Cooking with cast iron...

[Mister Obvious]

Just landed some pretty sweet cast iron too...

I may give updates about how that goes, as a new cast iron user...

Apparently it takes like 30 meals to build up the initial seasoning, even with pre-seasoned pieces.

It's a huge process, but the whole idea is that the cookware lasts a lifetime.

I feel like I will intuitively develop my own personal cast iron process, but I could be wrong.

We'll see how it goes. I cook often enough (daily obviously) for the base to form pretty quickly, and once that's done, it should be solid for years to come.

I've done A LOT of research about it and the general consensus is that you should season your cast iron in the oven twice yearly.

But I read something lastnight that made a lot of sense to me...

Basically the guy said that regularly cooking with it IS seasoning it.

If you clean it properly (NO soap and minimal water, in fact it's best to just deglaze the pan while it's still hot as soon as you're done cooking, not to mention you can pour it on the food for extra flavor), then clean stuck on bits with salt if needed, put it back on the burner and heat it up, coat it lightly with oil, and put it back on the burner again til it just barely smokes, dab off excess oil, and then it's ready to store...

Apparently if you follow those basic steps and cook with it regularly (like daily or at least a few times per week) the seasoning straight up takes care of itself. No use of metal utensils is permitted on cast iron, really wood is the only thing you should be using.

I dunno, it all makes sense to me.

First impressions after cooking with cast iron for the first time??

Ummm...

Cast iron don't fuck around.

Cast iron ain't here to PLAY WITH YOU, HOLMES.

There's life before cooking with cast iron, and there's life after cooking with cast iron...

Two very different things.

Where do I even begin to explain this experience???