Cast Iron CAN live up to its reputation!

Last weekend I had a lovely visit with my sister GW at her new home in Washington. I’m thrilled to have her living a mere 2.25 hour drive away! We talked about all of our favorite topics including cooking techniques and equipment. She expressed vague disappointment with her cast iron cookware, which she loves, but it just doesn’t seem to be keeping a smooth, seasoned finish the way she thought it would. I felt exactly the same way until about 6 months ago, when good old America’s Test Kitchen came through for me again and specified that UNSATURATED fat is best for seasoning your cast iron skillet. My sister and I share a preference for saturated cooking fats such as coconut oil and ghee. (Refined vegetable oil is actually pretty scary stuff.) So that’s what we’d been using to season the pans and “touch up” the surface after each use. After I got a bottle of sunflower oil and started using a little of that every time I cleaned my cast iron skillet, it’s finally working the way it’s supposed to. It’s not teflon-slick, but food releases easily and it cleans up much more readily. I feel like there is so much debate about cast iron cookware, before I’d always heard either, “you MUST/must NOT do xyz,” or, “it doesn’t matter! Just do whatever,” it was such a relief to get a solid guideline. Thanks, ATK!

Updated to add another tip that has been working well for me: I store the cleaned and oiled skillet in the oven, and let it preheat along with the oven when you are baking or roasting. (I take it out once I’m ready to put the food in, so it won’t get messy.) Of course, if you are using the skillet, this will accomplish getting it pre-heated too! I have found this to be helpful in maintaining the seasoning of the skillet.