Tam and I went to Half Price Books this afternoon and on the way home, stopped off at the other foodie grocery store in Broad Ripple -- where they had grass-feed New York strip steaks at a price that fit my holiday-bonus budget!
Cooking them in this weather -- it was 37°F this afternoon, but dropped rapidly as the sun set -- meant getting out my cast-iron grill pan, scrubbing it with chainmail (no, really, fine chainmail is the best way to clean cast iron) and olive oil for good luck and to refresh the seasoning, and an even tougher scrubbing job after.
Paired with trumpet mushrooms sliced and fried in the grill pan next to the steaks, plus seasoned tiny potatoes nuked in the microwave and a bagged salad, it was a good way to wrap up the weekend.
You probably know this already, but hydrogen peroxide heated (but not boiled) does wonders for caked on black carbon on cast iron. You'd have to re-season the pan, but you would anyway.
ReplyDeleteFor very thick carbon layers, score the surface with a knife first, to let the peroxide penetrate as far as possible. Repeat if needed.
The biggest problem I have is a mild layer of surface rust. I ran out of places to keep pans (time to sort by usefulness!) and the grill pan lives in the piloted gas oven. It wasn't a good idea when I did it "just for now" and it still isn't.
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