What Have You Cooked Recently?

For Lunch today I had a siracha tuna and mayo sandwich on some sliced wholemeal bread, the condiments I added on top include a little bit of cheddar, cherry tomatoes and some leafy greens.
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soft breathing said:
Just curious - are you cooking in a plastic bag in your slow cooker? And why?


As someone who rarely cooks meat, especially steak - what's the difference/advantage of cast iron over teflon here? I'm genuinely curious.
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Better heat retention for one, and you want it to stick somewhat in order to develop a crust.
 
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Takayuki Yagami said:
Better heat retention for one, and you want it to stick somewhat in order to develop a crust.
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Referring to the Teflon question:
Your not really supposed to heat up a non stick pan to high temperatures. It’s ruins the nonstick layer and produces fumes you really don’t want to be around.
I love cast iron but you have to have the knack of not touching the food until a crust has formed so it releases. Just takes patience and a bit of experience.
 
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soft breathing said:
As someone who rarely cooks meat, especially steak - what's the difference/advantage of cast iron over teflon here? I'm genuinely curious.
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Cast iron is more dense and can contain more heat energy than even copper, another popular cooking surface. This means it takes more energy to heat it up to a certain temperature, but it tends to maintain a relatively even temperature, even when you put something of a lower temperature (like a steak) on it. So it's really good because when you get it up to heat, and want to brown something, it doesn't just immediately lose the temperature you want the instant you put something on it.

So cast iron is really, really good for the kind of surface finish you want on a steak, and if I do a sear (before or after), it's usually on cast iron. You can put a sear on it very quickly without much impacting the internal temperature, unlike lighter metals, where you put on the steak, wait for the part of the pan the steak is on to come back up to temperature, then finish. And by then the internal temperature is wrecked.

Also a cast iron skillet would make for an unwieldy but deadly weapon in a pinch, moreso if you cast a batch of hot grease at someone with it first.

And finally, fuck you Teflon, I like my metal spatulas and shit. You can't use that on the virgin Teflon.
 
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AnOminous said:
Cast iron is more dense and can contain more heat energy than even copper, another popular cooking surface. This means it takes more energy to heat it up to a certain temperature, but it tends to maintain a relatively even temperature, even when you put something of a lower temperature (like a steak) on it. So it's really good because when you get it up to heat, and want to brown something, it doesn't just immediately lose the temperature you want the instant you put something on it.
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This is also why you need cast iron to cook scalded foods like veggies, unless it's just a tiny amount at a time that stainless steel can handle. If you tried to cook scalded corn, onions and bell peppers for instance, teflon would just give you a dripping pile of unseared slop. Same with stainless if you try to cook more than a handful at a time, and even then the stainless needs way more fat to prevent the bad kind of sticking and burning. The iron gets hot enough and stays that way so it can continuously evaporate any moisture sweating out of your food, that way said food isn't prevented from getting a proper sear or saute while it gets soggy, boiling in its own fluids. As an aside, cast iron is also the only kind of vessel that is capable of cooking cornbread properly.

@soft breathing , please start hitting up thrift stores in your area for cast iron pans of some kind. Even if it has a bunch of rust on it, as long as it's not Chinesium, it is a gem. Use something abrasive like steel wool to get any and all rust off, wipe it down with an oily paper towel and stick it in the broiler or the oven on max. As long as you take even remotely good care of it, it will take excellent care of you.

If you have any questions about using or caring for a cast iron, please don't hesitate to ask us.
 
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Nonconsentual Pronouns said:
As an aside, cast iron is also the only kind of vessel that is capable of cooking cornbread properly.[/ISPOILER]

If you have any questions about using or caring for a cast iron, please don't hesitate to ask us.
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Actually is there a good way to remove a ruined seasoning entirely without burying it in hot coals for hours, the horrific EZ Off method, or cooking it at high temperature until it stops smoking (filling your house with smoke in the process) then sanding it smooth?

And do you have a preference on oil for seasoning? I've used bacon grease in the past which works but is a little touchy later. I've also heard linseed oil but haven't tried it. Other things I've used include olive and grapeseed oil. It seems to be a subject of contention among cast iron people.
 
