That is good to know, thanks.
hey, I know you've already bought a block of iron, but check out these guys https://www.solidteknics.com/ they make single piece wrought iron pans, thinner and somewhat lighter than a cast iron pan.
I almost bought one of these a couple of months ago!
They are very awesome - I have a few that I use regularly ... it can be a bit difficult if you want to see / hold one before you purchase as they don't have too many resellers around the place that carry much stock (that I've found yet)
ahhh....fellow connoisseur.... I've got them from the original cast iron to the new stainless steel. Indestructible. I know the brand in the photo and these are much nicer and lighter. Solidteknics is more expensive than the one above - but literally last forever. In the Facebook group there is a photo from someone in Gippsland area who lost their home in the 2020 bushfires. In the photo is a stack of pans (yes - Solid) they survived - all they need to do is re-season them. I recovered a pan I left outside for nearly 3 years (long story) with just vinegar to remove the rush and then re-season 3 times and it's like new. Plus you're supporting an Australian company.
Rant of the day...so we're going to spend a squalling on some dinky submarines. We'll need at least twice that to get a nuclear power capability. Plus it's very difficult to recruit submariners.
Meanwhile we are dragging the chain on health, education and a swag of other stuff. The cost of one of these toys,vthat we have no idea how to operate, could fix first nation health issues in the wink of an eye.
So let's go ahead and destabilise our strategic position and why not paint a target on the roof of parliament house...
Things have changed a bit. I didn’t receive a cast iron skillet when I was a youngster. I believe my parents bought me a case of top ramen . Microwaved with whatever scrap of meat I could conjur up I somehow survived . But good for you guys .
"the most skilleting pleasure"..... I confess I have never thought of uniting those two words.
How about Moist skilleting pleasure? I think I made it even betterer.