Years ago. Certainly more than seven anyway. I was given a Le Creuset griddle. I think it was a hint from the boyfriend at the time to cook more steak. More and better. I was very good at slightly pallid, overdone steak, but a trip to see my family in South Africa introduced me to properly hung, rare steak. Which I learned that I could happily eat day and night.
In order to rectify the pallid grey product from my kitchen the griddle came into play. Only I didn't know anything about cooking on cast iron or seasoning my pan. So, in a diversion from normal recipe/ cake based goodness I thought I'd just do a little post on how to take care of your cast iron cookware.
If like me (as it were) your cast iron emits clouds of smoke most everytime you try to cook with it: it needs to be seasoned, or re-seasoned.
Seasoning instructions - which is a recipe of types
Turn your oven onto either 50 degrees C or the self cleaning cycle. Line the bottom with a double layer of tin foil
With a piece of kitchen towel wipe down your griddle/ pan. Now, you need to use an oil that can stand high temperatures - so not olive, but either sunflower, vegetable, or even lard/ dripping - use more kitchen towel to wipe that over your pan in a thin layer.
Turn your pan upside down, put it on the oven shelf for half an hour, then turn the oven off and leave the pan in there overnight.
Repeat this process, night by night - three or four times. Your pan will then have a shiny black coating which basically makes it non stick. Heat your pan up and cook a steak - it won't stick, you'll get a lovely crust and it will taste fab.
Each time you use your pan, wipe it out with damp kitchen towel, make sure that there's no reside from whatever you've cooked left on. You can wash it briefly in the sink, but in my experience this means you need to repeat the seasoning once.
Over time you will need to re-season your pan, especially if you don't use it very often. Since I've started doing this my pan has just gone from strength to strength (if only the same could be said for my biceps). I use it more, now I don't risk setting off all the smoke alarms in the block every time it gets warm. And I no longer need to add fat to what I'm cooking as the pan now no longer needs it to remain non stick.
This would also work if you have a traditional cast iron wok.
I know this is a departure from normal posts, but I thought this would have been so useful if I could have read it when I got my griddle, so wanted to share.
