Cook With Cabela's Products

Why You Need A New Cabela’s Pellet Grill

Bass Pro Shops — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:18:29 +0000

Why You Need A New Cabela’s Pellet Grill

Bass Pro Shops Thu, 06/01/2023 - 14:18

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Cabela’s new and improved line up of pellet grills combine ease of use, performance and versatility with an unmatched ratio of features to value. Available in three configurations, these grills make it easy to grill, smoke, sear and barbecue like a professional. With three models designed for seasoned and soon-to-be grillers alike, these grills make reliably cooking excellent food an attainable and enjoyable proposition.

When considering the breadth of applications that these grills bring to the table, it is useful to think about two things: what the grills make it possible for you to do and how they stack up against other pellet grills. In both of these cases, the prospect of owning a Cabela’s Pellet Grill is a pretty good idea.

First, lets consider what these grills can do. Most fundamentally, they can not only perform very well when smoking, grilling and searing, but make creating great food really, really easy.

The Pro Series 36: A High Performance, High Capacity, Wi-Fi enabled Grilling Machine

Smoking, Searing and Grilling: As Easy As It Gets

Versatility, performance and ease of use are the calling cards of the Cabela’s Pellet Grills. They are expertly designed to not only impart a wide range of flavors, but to do so with incredible ease.

Just how easy it to use these grills? The two Pro Series Models, available in 24” and 36” configurations, are Wi-Fi enabled and connect to our custom-made Cook with Cabela’s App. Combining the app with the grill’s meat probes opens a whole world of convenience and grilling capacity.

This set up allows you to adjust the cook temperature, modify your smoke setting, set an internal temperature target and view the current internal temperature of your meat from your phone. This is pretty amazing stuff that lets you not only expertly smoke briskets, pork shoulders and turkeys, but to do so from anywhere.

Combining the app connectivity with the grill’s meat probe takes performance to a whole new level. The probe removes all of the guess work from smoking, grilling and wondering if your meat is ready.

The Cook With Cabela’s App is custom made for expert grilling. Set internal temperature targets, receive notifications on cook status, order grill supplies and more.

Not only can you tell the internal temperature in real time, but you can precisely forecast your cook time as well. The Cook with Cabela’s App even allows you to receive notifications when you are nearing the target internal temperature and when you get there. The result: precisely prepared meats and vegetables—reliably cooked to your desired level of doneness.

Hardwood Pellets and the Ability to Moderate Heat and Smoke

When it comes to a grill’s ability to impart flavor, there exist three primary determinants.

Temperature
Composition of Fuel
Smoke

The Cabela’s line up of pellet grills is designed to provide a range of options in each dimension. It is this combination of features that enables the grills to perform a wide array of grilling, smoking and barbecuing applications.

The Pro Series 24: a Wi-Fi enabled, app connected grilling and smoking machine.

Temperature

The temperature at which you cook meat plays a prominent role in determining its final product—flavor, texture and moisture content. High temperatures, 350 and above, are great for grilling and searing. Lower temperatures, 200-250, are necessary for smoking meat for long periods of time.

Searing meat creates a crust through a chemical process known as the Maillard Reaction. The application of high temperatures to meat sets off a series of reactions whereby reducing sugars interact with amino acids to create not only the characteristic browning, but complex flavor profiles that are impossible to replicate.

The Cabela’s Pellet Grill’s ability to precisely regulate cooking temperature means that you can sear your meat and then reduce temperature for the remainder of your cook time. Were your entire cook to take place at temperature hot enough to sear, the result would likely be an unevenly cooked steak—burned on the outside but raw in the middle… or done on the inside but dry, crunchy and not very tasty on the outside.

When it comes to smoking, low and slow is the name of the game. The smoking process allows you to impart flavor as you steadily increase the internal temperature of a piece of meat over a longer period of time.

Ever wondered how smoking works? Here’s a couple of pointers…

Smoke Rings 101: The characteristic smoke ring found in a properly executed brisket or pork butt results from a chemical reaction between citric acid produced by burning wood and myoglobin in the meat. You can’t get this by cooking it in the oven.

