[0:00] i'm frank proto i'm a professional chef
[0:02] and a culinary instructor and today i'm
[0:03] going to teach you everything you need
[0:04] to know about cast iron care we'll be
[0:06] going over seasoning cleaning and
[0:08] storing your cast iron and everything
[0:10] you need to know to keep it looking
[0:11] brand new
[0:12] [Music]
[0:14] this is cast iron care 101
[0:17] part of the reason i love cast iron is
[0:19] because they retain heat really well
[0:21] compared to the aluminum pan which is
[0:22] super light cast iron is dense and heavy
[0:25] you get a better sear better color on
[0:26] your food when you use a cast iron pan
[0:28] cast iron is super versatile it can go
[0:30] from the stove to the oven to the
[0:32] campfire if you bring it camping it's
[0:33] also really nice to serve in it looks
[0:35] really rustic you can use it for a range
[0:36] of different things hashbrowns are great
[0:38] you can do a dutch baby in it not only
[0:40] is cast iron great for cooking it's
[0:42] great for home protection too
[0:44] over the head
[0:46] you can pass these down to your kids and
[0:47] grandkids and as long as they take care
[0:49] of them they'll be around forever hey
[0:51] mom where's my cast iron pan
[0:54] she doesn't have any i know she doesn't
[0:56] even if your cast iron's in bad shape
[0:58] you can bring it back to life with these
[0:59] simple steps
[1:02] cast iron is iron you put it away damp
[1:05] it's gonna rust if your pan is rusted
[1:07] over you can use a chain male scrubber
[1:08] like this and you basically just get in
[1:10] there and scrape the pan down the chain
[1:12] mill really works well that'll bring it
[1:14] down to the raw metal you can also use
[1:16] this to protect yourself from daggers
[1:18] right but for the most part i like to
[1:20] use kosher salt which is a little milder
[1:23] of an abrasive it takes a little bit
[1:24] more work but i find sometimes with
[1:26] things like the chainmail it kind of
[1:28] marks up your pan so i want to just kind
[1:30] of keep it nice and flat nice and even
[1:32] sometimes people will heat the pan
[1:33] sometimes they will put some oil in with
[1:35] the salt i'm just going to go dry and
[1:37] i'm putting a fair amount of salt in
[1:38] there right and then i'm going to get a
[1:40] kitchen towel and i'm just going to get
[1:42] in there and scrub it
[1:45] and i'm just going to scrub around and
[1:47] just keep going in circles
[1:49] pull the salt in
[1:52] hold your pan down nice and firm and you
[1:54] can actually see the salt starts to
[1:56] change color gets that rust color to it
[1:58] this will also get off any debris on the
[2:00] bottom of the pan it's not ready yet i
[2:02] can still see a little rust right here
[2:03] and what i might do is this get rid of
[2:05] this salt because that's kind of getting
[2:07] ground up now and get a little fresh
[2:09] salt like i said this takes a little
[2:11] more elbow grease but i think you get a
[2:13] good finish on your pan
[2:16] it's looking much better now i think
[2:17] we're pretty much done here this salt
[2:19] unfortunately right now is garbage but
[2:21] you can see most of the rust is gone i'm
[2:24] not really worried about that once i
[2:25] season this that's gonna all go away now
[2:27] we're gonna rinse it down and get it
[2:28] ready for seasoning here we have some
[2:30] water and dish soap
[2:32] now i know i'm gonna get a lot of uh
[2:35] comments about this that don't do that
[2:36] don't ever put soap on your cast iron
[2:38] pan but the pan has the salt in it now
[2:41] it also has some debris left over from
[2:43] the scrubbing and i just want to get
[2:45] that clean before i season it you just
[2:47] get in there you don't even need a towel
[2:50] or a sponge or anything like that and
[2:52] any kind of chunks that are still in
[2:54] there get that out okay and look it's
[2:56] really nice i'm gonna rinse it
[2:58] i'm gonna dry it really well with a
[3:00] towel you can use paper towels for this
[3:02] i'm gonna dry the inside i'm going to
[3:04] dry the handle i'm going to dry
[3:05] everything and just get as much water
[3:07] off as we can now we're going to move on
[3:09] to greasing up our pan for seasoning
