A New Pan for Me!

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been keeping up with Miss Lacey  from asweetpeachef.com and her recipes.  Just recently, she received a Le Creuset oven.  I'll admit it, I was jealous.  She got a new pot and that got me thinking about my own cookware situation.  I scoured the house for any vestiges of my grandmothers cooking stuff, of which she had had a lot.  All I could find were cheap pots and pans that my mother had bought ages ago.  I was not a happy camper. So I took matters into my own hands.

Last weekend, I ventured out into the hot summer Saturday morning and headed to Williams-Sonoma, a store not far from my house.  It turns out that they were having a sale.

I scored me a Staub 12" cobalt blue grill pan, like one of the ones I had seen in a Gordon Ramsay video.  It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  I bought it, took it home, seasoned it and subsequently had my first oops.

I had made steaks, with the Wild River Herbed Honey Glaze sauce.  I had had absolutely no experience with cast iron and misunderstood what Staub had to say about the non-stick coating on the pan.  The glaze got underneath the rails and caramelized into a hard, thick, crusty black substance that refused to come off the darn pan.  I almost started to panic.  I decided, let me soak the pan for a while and see what happens.

After the pan had soaked for about an two hours, I came across a site on the Internots about caring for cast iron.  One of the major no-no's was letting a cast iron pan soak.  OMIGOSH.  I ran upstairs, emptied it and tried scrubbing again.  The stuff was not coming out at all.  I was getting pretty upset.  I left the pan in the sink overnight.

The next day we had a family party at my aunt's house.  Fortunately, one of my cousins was there who is a thorough foodie, not just a foodie but super-foodie who worked in restaurant and stuff.  If anyone would know, HE would know and he did.  He told me exactly what to with the pan.  I followed his directions, mixed up a cup of vinegar and a cup of water, put them in the pan and let it soak.  After about 15 minutes, using a dull knife I CAREFULLY pried at the mess until it had al popped off.  A quick scrub later and everything was fine.

I would like to report that I finally learned how to properly season a cast iron pan and won't be making that mistake again.

The new Staub 12" Enameled Cast Iron Grill Pan in Sapphire Blue

Cooking steaks on the new pan.  Yum Yum!