Why do you need to cook brisket and pork shoulders for so long? Naturally these cuts are tough because the meat contains quite a bit of connective tissue. This tissue is composed of a substance called collagen. When heated to between 185-195 degrees, collagen breaks down and turns into gelatin. This is the way that Jello™ is made.

While the meat tissue in a brisket or pork shoulder becomes tougher when cooked to 195 degrees (cooking a ribeye to 195 degrees would make it tougher and dryer than a piece of boot leather), the connective tissue breaks down. This is not only the reason why you smoke brisket and pork shoulders so long, but its why you can “pull” your pork and cut a slice brisket with a fork.

While you may not need to worry about the science behind grilling and smoking, the Cabela’s Pellet Grills have you covered. Every offering features fully adjustable temperature settings that range from 160 to 450 degrees. This range allows you to not only perform nearly every barbecue application on the spectrum, but to do them all well, easily and consistently.

Composition of Fuel

The Cabela’s Pellet Grill line up burns premium hardwood pellets. These pellets are available in a variety of compositions—Hickory, Mesquite, Cherry, Apple, Competition Blend, and Bourbon BBQ Brown Sugar.

This variety of fuel types allows you to match your pellets to suit what you are cooking and how you plan to cook it. Each pellet type brings its own characteristic flavor profile. The flavor differences they impart stem from differences in the chemical composition of wood varieties and the temperature at which they burn.

Hardwoods are grilling and smoking staples. They impart stronger flavor profiles and work well with most all kinds of meat. Cherry and apple pellets are known for the more subtle, sweeter flavors they give to what they cook.

Smoke Settings

Each of the Cabela’s Pellet Grills comes equipped with a 10-level adjustable smoke setting. If you enjoy a smoky flavor, dial it up. If you prefer a more mild offering, just dial it back a bit.

The ability to produce more smoke not only benefits briskets, pork butts and other traditional barbecue staples, but allows you to smoke fish (Spanish mackerel or kingfish make great smoked fish dip), vegetables or any number of things. With either of the Pro Series offerings, you can adjust the smoke setting straight from your phone through the app.

More Pellet Grill for Your Money

Just how does Cabela’s new line up of pellet grills stack up against other pellet grills? Very well…

Cabela’s Pellet Grills are packed with more features and functions for the price than competing brands. The value proposition means more than savings, but may be also expressed in terms of ease of use and grilling performance.

Deluxe 24: A Well-rounded, high performance pellet grill designed for those who want to get into grilling.

Each of these grill models includes a number of flavor and convenience features.

Flavor features include: smoke control technology, specialized smoke settings—with 10 levels of adjustment, two meat probes, and the ability to pair your pellet type to your preferred style of cooking.

Convenience features include: a super easy ash clean out trap, an easy hopper pellet clean out system, and electric auto-start ignitions.

The two Pro Series models bring Wi-Fi and app connectivity that allow you to dictate every aspect of your grilling experience from your smart phone. The Cook with Cabela’s App is custom made for grilling enthusiasts. You can set it up to send notifications about your cook—a note when your reach your target internal temperature (or are getting close)—and when your grill requires maintenance.

Similarly equipped, Wi-Fi enabled pellet grills from competing brands cannot match the price point offered here. This commitment to value and quality, to making the outdoors (and a great patio grilling experience) accessible to families, is a trend that informs everything that Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s does.

The benefits of owning these grills, however, extend far beyond value and price. When compared to other pellet grills, there are a few areas where they particularly shine.

Pellet Management

The Cabela’s Deluxe Pellet Grill comes standard with an 18-pound pellet hopper. The 24” and 36” Pro Series models are equipped with 22-pound hoppers.

Cook with Cabela’s is your source for spices, pellet grills, pellets and all the accessories you’ll need along the way.

These large payloads are really useful for a variety of reasons. First, they allow you to set up long cooks without need of adding pellets during the process.

This means that you can set up a brisket or pork shoulder to smoke overnight without need to wake up to check on your pellet level. This also means that you could start smoking a pile of ribs on your lunch break and have them ready for dinner…

In addition to the large capacity, these grills have an easy pellet clean out system. With the pull of a lever you can remove pellets from the hopper. This means that you can easily clean out pellets after your cook or change pellet varieties while grilling.

