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The Smoke From Cast Iron Pans


LJC

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What do you do about the smoke that comes from cooking in cast Iron pans?

My wife has banned the use of my skillet and grill pan due to the fact that last night I set off the smoke detectors (not just in my apt.) in our buildings hallways and every time I cook with them the apt smells for days.

Will I have to wait until we build a kitchen with a real kitchen ventilation system (who knows when that will happen)? Now that I think about it with some foods the smoke is so thick that even a really strong system might not handle it.

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Seasoned cast iron pans shouldn't smoke much more than any other pan. It's usually the heated oil that smokes, not the metal. I live in an apartment and cook on cast iron daily - just pan-grilled a couple of Aussie rib-eyes tonight.

Do you only have this problem with cast iron, or is it with other frypans as well? If it's just with the cast iron, maybe there's still oil on the outside from when you seasoned it. Clean the outside and maybe reduce your temperatures.

If you get the same problem cooking the same recipe in other pans, maybe try using an oil with a higher smoke point - canola or peanut, not EV olive oil.

But there are limits - no way to do a blackened steak on cast iron in a sealed apartment without the fire dept coming.

Hong Kong Dave

O que nao mata engorda.

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There are some sources of smoke that you can address, and some that you can't.

The smoke that actually comes from the pan is a result of the seasoning burning off. If you keep your pans well scoured and minimally seasoned, that issue will subside quite a bit.

The smoke that comes from your cooking oil can be reduced by using an oil, like grapeseed oil, with a higher smoke point.

You can cook at lower temperatures and/or not let the pans get so hot.

You can still get good crust at a lower temperature if you take your time (and use butter!)

You can't fundamentally alter the fact that some foods will smoke at a certain point.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Interesting. I had thought that smoke and cast iron went hand in hand as well... as every time I have seen someone cook in person with cast iron, there has been lots of smoke.

My first experience cooking in cast iron (tuesday night) resulted in tons of smoke inside of my apartment, me having to disconnect my fire alarm, and my electric range catching on fire (only around the element). However, the steak turned out wonderful :).

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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Good advice so far.

The other thing you might be able to do, if your building situation is amenable, is remove smoke. Get a box fan (<$20 at a discount store) and set it, facing out, in an open window. Open a second window on the other side of the stove, so, as best you can arrange, the source of your smoke is between the two openings. Turn the fan on. It should draw air across the stove and out the window. If it doesn't work terribly well, it might be because you're fighting prevailing winds. In this case, reverse positions, and put the fan in the second window (still facing out).

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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I should have added above - I'm assuming your cast iron is properly seasoned. If not, you can get food sticking to the bottom, then burning, and that means smoke. If food is sticking, make sure your pan is seasoned. If you're not sure how, there are some threads on the topic already.

Hong Kong Dave

O que nao mata engorda.

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When I first started using cast iron I also got a lot of smoke.

This is an adjustment moving from other pans to cast iron. I've just gone through it.

With other pans (especially medium weight pans) you heat 'em up hot, and just turn down the gas when they start to smoke, no problem. You probably do it without even thinking about it.

Because cast iron retains heat so much more than other pans, by the time the pan gets so hot that you notice it, the seasoning is burning off, and it'll take a few minutes for it to stop smoking. Also, if you move a cast iron pan off heat, it takes a while for it to cool down.

The easiest way around this is to preheat with *moderate* heat. Because cast iron doesn't cool down as much when you put food in it, you don't need to get your pans quite so hot before you start cooking.

I've managed to keep my smoke detector plugged in for a few weeks now.

Edited by philbo (log)
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The easiest way around this is to preheat with *moderate* heat. Because cast iron doesn't cool down as much when you put food in it, you don't need to get your pans quite so hot before you start cooking.

I've managed to keep my smoke detector plugged in for a few weeks now.

I am looking the problem right in the eye this moment as I plan on searing a steak for company tonight. I am going to give your idea a try - moderate heat rather than the high heat I normally use - which requires apologies to guests before I even start.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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Butter!

