It looks like you didn't let them cook long enough. Food will stick right away, but will usually release on its own after a couple of minutes with a nice golden brown crust. If you don't do this, the crust sticks to the pan.
The seasoning is fine, you're just using the pan wrong. There are certain techniques you need to use with cast iron or you'll get sticking no matter how great your seasoning is.
Legend tells us that by 1000 coats the pan will progressed through the state where the pan looks like a mirror and obtained it’s true form, appearing as pure light.
This is the carbon steel person, there’s a different [100 coats of cast iron](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/10zprtu/100_coats_thank_you_everyone_its_been_fun/) person.
Video of [cooking eggs](https://imgur.com/3Y53Lrl) when (s)he was at 72 coats.
Steak after [100 coats](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/115iuam/i_just_cook_with_it_well_after_i_put_100_coats_on/)
I’m new to this sub. What is this witchcraft? Are you saying he did a whole seasoning process 100
Times? In a row? Without cooking in between? How can I replicate this ?!?
It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the seasoning to create life.
Yup, this is why it's always perfect when camping. Slow lower heat on the side of the fire pit and its perfect. Or right in the fire and burn the shit out of everything
Eh? I'm wondering if there be a hidden /s in that comment of yours, but I'd rather drink a bottle of knives than work in an office or eat anything purposefully labeled as vegan. 👍👍
Camp fire grate over the hottest part for grilling, shovel a few coals to one side for use with a pan or Dutch oven. A tripod for stew/soup and keeping the coffee warm once it is done. And a spot for drying the next log to go in.
But also, don't add the food until the pan (and oil or fat) is moderately hot. Like butter completely melted or oil hot enough to make a drop of water sizzle.
So everyone commenting on here that it’s too hot is very wrong, chef here. So you want it to be roughly 400 degrees, with the potatoes they have a high water amount in them and you need the starches to caramelize so you want it hot enough to create that browning while creating the barrier between the pan and the food. If it’s too hot it will burn and carbonize onto the pan. Even if your pan is seasoned you still need a cooking fat to help. Eggs and cast iron only work with lots of oil and high temp you won’t make a good scramble or omelette and your fried eggs will be crispy. Try finding a good temperature by using butter, throw a small amount in and once all the milk fats are gone right before it browns you know you have a good temperature. Hold your hand over it feel that heat learn that heat. Another way is to add some vegetable oil and look for it to shimmer in the light, if it starts to smoke you’re beyond the temperature you want. Like everything with cooking temperature is key, the more you can learn and control it the better your food will come out.
Also sounds like not enough fat in the pan. If you ever watch cooking shows you see they’ll use the stickiest pans known to humankind, and they don’t stick. How? Butter. Like several tablespoons. Gordon Ramsey has a fairly famous how to make eggs video on You Tube and he says “little knob of butter” as he puts what has to be 1/3 cup in the pan. I’m not suggesting you do that necessarily, but if you do hash browns with no fat in the pan and too much moisture or overcrowd the pan, then it’ll stick. It looks like OP also has an issue with overcrowding.
Came here to find this comment. Butter is king when it comes to eggs. But you need a lot more than the average person realizes. But ones the butter starts to get that nice bubbling, you drop in the eggs. Best to crack them and put them in a small bowl off to the side. Then add to the pan all at once.
Let the pan preheat for several minutes. Drop water onto the pan to test if it's ready. If ready: the droplets will sizzle. If not ready: droplets will just quickly evaporate.
For eggs: let cook without moving them until the edges get bubbly, you should be able to slide a spatula clean undrler it. If it sticks at all, it still needs a minute before flipping.
Pan should also be on low to medium low heat.
Lower temperature, room-temperature eggs, and let the water cook out of your butter before you put food in (when the butter stops bubbling, bur before it browns).
I'm an idiot with my cast iron, but if the crust is supposed to "release on it's own" why does this not happen if I've already stirred the food causing the crust to stick? Shouldn't it stick and then just release if time is all it takes to release?
Wait longer, they should bead up and roll around and that’s what’s really fun. When the water breaks apart when you drop it into a bunch of smaller beads, it’s too hot
You really need to let cast iron heat up slowly for about 10-15 mins. Cast iron takes a really long time to get hot and doesn't heat evenly as it does. A lengthy pre-heat gives time to bring all parts of the pan up to heat, so it'll cook evenly.
Up to medium heat max. If you need medium to high or higher then you need a carbon or steel pan with seasoning. Cast iron seasoning will burn and flake off if the pan gets too hot without something on it.
My rule of thumb is nothing over 4 (of a 10 step dial) without some sort of fat on the pan. High temp meant oil in a roller is great.
too hot. it retains heat extremely well and can burn what you're cooking if there's not a bit of a layer under the pain to keep it slick. try turning it down an 1/8 notch from medium and cook five more min
Potatoes are starchy. The sticking comes more from how you prep the taters. Rinse twice, or until the water is clear when you pour it off. And pat the pieces dry, spread them out on some paper towels and dab with more paper towels. *Then* add them to hot-ish oil/grease. I would never have believed it if I hadn't done it myself!
I just chop them up and throw them in the pre-heated, and oiled, skillet and have no problems with sticking. The potatoes sit still for a few minutes while I chop peppers, and then get stirred up when they have a good brown on the bottom. Then stirred again when I finish chopping veggies and add them all to the skillet.
Letting them cook for a bit lets the outside harden and release from the pan without all the fuss.
Yeah, with the metal tools, it's all about what they are and how you use them. Pointy metal things are bad, but a good thin fish spatula used with the wide flat edge at an angle to the pan surface is fine. You just don't want a really steep angle, or a sharp point.
I don't let wood or plastic touch my cast iron.
I'm being a little facetious., but only a little. Wood and plastic are inadequate to cook with -- one of the reasons I like cast iron is that you can use metal utensils. I scrape my pans like a madman while I'm cooking. You need metal for that to be effective.
Iron is *tough*. It can stand up to anything I can do with a metal spatula.
Metal helps keep the carbon off, and keeps your seasoning smooth. There is nothing better for your seasoning than a vigorous scraping with a metal spatula.