Easy Cleaning

In addition to being very easy to use, the Cabela’s Pellet Grills are designed to be easy to clean. This starts with the pellet clan out system and includes the grill’s removable grates (which are dishwasher safe) and the simple and straight forward ash clean out system.

To clean the ashes after the cook, simply pull the knob and the ash drops into the ash cup. Then just remove the cup, which fastens to the bottom of the grill, and dispose of the ashes. Not only is the clean out easy—just pull a knob and remove a cup, but the ashes are self-contained, and the cleaning process does not require getting your hands dirty or greasy.

Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s: Your Source for Grilling

Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s is your source for everything you need for grilling. Our grilling lineup includes spices, rubs, seasonings and sauces, pellets, grills, and all of the accessories you’ll need to complete your set up. If you enjoy grilling fish or wild game, we can help you with the hunting and fishing part, too.

Guide to Meat Grinders

Bass Pro Shops — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 20:14:35 +0000

Guide to Meat Grinders

Bass Pro Shops Tue, 04/04/2023 - 15:14

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Cook With Cabela's Products

Meat grinders bring many advantages to whatever kitchen or hunting camp is lucky enough to own them. There are, however, a variety of options and features at a number of price points. How then should you go about choosing the right meat grinder for your situation?

As with many things in life, higher end meat grinders will be more powerful and have more functions. They will also cost more. Choosing the right meat grinder for your situation involves balancing the performance, ease of use and output you need from a meat grinder with the price point that you are comfortable with.

For many, the first step is to consider how you plan to use your meat grinder. If you plan to process multiple deer every year, you’ll likely need a professional or commercial grade grinder.

If you are new to grinding or plan to use it occasionally, you might have more options. That said, the professional and commercial grade units can not only handle higher workload, but are also easier to use, produce higher quality grinds, grind meat faster, and offer a greater variety of grind sizes and sausage/snack stick making applications.

How to Choose the Right Grinder for You

Before getting into the specifics of each model, we have created the following list to make comparing different meat grinders easy. As a baseline, you can evaluate meat grinders on the following attributes:

Volume of Output - Generally expressed in terms of pounds of meat ground per minute.
Technical Innovations - grinding meat produces quite a bit of heat. Higher end, commercial grade options—like the Carnivore—are built to hold up to heavy use. Lower end units might cost less but could heat up and require breaks during long grinding sessions.

The Carnivore features a permanently lubricated housing, an air-cooling system for the motor and a Cool-Tek Gel Ice Pack that fits around the grinder’s neck to prevent diffusion of heat into the meat that you are grinding. All of these features are included to support heavy work loads and longer grinding sessions.

You will want to consider your prospective workload when purchasing a grinder. If you are not sure how much you’ll use it, you might be better off going on the high side rather than the low.
Size of Motor - The following range from 400 watts to 1/2 horsepower. All else being equal, the larger the motor, the more powerful the unit.
Grind Size Options - Higher end meat grinders will often support a wider array of grind sizes. Different grinds are better for different applications. The more options you have, the greater variety of products you can make. You might prefer our burgers to be shaped from coarse grind. Fine grind might be your favorite method of making snack sticks.
Composition of the Unit - The models described in the article range from aluminum, to die cast aluminum to steel.
Grinding Modes - Basic models might only have forward and reverse. More advanced models will feature forward, reverse, stuffing, and half speed modes. The greater the variability, the more your grinder will be able to do—but the more it is likely to cost.
Accessories - Higher end meat grinders will likely come with more accessories. These tools—like different sized funnels for making snack sticks, sausage and summer sausage—make it possible for you to use your meat grinder to create all manner of tasty venison products.

The Cabela's Line Up of Meat Grinders

What follows is a breakdown of three of our favorite Cabela’s meat grinders. Each includes a discussion of what the grinders are best at doing and what type of person would be benefit from owning each model.

