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2torial #0842:
Learn2 Season Cookware
Care for a slice of Cajun cast iron?
Did you leave half the scrambled eggs burnt to the bottom
of the pan? Maybe you needed a hammer and chisel to get the
cookies off the baking pan. Perhaps it's time to season your
cookware. It has nothing to do with flavor--rather, it's
the process of developing a natural non-stick finish on metal
cookware and baking utensils. Also known as tempering, this
simple procedure saves you some scrubbing of burned pots and
pans, protects the utensil against the damaging effects of
moisture, and protects the food from picking up any metallic
flavors.
There's also a kind of seasoning that develops with wooden
utensils like spoons, spatulas, and cutting boards. Seasoning
wooden items will protect the wood from drying, warping, and
cracking.
Especially if the utensil is new, give it a thorough cleaning
before you season it. For metal utensils, use hot water and
a small amount of mild dishwashing soap with a stiff brush.
This will remove any nasty compounds that may be hanging around
from the production line.
In another case, a particularly messy cooking job will require
you to scrub down the utensil with hot water and a brush.
Although this is sometimes necessary, you've just removed
any protective coating that was laid on the utensil. But on
the bright side, you now have the perfect opportunity to reseason
the utensil, having returned it to a fairly pristine state.
When to hold the seasoning: Utensils coated with non-stick
surfaces (like Teflon or some versions of Caphalon) don't
need to be seasoned. Be very careful, however, with non-stick
utensils as you cook with and clean them. Any scratch in the
surface can result in the absorption of toxic chemicals (from
the non-stick surface) into your food. So clean these without
soap or a brush: simply rinse with water and wipe the surface
with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.
Season Metal Cookware
Seasoning forms a protective coating by baking a few layers
of vegetable oil onto the utensil. It actually works in two
ways: it protects the food from the utensil, and the utensil
from the food.
Look at a cast iron skillet (for example) under a microscope,
and you'll see tiny peaks of jagged cast iron. The peaks cause
you food to stick in the pan, and can also transfer a metallic
flavor to the food. But they're also vulnerable--they can
absorb acid and moisture from the food, and then rust.
Follow these steps to a sound seasoning:
Set your oven to 300 F (150 C)
and let the utensil warm up in the oven for about five minutes.
If you've just washed the utensil, the oven heat performs
two functions: it thoroughly dries the utensil, and increases
the metal's ability to absorb. Don't let it become so
warm, however, that you can't comfortably touch it. Wear
a cooking glove or use a kitchen cloth to remove it from the
oven if it's too hot to the touch.
 Choose
your grease and apply oil. Using either a kitchen cloth
or your fingers, apply a thin, even coat of oil onto the entire
surface of the utensil. Hold the utensil up to the light to
look for any missed spots. For items like cast iron skillets,
grease up the handle as well--it's as prone to rust as the
rest of the skillet.
Bake on the oil. The oven should already be preheated
to 300 F (150 C). Place the utensil
in the oven and let it sit for 30 minutes (20 minutes if you
need to use it right away).
Using an oven mitt or kitchen cloth, remove the utensil
from the oven. The warmth of the oven may have created
excess oil, which now forms a shallow pool in the skillet
or pot. Go ahead and pour off the excess oil, and carefully
wipe down the utensil with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.
The seasoning is complete and the utensil can be stored away.
Note that the surface should be slightly shiny, but the utensil
should not be slippery when you pick it up.
 Maintain
metal seasoning
After you season a utensil and maintain its seasoning, the
surface will darken in color: cast iron items, for example,
will turn black. This is the sign of a well-seasoned utensil.
And, similar to fine wine or people with good attitudes, seasoning
only improves with age. Follow these guidelines to ensure
well-seasoned metal utensils:
After each use, don't wash metal utensils with soap.
This will strip off the seasoning, which will increase the possibility
of making a big burned mess the next time you cook. Instead,
here are a few options:
- Soak the utensil for several minutes and scrub
off any food residue with plastic scouring pads or a brush.
- Alternatively, pour vinegar, salt, or both onto the
utensil and scrub out the food particles with a brown
paper bag...strange, yes, but many people swear by it.
In either case, dry it! This is important, as it prepares
the utensil for the next step. Dry it thoroughly by placing
the utensil on the stovetop or in the oven, whichever is more
convenient.
Grease it up. Pour a teaspoon (5 ml) of vegetable
oil--or up to 5 teaspoons (25 ml) for larger utensils--and
rub well into the surface. Look at it under good light to
find missed spots. Wipe down the utensil with a kitchen cloth
or a paper towel to clean up excess oil. Again, the surface
should be slightly shiny, but the utensil should not be slippery
when you pick it up.
Season Wooden Utensils
As far as materials go, wood is a bit temperamental: the
levels of moisture, air, and natural oil content all vary
depending on how the utensil is used and cared for. For this
reason, it's important to keep wood away from very hot water
and frequent applications of soap or harsh scouring pads.
And if you buy an unfinished wood utensil, it's especially
important to season it before you use it: soaking, soaping
and drying a raw wood implement is a sure path to warping
and cracking. On the other hand, you don't want a sticky buildup
of food or oil residue on wooden utensils; therefore, you
may wish to scrub down and reseason a wood utensil on occasion.
The key to wood seasoning is the oil: light, food-grade
mineral oil. Some mineral oil is made to be taken internally
as an intestinal lubricant--that's the kind you want. Now
you just have to apply it:
Pour oil onto the utensil in increments of a teaspoon
(5 ml), adding as much as you need to give the entire utensil
a light coating. Rub it in with your hands--their heat
will increase the absorption of oil. It's a good idea to have
a few other wood utensils cleaned and ready to go; as long
as your hands are oily, you can have a little seasoning party.
Cover all bases. If you're oiling a cutting board,
certainly oil both sides--even if you only cut on one of them.
Otherwise, moisture can penetrate the underside of the cutting
board and cause it to warp.
Let the items sit for a few minutes. You can clean
up the rest of the kitchen while you wait; then wipe off excess
oil with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.
Maintain wooden utensils
Just as with metal cookware, you need to maintain the seasoning
on wooden objects. Fortunately, it's just as easy to do so:
Wash and dry promptly. The best policy is to wash
and immediately dry any wooden utensil--and skip the hot water
and the soap. If the surface starts to feel gummy with residue,
take a spatula and see what you can gently scrape off.
Wash thoroughly (okay, you can use a dot of soap if the utensil
has very greasy residue on it), dry it thoroughly with a kitchen
cloth (not in an oven!), and season it.
Season frequently. Reseason your spoons and boards
once a month, or perhaps twice if they see a lot of use. Or
just notice when they start to look dry, and reseason then.
-end-
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