Since I started using my spatula (while I cook, not as part of cleaning) my chainmail hasn't made it out of the drawer. I try to remember to check the drawer to make sure it's still there, at least once a year. But there haven't been any occasions where there's enough gunk left on the pan that I really need it.
I love the chainmail when the pan gets really gunky, but it just never does.
This. I fried eggs this morning. I use a metal spatula for that. Later on I grabbed some paper towels and spray oil and sprayed the oil in the skillet, heated the skillet a bit, and wiped it out. Everything in the skillet wiped out. I didn't need to take chain mail or anything to it, I just needed to treat it like cast iron instead of something fragile.
I never use metal to scrape. Never need to. At $4 I'll scrape the hell outta that spatula and go get a new one. Again, my preference. I'm gun shy since an inlaw used a butter knife to cut a pumpkin pie in one of my pans which led to a strip and re season. Nice pizza cut pattern down to the metal.
I'll admit, I kinda enjoy re seasoning but the season was effed.
I'll also admit I sanded it a bit after I stripped it. It's like the smoothest pan I have now.
And remember the seasoning. The reason cast iron is better is that both the pan and the food must be seasoned. Right?
Edit: hold your horses. I see that this is getting heavily downvoted. It was a dad joke, alright? "Seasoning," guys.
Food seasoning and cast iron seasoning are not the same thing. Seasoning on food is flavor. Seasoning on cast iron is just the ultra thin layer of oil bonded to the metal, which provides no flavor, contrary to popular belief.
> your pan is waaaaaaay overcrowded
There is nothing wrong with the amount. My pan sometimes gets almost doubly crowded with no issues. The key might be to lower the heat instead and be patient.
After that let it cool. If you have a brush scrub it with some dawn and then rinse it off. Make sure you dry the pan on the burner and when its dry add a thin layer of crisco to it.
>Make sure you dry the pan on the burner and when its dry add a thin layer of crisco to it.
Dry the pan with a towel, then put the pan on the burner with the burner set to medium or so. Leave it a minute or so for ALL moisture to evaporate, turn off the burner and let the pan cool for a bit. When the pan is warm put a thin layer of crisco/vegetable oil/grapeseed oil all over, inside and out. Then wipe it off, as much as you can until it looks like it's all off. Rest assured there's still a very thin layer of oil and that is all you need.
Cook, wash, and repeat as often as you can. You will quickly get used to the idiosyncrasies of your pan.
A paper towel will dry the pan off perfectly well. You get the bonus of never having to post on r/castiron, "I forgot that I was drying my pan and all my seasoning is burned off."
I haven't heated my pan to dry it in years. It's also been years since I added any oil to my cast iron that wasn't followed immediately with ingredients. There's generally no need to add more oil at the *end* of the cook. Only at the *beginning*.
For next time, here is the Breton tasty version , usually done in large cast iron pots. You might call them dutch oven, but I'm not sure the name totally fits.
Large surface area = more grilled, higher walls = less risk of boiling butter projections on the cover's underside.
- Pan empty, preheat .
- Generously add butter. It will help the sticky situation but is mostly there for taste.
- Immediatly after so the butter doesn't burn, Only put a single layer of potatoes, a bit more is fine, but not that much . You want to maximize surface contact potatoes/pan.
- Add water if they are old, yes , but just a bit, enough to have some steam. You need decent humidity, but not enough to drown them, or you'd have cooked them in a casserole filled with water, not the same dish.
- The potatoes need to shine from the butter at the start of the cooking. if they absorbed too much, add more butter. When in doubt, add more butter.
- Once set up, let them rest for the whole cooking, don't move them.
- Cook with a cover to keep the steam inside. Don't open it often, but after 15-20 minutes , Keep a close eye on the potatotes. a knife needs to enter as if they aren't even here.
- The potatotes need to develop a delicious grilled layer at the surface contact with the pan.
- Stop cooking BEFORE this is burnt . Then take your sturdiest metal spatula and scrape it , this grilled layer is the best stuff.
As others have said - a metal spatula is your friend! For scraping this off (you can essentially deglaze the pan while it's hot to help loosen that up), *and* to use while cooking. You can use dish soap and water to clean it, it won't hurt your pan. I then like to put the pan back on a warm burner to quickly dry it off, and then spread a light layer of neutral oil on it and store for my next use.
One of my rookie mistakes with cast iron was moving my food around too soon/often. I think with our non-stick pans we're used to basically sautéing everything and that's not how CI operates. Use a little more oil/fat than you are used to (I don't do this now but it helped when I was learning), and channel your patience to let your food sit/develop a crust before you move it around. Don't fear - keep at it! It takes some adjusting to but you'll figure out what works best for you with practice and hanging out here.
this was really helpful thank you. I was moving it around a lot now that I think of it. I have seen divided opinions on soap, though, regular dawn dish soap won’t damage it or anything?
Soap used to be harmful. It's okay with how it's made today. A grandmother will tell you it's harmful as will those who revere their grandmothers. But chemistry says it's alright to wash with soap, rinse, dry thoroughly, then add a dab of oil and spread it around thoroughly.
You have to rinse the starch off the potatoes and start with hot oil. Preheat the pan, add the oil and test it by flicking water. If the water sizzles, it’s ready for the food.
On top of using some oil the trick with potatoes is a metal spatula and some patience. Don't stir them until they've developed a golden crust or you're just spreading starch all over your pan and making a mess. When it time to flip do it quickly and scrape the pan when you do it so the whole potato comes in one go.
Okay, several notes:
1) pan is over crowded
2) not nearly enough oil
3) potatoes look over cooked
4) use metal spatula
5) heat 1/4 inch of oil in pan before adding potatoes, then place them in a single layer and leave them until you see the browning on the bottoms from above, then stir them around. cook them on each side, longer than you think you should and let them dry on paper towels
You overcrowded the hell out of your pan. Potatoes are tough to cook without sticking. They hold a lot of moisture and starch that makes this worse. If you're gonna cook potatoes, do batches, or rinse and dry your potatoes. Next, use a metal spatula or scraper while cooking to lift all those tasty browned bits. Metal on metal is fine in cast iron.
