New cast iron pizza pan arrived, does not appear to be seasoned
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Comments (5)Clean them before the first use to remove manufacturing oil and an rust preventive oil applied to protect them during storage and shipping. Dish-washing liquid and hot water is all you need. Dry them off, then put them back on the stove and turn the burners on high till they heat up and dry completely. Wipe up spills, but you are not going to be able to keep them like new. A few thousand degrees of gas flame tends to cook things on pretty well. Once a week they all get a trip through the sink with hot water and dish-washing liquid. Sooner if a large spill occurs....See Moreenamled cast iron
Comments (8)Seasoned Cast Iron vs Enameled Cast Iron. Enameled Cast Iron is in lieu of Seasoned Cast Iron, invented for those who didn't know how or didn't want to know how to season cast iron cookware. Cast Iron Cookware, enameled or just seasoned, cooks the same. The enamel is NOT a non stick surface so oil will still have to be used. A well seasoned pan will also stick unless oil is used but usually because of too high heat. Cast iron cooks best at medium to low temperatures, rule of thumb - if the oil smokes the burner is to hot! A well seasoned cast iron pan is coated with carbonized oil (seasoned) and has a nice smooth surface inside and out, cooks and cleans beautifully every time - a grungy, stinky, heavy coated pan is NOT a good well seasoned pan, it is a dirty mess with built up carbonized food and grease and not fit to feed your dog in. Enameled cast iron can also become a dirty mess if not properly cared for. Enameled cast iron is fashionable again today as it was 80 years ago but still has some drawbacks - it can chip, craz, pit, and become rough and dull from heat and cleaners. And, be cautious of cheap imports! For me, I'll keep my old turn of the century Griswold's, seasoned to perfection with olive oil, over any of the new enameled cast iron on the market today including the over priced Le Creuset!!...See MoreCast Iron Skilliet
Comments (16)Cocaty, as I understand it, braising is slow cooking in a moist environment. That allows the connective tissues to break down as opposed to tightening up. The limited amount of water keeps from diluting the flavor--as opposed to boiling or stewing, where a lot of the meat's flavor ends up in the liquid. Here's one of my favorite braises, perfect for cold weather--especially on a day you have a lot to do in the house. You start the dish around lunchtime then you don't touch it for 7 hours. You don't have to brown the meat before cooking it, but if you want to that's okay too. I have an old cast iron pot that works fine for this, but any covered casserole will do. Don't be alarmed by the amount of garlic it calls for: it'll all cook down and be sweet during those seven hours. Gigot de sept heures (Seven hour leg of lamb) 1 leg of lamb, about 6# 4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves 1/4 cup olive oil salt & pepper 2 small onions, thinly sliced 4 carrots, peeled 1 bouquet garni 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup flour, 1 cup water Preheat oven to 300àF. (If necessary, trim most of the external fat off the lamb. Some legs of lamb will come with a heavy fatty connective tissue, called the âÂÂfellâÂÂ, covering a lot of its surface. Remove as much of it as practical--leaving it on will make the dish gamier because most of the gamy flavor is in the fat and connective tissues.) Make many small stab incisions in lamb and place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. (Note: ThatâÂÂs not necessary if you have a casserole or Dutch oven with a fairly snug-fitting lid.) Place it in the 300ÃÂoven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. A half hour before itâÂÂs done, fix some noodles or rice or couscous to soak up the juices. Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't eat the cooked flour paste. That's it! About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference....See MoreSeasoning cast iron
Comments (26)Azzalea, after the first round they were brown but not at all sticky. The ones that were partly seasoned when I got them looked like the coating stuck well, but the two pieces that were unseasoned had only a brown sheen, maybe because the coating was thin? I seasoned them again tonight, at 350ð for almost 4 hours. The two pieces that started bare still aren't black but since they're for me I'll just start using them. Two of the others are for giving away but they look pretty good. One of the formerly bare pans seems to be for making some kind of donuts...it came with a recipe called "aebleskiver/munk" and you're supposed to add cooked apples or jam before turning them. While turning it over (with an oven mitt) to look at the coating on the hemispherical indents for the donuts, a finger on my bare hand grazed the hot metal, ow! Luckily it's just a 1/4-inch-square burn but after that I just turned the oven off because I'm tired of seasoning these pans. Do you all really get a good black coating with the 1-hour methods? Thanks for the advice all. I will probably shell out for Lodge pre-seasoned next time I need a skillet to own or give, but thanks to your help at least my corn sticks will stop sticking. Melissa...See More- 9 years ago
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
9 years agoAn abrasive disc that fits a drill is the speedy method. 10 minutes. Sometimes 20. We brought back some 'ol rusty ones one afternoon outside on a sturdy table...wear a dust mask. Cast iron dust is horrid on the lungs.