[3:13] what we're going to do is we're going to
[3:14] put some oil in it and we're going to
[3:15] bake the pan so that the oil kind of
[3:17] gets into the pores of the pan and seals
[3:19] it up that process is called
[3:20] polymerization polymerization is when an
[3:23] oil is heated at a high temperature and
[3:25] it forms a slick solid surface in our
[3:27] pan basically it means you're putting a
[3:29] non-stick coating on it most people
[3:31] season their pans with vegetable oil or
[3:33] canola oil and it works really well i
[3:35] like to use crisco crisco is just oil in
[3:38] solid form it sticks to the pan a little
[3:40] bit better i can see where it's coated
[3:42] it's a paste it's a little easier to
[3:44] work with so all i do is get a paper
[3:46] towel or a napkin and i just rub my
[3:48] crisco all around make sure that i get
[3:51] into every corner
[3:53] i'm gonna put a fair amount so i can
[3:54] still see the crisco and i'm gonna do
[3:56] the whole pan turn it over i'm gonna get
[3:59] the backside too because even though
[4:01] we're not cooking on the backside of the
[4:03] pan or the underside of the pan i still
[4:05] want it to be protected from rust when i
[4:07] put this in the oven i'm gonna turn it
[4:08] upside down so any excess fat will shed
[4:11] off the pan and give me a nice even
[4:13] coating this looks good i preheated my
[4:15] oven to 350 and we're gonna put it in
[4:17] there for about an hour
[4:19] this is what a properly seasoned pan
[4:21] looks like it has a nice black shine to
[4:23] it there's no rust spots let's move on
[4:25] to our next chapter cleaning your cast
[4:27] iron
[4:30] once your pan is seasoned you're
[4:32] obviously going to use it and it's
[4:34] really kind of gross
[4:36] let's talk about how we're going to get
[4:37] this back to its original season
[4:39] splendor the first step is getting all
[4:41] the big chunks out of the pan right i
[4:44] got a bowl i got some paper towels so
[4:47] i'm just going to wipe this out
[4:50] and get as many big chunks as i can out
[4:52] of this pan
[4:54] and this is why you should clean your
[4:55] pans right after you use them because
[4:57] otherwise it gets dried on and stuck
[5:00] there's a lot of ways to clean off this
[5:01] gunk you can use the chain mail that we
[5:03] use to get the rust off some people also
[5:05] use brillo with soap that's not really
[5:07] my preference part of the reason i don't
[5:08] like using brillo is that it'll ruin my
[5:10] seasoning
[5:11] that's why i prefer the salt this is
[5:13] pretty much the same type of step that
[5:15] we use to get the rust off this pan what
[5:17] i'm looking for is that all of the big
[5:19] chunks come off if you have any pieces
[5:21] that you're having trouble getting off
[5:22] the sides of the pan you can always heat
[5:24] it up and a little bit of heat will help
[5:26] lift that off as well next thing we're
[5:28] going to do is just rinse this in some
[5:29] warm soapy water
[5:31] [Music]
[5:34] if you've seasoned your pan right you
[5:35] have a nice hard coating on here and
[5:37] soap and water is not going to ruin that
[5:39] i'm not going to scrub it with anything
[5:41] more than a paper towel at this point
[5:43] just to get off any leftover flavors the
[5:46] last thing you want is your apple
[5:48] crumble to taste like fish i'm going to
[5:50] rinse this off and dry it on the inside
[5:52] and on the outside so there's no water
[5:55] let's move on to how we store and
[5:57] maintain these pans
[6:01] once it's clean and dry i always like to
[6:02] put a light coating of oil on not only
[6:05] is this going to help keep our seasoning
[6:06] it's going to make sure that this does
[6:08] not rust at all and this time i'm just
[6:10] going to put it on the cooking surface
[6:12] everything else is already seasoned and
[6:14] it has that nice coating on it i'm going
[6:15] to take this pan and put it in a warm
[6:17] oven and let the oven in the pan cool
[6:19] down together
[6:20] and that's where i store it
[6:22] now we have a perfectly seasoned cast
[6:23] iron pan i hope these tips help you keep
[6:26] your pan in great condition for your
[6:27] next cooking adventure don't come in my
[6:29] house i'll do a backhand right
[6:32] [Music]