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New pan, new tweaks
I had some fun cooking this evening. A few weeks ago I picked up a cast iron skillet. I have never owned a cast iron pan before, but it was cheap and I was concerned that my Teflon-coated frying pan was starting to degrade.
I have been looking up a lot of videos about seasoning cast iron. They all seem to disagree with each other, which is pretty annoying. But I have been trying to season the pan, and it does seem to be getting better - food is sticking to it less and less. I have mostly been using it to make smashburgers for me and Sebastian. He likes them very much.
Tonight, though, I decided to try to brown ground beef in it. I was very worried that the meat might stick, but to my delight the pan worked great - much better than the Teflon pan. The meat crumbled much more easily, and browned more evenly. I even think it tastes better.
Anyway, I used it to make some spaghetti sauce. I I tried a variation on the sauce this time, too. I heated a little olive oil in the pot, and put in some garlic, basil, and ground black pepper (the last two being new items in my ad hoc recipe). Added some crushed tomatoes and some whole ones, and used a hand blender to puree the tomatoes - Sebastian doesn't like big chunks in the sauce. A little kosher salt was the final addition, and then I simmered it uncovered for about an hour.
It came out great. Sebastian said it was "awesome", and he had never said that about my sauce before. I'm very pleased!
I have been looking up a lot of videos about seasoning cast iron. They all seem to disagree with each other, which is pretty annoying. But I have been trying to season the pan, and it does seem to be getting better - food is sticking to it less and less. I have mostly been using it to make smashburgers for me and Sebastian. He likes them very much.
Tonight, though, I decided to try to brown ground beef in it. I was very worried that the meat might stick, but to my delight the pan worked great - much better than the Teflon pan. The meat crumbled much more easily, and browned more evenly. I even think it tastes better.
Anyway, I used it to make some spaghetti sauce. I I tried a variation on the sauce this time, too. I heated a little olive oil in the pot, and put in some garlic, basil, and ground black pepper (the last two being new items in my ad hoc recipe). Added some crushed tomatoes and some whole ones, and used a hand blender to puree the tomatoes - Sebastian doesn't like big chunks in the sauce. A little kosher salt was the final addition, and then I simmered it uncovered for about an hour.
It came out great. Sebastian said it was "awesome", and he had never said that about my sauce before. I'm very pleased!