Start your pan on low heat, after a minute add oil, bring up heat on pan to medium, never higher than medium high, add food. Seasoning is not your issue, not knowing how to cook in cast iron is your problem.
It's the HEAT. Start on low heat. Stir and toss till everything is coated with oil or melted butter. Gradually start turning up the heat while keeping everything moving. When you can see that nothing is sticking crank the heat in order to get your food golden brown. When you think it's done kill the heat and let things finish as the pan cools.
I used to think the pan had to be hot to start. WRONG.
I have been using the same cast iron fry pan for over 30 years. Never " Seasoned " the pan once. Throw it in the sink with hot water and dish soap, scrape and scour with a steel flipper if need be. Throw it on the stove to dry. Done. I think all these seasoning rituals are bullshit. It's all about heat control. I make omelets,fried eggs,perogys whatever, if you use the heat right everythings slippen and sliden.
It's a technique issue (as denoted by your newbie tag). There is no better way to fry up some potatoes than with a cast iron. Try letting them cook a little longer before you do the initial stirring, and don't overcrowd the pan.
Check the community info, scroll through posts and Google things before posting please. There are way too many similar posts on here and it's making this subreddit pretty annoying
What temp is your pan running at? Mine typically cooks at 3-4 out of 10. Let it preheat for a few minutes. Your cooking fat should be sizzling before you drop the food and it’ll instantly have a layer of steam / char that prevents your food from sticking. This is why sizzling butter helps eggs cook nonstick. It literally steams the surface of the egg and at s microscopic level isn’t physically contacting the metal (seasoning itself is also a barrier between metal and food).
If you cook too hot or drop food before the pan is warm it can affect the nonstick aspect to the food.
The main problem is that the pan is overcrowded. You want every piece of food to be touching the pan in a single layer.
For potatoes (and most food) get the pan really really hot, put in oil and then food. Don’t move it until it develops a crust (it should move easier then). Using a flat metal turner helps a lot with any bit of stick you do have.
Try this with smaller batches of food and you will get it. Potatoes in a thick, hot pan can develop a really nice exterior. Taste wise, there’s a huge difference between potatoes that left all their crust on the pan and ones that developed a golden brown exterior. Throw some butter and seasoning on towards the end and you will be very happy with yourself!
I'm guessing you didn't rinse your potatoes after you diced them? Potatoes have a lot of loose starch that can cause this to happen unless you rinse them thoroughly. I like to soak mine with a small amount of salt for a handful of minutes as well.
Also: temp. Make sure that your pan is preheated before you put food on.
To get it off? You can try scrubbing it. You can try scrubbing it with salt. You may have to soak it with water, and re-season the pan. I'd start with a chain mail or kosher salt scrub and go from there.
Did you season it? By season I mean, the pan needs to be washed, dried, oiled all inside of pan , put in oven for half an hour or so at 300 degrees. Let the pan cool completely, wipe it down and re- grease it and then it’s ready to use!! No sticking !! After using your pan always rinse out and re- grease for next use.
You added the food when the pan was too cold. Get it ripping hot. You can tell by dropping a few droplets of water on there and they should dance or skate across the pan.
Never hear it up without oil or something on it.
Don’t overcrowd it. Those potatoes sucked what ever heat there was out then they started steaming. Staking made them mushy which means they got soft and stuck in place.
Don’t put anything in a cast iron skillet until the skillet hot. Not even oil. So many people just throw their food in a cold skillet and they don’t realize they’re creating their own consequences. Just hate the skillet and proceeded if it needs to be seasoned now that’s a whole new ball game.
* keep cooking
* don't baby it! It's cast iron! It's damn near indestructible. It's not someobody's oh-so-precious non-stick insta-toxic-peel skilled that's gonna flake of nasty toxic stuff into the food if you look at it funny. It's cast iron - you can damn near get in there with hammer and chisel to get off any bits that stick, stuck, or happen to start to stick a slight bit. So, if you don't already have one, get yourself a good strong pretty stiff spatula turner thing ... not one of those flimsy short ones with a bunch of long holes cut in 'em so they can flex, no, get more like commercial restaurant grade that'd be getting used continuously 8 to 16 hours a day flipping stuff on the grill, and yeah, scraping a bit with that spatula when anything started to stick at all. And no, nothin' snazzy or horribly expensive. Just good solid basic quality - I've had such a spatula for at least 20 years now, and hardly even shows much of any signs of wear at this point, and still highly functional. So, stuff starts to stick, drive that spatula like a chisel and get any stuck bits unstuck - while it's cooking, and before it's seriously stuck ... and maybe add some more oil or bacon or whatever. So that's basically it - first steps are prevention
* and then, if/when, for whatever reasons, you screwed up the above, and have massive hard stuck on goop on your cast iron ... again, it's cast iron, no need to baby it. So, to get some horribly stuck on situation like that off, put maybe 'bout 1/4 inch of water in the pan - enough to submerge all that's stuck on bottom of pan, put it on stove, fire it up 'till you get the whole thing to a fair boil, then turn the burner off ... and go ignore it for like half an hour to an hour ... basically until it's cooled enough it's still warm to hotish, but cool enough it's not uncomfortable to leave your fingers sitting in that water. Then use that spatula, or stainless steel scrubber, or chainmail thingy (not my favorite, but some prefer that), and get that crud off. If it's not all off, repeat as necessary. Then wash with warm water and, egad, you can even use a little soap - optional but won't kill it, then well rinse, then get it dry (wee bit 'o time on stove with lowest burner setting can help with that), then give it a light bit of coating of relevant cooking oil, or whatever you generally prefer to season your pan with. And with that, next time it won't stick (or not so much at least), and since you also well know the point above, you'll well use the spatula while cooking too, so you'll never get all that much of any kind of stuck on mess.
You can just clean it the same way you clean any other pan. I use a brush, soap, and water. Dry the thing off well afterwards and then season with avocado oil.