The Cabela’s Commercial-Grade 1/2 HP Carnivore

If you are someone who processes multiple deer each year or need a grinder for hunting camp, your best bet likely lies with the Carnivore line. Composed of stainless steel, featuring ETL Sanitation certification for commercial use, and infused with a number of innovative technical features (patented auger pull handle tool and Cool-Tek gel Ice Packs to reduce heat transfer in the neck of the unit, and more), the Carnivore is available in models ranging from 1/2 to 1.75 horsepower.

Carnivore Commercial-Grade Meat Grinders are top of the line. Carnivores incorporate cooling technology in the motor to support a heavy work load. The Cool-Tek Gel Ice Packs fits snugly around the grinder’s neck to prevent the transfer of heat from the unit to the meat that you are grinding.

The half horsepower model can grind up to seven pounds of boneless meat per minute. It can also handle your sausage and snack stick making needs. The Carnivore is not only built well and made to last but is designed for easy disassembly and clean up.

When you are done grinding, you simply remove the neck, twist off the grinder plate, remove the auger and blade. You can then rinse off any residual meat or scrap and pop the cutting parts, meat tray and neck into the dishwasher. Wipe down the body of the unit and you’re done.

It is priced higher than other units but depending on where in the country you live (and what options you select from the processor) the 1/2 Horsepower Carnivore costs less than sending one deer to the processor. From this perspective, purchasing the Carnivore once not only saves you time and money for years to come, but provides you unlimited options to turn your harvest into exactly what you would like.

Benefits to Owning the Carnivore

The Carnivore is perfect for people who regularly grind meat and those who demand high performance from the products they use. Ideal for hunting camps or high-volume applications—people who like to hunt and like to grill.

Top of the line. High performing and made to last.
High volume output.
Designed for ease of use. Not only does it cleanly and efficiently grind meat, but it is easy to disassemble, clean and reassemble.

The Cabela's Pro Series DC Grinder

The Cabela’s Pro Series DC Grinder is quiet and powerful with a half horsepower DC motor. It can grind up to seven pounds of boneless meat per minute.

Composed of die cast aluminum, it has four grinding modes and can perform all of the functionalities you’d need from a grinder—including stuffing and reverse modes. With a mid-tier price point, the Pro Series offers a great value for the performance it brings to the table.

This model is designed for ease of use and easy clean up. This grinder features a cam-action grinder head release tool makes it easy to remove the head, grinding plate, blade and auger for clean-up. The neck of the grinder comes off with the pull of a lever.

Once disassembled, the meat processing equipment can be rinsed and put into the dishwasher for easy clean up. With the neck and meat tray removed, the unit is not much bigger than a standard toaster—making it easy to store between grinding sessions.

Benefits to Owning the Cabela’s Pro Series HD Meat Grinder

It is a sturdy and powerful at home meat grinder. It’s ratio of high-volume output to price makes it a great, versatile and reliable choice.

Great Combination of Value and Output
Designed for easy clean up.
Quiet and powerful

Cabela's HD #5 Meat Grinder

The Cabela’s HD #5 Meat grinder is powered by a 400-watt motor. It comes with two grinding plates—fine and medium grind—and is composed of aluminum.

The #5 comes with three sizes of funnel, a stomper, stuffer, and a stuffing star. It features three modes—grinding, stuffing and reverse. This model is a great starting point for the meat processing line up.

The neck is removable with the press of a button, making disassembly a straight forward process. The auger, blade, grinding plate and head are all easily taken out for clean-up and reinserted for use.

Benefits to Owning the Cabela’s HD Series #5 Meat Grinder

It is a capable, easy to use meat grinder. It is a good choice for someone who is new to meat grinding and would like to see what it’s all about.

Introductory level price point.
Performs the basic functions well.
Great starting point for someone who wants to explore meat grinding.

Vacuum Sealer: The Meat Grinder’s Best Friend

No matter which route you decide for your new meat grinder, you’ll want to pair it with a vacuum sealer. Vacuum sealers make meat storage quick, efficient and easy.

Because they remove the air from the package and create a durable seal, vacuum sealers also create longer shelf lives for your ground meat. Best of all, you can customize the size of ground meat packages to whatever serving size best suites your situation.

