[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto,
[1 - 3] I'm a professional chef and a culinary instructor.
[3 - 5] And today I'm gonna teach you everything you need to know
[5 - 6] about cast iron care.
[6 - 8] We'll be going over seasoning, cleaning
[8 - 10] and storing a cast iron and everything you need to
[10 - 14] know to keep it looking brand new. [sparkling tone]
[14 - 16] This is Cast Iron Care 101.
[17 - 19] Part of the reason I love cast iron is
[19 - 21] because they retain heat really well.
[21 - 23] Compared to an aluminum pan, which is super light.
[23 - 25] Cast iron is dense and heavy.
[25 - 27] You get a better sear, better color on your food
[27 - 28] when you use a cast iron pan.
[28 - 30] Cast iron is super versatile.
[30 - 32] It can go from the stove to the oven to the campfire
[32 - 35] of you bring it camping, it's also really nice to serve in.
[35 - 36] It looks really rustic.
[36 - 37] You can use it for a range of different things.
[37 - 38] Hash browns are great.
[38 - 40] You can do a Dutch baby in it.
[40 - 42] Not only is cast iron great for cooking,
[42 - 44] it's great for home protection too.
[44 - 46] Bonk that guy over the head.
[46 - 48] You can pass these down to your kids and grandkids
[48 - 50] and as long as they take care of them,
[50 - 51] they'll be around forever.
[51 - 53] Hey mom, where's my cast iron pan?
[53 - 54] [sad violin music]
[54 - 55] She doesn't have any.
[55 - 56] I know she doesn't.
[56 - 58] Even if you're cast iron's in bad shape
[58 - 59] you can bring it back to life
[59 - 63] with these simple steps. [upbeat music]
[63 - 64] Cast iron is iron.
[64 - 66] You put it away damp, it's gonna rust.
[66 - 67] If your pan is rusted over,
[67 - 69] you can use a chain mail scrubber like this
[69 - 72] and you basically just get in there and scrape the pan down.
[72 - 74] The chain mail really works well.
[74 - 75] That will bring it down to the raw metal.
[75 - 77] You can also use this to protect yourself
[77 - 79] from daggers, right?
[79 - 82] But for the most part, I like to use kosher salt
[82 - 84] which is a little milder of an abrasive.
[84 - 86] It takes a little bit more work, but I find sometimes
[86 - 88] with things like the chain mail,
[88 - 89] it kind of marks up your pan.
[89 - 91] So I wanna just kind of keep it nice and flat.
[92 - 93] Sometimes people will heat the pan.
[93 - 96] Sometimes they will put some oil in with the salt.
[96 - 97] I'm just gonna go dry
[97 - 99] and I'm putting a fair amount of salt in there, right?
[99 - 101] And then I'm gonna get a kitchen towel
[101 - 104] and I'm just gonna get it in there and scrub.
[105 - 108] And I'm just gonna scrub around and just keep going
[108 - 111] in circles, pull the salt in,
[112 - 114] hold your pan down nice and firm.
[114 - 116] And you can actually see the salt starts to
[116 - 118] change color, gets that rust color to it.
[118 - 121] This will also get off any debris on the bottom of the pan.
[121 - 122] It's not ready yet.
[122 - 123] I can still see a little rust right here.
[123 - 125] And what I might do is this get rid
[125 - 128] of this salt because that's kind of getting ground
[128 - 130] up now and get a little fresh salt.
[130 - 132] Like I said, this takes a little more elbow grease
[132 - 135] but I think you get a good finish on your pan.
[136 - 137] It's looking much better now.
[137 - 138] I think we're pretty much done here.
[138 - 141] This salt, unfortunately right now is garbage
[141 - 144] but you can see most of the rust is gone.
[144 - 145] I'm not really worried about that.
[145 - 147] Once I season this, that's gonna all go away.
[147 - 148] Now we're gonna rinse it
[148 - 149] down and get it ready for seasoning.
[149 - 153] Here we have some water and dish soap. [dramatic music]
[153 - 155] Now I know I'm gonna get a lot of comments
[155 - 157] about this that don't do that don't ever put soap
[157 - 160] on your cast iron pan, but the pan has the salt in it
[160 - 164] now it also has some debris left over from the scrubbing
[164 - 167] and I just want to get that clean before I season it.
[167 - 168] You just get in there.
[168 - 170] You don't even need a towel
[170 - 172] or a sponge or anything like that.
[172 - 174] And any kind of chunks that are still in there.
[174 - 176] Get that out, okay?
[176 - 177] And look, it's really nice.
[177 - 178] I'm gonna rinse it.
[178 - 180] I'm gonna dry it really well with a towel.
[180 - 182] You can use paper towels for this.
[182 - 184] I'm gonna dry the inside.
[184 - 184] I'm gonna dry the handle.
[184 - 186] I'm gonna dry everything.
[186 - 188] And then just get as much water off as we can.