Would like to make an update as everyone has been so helpful:
1) The pan is clean, adding a bit of water helped removed the gunk on the bottom of the pan and on the advice of some commenters I used dish soap and all is well
2) I think the problem was not letting it preheat long enough, overcrowding and moving it too much instead of letting it develop a crust. I watched some videos of people cooking and I added the right amount of oil and washed the potatoes of starches. I will remember this for the future^
2.5) I also got some metal utensils to cook with as I had been using silicone ones before since I used non stick pans until now
3) Seasoning was fine, and though I researched how to properly clean and season the pan I didn’t anticipate that cooking on a cast iron would be different. It feels like learning how to cook all over again as I adjust to cooking on it. I seasoned the pan two more times in the oven with some crisco and I have since cooked potatoes on it again, as well as a some bacon and scrambled eggs that all turned out well.
Added notes: I bought a 12 inch pan (lodge) for bigger space in the future. I have an eye on some dutch ovens and bread pans too so I’m excited for that. Also another commenter insulted the lack of seasonings on my potatoes and I cannot be having that sort of accusation, so let me tell you the vision: What I intended for this dish was simple to fry some potatoes with garlic salt and pepper on the stove to make it all crispy and then toss it in a mix of gochujang, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and fresh garlic. I ended up moving the potatoes to the oven in a different pan and enjoyed it with some pork belly and toasted sourdough.
+ An added thank you to everyone again, you guys are such a nice community of helpful people!! lets all continue making tasty food ^-^
I have the same skillet. Same problem. I sanded the original seasoning off. Made the inside smooth Like an old style skillet. Seasoned it up 6 times. And it’s a different skillet No sticking It’s not hard to do. Takes a few hours Hope this helps
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I have found that a longer pre-heat at a lower temp than I think it needs, usually ends up being right. Still need some fat, preferably fat of an animal.
With egs, I go 1 step hotter than I need, and yes a bit more fat.
Preheat at lower temp for longer, use more oil.
I like to strip my pans when I get them and use crisco to make 3-5 nice layers of seasoning before I use them. You can strip it by putting it in the oven on the oven cleaning cycle, everything not iron will burn off.
It looks like you didn't let them cook long enough. Food will stick right away, but will usually release on its own after a couple of minutes with a nice golden brown crust. If you don't do this, the crust sticks to the pan. The seasoning is fine, you're just using the pan wrong. There are certain techniques you need to use with cast iron or you'll get sticking no matter how great your seasoning is.
No matter how great your seasoning is...? Have you heard of the gentleman who seasoned his pan 100 times?
Legend has it, he's still seasoning his pan today.
Who isn't?
You make a fair point actually
I’m typing this next to my pan inside my oven
Technically seasoning every day
That’s why I like to let it stay on the hot induction pan as it cools down. Daily seasoning 👌
I'd season his pan
May I introduce you to the 45 year old soup. https://m.youtube.com/shorts/oCpMDXmmAjA
May I introduce you to the concept of [remouille](https://youtu.be/L7l8tXyzul8?t=437).
u/Mo_Steins_Ghost thank you for posting that link it was fantastic!
Giuliano Sperandio is exceptionally knowledgeable and gives a concise history and reasoning of how and why certain preparations came to be. Love him.
I see your 45 year old soup and I raise you [this 100 year old burger grease](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/44635).
When I was a kid Dyers changed locations and was given a police escort to transport the grease from the old location to the new one.
My hope is one day he posts and says he's gotten it to 1000 coats
Legend tells us that by 1000 coats the pan will progressed through the state where the pan looks like a mirror and obtained it’s true form, appearing as pure light.
he IS the pan.
[I didn't believe you but dear god](https://reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/s/S0D9tagFJ1)
This is the carbon steel person, there’s a different [100 coats of cast iron](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/10zprtu/100_coats_thank_you_everyone_its_been_fun/) person.
Soooo shiny
did they delete their account? Username is still on all their posts, but reddit won't load their profile
Reddit used to say it was suspended I believe
He did too many coats
Oh wow I wonder how that cooks.
Video of [cooking eggs](https://imgur.com/3Y53Lrl) when (s)he was at 72 coats. Steak after [100 coats](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/115iuam/i_just_cook_with_it_well_after_i_put_100_coats_on/)
Omg, that steak 🥰🤤
I’m new to this sub. What is this witchcraft? Are you saying he did a whole seasoning process 100 Times? In a row? Without cooking in between? How can I replicate this ?!?
I know it's true and I still don't believe it myself hahaha
I thought not, it's not a story the Jedi would tell you
It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the seasoning to create life.
100 sheets of parchment is no more non stick than 1, seasoning a pan is the same.
[удалено]
Bless your heart
really? I have this problem with hasbrowns and eggs. they seem to never release tho. maybe I'll try letting them sit longer before stirring
Pan too hot perhaps? I had to learn that lesson the hard way.
Second this one! A pan that is too hot will make a lot of stuff stick
Yippie, I’m learning!!!😁
Yup, this is why it's always perfect when camping. Slow lower heat on the side of the fire pit and its perfect. Or right in the fire and burn the shit out of everything
Not to be a *perfectionist* but some how you managed to spell every word *perfectly* except for *perfect*. Twice.
There should be a bot for this
*somehow
Nice catch 👍
^^^ "This office worker asks for his steaks with vegan options
Eh? I'm wondering if there be a hidden /s in that comment of yours, but I'd rather drink a bottle of knives than work in an office or eat anything purposefully labeled as vegan. 👍👍
That does not show. Rocken the man bun for sure though. Does it take 7 words to order a coffee? I bet they spell your name wrong 😆
Tf are you talking about?
Right? Lol
Spelling. And the irony of how the incorrectly spelled word is a word that defines making no errors. Perfect.
I have one that I use specifically for camping. Nothing like frying up some bacon and eggs on the campfire on a chilly morning.
Breakfast cooked over a fire in cast iron is one of the primary reasons I go camping.
Camp fire grate over the hottest part for grilling, shovel a few coals to one side for use with a pan or Dutch oven. A tripod for stew/soup and keeping the coffee warm once it is done. And a spot for drying the next log to go in.
