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blue star burner cast iron-anybody pre-season with oil and bake.

14 years ago

Since BS uses cast iron burner grate and burner plate, it seems to me it would be a good idea to season them like we do with cast iron cookwware. You wipe the parts with oil and then bake then wipe dry. Has anyone done this?

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Comments (19)

Joe Blowe
14 years ago
They're porcelain-coated; they do not 'season'.
mtshastaal
Original Author
14 years ago
I thank you for the answer but I think you are in error. I have seen the range in person and I saw no enamel on the burners. Check out the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Star Burner Cleaning
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We have a collection of old cast iron, some from DH's grandparents and some we have gotten from antique places and DH has cleaned and seasoned. We started giving as wedding gifts to young couples and this are the instructions we include with them for caring: Use and Care of Cast Iron Cookware Cooking: Before cooking coat the inner surface of the cookware with a light coating of bacon grease, solid vegetable shortening, or PAM. Use more for frying. Cast iron cookware heats evenly, therefore it is not necessary to use extremely high cooking temperatures. Best results are obtained with medium to medium-high temperature settings. Allow the cookware to heat as the burner does as a very cold pan on a very hot unit could crack. Uncover hot food after cooking because steam will work to remove the seasoned finish from the cookware. If possible deglaze the pan while it is still hot. Add a little oil and scrape the glaze from the pan with a spatula. For some sauces you may wish to use wine. Most residues will wipe out with a paper towel. Frequently this is all the cleaning the cookware will need. Washing Tips: More stubborn residue will yield to the Steel Scrubber and Hot Water. Let it soak for a few minutes first. Careful though, cold water added to a hot pan can cause the iron to crack. Never use Detergent as it will remove the seasoned finish from the pan. If you feel that you must use soap, use soap, not detergent. Storing: Dry on the stove at low heat and then very lightly coat the still warm cookware with bacon grease, a solid vegetable shortening, or PAM. Wipe away all that you can with a paper towel. It is best to store cast iron in a warm dry place with the lids off or upside down. Newly Seasoned or Reseasoned Cookware: Do not use detergents or a dishwasher. The first few times you use your cast iron cookware avoid cooking acidic foods such as tomatoes and beans, or foods with a lot of water content. Instead, fry up some bacon or ham. Seasoning or Reseasoning Seasoning is required for new cast iron cookware and any time you detect rust on your cookware or a metallic taste to your foods. Newly seasoned cookware will be brown and perhaps have an uneven color. The more it is used the more seasoned the finish will become. The cooking surfaces will grow darker and become more shiny and non-stick with each use until they finally become black. The cookware can be reseasoned any time you wish (even if it doesn’t need it) this will only improve that slick black non-stick finish that great chefs covet. Seasoning Instructions: Wash your cast iron cookware thoroughly with soap and water. Light rust will yield to steel wool and soap. Heavy rust will require a steel brush or light sand paper. Then apply Coca~Cola to rusty areas for at least ten minutes. Rinse and dry over low heat to remove all moisture from the metal. With a paper towel lightly coat the entire surface of the heated pan or pot with bacon grease, solid vegetable shortening, or PAM. (Do not use butter or margarine). Coat the inside, outside, the lids, and corners. Lower both oven racks to the bottom two positions and place a cookie pan or aluminum foil on the lower rack to catch any drippings. Bake the cookware upside down at 300 degrees for 90 minutes without pre-heating. Then allow the pan to completely cool in the oven. For darker pans use a higher temperature.
