The seasoning is not enough – this is the secret to cast iron success

We have written widely about cast iron frying pans on serious meals with topics such as How do you get them outTo How to clean themand How to revive them from the dead– There is endless debates about which oil to use, whether soap or enemy, and how many rounds do you need for a new pan. I edited a full cookbook on the subject and I know the discourse well. But to be honest, neither matters if you're not use Properly your frying pan.

And the proper use begins with a often ignored but clear step: thoroughly heated. Seasoning matters, but it doesn't make it good for the pan to be only half hot when throwing the egg or chicken thighs. In my experience, almost every “cast iron failure” story (food gluing, pale Sear, uneven tanning) can be traced back to a cold or uneven heated pan.

You may not see this step in every cast iron recipe for serious meals (even some of the most popular), but consider this invitation to add. This is a basic habit, a small change that can be noticeably better results when applied to already cooked recipes.

What is cast iron (and not)

The cast iron vessels are incredibly dense and thick and is excellent for maintaining heat. If it is warm, it will remain warm, and this is a great advantage if you want deep, or even, inconsistent baking.

But another story if it is evenly warm. Cast iron is a weak heat conductor. This means that heat does not distribute quickly or evenly on its surface. This slow heat flow is the price you pay for the legendary heat retention of cast iron.

As Dave Arnold put in his piece in the the science of cast iron cookingThe heat conductivity of the cast iron is about one fifth of the aluminum. Place a 12-inch cast iron frying pan on a small burner and wait a minute or two and has a flaming hot center with a cool external rim. Add a steak to this pan and the hot center component is nicely browned while the sweating and steam resting.

Why preheating matters

Solving a steady tanning is simple enough: enter the proper heating according to your pan, allowing the entire cooking surface, not just the area above the flame to reach evenly hot temperatures. This means that it means even more smooth cooking and better tanning, especially for techniques such as pan-mouth, toast or shallow baking.

This makes the pan functionally more adhesive. Flavoring is only done if the food is hot enough in the pan to adjust the surface proteins before they have a chance to be tied to the cooking pots. If the frying pan is cold or unevenly warm, proteins have a much more chance of attaching to the surface and attaching to a nice life; This can even happen in a well -seasoned pan.

How to heat the pan

Preheating is not complicated, but it requires some patience and attention. The best approach is to heat the pan without oil. Due to the addition of the oil too early, the pan heats up completely before the pan is completely warmed up. Drying the pan allows the frying pan to be evenly and thoroughly heated, the stage for the clean, well -controlled SEAR.

• Preheat over a burner: Set the cast iron pan over medium heat, ideally on a burner that is about the same size or larger than the pan. If your burner is smaller than the pan, rotate the pan a few times during preheating to help even the hot dots. Give him 3-5 minutes to get up to the temperature. Then, and only add the oil and let it heat until it flows or just starts smoking. If you strive for a specific temperature, use an infrared thermometer directly on the surface. For mild cooking tasks, such as onions or oven eggs, the surface temperature of around 400 ° F is usually sufficient. For high temperature work, such as steak or pork divorce, allow the pan to reach the temperature to 500 ° F.
• Preheat in the oven: If you need a rodent frying pan to put the right SEAR on the steak or pieces, I suggest you use the oven that can even heat the pan while making it exceptionally hot. Place the empty cast iron pan in a cold oven, then turn the oven at 500 ° F. After reaching the desired temperature, carefully remove the pan with the help of a oven glove or thick kitchen towel (this will be bladderly hot, so make sure that the towel is even the smallest bitmap).

  Set the pan to high heat on the stove, add oil and wait until smoking (which happens almost immediately). Then continue cooking. This ensures that the entire pan is evenly heated and is able to create a suitable SEAR as soon as the food reaches the surface.

General mistakes and how to avoid them

Even experienced cast iron users (PUN semi -marked) can encounter problems if they do not pay attention to some key details. Here's what to take care of:

1. Too fast heating: To rotate the burning heat too high may seem like a shortcut, but the blasting of cold cast iron pan can lead to uneven heating and hot spots. The poor conductivity of the frying pan means that the sudden heat is not evenly distributed and the injured middle and cool edges. Stick with medium heat and give time.

2. To add too early oil: Pouring oil into the cold pan is one of the most common mistakes. By warming the pan, the oil can smoke prematurely before the entire surface is heated evenly or is unevenly polymerized. Always heat the pan and add oil after preheating.

3. Depression of preheating: It may seem like a three -minute long time when you are hungry, but skipping or rushing the preheating step is the fastest way to ruin the meal (onions, steaks and eggs thank you). The semi -filled pan will not be properly tanned, and this will certainly not prevent gluing.

4. Use a bad burner: A large pan over a small burner means heating only a fraction of the cooking surface. If you know, use a burner that matches the pan. If not, rotate the pan during preheating to promote the smoother heat distribution.

The one can be taken

People tend to treat cast iron maintenance as a holy ritual, but good cooking leads to good technique. A dozen layers of polymerized linseed oil do not matter if the pan is cold and unevenly warm. Give time to get hot – such as really Hot – before you start cooking.

Preheat is a key method of cast iron frustrating, sticky mess to the power plant, allegedly allegedly. This is the difference between the pale chicken and the crumbly crunchy skin, between the fried eggs that stick and roasted eggs that slide cleanly.

So be sure to season the pan, wash gently and oil it after each use. But it's just as important to heat it properly.