The sandpaper method is fine just takes a long time.
Mine are all vintage except for my 8,10,12" nesting ones. My lidded dutch oven maybe 20yrs old bought new was never as gritty as those i see new.
My disc is black but this pic is what they look like. Different densities.
Lars thanked sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)- 9 years ago
- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
PRO9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYou're right - it's time for me to make a pizza. I have some leftover pasta sauce from lasagna that I made on Sunday, and so I can use that. I vacuum seal the leftover sauce, and so it keeps for a week fairly well that way.
DragCon was a lot of fun, but it was much more crowded this year than last year. Last year (the second year it was held) there were very few people there, and it was easy to move around. We did not meet RuPaul this year, but we did meet some of his dresses:
My head is in the lower left corner - Kevin took the photo.
When I made the sauce for the lasagna, I put a bit too much jalapeño in it (only two, with seeds removed) that I sautéed with onion, and it had a nice pepper flavor but was a bit too hot for lasagna. I should have used dried cayenne instead. Anyway, I love peppers on pizza, and so that sauce should be perfect for that. Not sure if I have enough mozzarella left over after the lasagna, but I have Fontina, which might work as a substitute.
We don't get out that much either any more, and so I was not completely prepared for the Belasco Theater where the All Stars show was. The area in front of the stage had no seats, and so everyone had to stand. I wish it had been at the Mayan Theater next door, as that theater is all seating. It was a very entertaining show, however. Latrice Royale gave a very good, energetic performance:
- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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. - 9 years ago
Nice instructional video, Lars.
I use my sous vide and dehydrator to start difficult seeds.
I have the full size pizza pan like yours, just a 10 minute modification to fit it in my oven.
dcarch
Lars thanked dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m - 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
Thanks for the tip about heating the pan on the burner before baking - I will try that next time, as I think the bottom crust could be a bit crisper, even though it was fine as it was. However, last night I tried a different method of stretching to dough to fit the pan, and this time I eliminated the ridge at the edge - big mistake.
As you can see, it has an even thickness throughout.
I preferred the thick crust at the edge, which gave the pizza a sort of combination of thick and thin crust. With an even crust, the center was not done as well as I would have liked, and I missed the thick bread at the edge. Also, this pizza did not fold like the first one did. Part of the problem with doing it this way is that there was too much dough for an even thickness. We ate it anyway. I put Italian sausage on this one instead of smoked turkey breast, and I think I also prefer the turkey breast, but that may not have been the issue.
Good luck finding chocolate Habanero chilies! They are pretty much impossible to find in stores, even here, and I have not seen them in farmers' markets either. You pretty much have to grow them yourself or get them from someone who does. If I get some this year, I can send you a few. They have a fantastic flavor that fairly unique and wonderful. It's been described as earthy, somewhat like the flavor of achiote paste. Here's how one of my plants looked December 19, 2016:
I got chilies through January and February this year from seeds I planted in March 2016, and so you get an idea of the length of time required to get chilies. None of my seeds germinated until late April - they took about six to eight weeks to get started and require heat to germinate, and so I had to start them indoors. Then it is another six months to get chilies, but they are worth it!
Solsthumper