What Does It Mean To “Season” A Cast Iron Pan?

Seasoning a cast iron pan is the process of heating oil into the pan to create a layer of protection making the pan non-stick and easy to clean.

Without a good seasoning on your pots and pans your food will stick to the pan and it will be very difficult to clean and cook with. You might also experience your cast iron rusting if it doesn’t have the protective layer of oil seasoning you pots and pans.

What Oil Should I Use To Season My Cast Iron?

You can technique use any oil but there are some that work better than other. Linseed/flax seed oil is the best for seasoning and cleaning cast iron pans. I use avocado oil to cook with so instead of buying multiple oils for different reasons I just use my avocado oil to season and it works just fine. Olive oil, grape seed oil are also good for season your cast iron pans.

Do not use butter or margarine, lard or meat fats. Those oils and fats are too saturated and don’t give the nice clean thin layer that we are looking for. Some might say that coconut oil is not a good oil to use because its a saturated fat but others say its a wonderful oil to season your cast iron with. I have used it and had not issues, coconut oil has worked great for me.

Why Does My Pan Get Rusty?

You might notice you cast iron pan has a little or a lot of rust on it, this is due to excess moisture. Your oil coating is supposed to repel any extra moisture on your pan but if you are not oiling and drying it properly you will not repel the water and you pan will rust. Make sure, after you cook with your pan to oil the inside and outside, handle and all and dry with heat on the stove top.

If you have rust on your cast iron pots and pans clean with the salt scrub and re-season in the oven.

How To Wash Cast Iron

Rinse With Hot Water

Wash like you would wash any other dish. Use hot water and soup if needed. Use a rag or sponge to get food off you pots and pan until its perfectly clean. The important part of cast iron is not how you wash it but how you dry you it.

Avoid scraping the surface with rough sponges or steel wool. This often chips the seasoned layers already on our cast iron.

Do not wash in dishwasher.

Can I Use Soap On Cast Iron?

Yes, you can use soap. Although we want to get the old dirty grease and food out we don’t want to remove the embedded oil seasoning. It is not recommended to use a lot of soap on cast iron because soap is a de-greaser and we want to keep our pots and pan well oiled.

How To Dry Cast Iron

Wipe Down With a Towel

Just like any other dish, wipe it down with a towel or paper towel to get till dry.

Oil Your Cast Iron

Pour a little bit of oil on you pan and wipe with a paper towel the whole pan, inside & outside, the handle and all with a little bit of oil. Repeat with new paper towel until it comes back clean.

Heat on Stove Top to Dry Completely

Place on the stove and heat it up just until it starts to smoke. Turn off the heat and let cool before putting it away.

How To Deep Clean Cast Iron

Clean You Pan Normally

Clean your pan by rinsing it in hot water and drying it. Then apply a salt scrub.

Salt Scrub

Pour in a couple tablespoons… maybe 1/4 cup of salt into the pan with a little bit of oil and scrub the salt all around with a rag or sponge. If you pan is real dirt the salt will turn black pretty quickly. Rinse the salt out, and repeat the salt scrub with fresh salt a few times till the salt looks clean or clean enough when scrubbing. Depending on how dirty you could repeat this process multiple times. Once clean its time to season your pan.

How To Season Cast Iron

Cover your pan from top to bottom, handle and all with a thin layer of oil and place upside down in the oven at 500 (or the highest your oven goes) for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the pan sit there a cool down in its own time in the oven.

For a really good seasoning you can repeat this process of oiling, and baking multiple times till you have it at your desired seasoned state. Or you can just cook with your pan to create a nice seasoning over time.

For me, I season my big pot twice in one day a few times a year simply because I don’t cook with it often. I use my pan regularly and it has a nice season on it to were it doesn’t require the salt scrub or seasoning in the oven but if I’m doing my big pot I will often oil up the pan and heat in the oven too.

Cleaning Cast Iron

Prep Time: 1 minute

Active Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 minute

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Materials

• Cast Iron Pan or Pot
• Flax Seed Oil (or oil of your choice)
• Oven
• Salt
• Rag or Sponge

Instructions

1. Clean you cast iron with hot water.
2. Pour a few tablespoons of salt into your pan and scrub the pan down with a rag or sponge. Once the slat is all dark and dirty rinse and repeat till the slat comes out clean.
3. Rub a thin layer of flax seed oil all over your pan. Inside and outside even the handle.
4. Place your pan upside down in your oven and bake at 500 degrees (or as high as your oven goes) for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the cast iron cool down in the oven.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 a couple more times if desired for a better seasoning.

The post How To Clean and Season Cast Iron appeared first on Embracing The Home.