I'm telling you, folks, butter plus moderate heat equals a beautiful, rich, golden-brown crust. High heat just means you're going to create crust by burning.

If you go into a top restaurant kitchen, such as Ducasse or Craft in New York, they sear their meats at relatively low temperatures -- like, omelette-making temperatures. They use lots of butter, keeping it just this side of brown. There is very little smoke or splatter. Once they have the crust, they throw the item in the oven to finish cooking.

It won't work with oil. Butter is your friend here.

This works very, very well.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Butter!

I'm telling you, folks, butter plus moderate heat equals a beautiful, rich, golden-brown crust. High heat just means you're going to create crust by burning.

If you go into a top restaurant kitchen, such as Ducasse or Craft in New York, they sear their meats at relatively low temperatures -- like, omelette-making temperatures. They use lots of butter, keeping it just this side of brown. There is very little smoke or splatter. Once they have the crust, they throw the item in the oven to finish cooking.

It won't work with oil. Butter is your friend here.

This works very, very well.

Darn it, now I am going to have to have steak again this evening to try this out.... Oh the things we must put ourselves through.... ;).

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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Although some people apparently don't believe this is true, it is a fact that the seasoning on a cast iron pan can start to burn if the pan gets too hot. This is what is happening when an otherwise clean seasoned cast iron skillet starts to smoke. The solution to this is to use seasoned cast iron no higher than medium-high heat. Anything hotter will damage the seasoning after a while anyway. For extra-high heat cooking, use unseasoned cast iron. This is to say, take extra care to clean the iron thoroughly so no seasoning has a chance to build up. The fact is, though, that extra-high heat cooking produces a fair amount of smoke no matter what you do as the fat and juices burn.

--

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If you go into a top restaurant kitchen, such as Ducasse or Craft in New York, they sear their meats at relatively low temperatures -- like, omelette-making temperatures. They use lots of butter, keeping it just this side of brown. There is very little smoke or splatter. Once they have the crust, they throw the item in the oven to finish cooking.

Interesting. I know that butter helps anything to brown, but I hadn't given it a lot of thought. I bet it has something to do with the fact that the butter solids brown and undergo Maillard reactions. One interesting thing about Maillard reactions is that, if there are other already "Maillardized" molecules around, it makes the Maillardization of whatever you're cooking go that much faster. This is why, when you're browning off a bunch of steaks (etc.), the subsequent steaks take color much more quickly than the first steak.

--

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Just did burgers on my cast iron skillet last night. My skillet is very well seasoned. I usually use med-high gas heat to heat the pan, add grapeseed oil and the meat and then turn the heat down to about medium. I don't get any smoke.

Fat Guy Posted on Apr 23 2004, 11:02 AM

  Butter!

I'm telling you, folks, butter plus moderate heat equals a beautiful, rich, golden-brown crust. 

Will try the butter next time, thanks for the tip.

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Unfortunately the article from the New York Times about the Ducasse method of cooking steak isn't online anymore. There's some material in Colicchio's cookbook, for anyone who has it.

There are various approaches to butter and oil usage in meat cookery. Some chefs will brown in oil, then roast, and then baste in butter later. Or you can go with butter all the way.

The last time I cooked steak was in North Carolina, when we were cooking for friends at their house. This was in a very under-equipped kitchen (by eGullet standards, that is). I had ordered steaks from Lobel's to arrive in advance, and the plan was to cook them there. I had to use flimsy T-Fal non-stick skillets, a pretty weak stove, and an old-ass electric oven.

So, I let the steaks come up to room temperature before cooking. I got the pans to omelette-cooking temperature and added a couple of tablespoons of butter to each, and after the butter melted, foamed up, and started to subside I added the steaks. I browned both sides and all the edges (there weren't even tongs available so I manipulated the steaks with a potholder) and then put the steaks in the electric oven to roast at 350. Who knows if it was really 350 or anything close. I just kept checking by feel, and when the steaks got to rare I put a pat of butter on top of each one and returned them to the oven for 2 more minutes. Removed, rested, served -- beautiful rare to medium-rare steaks, great restaurant-quality crust . . . a success.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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...

