George Foreman Grill

[Black Phantom]

I have a cheap cast iron grill pan and it is a pain to clean it, any tricks? Are the expensive ones easier?

Never use soap on it. Hot water, steel wool, scrub.

Dry thoroughly. Wipe interior of pan with oil. Put away until next use.

Never use soap.

Cast iron is probably one of the best items to cook with.

 

[Black Phantom]

For the record, cast iron is cast iron. Price is relative to where you purchased the item.

Cast iron will pretty much last forever. They are great finds at yard sales etc.

 

[deadheadskier]

I visited my father in VT and cooked steaks in my cast iron this past weekend. After I was done cooking, I set the pan aside and said, don't clean it, I'll take care of it.

I found it soaking in soapy water in the sink after dinner :smash:

Now I've got to go through the whole process of seasoning it all over again

 

[o3jeff]

The surface of mine is pretty rough and everything seem to get stuck in it. Will take a closer look at it tonight when I get home since I bought it a few years ago and haven't used it much cause of that.

 

[wa-loaf]

Got one, never use it. Too much work to keep clean and there's no temp control.

Have a nice old cast iron pan I use all the time. Mostly just for pancakes and grilled cheese. I should use it more for other things.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Until I get an outdoor grill that has an infrared burner, I'll stick with the cast iron. I don't find a typical outdoor grill gets hot enough to get a good sear on a steak like I can with cast iron.

Tip for searing a steak on the grill:

1. Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a coffe mug and get a regular spoon.
2. Pre-Heat grill on high.
3. With Grill still on high, throw on the steak. Immediately take a scoop of the melted butter with the sppon and throw it down under the steak on the burner/heat diffuser.
a. The goal here is to get a hot-flame up.
4. Let the steak sit in the flame for 15 sec and flip. Reapply butter to get flame if necessary.
5. After the sear is complete reduce heat and cook to desired temp.
a. If there is leftover melted butter, I put it on the steak while it is cooking.

 

[drjeff]

Use my GF grill pretty regularly. Great for making a quick grilled cheese for the kids. And I use it almost exclusively for ground turkey or chicken burgers, which along with slices of avocado make up a good deal of my evening meals these days in my current training regime.

 

[hammer]

Ours just gets used as a panini press. If we want to cook burgers we always use the Weber gas grill.

 

[Nick]

When I had an apartment, I had a small propane camping grill (I think it was a Weber) that I would use. I would just go outside to the front of the house, light it up, grill, and be done with it. It worked really well.

It was this one right here (LINK)

 

[Black Phantom]

I visited my father in VT and cooked steaks in my cast iron this past weekend. After I was done cooking, I set the pan aside and said, don't clean it, I'll take care of it.

I found it soaking in soapy water in the sink after dinner :smash:

Now I've got to go through the whole process of seasoning it all over again

Did you re-season your pan? If so, which process did you use?

 

[ctenidae]

I wouldn't use steel wool to clean my cast iron. If just wiping it out doesn't work, here's my method:

Scrape it out really well.
Get it NASA hot
Deglaze it with some water.
Let it boil for a minute, scraping it out with a wooden spatula to loosen the chunks
Dump the water out
Dump in a couple tablespoons of Kosher salt, scrub aroudn with a paper towel.
Rinse, heat it up until dry, put some oil in it and wipe it around.

Slicker than Teflon ever thought about being.

My cast iron was used by my grnadfather when he ran a mobile kitchen in the East Texas oilfields in the '40's, then my Dad took it to college with him, and I took it to college with me. Hopefully my kid will take it to college with him.

 

[deadheadskier]

once you oil it, you don't cure it in the oven? That's what I always do. 350 degrees for about an hour.

 

[Black Phantom]

once you oil it, you don't cure it in the oven? That's what I always do. 350 degrees for about an hour.

I think cten is talking about cleaning, not re-seasoning. I have heard of the salt method and it makes sense. I am going to try that after next usage.

How did you re-season it after your father soaped it up?

 

[deadheadskier]

cleaned it pretty much the same way as cten to start from scratch. heat pan in oven at 350 for 30 minutes. take it out and rub veg oil all over the surface with a rag. put back in oven for an hour.

 

[ctenidae]

I think cten is talking about cleaning, not re-seasoning. I have heard of the salt method and it makes sense. I am going to try that after next usage.

How did you re-season it after your father soaped it up?

I find the salt to be the perfect abrasive- it's harder than gunk, but softer than iron.

I've never done the in-the-oven seasoning for new cast iron- I go with the NASA hot stovetop method, liberal application of oil, and let it cool naturally. The high heat carbonizes the oil sufficiently, I think. YMMV.

 

[snoseek]

I cook with cast iron almost always for any kind of sear. To clean I just simply srub with oil and kosher salt and a paper towel while its still hot. this works fine 90 percent of the time and keeps it in good shape.

A George foreman grill would work fine if you just pulled the steak out to room temp before cooking and resting before cutting. Most people are turned off by the idea of leaving meat out at room temp for 1-2 hours but it is key.

 

[deadheadskier]

definitely key to leave the steak out for a solid hour before cooking. Also key to leave it unwrapped in the fridge for a solid 24 hours before cooking.