The Cabela’s 12” Commercial Grade Vacuum Sealer is a great, versatile and durable choice that can handle the needs of most hunters and anglers.

The Portable Adjust-A-Grill

Bass Pro Shops 1Source — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:12:09 +0000

The Portable Adjust-A-Grill

Bass Pro Shops… Mon, 06/15/2020 - 09:12

Category

Cook With Cabela's Products

A Portable, Versatile Way to Cook Over a Campfire

Searing a steak or burgers over a glowing bed of coals from a campfire is the ultimate in outdoor cooking experiences, but it takes the right setup to do it right.

Adjust-A-Grill with Kebabs

Perhaps the most important piece of equipment is a sturdy cooking surface. We’ve found one that works great in the form of the Adjust-A-Grill.

This portable grill consists of a 24-inch steel stake and 16-inch by 16-inch square steel grate. The removable grate slides onto the stake via a steel sleeve and secures in place with a heavy-duty thumb-screw.

Simply pound the stake into the ground, set the grate at the level you wish to cook and fire up the wood or coals. With some care, you can swing the grate over or off the fire to help control heat or load the grate easier.

The pole and grate have a heat-proof finish that we found stands up to some pretty hard use. You can expect both the finish and overall construction to last for many seasons.

We use ours on a permanent fire ring in the yard, but it’s just as versatile to use as a portable grate for camping, and comes with a travel bag for just such a purpose.

Tip: How to Build Your Perfect Camp Kitchen - infographic

As many customer reviews have noted, the grill could come with a longer stake. For most uses it will work fine, but on taller fire pits, like ours, the grill barely clears the top. In loose or sandy soil, the stake also needs to be pounded in fairly deep for the most stability. However, set over a simple campfire or, better yet, a glowing layer of coals, the Adjust-A-Grill is great, stable option for outdoor cooking.

Check out the Video Recipe: Quick & Easy Grilled Corn on the Cob

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Three Tips for Better Ground Venison

Bass Pro Shops 1Source — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 13:01:05 +0000

Three Tips for Better Ground Venison

Bass Pro Shops… Mon, 06/15/2020 - 08:01

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Cook With Cabela's Products

Ground venison can be eaten in a virtually limitless number of ways - from burgers to tacos to spaghetti to meat loaf, or in one of a million types of sausage.

While backstraps and tenderloins get all the glory when it comes to dining on deer, elk or other venison, it's tougher cuts that make up most of the animal. These large, primal cuts of meat from the neck, shoulders and hips can typically be used in one of two ways - cut into roasts for low and slow cooking, or turned into ground meat. It's the latter that offers the most versatility, for ground venison can be eaten in a virtually limitless number of ways - from burgers to tacos to spaghetti to meat loaf, or in one of a million types of sausage.

Cabela's Pro Series DC Meat Grinder

A good, local meat processor can butcher your deer for you, but it's much more rewarding to do it yourself and, with the right equipment, easy and enjoyable. Plus, grinding your own meat lets you control what goes into it, ensuring a quality end product of delicious, healthy ground venison. When grinding at home, there are a few things to consider to get the best results - here are a few tips to get the best from your venison burger.

Tip: Shop all Game & Food Processing supplies and accessories here.

1. Keep Your Venison & Grinder Blade, Auger & Neck Assembly Cold

One of the most important keys to grinding your own venison is keeping everything below 40 degrees. About 30 to 45 minutes before you start, put the meat in the freezer so it gets nice and cold. Cabela's Commercial-Grade Grinders like the Cabela's Pro Series DC Meat Grander are powerful enough to grind even partially frozen meat, so the colder the better. If you have room, also put the grinder's blade, auger and neck assembly in there as well. This will keep the meat cold, allowing the grinder to cut the meat cleanly, rather than smearing it. As the temperature rises, the protein and fat separate. In the butchering business, this is known as "breaking." Thankfully, it's easy to prevent by keeping everything ice cold throughout the process.