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I was going to start a new thread for the pizza I made, but since you brought this back up, I will post the pizza photos here:Pizza right out of the oven and onto a trivet on my counter. Pizza moved to cutting board, and lifted to show the bottom of the crust.Leftover slice, the next day. The pizza did not at all stick to the cast iron; in fact, it shrank away from the sides a bit, which made lifting it that much easier. I used a cake lifter (shown in the second photo) to move the pizza to the board. I did not want to cut it inside the cast iron, and I needed to let it cool for a couple of minutes anyway. I put the dough into a cold pan (although I had been told by others to heat the pan first) because that is much easier, and I wanted to see if it would work, and it did! After stretching the dough into the pan, I let it rest/rise for a while because I was not ready to bake it yet. When I was ready to bake it, I sprinkled the crust with a supermarket blend of dried Italian herbs (very lightly), and then I sprinkled it with a bit of mozzarella cheese and baked it for 5 minutes at the highest temp my oven would go, probably 550°, with the convection setting on. Then I took it out and put the rest of the toppings on, which included thinly sliced strips of mesquite smoked turkey breast (with Kevin could not even taste), the sauce with jalapeños that I had made, and a mixture of mozzarella and Asiago cheeses (about 1 part Asiago to 2 or 3 parts mozzarella). I then finished baking it for 8 minutes more, and that seemed to be the exact amount of time it needed. It was not as thin a crust as I normally make, and it puffed up around the rim, but it tasted better than my thin crust pizza. Kevin and I were both very happy with how it came out, and I now prefer it to my thin crust pizza, but I did have to fold the slices when I ate them. I'm also glad that I sanded my pan before I used it, and I'm sort of glad that the pan is not too heavy! As for peppers - I also grew a mild chili called Tobago, which I think are similar to what you call Cachucha - they are mild and are supposed to be related to Habaneros, but for me, they do not have as much flavor, even considering the loss of heat. My favorite chilies now are the chocolate Habanero, but I neglected to plant any this year - so far. I might still start some, but it is difficult to get them to germinate, and three of my plants from last year have started regrowing from the base of their stalks, and so I am hoping to get more chilies from them this year. I still have sauce leftover from last year's crop, but I've noticed that the heat diminishes during storage :(. Since the name "Habanero" comes from Cuba, I thought that Cubans would like heat, but perhaps the name is misleading. I highly recommend this pizza pan! It is so easy to use - no need to heat it before adding the pizza - and I think it makes the best pizza. The main limitation is the size - it is only 13" diameter inside, and I used to make 14"-16" diameter pizzas. I have a pizza screen that is 17" diameter, but it will not fit in my oven, and I can use it only with the BGE. Here's a video of me stretching dough onto a 14" screen and a 16" screen: I made this video at the request of a friend's son who had had pizza at one of my pizza parties. These pizzas I parbaked in the oven and the finished them in the BGE.
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amcook
14 years ago
No, they are not porcelain coated. I actually cut one of the cooktop grates to create a wok grate. That said, they are in effect pre-seasoned. The black surface is either some sort of high temp bake on coating or simple seasoning. I use many cast iron cookware so I can say that the grates are definitely not bare unseasoned cast iron.
Joe Blowe
14 years ago
mtshastaal and amcook: Yes, they are porcelain. (I should know -- I have an RNB30 with a chip in one grate.)