There are various approaches to butter and oil usage in meat cookery. Some chefs will brown in oil, then roast, and then baste in butter later. Or you can go with butter all the way.

....

Just to be sure I'm not missing anything... you mean butter - not clarified butter - yes?

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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...

There are various approaches to butter and oil usage in meat cookery. Some chefs will brown in oil, then roast, and then baste in butter later. Or you can go with butter all the way.

....

Just to be sure I'm not missing anything... you mean butter - not clarified butter - yes?

Another question: I'm not sure what exactly you mean by omelet temp. Should the steak really sizzle when it hits the pan, or should it just be hot enough to make a little noise? I hate to see people put anything in a pan before it's hot enough to at least register something on the eardrums.

peak performance is predicated on proper pan preparation...

-- A.B.

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Anna, yes, regular butter. Although clarified butter works too. But it's hardly necessary. Zillions of restaurants use regular old butter for this purpose every day.

Al, you don't want a no-noise situation, and you don't need an explosive sizzle situation. Something moderate and in-between is the target if you want to minimize smoke and char but still get a nice brown buttery Maillard crust. When I say omelette temperature, I'm talking about letting a pan heat up nice and slow to the type of temperature at which you'd cook an omelette -- such that when you add butter it doesn't burn immediately, and it doesn't sit there solid forever, but rather melts quickly, foams up, the foam subsides, and then it goes brown. As the foam is subsiding, that's when you add the steak. In cooking it, the butter will eventually go brown, which is okay because that contributes a nutty flavor to the crust, but you don't want to outright char the butter. One of the reasons some chefs will use oil at first and then baste with butter later is that it buys some extra flexibility -- you don't have to worry about burning the butter at the early stages.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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If you go into a top restaurant kitchen, such as Ducasse or Craft in New York, they sear their meats at relatively low temperatures -- like, omelette-making temperatures. They use lots of butter, keeping it just this side of brown. There is very little smoke or splatter. Once they have the crust, they throw the item in the oven to finish cooking.

Interesting. I know that butter helps anything to brown, but I hadn't given it a lot of thought. I bet it has something to do with the fact that the butter solids brown and undergo Maillard reactions. One interesting thing about Maillard reactions is that, if there are other already "Maillardized" molecules around, it makes the Maillardization of whatever you're cooking go that much faster. This is why, when you're browning off a bunch of steaks (etc.), the subsequent steaks take color much more quickly than the first steak.

Dude remember when we made hamburgers in the stainless-steel-lined copper skillet, over medium heat with butter? Remember how much better those came out crust-wise than the ones we made under the 1800-degree infrared broiler? Butter, baby!

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Do the butter man ! But your problem with the cast is that it absorbs so much of the heat that your pan is to hot when you start. By simply adding the butter before you turn the heat on will tell you were you are and when to add the steaks.

Also from a political standpoint please do not inhale the smoke. Later and great eats, Doug......................................

The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity!

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tried the butter medium heat trick tonight on a couple of run-of-the-mill-store-bought-ground-meat hamburgers. mrs. tommy proclaimed them "the best ever". although she was hungry, and let's face it, they had butter on them.

regardless, i got some nice charring in the cast iron pan, although the color on one was a bit uneven. i think this is because my stovetop is not level, and one side of the pan collected a bit more of the butter, which i assume actually had a bit of a steaming effect on the meat.

regardless, not an ounce of smoke in the kitchen. and i'm usually opening windows and doors and eating in a smoke-filled room. i'm looking forward to trying this with steak. if it works, i'll actually be able to make steak for guests without fear of smoking them out.

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Everything said in this thread seemed illogical and counter-intuitive but I trust you all - the steak, browned in butter on moderate heat and finished in the oven was WONDERFUL! Thank you, everyone.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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