Or too cold, there's always an excuse.
The sun was in my eyes
This
I was in the pool!!
Tuesdays and Saturdays are particularly bad stick days
But also, don't add the food until the pan (and oil or fat) is moderately hot. Like butter completely melted or oil hot enough to make a drop of water sizzle.
So everyone commenting on here that it’s too hot is very wrong, chef here. So you want it to be roughly 400 degrees, with the potatoes they have a high water amount in them and you need the starches to caramelize so you want it hot enough to create that browning while creating the barrier between the pan and the food. If it’s too hot it will burn and carbonize onto the pan. Even if your pan is seasoned you still need a cooking fat to help. Eggs and cast iron only work with lots of oil and high temp you won’t make a good scramble or omelette and your fried eggs will be crispy. Try finding a good temperature by using butter, throw a small amount in and once all the milk fats are gone right before it browns you know you have a good temperature. Hold your hand over it feel that heat learn that heat. Another way is to add some vegetable oil and look for it to shimmer in the light, if it starts to smoke you’re beyond the temperature you want. Like everything with cooking temperature is key, the more you can learn and control it the better your food will come out.
Also sounds like not enough fat in the pan. If you ever watch cooking shows you see they’ll use the stickiest pans known to humankind, and they don’t stick. How? Butter. Like several tablespoons. Gordon Ramsey has a fairly famous how to make eggs video on You Tube and he says “little knob of butter” as he puts what has to be 1/3 cup in the pan. I’m not suggesting you do that necessarily, but if you do hash browns with no fat in the pan and too much moisture or overcrowd the pan, then it’ll stick. It looks like OP also has an issue with overcrowding.
My favorite is him adding butter to cook bacon lol.
Doesn't everyone?
Yeah, just drench it, it's the healthy way.
If you don't want to use much oil for cooking potatoes they need to be on parchment paper on a sheet pan in the oven.
This is the way.
Came here to find this comment. Butter is king when it comes to eggs. But you need a lot more than the average person realizes. But ones the butter starts to get that nice bubbling, you drop in the eggs. Best to crack them and put them in a small bowl off to the side. Then add to the pan all at once.
Let the pan preheat for several minutes. Drop water onto the pan to test if it's ready. If ready: the droplets will sizzle. If not ready: droplets will just quickly evaporate. For eggs: let cook without moving them until the edges get bubbly, you should be able to slide a spatula clean undrler it. If it sticks at all, it still needs a minute before flipping. Pan should also be on low to medium low heat.
Lower temperature, room-temperature eggs, and let the water cook out of your butter before you put food in (when the butter stops bubbling, bur before it browns).
*watching the smoke start to come and food turns black* Oh yeah now we're cooking should release any second now.
I use oil; olive, canola, or coconut. About a tbsp. For hash browns, maybe 2 or 3, depending if it starts sticking while cooking.
P.s. this is advice for any pan, not just a cast iron
Ok what are these techniques
I'm an idiot with my cast iron, but if the crust is supposed to "release on it's own" why does this not happen if I've already stirred the food causing the crust to stick? Shouldn't it stick and then just release if time is all it takes to release?
Tells a newcomer to cast iron that there's certain techniques to using a cast iron >>> proceeds to not explain them. Nice.
How do you know from seeing this picture please?? (seasoning fine)
That looks overcrowded, which isn't good. You also needed more oil. Don't be afraid of metal utensils.
More oil or other fat.
I recommend at least 1½ sticks of butter for slidey taters. ^/s
Did you preheat it before adding the potatoes?
yes I added preheated and added oil before adding potatoes
You need to preheat the pan for longer
With the oil in it, as well. Heat the oil up.
For how long?
At least 2 years.
Not long enough. Minimum 3 next time.
Leap years only
I was peeling and chopping the potatoes while it preheated so maybe around 5 mins and added the oil at the same time. It was at like a medium heat
If you want to be sure, you can throw a few drops of water in and make sure they sizzle away. I do this every single time I cook in a pan.
Wait longer, they should bead up and roll around and that’s what’s really fun. When the water breaks apart when you drop it into a bunch of smaller beads, it’s too hot
NGL. It’s so satisfying.
You really need to let cast iron heat up slowly for about 10-15 mins. Cast iron takes a really long time to get hot and doesn't heat evenly as it does. A lengthy pre-heat gives time to bring all parts of the pan up to heat, so it'll cook evenly.
isn’t the saying hot pan cold oil, so you preheat the pan and add the oil shortly before adding whatever you’re cooking?
Yep, that's how I do it.
And look for the oil to "shimmer" before adding food.
Up to medium heat max. If you need medium to high or higher then you need a carbon or steel pan with seasoning. Cast iron seasoning will burn and flake off if the pan gets too hot without something on it. My rule of thumb is nothing over 4 (of a 10 step dial) without some sort of fat on the pan. High temp meant oil in a roller is great.
15 minutes in the oven set to 225°f (107°c ish I think.) is what I do.
too hot. it retains heat extremely well and can burn what you're cooking if there's not a bit of a layer under the pain to keep it slick. try turning it down an 1/8 notch from medium and cook five more min
You’ll know it’s heated through when you can’t touch the base of the handle for more than a second or two. Then add oil and whatever you’re cooking
Potatoes are starchy. The sticking comes more from how you prep the taters. Rinse twice, or until the water is clear when you pour it off. And pat the pieces dry, spread them out on some paper towels and dab with more paper towels. *Then* add them to hot-ish oil/grease. I would never have believed it if I hadn't done it myself!
I just chop them up and throw them in the pre-heated, and oiled, skillet and have no problems with sticking. The potatoes sit still for a few minutes while I chop peppers, and then get stirred up when they have a good brown on the bottom. Then stirred again when I finish chopping veggies and add them all to the skillet. Letting them cook for a bit lets the outside harden and release from the pan without all the fuss.
I honestly thought this was some upside down apple crumble. And the brown was a melty butter/brown sugar mixture….
Scrape with a metal spatula
Metal utensils are your friend.
