Phantom of the Kitchen
Assistant Cook
Hey everyone, it's been a while since i've been here and I've built up a few questions.
First of all, I bought a cast-iron skillet and was told to season it by rubbing it down with vegetable oil then cooking it at 200 degrees for 2 hours, three times. I did that, but the pan was still somewhat wet with the oil when I got it out the first two times, so the last time I put it on 250 or 300 and it came out dry (which I assumed indicated that the oil had baked in - the whole point of seasoning, right?). I wasn't sure if it was ready or not but I really wanted to try it out so I threw an egg on w/ butter and let it cook for a while. Around the egg brown formed (rust, I think) so I took it out and finished it in a non-stick skillet. I washed up the pan and as it dried the entire inside rusted, so scrubbed it for a while and got some out, but I have no idea if I'm getting all of it. I'm assuming I'm going to have to clean it up and re-season, but I don't know how to fully clean it. I would really like to know why this pan rusted. Even if it wasn't fully seasoned I can't believe it rusted like that; it just doesn't make any sense.
Second of all I bought a Le Creuset 2 quart dutch oven in really good shape, off of ebay. I decided to cook some chili to break it in. The chili recipe said to cook the onions on high heat, so I turned the knob to high. I did this as I prepared the ingredients, so that it would be at high heat once I started cooking. I put some water in it and it almost instantly evaporated, so I put it on another burner and noticed red enamel on the burner. I looked at it later and some of enamel melted off and it bubbled some of the surrounding enamel. It also bubbled some of the enamel on the inside of hte pot right above the part that got stripped.
I've cooked a few more soups with it and it seems to be working fine, but is it ok? Should I not use my le crueset on high heat? was it because I didn't have anything in it? Where did I go wrong? Thanks a ton!
brad
First of all, I bought a cast-iron skillet and was told to season it by rubbing it down with vegetable oil then cooking it at 200 degrees for 2 hours, three times. I did that, but the pan was still somewhat wet with the oil when I got it out the first two times, so the last time I put it on 250 or 300 and it came out dry (which I assumed indicated that the oil had baked in - the whole point of seasoning, right?). I wasn't sure if it was ready or not but I really wanted to try it out so I threw an egg on w/ butter and let it cook for a while. Around the egg brown formed (rust, I think) so I took it out and finished it in a non-stick skillet. I washed up the pan and as it dried the entire inside rusted, so scrubbed it for a while and got some out, but I have no idea if I'm getting all of it. I'm assuming I'm going to have to clean it up and re-season, but I don't know how to fully clean it. I would really like to know why this pan rusted. Even if it wasn't fully seasoned I can't believe it rusted like that; it just doesn't make any sense.
Second of all I bought a Le Creuset 2 quart dutch oven in really good shape, off of ebay. I decided to cook some chili to break it in. The chili recipe said to cook the onions on high heat, so I turned the knob to high. I did this as I prepared the ingredients, so that it would be at high heat once I started cooking. I put some water in it and it almost instantly evaporated, so I put it on another burner and noticed red enamel on the burner. I looked at it later and some of enamel melted off and it bubbled some of the surrounding enamel. It also bubbled some of the enamel on the inside of hte pot right above the part that got stripped.
I've cooked a few more soups with it and it seems to be working fine, but is it ok? Should I not use my le crueset on high heat? was it because I didn't have anything in it? Where did I go wrong? Thanks a ton!
brad