2. Considering Adding Fat to Your Venison

Cabela's Open Season Mini Seasoning
Sampler

Venison - whether it comes from a deer, elk or moose - is extremely lean, resulting in a ground meat that dry, crumbly and lacking in flavor. Mixing in extra fat during the grinding process is an easy way to combat those three evils. There are several options when it comes to adding fat, and it really comes down to personal preference. I like pork butt, which despite its name, actually comes from the pig's shoulder area. It's an inexpensive cut - you can often find it on sale for less than a couple dollars per pound, and it has the right amount of fattiness.

Other good sources of fat for making wild-game sausage include beef tallow and even bacon ends and pieces, all of which should be available from the butcher at your local grocery store. The amount of fat you include with the meat is up to you, but remember the more fat, the juicier the ground meat. A ratio one-third to one-quarter part fat to each part of venison is a good starting point.

Tip: The Cabela's Open Season Mini Seasoning Sampler is especially suited to enhance wild game as well as beef, fish, and poultry. The sampler combines Cabela's Kansas City Rub, Roasted Garlic and Beer, and Mountain Man Bourbon seasoning so you can experiment with all of these great flavors for your next barbecue at home, the cabin or RV.

3. Grind the Venison Twice

When you bought your grinder, it probably came with at least two different grinding plates, or dies - a coarse die, with holes that measure about one-quarter of an inch, and a fine die, with one-eighth inch holes. You might also have a medium grind die that falls in the middle of those two. Starting with the coarse grinding plate, followed by a second grind with the finer die helps break down tougher cuts of meat and slices through stringy sinew. Place the blade on your auger, put the plate over the top of it and then secure everything down with the retaining ring. You want to make sure everything is nice and tight so the blade and plate can work in tandem to give you the best, cleanest grind possible.

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Cabela's Stainless Steel Tabletop Grill

Bass Pro Shops 1Source — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 14:30:52 +0000

Cabela's Stainless Steel Tabletop Grill

Bass Pro Shops… Sat, 06/15/2019 - 09:30

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Cook With Cabela's Products

Experience a Lot of Cooking Power With the Cabela's Portable Tabletop Grill

Our first impression out of the box is Cabela’s Stainless Steel Tabletop Grill is heavy duty.

The all-stainless-steel construction is sure to stand up to the kinds of abuse that come along with on-the-go grilling.

Cabela’s Stainless Steel Tabletop Grill

There is a bit of assembly required, but it’s very basic. For shipping purposes, the handle comes from the factory mounted on the inside of the grill; it just takes a few minutes with a Phillips-head screwdriver to flip it. The regulator also comes detached, but screws on easily with the included half-inch wrench. We went from the box to cooking within 10 minutes.

The burner, at 12,000 BTU, isn’t a jet engine, but it provides more than adequate heat for any grilling application and heats well in excess of 500 degrees when set to high. A sloped heat shield sits between the burner and the stainless steel grate to keep flames from reaching the food and direct grease away from the burners ups. There are some slots in the heat shield, so flare-ups can happen, but we found they were greatly reduced over open-burner style portable grills.

The grate measures 18½ inches long by 11½ inches wide, providing more the 210 square inches of cooking space. That’s enough for a couple of steaks, plus a foil pack of potatoes or a mixed grill of fresh summer vegetables. Note the grill is not nonstick, but preheating the grate and wiping it with an oil-soaked paper towel before cooking does keep food from sticking.

Cabela’s Stainless Steel Tabletop Grill features a full-length stainless steel drip tray that removes easily, almost too easily in fact. We wish it had a tab or other lock to keep the tray securely in place during transport, but with a little care you’re not going to lose the 1-inch square, 18-inch long tray.

All in all, we couldn’t ask for a better option when it comes to grilling on the road, whether from the tailgate at sports events or at the campground. Heck, it would even make a great grill for the apartment dweller or anyone looking for a smaller option to cook great meals outdoors.

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How to Season Your New Cast Iron

Bass Pro Shops 1Source — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 13:15:00 +0000

How to Season Your New Cast Iron

Bass Pro Shops… Sat, 06/15/2019 - 08:15

Category

Cook With Cabela's Products

What is Seasoning Cast Iron?

Cast iron has been used in the kitchen and around the campfire for hundreds of years and for good reason. They are low cost, versatile, and as hardy as a grizzly bear. That’s why your grandma is probably using the same cast iron pan as her grandma. These things will last forever if taken care of the correct way.