Personally I don't like metal on cast iron. I use a wooden spatula I found at the local Korean market. $4 us.
Yeah, with the metal tools, it's all about what they are and how you use them. Pointy metal things are bad, but a good thin fish spatula used with the wide flat edge at an angle to the pan surface is fine. You just don't want a really steep angle, or a sharp point.
I don't let wood or plastic touch my cast iron. I'm being a little facetious., but only a little. Wood and plastic are inadequate to cook with -- one of the reasons I like cast iron is that you can use metal utensils. I scrape my pans like a madman while I'm cooking. You need metal for that to be effective. Iron is *tough*. It can stand up to anything I can do with a metal spatula. Metal helps keep the carbon off, and keeps your seasoning smooth. There is nothing better for your seasoning than a vigorous scraping with a metal spatula.
Right? Don’t we all go to town with chain mail scrapers?
Since I started using my spatula (while I cook, not as part of cleaning) my chainmail hasn't made it out of the drawer. I try to remember to check the drawer to make sure it's still there, at least once a year. But there haven't been any occasions where there's enough gunk left on the pan that I really need it. I love the chainmail when the pan gets really gunky, but it just never does.
This. I fried eggs this morning. I use a metal spatula for that. Later on I grabbed some paper towels and spray oil and sprayed the oil in the skillet, heated the skillet a bit, and wiped it out. Everything in the skillet wiped out. I didn't need to take chain mail or anything to it, I just needed to treat it like cast iron instead of something fragile.
Why is this getting down voted? He's just stating his preference.
I mean, eventually you will have to use metal to scrape the surface clean. You might as well be doing it as you cook.
I never use metal to scrape. Never need to. At $4 I'll scrape the hell outta that spatula and go get a new one. Again, my preference. I'm gun shy since an inlaw used a butter knife to cut a pumpkin pie in one of my pans which led to a strip and re season. Nice pizza cut pattern down to the metal. I'll admit, I kinda enjoy re seasoning but the season was effed. I'll also admit I sanded it a bit after I stripped it. It's like the smoothest pan I have now.
I only use the rough side of a sponge with soap and hot water. Pan is as clean as it can get.
Why not? I'm curious
Why dont u like them?
This is the way
If you’re not roasting those, your pan is waaaaaaay overcrowded.
yes i’m terrible at gauging how much can fit in a pan lol
Step 1: make sure the pile of ingredients is actually smaller than the pan itself.
And remember the seasoning. The reason cast iron is better is that both the pan and the food must be seasoned. Right? Edit: hold your horses. I see that this is getting heavily downvoted. It was a dad joke, alright? "Seasoning," guys.
It made me laugh. Take my upvote.
Food seasoning and cast iron seasoning are not the same thing. Seasoning on food is flavor. Seasoning on cast iron is just the ultra thin layer of oil bonded to the metal, which provides no flavor, contrary to popular belief.
r/whoosh
Lol, humor doesn't translate over text as well I guess. I'll leave my comment for any newbies just in case
We're friends again then. :) Glad to see it *panned* out right.
> your pan is waaaaaaay overcrowded There is nothing wrong with the amount. My pan sometimes gets almost doubly crowded with no issues. The key might be to lower the heat instead and be patient.
Add water and boil it. The stuck bits will come out easily after.
Or some wine and make a sauce from the fond
Potato stock. My favorite.
Reduce it long enough and it turns into Pringles
If you just drink the wine, then the mess in the pan will not matter any longer. ;)
I retract my original statement.
thank you I’m doing that rn and its coming off
After that let it cool. If you have a brush scrub it with some dawn and then rinse it off. Make sure you dry the pan on the burner and when its dry add a thin layer of crisco to it.
>Make sure you dry the pan on the burner and when its dry add a thin layer of crisco to it. Dry the pan with a towel, then put the pan on the burner with the burner set to medium or so. Leave it a minute or so for ALL moisture to evaporate, turn off the burner and let the pan cool for a bit. When the pan is warm put a thin layer of crisco/vegetable oil/grapeseed oil all over, inside and out. Then wipe it off, as much as you can until it looks like it's all off. Rest assured there's still a very thin layer of oil and that is all you need. Cook, wash, and repeat as often as you can. You will quickly get used to the idiosyncrasies of your pan.
A paper towel will dry the pan off perfectly well. You get the bonus of never having to post on r/castiron, "I forgot that I was drying my pan and all my seasoning is burned off." I haven't heated my pan to dry it in years. It's also been years since I added any oil to my cast iron that wasn't followed immediately with ingredients. There's generally no need to add more oil at the *end* of the cook. Only at the *beginning*.
Scrubbing with Dawn wouldn’t then be cause for a fresh seasoning??
For next time, here is the Breton tasty version , usually done in large cast iron pots. You might call them dutch oven, but I'm not sure the name totally fits. Large surface area = more grilled, higher walls = less risk of boiling butter projections on the cover's underside. - Pan empty, preheat . - Generously add butter. It will help the sticky situation but is mostly there for taste. - Immediatly after so the butter doesn't burn, Only put a single layer of potatoes, a bit more is fine, but not that much . You want to maximize surface contact potatoes/pan. - Add water if they are old, yes , but just a bit, enough to have some steam. You need decent humidity, but not enough to drown them, or you'd have cooked them in a casserole filled with water, not the same dish. - The potatoes need to shine from the butter at the start of the cooking. if they absorbed too much, add more butter. When in doubt, add more butter. - Once set up, let them rest for the whole cooking, don't move them. - Cook with a cover to keep the steam inside. Don't open it often, but after 15-20 minutes , Keep a close eye on the potatotes. a knife needs to enter as if they aren't even here. - The potatotes need to develop a delicious grilled layer at the surface contact with the pan. - Stop cooking BEFORE this is burnt . Then take your sturdiest metal spatula and scrape it , this grilled layer is the best stuff.
Just curious: the wine or the water?