http://www.bluestar-ranges.com/ (Eurstoves)

"NovaÃÂ®, SuperNovaÃÂ® and Simmer Burners
The cast iron porcelain-enameled Nova and SuperNova top burners are the most versatile burners in the industry."

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Search on GardenWeb: bluestar porcelain
amcook
14 years ago
The burner and grate are two different parts. I didn't see anywhere where it described the grates as porcelain enameled. Now that said, it might be but it's not like any porcelain enamel I've ever seen. When I cut it, I did not see any chipping or flaking as I would expect if it were enameled. The exterior layer is extremely thin more like seasoned cast iron than an additional coating. Also, note that I've got the cooktop which has different grates than the range.
Fori
14 years ago
I thought they introduced the porcelain coated a year or two ago as an option--shiny or matte? Am I misremembering?
Fori
14 years ago
The website for BS does make this claim:

Our cast iron porcelain-enameled Nova, SuperNova, and UltraNova top burners are the most versatile burners in the industry.
Joe Blowe
14 years ago
Anybody familiar with Le Creuset and Staub enameled cast iron cookware knows that the interior of the former is smooth, while the interior of the latter is "rough". But they are, in fact, both coated with porcelain enamel. (IOW, it all ain't smooth!)

If you are still in doubt, call Prizer-Painter -- they'll set you straight.
User
14 years ago
Joe is right, they are porcelain coated with a rough finish, but they can be seasoned as well- but I don't put them in the oven, I just occasionally wipe a bit of grapeseed oil on them- since mine don't go into a dishwasher, I only do it about once every 6 months or so- . Also, if put through the dishwasher, they can rust, partly because there is a small hole on the underside- and partly because even coated cast iron will rust if left wet long enough and there may be micro-pitting in the finish from the harsh detergents and just through use...
Joe Blowe
14 years ago
Look, I realize I'm being a bit pedantic at this point, but you CAN NOT "season" enamel.

Porcelain enamel, whether it's smooth or rough, is glass. You are defying logic and science when you say you are going to polymerize a coating of oil to the surface of "rough glass" and call it "seasoning". What you have is a thin film of burnt oil on top of the glass. That's it. It hasn't bonded with the surface, it's just laying there...

Now if you want to oil your grates so they have nice luster, I'm all for that! Just don't call it seasoning.
User
14 years ago
Joe, you haven't heard that phrase?: "To everything there is a season...." it's in the Bible, and the song "Turn, Turn, Turn.
thull
14 years ago
Yeah, but oil does do a nice job when you get a little rust. I'm assuming is isn't the porcelain that's rusting. ;-)

Did no one else catch that amcook said he/she cut their grate to better work with a wok? Unless you're talking about a 6" wok, all you have to do is pick up the inner ring and you have a perfect wok base. Why on earth would you take a hacksaw to the grate?
amcook
14 years ago
The drop-in cooktop grate is a single piece. No inner ring. :( The sales guy (trying to sell the product) told me I could just remove the grate and set the wok in the bowl. I wasn't comfortable with that since that would provide no air gap for the heat to escape and probably cause the flames to flair out, which might be dangerous. After seeing the thing in person, I realized that by simply cutting off the 4 pointed "fingers" of the grate, there is a nice opening just right for a wok. Also, by cutting at a diagonal, I was able to provide 8 points of support for the wok. I think what I did basically reproduced the center ring grate on the range model.

BTW, hack saw would work but I took a grinder with metal cutting wheel to it. Took less than 5 min to do the whole thing.
thull
14 years ago
Huh. Bummer about the grates not being like the ones on the ranges. Did you buy a spare?
amcook
14 years ago
> Huh. Bummer about the grates not being like the ones on the ranges. Did you buy a spare?

Yeah, I knew it going in so it wasn't so bad. Yes, I did end up getting an extra grate for the wok so no big deal.
jacobsmishpacha
14 years ago
I have the drop-in cooktop too, and since I can't remove the grate I just put the wok ring on the grate- but I invert it so that the base of the wok is almost flat on the grate. I must say, though, I never thought of just cutting the grate. I definitely don't recommend attempting to use a wok without the grate; however. It would be sitting right on the flame, causing the flame to shoot up the sides of the wok.
ya_think
14 years ago
hi jacobsmishpacha - Last time I saw a post from you was in January where you mentioned you didn't think you were getting the right power from your cooktop. Did you ever come to a conclusion on that? At the time I also asked about the resolution to your initial start-up issues, but you never seemed to come back. Hope you see this and respond!
ya_think
14 years ago
joe blowe - While I won't debate your definition of seasoning (I just don't know) here's what Staub says about their matte enamel:

"The more you use it, the better it gets! Oils used when cooking will penetrate the pores of the matte enamel and create a natural, smooth non-stick surface."

So I guess the question is how does well-used Staub cookware look? Would you want that look on your range grates?

Here is a link that might be useful: the grill pan i was just looking at which made me think of this thread
JudyE01
11 years ago
I just asked Blue Star customer service this question and got the following response:
"The top grate and ring grate are cast iron with a cast iron coating. Seasoning is recommended."
I am seasoning with flaxseed oil and baking for an hour at 550o. Have done two coats so far and it looks beautiful. Hopefully this will make clean up of cooked on spills very easy.

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