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Ingredients for Baked Beans

Navy Bean

1 1/2 cups dry 4 1/2 cups cooked 3 cans

I use navy beans, but other beans work as well. I’ve also used pinto beans in the past, I’ve seen other use red beans but I believe navy beans are the most common for baked beans. You can get canned beans or use dry beans. Dry beans are so cheap and I buy them in bulk. They last forever in my food grade 5 gallon buckets so I also have them on hand.

When cooking dry beans remember they 1 cup dry beans becomes 3 cups cooked. You should soak your beans before cooking them for 8 hour but I don’t always soak them that long and they cook just fine. The soaking is more for the nutrition benefits of the bean rather than the cooking process. Soaking the beans will make them easier to digest as well.

Onion and Garlic

Onion and garlic are pungent and full of flavor. Both have great nutritional value and have been known to super foods when it comes to cleansing the blood. They have even been known to help decrease cancer risk. Eating them often is just another way of adding great nutrition to your everyday diet.

Ketchup

Ketchup is so easy to just pull out of the fridge and add to your baked beans but you can also substitute ketchup by simple adding 1/4 cup tomato sauce (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste) and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. I never like opening a can of tomato sauce for just a quarter cup but sometime I have frozen tomato paste in the freezer that I’ll use.

Mustard

You can use any type of mustard for this recipe. I think this time I only had yellow mustard and it worked just fine. Dijon mustard would also be really good or you can use a mustard powder (Azure Standard or Amazon). If you do use the powder use about half of what the recipe calls for. 1 tablespoon mustard = 1/2 tablespoon mustard powder.

Molasses

For a bold depth of flavor I use blackstrap molasses. There are so many good benefits from blackstrap molasses I try to include a little in a lot of my recipes. You can use regular light molasses for this recipe but I recommend blackstrap molasses for its density in nutrients and its bold flavor.

Learn more about blackstrap molasses here or find it on amazon here.

Here are more recipes with blackstrap molasses

Brown Sugar

To sweeten our baked beans we need brown sugar. Light or dark, either one will work for this recipe. If you don’t have any brown sugar but you do have molasses you can make your own just by mixing regular while sugar and molasses together. I use a homemade dark brown sugar that make with blackstrap molasses.

Salt and Pepper

I like to add salt and pepper at the end as I taste test it. I don’t know how much I usually add so I encourage you to taste everything and adjust to your own liking.

Rosemary (optional)

I had never added rosemary to my baked bean until this time and I really liked it. The rosemary added another layer of sweet earthy flavor that elevated this recipe to a new level for me. I will be adding it regularly now.

How to Make Baked Beans

1. Soak and Cook Dry Beans

First step is to soak your dry beans for 8 hours or over night. Sometimes, if I’m low on time I will do a quick hot soak by heating the water before add in the beans and then soaking. The hot soaking method works but the longer the soak the better it is for the beans. When soaking the beans release oligosaccharides and antinutrients into the water making the beans easier to digest and easier for your body to take in the rich fibers, vitamins and minerals that beans contain.

When soaked cook your beans for 1-2 hours until soft.

2. Saute Onions and Garlic

When making baked beans first dice and saute the onion and garlic till fully cooked and soft. If you don’t saute them they will not cook as well or soften fully when mixed with the other ingredients.

3. Mix All Other Ingredients

Add the cooked beans, molasses, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and bring to a simmer in your cast iron skillet for 30 minutes.

If you don’t have cast iron this can be done another type of pan but the cast iron holds on to higher heats longer and more evenly, giving it more of the baked texture. Also I usually just use the cast iron skillet on the stove top but you can put the skillet in the oven at 350 for a true baked beans.

Vegan Baked Beans

Yield: 4 Cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dry navy beans (or 3, 15 oz cans cooked beans)
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup katchep
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/2 brown sugar
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Instructions

How to Cook Dry Beans

1. Soak 1 1/2 cups dried bean in 5 cups of water for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Rinse beans and put them in a pot covered with 1 inch of water and a little salt and bring to a boil.
3. Once at a boil cover and bring to low simmer for 1-2 hours until beans are soft.

Baked Beans

1. Dice the onion and 3 garlic cloves and saute in cast iron skillet
2. Add cooked beans, ketchup, mustard, molasses, brown sugar, and rosemary to skillet and stir till combined.
3. Bring to a boil and let simmer at low for 30 minutes covered.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

• 1 1/2 dried beans adds to about 4 cups cooked bean approximately 3, 15 oz cans

• For a little more heat to your recipe try adding 1/2 -1 teaspoon of smoked paprika or chili powder or cayenne.

The post How to Make Vegan Baked Beans in Cast Iron appeared first on Embracing The Home.