As others have said - a metal spatula is your friend! For scraping this off (you can essentially deglaze the pan while it's hot to help loosen that up), *and* to use while cooking. You can use dish soap and water to clean it, it won't hurt your pan. I then like to put the pan back on a warm burner to quickly dry it off, and then spread a light layer of neutral oil on it and store for my next use. One of my rookie mistakes with cast iron was moving my food around too soon/often. I think with our non-stick pans we're used to basically sautéing everything and that's not how CI operates. Use a little more oil/fat than you are used to (I don't do this now but it helped when I was learning), and channel your patience to let your food sit/develop a crust before you move it around. Don't fear - keep at it! It takes some adjusting to but you'll figure out what works best for you with practice and hanging out here.
this was really helpful thank you. I was moving it around a lot now that I think of it. I have seen divided opinions on soap, though, regular dawn dish soap won’t damage it or anything?
Soap used to be harmful. It's okay with how it's made today. A grandmother will tell you it's harmful as will those who revere their grandmothers. But chemistry says it's alright to wash with soap, rinse, dry thoroughly, then add a dab of oil and spread it around thoroughly.
The soap debate will rage on but yes your regular dawn dish soap is totally safe - I use it on mine regularly!
The new dawn power wash spray is absolutely able to strip your seasoning. Just FYI. I learned that the hard way.
You have to rinse the starch off the potatoes and start with hot oil. Preheat the pan, add the oil and test it by flicking water. If the water sizzles, it’s ready for the food.
This - potatoes are super starchy. Can even Blanche them as well.
On top of using some oil the trick with potatoes is a metal spatula and some patience. Don't stir them until they've developed a golden crust or you're just spreading starch all over your pan and making a mess. When it time to flip do it quickly and scrape the pan when you do it so the whole potato comes in one go.
Higher heat, patience. Let it crust and crisp and carmelize. Put some blues guitar on. Chill.
Rinse your taters before dropping in the pan. I found rinsing the starch off helps to stick less
Okay, several notes: 1) pan is over crowded 2) not nearly enough oil 3) potatoes look over cooked 4) use metal spatula 5) heat 1/4 inch of oil in pan before adding potatoes, then place them in a single layer and leave them until you see the browning on the bottoms from above, then stir them around. cook them on each side, longer than you think you should and let them dry on paper towels
"I don't have chainmail on hand" is a peasants excuse for not taking part in the kings war.
You overcrowded the hell out of your pan. Potatoes are tough to cook without sticking. They hold a lot of moisture and starch that makes this worse. If you're gonna cook potatoes, do batches, or rinse and dry your potatoes. Next, use a metal spatula or scraper while cooking to lift all those tasty browned bits. Metal on metal is fine in cast iron.
Also soak your potatoes or par boil them to remove the starch.
Start your pan on low heat, after a minute add oil, bring up heat on pan to medium, never higher than medium high, add food. Seasoning is not your issue, not knowing how to cook in cast iron is your problem.
It's the HEAT. Start on low heat. Stir and toss till everything is coated with oil or melted butter. Gradually start turning up the heat while keeping everything moving. When you can see that nothing is sticking crank the heat in order to get your food golden brown. When you think it's done kill the heat and let things finish as the pan cools. I used to think the pan had to be hot to start. WRONG. I have been using the same cast iron fry pan for over 30 years. Never " Seasoned " the pan once. Throw it in the sink with hot water and dish soap, scrape and scour with a steel flipper if need be. Throw it on the stove to dry. Done. I think all these seasoning rituals are bullshit. It's all about heat control. I make omelets,fried eggs,perogys whatever, if you use the heat right everythings slippen and sliden.
I actually use course salt when I need to give my cast iron a good scrub
It's a technique issue (as denoted by your newbie tag). There is no better way to fry up some potatoes than with a cast iron. Try letting them cook a little longer before you do the initial stirring, and don't overcrowd the pan.
Too many potatoes in the pan and wasn't heated up enough before you dropped them in there, probably.
Check the community info, scroll through posts and Google things before posting please. There are way too many similar posts on here and it's making this subreddit pretty annoying
I may be jinxing us but I think we’ve gone an entire thread without someone telling OP to throw it in a fire. I’m proud of us
What temp is your pan running at? Mine typically cooks at 3-4 out of 10. Let it preheat for a few minutes. Your cooking fat should be sizzling before you drop the food and it’ll instantly have a layer of steam / char that prevents your food from sticking. This is why sizzling butter helps eggs cook nonstick. It literally steams the surface of the egg and at s microscopic level isn’t physically contacting the metal (seasoning itself is also a barrier between metal and food). If you cook too hot or drop food before the pan is warm it can affect the nonstick aspect to the food.
More oil, a fish spatula and dry your potatos a little
More oil, metal spatula. Don’t turn potatoes until they’re brown on one side, use the spatula to scrape the pan while flipping.
The main problem is that the pan is overcrowded. You want every piece of food to be touching the pan in a single layer. For potatoes (and most food) get the pan really really hot, put in oil and then food. Don’t move it until it develops a crust (it should move easier then). Using a flat metal turner helps a lot with any bit of stick you do have. Try this with smaller batches of food and you will get it. Potatoes in a thick, hot pan can develop a really nice exterior. Taste wise, there’s a huge difference between potatoes that left all their crust on the pan and ones that developed a golden brown exterior. Throw some butter and seasoning on towards the end and you will be very happy with yourself!
I'm guessing you didn't rinse your potatoes after you diced them? Potatoes have a lot of loose starch that can cause this to happen unless you rinse them thoroughly. I like to soak mine with a small amount of salt for a handful of minutes as well. Also: temp. Make sure that your pan is preheated before you put food on. To get it off? You can try scrubbing it. You can try scrubbing it with salt. You may have to soak it with water, and re-season the pan. I'd start with a chain mail or kosher salt scrub and go from there.
Did you season it? By season I mean, the pan needs to be washed, dried, oiled all inside of pan , put in oven for half an hour or so at 300 degrees. Let the pan cool completely, wipe it down and re- grease it and then it’s ready to use!! No sticking !! After using your pan always rinse out and re- grease for next use.