[188 - 189] Now we're gonna move on
[189 - 193] to greasing up our pan for seasoning. [upbeat music]
[193 - 195] What we're gonna do is we're gonna put some oil in it
[195 - 197] and we're gonna bake the pan so that the oil kind of gets
[197 - 199] into the pores pan and seals it up.
[199 - 202] That process is called polymerization.
[202 - 204] Polymerization is when an oil is heated
[204 - 205] in a high temperature
[205 - 208] and it forms a slick solid surface in our pan.
[208 - 211] Basically it means you're putting a non-stick coating on it.
[211 - 212] Most people season their pans
[212 - 214] with vegetable oil or canola oil.
[214 - 215] And it works really well.
[215 - 216] I like to use Crisco.
[216 - 219] Crisco is just oil in solid form.
[219 - 221] It sticks to the pan a little bit better.
[221 - 222] I can see where it's coated.
[222 - 224] It's a paste, it's a little easier to work with.
[224 - 228] So all I do is get a paper towel or a napkin
[228 - 230] and I just rub my Crisco all around.
[230 - 233] Make sure that I get into every corner.
[233 - 236] I'm gonna put a fair amount so I can still see the Crisco.
[236 - 239] And I'm gonna do the whole pan, turn it over.
[239 - 241] I'm gonna get the backside too, because even
[241 - 243] though we're not cooking on the backside
[243 - 244] of the pan or the underside of the pan
[244 - 247] I still want it to be protected from rust.
[247 - 249] When I put this in the oven, I'm gonna turn it upside down.
[249 - 251] So any excess fat will shed
[251 - 254] off the pan and give me a nice even coating.
[254 - 255] This looks good.
[255 - 257] I preheated my oven to 350
[257 - 259] and we're gonna put it in there for about an hour.
[259 - 261] This is what a properly seasoned pan looks like.
[261 - 263] It has a nice black shine to it.
[263 - 265] There's no rust spots.
[265 - 266] Let's move on to our next chapter.
[266 - 271] Cleaning your cast iron. [upbeat music]
[271 - 272] Once your pan is seasoned,
[272 - 273] you're obviously gonna use it.
[273 - 276] And it's really kind of gross. [dramatic music]
[276 - 278] Let's talk about how we're gonna get this back
[278 - 280] to its original season splendor.
[280 - 282] The first step is getting all the big chunks
[282 - 284] out of the pan, right?
[284 - 285] I got a bowl.
[285 - 287] I got some paper towels.
[287 - 289] So I'm just gonna wipe this out
[290 - 294] and get as many big chunks as I can out of this pan.
[294 - 296] And this is why you should clean your pans right
[296 - 298] after you use them.
[298 - 300] 'Cause otherwise it gets dried on and stuck.
[300 - 302] There's a lot of ways to clean off this gunk.
[302 - 304] You can use the chain mail that we used to get the rust off.
[304 - 306] Some people will also use Brillo with soap.
[306 - 308] That's not really my preference.
[308 - 309] Part of the reason I don't like using Brillo is
[309 - 312] that it'll ruin my seasoning. [crashing]
[312 - 313] That's why I prefer the salt.
[313 - 315] This is pretty much the same type
[315 - 317] of step that we use to get the rust off this pan.
[317 - 320] What I'm looking for is that all of the big chunks come off.
[320 - 322] If you have any pieces that you're having trouble getting
[322 - 324] off the sides of the pan, you can always heat it up.
[324 - 327] And a little bit of heat will help lift that off as well.
[327 - 329] Next thing we're gonna do is just rinse this
[329 - 334] in some warm, soapy water. [dramatic music]
[334 - 335] If you've seasoned your pan right,
[335 - 338] you have a nice hard coating on here and soap
[338 - 340] and water is not gonna ruin that.
[340 - 342] I'm not gonna scrub it with anything more than a paper towel
[342 - 346] at this point, just to get off any leftover flavors.
[346 - 348] The last thing you want is your apple crumble
[348 - 350] to taste like fish.
[350 - 353] I'm gonna rinse this off and dry it on the inside
[353 - 355] and on the outside so there's no water.
[355 - 361] Let's move on to how we store and maintain these pans. [upbeat music]
[361 - 362] Once it's clean and dry,
[362 - 364] I always like to put a light coating
[364 - 367] of oil on, not only is this gonna help keep our seasoning
[367 - 369] it's gonna make sure that this does not rust at all.
[369 - 372] And this time I'm just gonna put it on the cooking surface.
[372 - 374] Everything else is already seasoned
[374 - 375] and it has that nice coating on it.
[375 - 378] I'm gonna take this pan and put it in a warm oven
[378 - 380] and let the oven and the pan cool down together.
[380 - 382] And that's where I store it.
[382 - 384] Now we have a perfectly seasoned cast iron pan.
[384 - 386] I hope these tips help you keep your pan
[386 - 389] in great condition for your next cooking adventure.
[389 - 392] Don't come in my house, I'll do it backhand Right?
[392 - 394] There's a little... [upbeat tune]