AnOminous said:
Actually is there a good way to remove a ruined seasoning entirely without burying it in hot coals for hours, the horrific EZ Off method, or cooking it at high temperature until it stops smoking (filling your house with smoke in the process) then sanding it smooth?

And do you have a preference on oil for seasoning? I've used bacon grease in the past which works but is a little touchy later. I've also heard linseed oil but haven't tried it. Other things I've used include olive and grapeseed oil. It seems to be a subject of contention among cast iron people.
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You know how you're not supposed to use highly abrasive tools like steel wool on your cast iron for normal cleaning because it removes the seasoning layers? I had to use steel wool to remove the shitty seasoning job that came on my Lodge dutch oven because it wouldn't stop leeching off black shit into my food and the water just wouldn't run clean while cleaning it normally. I went through at least two cans of salt-turned-black before I got pissed off and had enough with their seasoning job. Basically just treat a shit seasoning layer like it's rust.

I've never used olive oil on my cast iron because of it's nightmarishly low smoke point. I do most of my cooking in cast iron with a bit of clarified bacon grease, regular vegetable oil for deep frying, and I think I've used sesame and peanut oil in them a few times. For seasoning maintenance, I just use vegetable oil either dabbed on with a paper towel or even spritzed on from one of those cooking spray cans. (Someone passed off a bunch of their spices and oils to me when they moved away, and it's the one good use I can get out of the spray oil.) I've never had any issues arise from my own oil uses, be they smoke, smell, black leeching, odd taste or otherwise. Your bacon grease could potentially give you shit later on if there are impurities from the non-melting or meaty bits that are getting sealed into the layers or even sticking on top, getting heated to extreme temps over and over again. I'd recommend using pure oils like veg or peanut from the store for seasoning maintenance after cleaning.

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minor thread tax: Thinly sliced breast meat off of a whole roasted chicken for sandwiches has been nice the last couple of days. The sandwiches always end up being absolute units due to the sheer volume of vegetables layered on; tomato, bermuda onion, green bells, spring greens and cucumber go great with the provolone and Chick-Fil-A sauce. If you haven't tried putting CFA sauce on your sandwiches, french fries, tater tots or chicken, you're missing out. I finally started seeing CFA sauce on store shelves in September and it's been grand for the whole family.
 
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Nonconsentual Pronouns said:
You know how you're not supposed to use highly abrasive tools like steel wool on your cast iron for normal cleaning because it removes the seasoning layers?
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I'm not talking about normal cleaning. I'm talking about extreme cleaning. I'm talking all that shit needs to go entirely.
Nonconsentual Pronouns said:
If you haven't tried putting CFA sauce on your sandwiches, french fries, tater tots or chicken, you're missing out.
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If you have mayo, BBQ sauce, dijon mustard, honey, and lemon juice, you can make it.

1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise

This is from a copycat recipe. I usually use dijon mustard or hot brown mustard though. I also usually have lemons and would never consider using those horrible store lemon juice things.
 
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AnOminous said:
I'm not talking about normal cleaning. I'm talking about extreme cleaning. I'm talking all that shit needs to go entirely.
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Yup, steel wool it is IMO. But please do be careful about your scrubbing patterns and strength, or you may leave a noticeably uneven surface. My dutch oven was perfectly fine after getting all the factory seasoning shit off, and it didn't take much effort at all with the steel wool.
 
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enough effort went in that it became "cooking"
at work, OG Nissin chicken cup noodles
some plain pork rinds
add the water and close
stir, add more pork rinds and some cheetos super omega spicy pepper puffs or whatever the fuck they're called
close again

very good once you get past how the red cheetoh dust mixes with the noodles and the liquid so it looks like fresh roadkill guts spilled out
 
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soft breathing said:
Just curious - are you cooking in a plastic bag in your slow cooker? And why?


As someone who rarely cooks meat, especially steak - what's the difference/advantage of cast iron over teflon here? I'm genuinely curious.
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The bag is actually a slow cooker liner. It's mostly because I'm lazy/don't want to do dishes.

Whoops, ninja'd.
 
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