Cast iron is exactly what it sounds like it’s iron that is cast into a mold to form the desired shape. One of the best things about cast iron is that the handles and any other Add ONS the piece of cookware is all one solid piece. This means that if your cast iron is well taken care of it should last forever almost. It is also great if you’re going to do a lot of outdoor cooking over an open fire. Because it helps hold the heat in and spread it evenly throughout the cast iron piece. It is still useful in the home kitchen environment whether using an electric stove or gas stove.
Focusing on the use of cast iron in a camping scenario over a standard wood fire, you would want to make sure that your fire burns down to just hot coals. Then place your Dutch oven on top of the coals. Let your Dutch oven heat to the proper temperature, then place your food inside. Finally, put your lid onto your Dutch oven and cover your lid with more coals. After you finish eating with your Dutch oven you want to get your fire roaring again. You place your cast iron back into the fire with the inside facing the flames. This will clean off any excess food or material that might be inside your cast iron. This will keep it ready for reuse for the remainder of your camp out.
When you bring your cast iron home, you’re going to Go through the cleaning process. The first step to cleaning your cast iron would be to rinse out your cast iron with nice warm water. Try off your cast iron with some paper towels to remove any excess water. Take an embrace of substances like steel wool to clean your cast iron. The steel wool should not have soap on it. Then will grab hey food-safe oil like vegetable oil olive oil or any other type of oil you may have. The oil will help the steel wool in the cleaning process. It helps to breakdown any carbon buildup that has happened over the use of the cast iron. Once you are done scrubbing your cast iron you want to remove any excess oil with more paper towels.
Seasoning your cast iron is the last step. You want to apply a thin coat of oil all over your cast iron including the back then place your cast iron facing down into your oven and crank it up to 500 degrees for one hour. One side effect of seasoning that you want to keep in mind is the smell, it will smell like burning oil. So the best thing to do that keeps your fan on over your stove. Once your cast iron is done in the oven shut off your oven and let it cool in the oven overnight. Store your cast iron in a nice dry environment to help prevent rust and to keep it clean.
