Unable to cook red meat in cast iron pan - makes other food stick

[Ophelia]

First, the unthinkable happened and DH actually says he likes using the iron pans (he swore he hated them last year and would never use one again. But then again, he says never a lot )

He has, and I think I have once or twice, cooked red meat in it, generally hamburger.

We season with bacon (we have bacon once every weekend) and I also recoat the pans with bacon grease when needed.

Are we just unable to use them to cook red meat? Besides bacon, I am wary of cooking ANY meat in them and pretty much don't. Even the bacon kind of sticks sometimes. They are Emeril brand if that makes a difference.

I also started having scrambled egg stick to one of them, and these things have been in use for about 2 years now! Frustrating! Any pointers? I've always had trouble with the slightest thing sticking in them. No, I don't use water and if I have to scrub them, I do lightly with steel wool and then recoat and put in the oven on low heat. Only had to do that a few times.

Thanks!

[mommaklo]

each time after we use our cast iron pans, we scrub with water and brush, and dry. Then we put on a burner and turn on high. We add a little oil (bacon grease would work I think we use canola) and turn off the burner when It gets hot. Then we wipe the oil around the pan with a rag or paper towel and let it cool. Not sure if this is whats supposed to be done, but when we got our first pan, about 1 1/2 yrs ago, dh started doing this and I just copied him. Nothing sticks, especially not in our first pan (we later bought 2 more). I can cook meat, eggs, pancakes, french toast, etc with good luck. Im surprised that hamburger is sticking, did I get that right? Our hamburger (and we buy like 1/2 a cow at a time from a local beef raiser so its pretty good legit, "organic" meat, and the fat that comes out while cooking keeps it from sticking alone.
Hope this helps!!!

[simplehome]

We don't really cook red meat in our pans, but we do cook bacon. This makes the same kind of residue you're talking about---a coating on the bottom of the pan that, if not removed, makes other food stick. You can use salt to scrub it out of the pan, then re-season. Our classic problem is making bacon, then draining off the fat and trying to cook scrambled eggs. They stick every time, if we don't clean the pan first. If we just start from scratch and cook the eggs, they don't stick at all.

[Arduinna]

There is no reason not to cook red meat in cast iron. It sounds like your pans are new and not fully seasoned.

[greenmulberry]

I have never had a problem cooking red meat in my pans!

In fact, it is my preferred surface to cook steak or burgers on these days.

If they are newer pans, I find they need more applications of oil at first.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by simplehome

This makes the same kind of residue you're talking about---a coating on the bottom of the pan that, if not removed, makes other food stick. You can use salt to scrub it out of the pan, then re-season. Our classic problem is making bacon, then draining off the fat and trying to cook scrambled eggs. They stick every time, if we don't clean the pan first. If we just start from scratch and cook the eggs, they don't stick at all.

It's caramelization. You might try throwing in a handful of sliced onions between the bacon and eggs, cooking them quickly while scraping up the caramelized bits, and see if that helps with the eggs sticking.

[cristeen]

Not to gross you out or anything, but the blood forms a nice sticky coating that gets cooked onto the pan. If you dont clean it off, the next thing will stick.

I wash my CI with hot water and scrub w a wire brush, dry over a low flame. And i start any cooking session that isnt meat w a generous dollop of fat (bacon, co, butter, etc).

[Otto]

Originally Posted by cristeen

Not to gross you out or anything, but the blood forms a nice sticky coating that gets cooked onto the pan.

The pink liquid that cooks out of red meat ain't blood, FWIW.

[redvlagrl]

Hot water and salt is how we clean our cast iron.

Also v important for cooking red meat in a cast iron skillet is heating it up sufficiently. The quick browning ont eh meat actually unsticks the meat from the skillet. Also oil your meat, not the pan.

Similarly when cooking pancakes afterwards, the pan needs to heat up until water will bounce off.

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by Otto

The pink liquid that cooks out of red meat ain't blood, FWIW.

what is it?

[Otto]

Originally Posted by vbactivist

what is it?

Intracellular fluid. The color is due to myoglobin.

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by Otto

Intracellular fluid. The color is due to myoglobin.

Dang I was hoping you were going to say dye, and then I was going to counter with our butcher doesn't use dye. But intracellular fluid is gross. Why isn't it blood? Where does the blood go?

[Otto]

Originally Posted by vbactivist

Dang I was hoping you were going to say dye, and then I was going to counter with our butcher doesn't use dye. But intracellular fluid is gross. Why isn't it blood? Where does the blood go?

I don't know that I have it in me to get into slaughterhouse practices right now. Let me put it this way: if muscle meat necessarily contained blood, there wouldn't be any kosher meat.

[Ophelia]

Our classic problem is making bacon, then draining off the fat and trying to cook scrambled eggs.

Yes, we have this problem also. First, it's a pain to try and drain all the extra grease from a very hot pan, second when he cooks the eggs afterwards they do stick and it ends up a mess. Not terribly hard to scrape out when the pan is cooled, but messy.

You might try throwing in a handful of sliced onions

Ah, that's another problem. Whenever I cook onion, even if it doesn't seem to stick, whatever I cook the next one or two times after that, has a slight onion taste. Onion pancakes are not exactly pleasant. Not sure how to fix that either.

Hot water and salt is how we clean our cast iron.

Do you do this every time or just sometimes?

This makes the same kind of residue you're talking about---a coating on the bottom of the pan that, if not removed, makes other food stick.

Yes, that is what is happening. When it cools off, I scrape it off with a small plastic scraper, but obviously that is not working very well to get the sticky layers.

[redvlagrl]

I do the hot water adn salt with a scrubbie every time I wash the pan. I dont' know what (if anything) it does but this was taught to me by my friend who has his great aunt's skillet and it is in great condition.