One of the biggest downfalls of cast iron is that you do have to put in more effort than almost any other kind of kitchen accessory. This process is called seasoning the cast iron. No we’re not rubbing Whiskey Steak Rub (link) into the pan to give it flavor. Seasoning in this sense means coating the cast iron with oil and heating it to a point where the oil soaks into the pan. Lotion is to dry skin as oil is to cast iron. Make sense?

Tip: Shop Cabela’s 5 Piece Cast Iron Starter Set

There Are Two Ways to Season New Cast Iron

The extra work that is put into caring for cast iron is every bit worth it. After about 6 months of regular use and care, the cast iron soaks up a little bit of flavor from each meal making every meal thereafter, even better. Let’s get into it:

PRE-SEASONING

SCRUB & WASH

When you get cast iron out of the box it will likely have a factory applied coating on the surface to prevent rust. Many cast iron manufactures will tell you they are “Pre-Seasoned” and “ready to go out of the box”. This may be true, but just to be safe, there is no risk in re-seasoning cast iron and this way, you’ll know it’s 100% clean and ready to go.

Scrub all pans with steel wool and soap. The steel wool will act as a “buffer” and help smooth out the bottom and walls to help the pan become non-stick. The more you use and clean the pan, the smoother the bottom will become. You will see the water is dirty from the manufacturer's application of oil and debris coming off from scrubbing.

DRY

Cast Iron and water go together like matches and gasoline. When cast iron is exposed to water for long (or even short) periods of time, rust will start to develop. After you are done washing the pans with soap and water, dry the pans immediately. You can see in the video after only 15 minutes of the wet pan sitting to the side, it began to rust.

If you do see rust starting to form, give it a quick scrub with steel wool and water and it should come right off. Then dry it as soon as you are done washing.

OIL

The cast iron is now all clean and ready to be seasoned. Apply a coat of vegetable or canola oil all over each piece of cast iron (even the outsides and bottom). This oil is what will get baked into the cast iron and prevent it from the evil oxygen which causes rust.

Methods of Seasoning Cast Iron

OVEN METHOD (longer)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Place all oiled pans upside down & place a piece of aluminum foil at the bottom of the oven. Baking the pans upside down will prevent oil from pooling in the pans which can cause damage. The foil will catch any drips coming off of the pans.

Bake for 1 hour.

Turn off the oven and allow the cast iron to cool inside the oven to room temperature.

STOVE TOP METHOD (shorter)

Place the oiled pan on your burner and turn to medium heat.

If oil pools, wipe it out with a paper towel. When oil pools for an extended period of time in a hot pan it can cause damage.

Once it starts smoking, turn the burner off.

Leave the pan on the burner until it cools to room temperature.

Post-Seasoning & Care of Cast Iron

FINAL RINSING

No matter which method you decide to go with, you’ll finish the pans with a final rinsing. We call it rinsing because we will not be using soap for this wash! If you use soap here, you’ll be removing all the seasoning you just worked to build up. Just use a NON soapy washcloth, brillo pad, or sponge and rinse that pan until the wipe of a paper towel comes out clean.

The key to keeping cast iron in the best condition is to wash the pan with only water after every use. Using soap to wash the pan will strip the cast iron of all the seasoning you worked so hard to build up. Now if you cooked something extremely greasy, a little soap will help remove the excess oil but try not to scrub too hard when using soap.

DRY

Make sure to dry ASAP! Since the seasoning is done and we didn’t use soap, the pans are at less risk to get rusty. But until the final oiling, you can never be too careful.

NOTE: If you wipe the pan with a paper towel and it comes back 95% clean you are good to go. That 5% is the seasoning you want to keep on the pan but anymore than that may need another wash.

FINAL OILING

Rub oil on the insides (just where food touches) of all the pans after the final rinsing. This serves a couple of different purposes. First, it’s the final barrier between the cast iron and the evil oxygen. If you always keep your cast iron oiled, it will never rust. Second, it actively seasons the pan after every use making it become more and more non-stick.

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