I Decided To Cast Around For New Ideas

Actually, I decided to start cooking in cast iron

A little story about that pan. It’s a 12″ Lodge pan (which, btw, gives you a hint of just how ginormous the strips from Costco are) that I got pre-seasoned a few years ago. About 3 years ago Daughter had a few friends over for an ethnic food project in High School and they decided to make churros, and as of course they needed a decent frying pan they used the cast iron. No worries, and the churros came out damn good for a batch made by a gringa, a philippina and a hindu. But I digress. Anywho, I came home from work and Daughter, bless her wonderful sweet caring heart, had cleaned up after she and her friends had cooked in the kitchen. She had wiped off the stove, cleaned off the counter, put away all the ingredients, and had PUT THE CAST IRON PAN TO SOAK IN HOT SOAPY WATER IN THE SINK.

I do love her, I really do.

But needless to say this pan has had a tough childhood as you can see by the first photo. But what the hey, I wiped it out, added a little oil and got her cranking. The new york strip I generously seasoned with salt and pepper and let come to room temperature. You may not be able to tell but she was almost 2″ thick.

Once the oil got hot enough I plopped her down and she just sizzled away. 5 minutes on one side, then flipped for another 5, and then really I flipped her again for nearly another 5. Lots of smoke produced, but oh my god, the saltypeppery crust was crispily divine.

It may well be one of the finest steaks I’ve ever cooked, and I have cooked a lot of steaks.

The pan, well I stripped her a bit and she is in the oven being re-seasoned as we speak, as I reckon she is going to be getting a lot of use from now on.

6 Responses to “I Decided To Cast Around For New Ideas”

1. boballab says:

   December 4, 2013 at 9:12 pm

   Just be thankful she didn’t take an SOS pad to it after soaking. I know someone who did that to a 75 year old cast iron frying pan and no it wasn’t me.

2. Mr. Bingley says:

   December 4, 2013 at 9:25 pm

   The iron, she WEEPS!

3. Julie says:

   December 5, 2013 at 8:06 am

   No photos of Claude receiving his scraps of meat?

4. Mr. Bingley says:

   December 5, 2013 at 9:09 am

   There isn’t a shutterspeed fast enough to catch him…

5. leelu says:

   December 5, 2013 at 12:08 pm

   Could be worse.

   Coulda been the dishwasher!

6. Kathy Kinsley says:

   December 5, 2013 at 5:58 pm

   My very first reaction was the same as boballab’s. Ack.

   Though either really needs a re-seasoning…