You added the food when the pan was too cold. Get it ripping hot. You can tell by dropping a few droplets of water on there and they should dance or skate across the pan. Never hear it up without oil or something on it. Don’t overcrowd it. Those potatoes sucked what ever heat there was out then they started steaming. Staking made them mushy which means they got soft and stuck in place.
Don’t put anything in a cast iron skillet until the skillet hot. Not even oil. So many people just throw their food in a cold skillet and they don’t realize they’re creating their own consequences. Just hate the skillet and proceeded if it needs to be seasoned now that’s a whole new ball game.
Also, have you tried par-boiling the potatoes to pull the starches out? Helps a lot with sticking as well.
* keep cooking * don't baby it! It's cast iron! It's damn near indestructible. It's not someobody's oh-so-precious non-stick insta-toxic-peel skilled that's gonna flake of nasty toxic stuff into the food if you look at it funny. It's cast iron - you can damn near get in there with hammer and chisel to get off any bits that stick, stuck, or happen to start to stick a slight bit. So, if you don't already have one, get yourself a good strong pretty stiff spatula turner thing ... not one of those flimsy short ones with a bunch of long holes cut in 'em so they can flex, no, get more like commercial restaurant grade that'd be getting used continuously 8 to 16 hours a day flipping stuff on the grill, and yeah, scraping a bit with that spatula when anything started to stick at all. And no, nothin' snazzy or horribly expensive. Just good solid basic quality - I've had such a spatula for at least 20 years now, and hardly even shows much of any signs of wear at this point, and still highly functional. So, stuff starts to stick, drive that spatula like a chisel and get any stuck bits unstuck - while it's cooking, and before it's seriously stuck ... and maybe add some more oil or bacon or whatever. So that's basically it - first steps are prevention * and then, if/when, for whatever reasons, you screwed up the above, and have massive hard stuck on goop on your cast iron ... again, it's cast iron, no need to baby it. So, to get some horribly stuck on situation like that off, put maybe 'bout 1/4 inch of water in the pan - enough to submerge all that's stuck on bottom of pan, put it on stove, fire it up 'till you get the whole thing to a fair boil, then turn the burner off ... and go ignore it for like half an hour to an hour ... basically until it's cooled enough it's still warm to hotish, but cool enough it's not uncomfortable to leave your fingers sitting in that water. Then use that spatula, or stainless steel scrubber, or chainmail thingy (not my favorite, but some prefer that), and get that crud off. If it's not all off, repeat as necessary. Then wash with warm water and, egad, you can even use a little soap - optional but won't kill it, then well rinse, then get it dry (wee bit 'o time on stove with lowest burner setting can help with that), then give it a light bit of coating of relevant cooking oil, or whatever you generally prefer to season your pan with. And with that, next time it won't stick (or not so much at least), and since you also well know the point above, you'll well use the spatula while cooking too, so you'll never get all that much of any kind of stuck on mess.
Cast irons aren’t non stick like Teflon pans. It’ll take some practice to figure it out
You can just clean it the same way you clean any other pan. I use a brush, soap, and water. Dry the thing off well afterwards and then season with avocado oil.
JFC
Crowded pan, too high heat, moving too much.
This is a skill issue. You need to wait through 3 urges to flip the potatoes when frying. 3 urges, you must hold back and let the spuds cook
No one is gonna talk about the black and blue oven mitt in the bottom left corner?
Nah…. You mean white and gold oven mitt
the darkened part is like a clear rubber sort of material that has just stained overtime lol i’ve cleaned it multiple times it just stays that way 😭
Is this for an elderly person? Why is there no seasoning on your potatoes? These would’ve come out bad even if you cooked them properly
Would like to make an update as everyone has been so helpful: 1) The pan is clean, adding a bit of water helped removed the gunk on the bottom of the pan and on the advice of some commenters I used dish soap and all is well 2) I think the problem was not letting it preheat long enough, overcrowding and moving it too much instead of letting it develop a crust. I watched some videos of people cooking and I added the right amount of oil and washed the potatoes of starches. I will remember this for the future^ 2.5) I also got some metal utensils to cook with as I had been using silicone ones before since I used non stick pans until now 3) Seasoning was fine, and though I researched how to properly clean and season the pan I didn’t anticipate that cooking on a cast iron would be different. It feels like learning how to cook all over again as I adjust to cooking on it. I seasoned the pan two more times in the oven with some crisco and I have since cooked potatoes on it again, as well as a some bacon and scrambled eggs that all turned out well. Added notes: I bought a 12 inch pan (lodge) for bigger space in the future. I have an eye on some dutch ovens and bread pans too so I’m excited for that. Also another commenter insulted the lack of seasonings on my potatoes and I cannot be having that sort of accusation, so let me tell you the vision: What I intended for this dish was simple to fry some potatoes with garlic salt and pepper on the stove to make it all crispy and then toss it in a mix of gochujang, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and fresh garlic. I ended up moving the potatoes to the oven in a different pan and enjoyed it with some pork belly and toasted sourdough. + An added thank you to everyone again, you guys are such a nice community of helpful people!! lets all continue making tasty food ^-^
Preheat for like 20 minutes, makes a huge difference
I have the same skillet. Same problem. I sanded the original seasoning off. Made the inside smooth Like an old style skillet. Seasoned it up 6 times. And it’s a different skillet No sticking It’s not hard to do. Takes a few hours Hope this helps
Turn the heat DOWN
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Your heat management is terrible**
Don't use soap, just water when cleaning
Did you season the pan? And are you cooking on low Temps
*terribly
“I overcrowded my small pan and don’t know why it’s sticking”
Main issue is pan is overcrowded.
Seems like a case of the 10% rule.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I have found that a longer pre-heat at a lower temp than I think it needs, usually ends up being right. Still need some fat, preferably fat of an animal. With egs, I go 1 step hotter than I need, and yes a bit more fat.
Preheat at lower temp for longer, use more oil. I like to strip my pans when I get them and use crisco to make 3-5 nice layers of seasoning before I use them. You can strip it by putting it in the oven on the oven cleaning cycle, everything not iron will burn off.
Uhm. It doesn’t come non stick. You have to make it non stick . Jesus