The Day After T-day

[ksmith]

A holiday for some of us, for which I am thankful.

Yesterday was a good day. Stuffing tasted great, a close facsimile of Mom’s but with added golden raisins, which works for me. A bit disappointed in the squash, which lacked that rich squashy flavor–can they be picked too soon? This one just lacked.

The cast-iron roast chicken was delicious, as usual. Onions, fennel, and leeks all caramelized, and the bird itself came out golden brown. My only mistake was in handling the brand-new cast iron pan. I should have removed the chicken and veggies right away, then added a little broth or wine or water to deglaze. Instead I let it sit until after dinner, which gave the detritus a change to cool and solidify and STICK LIKE LIVING HELL to the pan. I had seasoned it a bit prior to use–wiped it with cooking oil and put it in the 500F oven to heat. Given that and the fact that it was “pre-seasoned”, I thought things would be okay.

Sadly, no.

I was supposed to use a brush and coarse salt to abrade the gunk. After an hour of that, I gave up and committed the cardinal cast-iron sin of dish soap and water. Gunk dissolved in a snap, but since that likely took all the seasoning with it, I re-oiled the pan and put it in a 350F oven for a couple of hours. Who knows, I probably screwed that up, too.

Thing is, I have read and heard all the rapturous paeans concerning cast-iron cookery, but I have found that unless you use the pans consistently, seasoning becomes a chore more than a habit and the pans themselves a trial to use. I will likely give it one more try, but if it remains too much of a pain I will either go back to abusing my poor stainless steel casserole or looking into Lodge’s seasoned steel.

And yes, I know about using solid shortening for seasoning rather than oil, and setting the pans upside down over foil in the oven so that the excess drips out. There are, in fact as many methods of seasoning cast iron pans as there are varieties of pans. One could go cross-eyed as one tries to find definitive information on a Thanksgiving afternoon, scrubbing the &^%$#@ pan with one hand and typing keywords into search engines with the other.

Anyway, at least the chicken came out good.

I spent yesterday morning putting up the outdoor Christmas decorations: a couple of lighted wreaths on the house and lighted figures in and around the planter (a penguin, two spiral light trees, two reindeer). I didn’t feel like spending a chunk of Thanksgiving morning putting up the outdoor Christmas decorations, but near record-setting warmth was predicted–60s! Sunny!–and if you have to stand in the front yard and wrestle electrical cords, it’s better to do it in nice weather.

It was a good decision. By evening, the winds had picked up and the warmth had gone buhbye. This morning finds it about 30 degrees colder, still windy, and cloudy. At some point, the spiral tree that I had set up in the planter blew over, despite the four stakes I used to hold it in place. It will only take a few minutes to put right, but it’s that first blast of cold air I’m dreading. Maybe I’ll have another cup of coffee first.

It’s just nasty. At least it’s not snowing…although every once in a while, a few flakes drift past. I was going to get the Christmas tree today, but I just don’t feel like dealing with the cold and the wind, not to mention the crowds. Tomorrow will be bad enough, but I have to go out anyway so I will add “Christmas tree” to the list, along with garage wreath, gate wreaths, and maybe something for over the fireplace.

I love wreaths. I tend to leave them hanging until they’re brown and shedding needles like rain because I hate to take them down. Wreaths and gates. It’s a tic.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

For gunk dried onto cast iron:

Wet a paper towel (or several) with hot water and drape it artfully over the cast iron, against the gunk. Let it sit while you do the other dishes, then give the gunk a go. If it's not loose enough yet, re-wet and let it sit a while longer.

Your dinner sounds gorgeous. I'm anticipating my turkey dinner tomorrow with, er, great anticipation. :)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the cast-iron tip. I really wish I'd had the wit to deglaze the pan, but I was so anxious to get everything on the table and hadn't planned for any gravy or sauce. I realized as I was cleaning the pan that the dark brown stuff I was chipping off would have tasted so good mixed with a little wine and some herbs.

Roasting chicken has become a snap since I stumbled over this method. The drumsticks and thighs cook through really well, and there's no more undercooked place where thigh meets body because that area is open to the heat. And the onions! I could have eaten all the onions myself. So sweet.

Enjoy your turkey!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* I do that sort of thing all the time. "Must get food on table! Oh look,I have made other things much harder on myself..." :)

I should try this method next time I roast a chicken! Nom!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Link to the NYT article, just in case anyone else in interested:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/dining/a-new-breed-of-roast-chicken-cast-iron-seared.html

There's even a video!

My chicken was about 6.5 pounds--not quite 3 kgs--and took about 75 minutes to cook. Given that the 4.5 lb chicken in the recipe took only 40-50 minutes, I may have left mine in too long. But I'm so bloody paranoid about underdone chicken....

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

On cast iron...the cast iron frying pan I made breakfast in every morning while in my mother's house was washed daily. No harm done. If something sticks, dunk it in, scrub quickly (I used a small wire brush with fine bristles) rinse in very hot water, and dry quickly. It's _soaking_ in water & detergent that does the harm. Don't put it in to soak: stick it in the hot sudsy water, scrub it out, rinse, and dry. If your water's hot enough, it will almost dry by itself, but dry it anyway (paper towels, so as not to mark up a cloth towel with the seasoning still in it. Use a little oil (in our case, cooking bacon in it the next morning) before the next cooking.

You're right, there are many different recommendations on re-seasoning. One works as well as another, if the cast iron is good stuff. I prefer the slow long baking in the oven method, wiping the inside of the pan with whatever you're using (I still use bacon grease, as my mother did) and letting it "cook" and sometimes wiping it twice in the same session. But that's not the only way.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

It's _soaking_ in water & detergent that does the harm.

Thanks for this, Elizabeth. I thought I had ruined the blasted thing, even though I oiled and baked it right away.

Mmmmmm...bacon. A chicken-bacon sandwich with some of the leftover curried apple squash filling spread on top.

Well, dinner's figured out.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Do you wipe down the outside of the pan with oil/grease as well? Because I would think that would smoke like the dickens if you put it on a burner.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

No--only if the pan has rusted on the side. Then you had to scour the rust off with a wire brush, then steel wool, then a very light coating of oil on the outside and bake until it soaked in. We lived in a humid area, so had to have some protection on the sides. We never oiled the outside of the bottom (that I remember--my mother might have done it when the pans first came home), because we never had one rusted there. If she did it, it would have been a light wipe, then put in the oven to "cure."

Since I now have the fry-pan that's perfect for eggs and doesn't get upset by soaking if necessary, I don't scramble eggs in the cast-iron any more and thus don't have sticking problems--though I haven't made your recipe for chicken. I use the iron ones mostly for meat and non-tomato-including meat-and-potatoes-and-gravy sorts of cooking.

Oh--the other recommendation, to use a damp paper towel to soften stuck-on stuff--is also very good, and you can (if something's really hardened) add some water to the pan and put it on a burner on low until the water penetrates and things will come loose. Because the pan will be hot, and the oil in its seasoning will liquify and release the food, there's no danger of rusting. Scrape-stir, and don't let the stuff dry out over heat or you're back at square minus-one.

You can boil water in an iron frying pan without damaging the pan--as long as you pour it out and dry the pan (which, being hot, will dry) and maybe as it cools give it a quick wipe with an oiled paper towel.

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

My husband *had* to have some cast-iron pans. I've got a Dutch oven with lid, a 12" frying pan with 3" sides, and a little 8" frying pan. Except for the last one, I can barely handle them, they're so heavy. While they are indeed wonderful for cooking, as a single person now, without the arm or wrist strength to manipulate them, I don't find them all that useful.