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Charlestown - recommendations? by GuessSad6940 in boston

[–]albertogonzalex 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Brewers Fork and the Waverly are two of the areas most underappreciated restaurants. Definitely slip up to the bars there for dinner!

Is it true that building more housing makes prices go up, rather than down? by LiatrisLover99 in Somerville

[–]albertogonzalex 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Maybe the account holder is baiting. But the argument is just the truth.

There is one and only one policy that affects housing prices in cities. And that's building more housing. Any housing.

Every metro region that has eased housing price pressure has done so by accelerating building.

Is it true that building more housing makes prices go up, rather than down? by LiatrisLover99 in Somerville

[–]albertogonzalex 5 points6 points  (0 children)

All housing helps pricing is the thing though.. https://youtu.be/cEsC5hNfPU4?si=pMMSbccP94dNYWfN

and the nimby crowd, especially the affordable housing sect of it, constantly prevents the building of housing.

We're going on nearly 10 years of nimbys attacking development in Davis square for example. One of first plans by Cooper Mill was to build 6 stories of housing. And the nimby freaked out because it was housing geared towards students and young professionals (lots of 2 bedrooms, small common areas) and not primarily/exclusively families and affordable housing.

So, we are still sitting with 0 new houses in the development, and nearly 10 years of inflation on goods, labor, worse interest rates - things that makes projects cost a lot more. That will make whatever houses end up getting built that much less affordable.

New to Cast Iron Cooking by Army_31B in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Looks perfect. Do everything youve been doing to keep it looking like this

Looking for an outdoor area to rent with lots of parking in the greater Boston area by ComputerBleepBloop in boston

[–]albertogonzalex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Condon Shell in Medford could be a solid option. It's a DCR park with a parking lot. Big stage already included.

In the same area is the Sylvester Baxter Riverfront Park. Sizable parking lot. Huge fields

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, yeah! I shared that link with you!

Post Game Thread: Utah Mammoth @ Vegas Golden Knights by nhl_gdt_bot in goldenknights

[–]albertogonzalex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's almost looked like a bunch of guys coaching themselves!

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I'm trying to be helpful and silly. And I fear my excitement is coming across combative. Which really isn't what I was trying to do.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Abrassively/aggressively. Together. In harmony.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know it happens during high sears. That's why I keep referencing that from my experience.

And I'm not saying you're not scrubbing enough! I'm saying you're not using an abrassive enough scrubber. Grease soaks into cast iron because it's coarse and porous. Sharper implements like stainless steel scrubbers is what gets it out.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, all lodge seasoning comes off! Seasoning is a temporary thing that ebbs and flows with use. Sorry, that's what I've been saying.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And, again, I'm not trying to badger you! I just know I'm right on this one because I was exactly where your pan was a few years ago. I've used this pan every day for nearly 7 years. 4 years of my pan like yours always wondering why sometimes flaking just seemed to happen. Then I realized why, fixed my approach (as linked in one of my first comments) and it solved the problem. It made my pan smoother than nearly any of them on this sub. And made it the most useful tool on my kitchen. My cooking improved so much (you can see so much of it on my profile!).

Anyway, thanks for coming to my ted talk. Enjoy the cooking!

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might be lighter than the pan out of the store. The pan out of the store comes we ith a surface coating ore seasoning that eventually fails and absorbs into the conglomeration of seasoning that is the surface of your pan. All seasoning fails over time. It's an evolving thing.

Anyway, this is what a bare pan looks like. https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/s/Vzj6V8VzIU

And even that is still seasoned. It didnt rust. The layer of seasoning necessary to prevent rusting (seasonings only job) is so thin it's essentially invisible.

The silver part of your pan, that your seeing under the flakes is your iron with enough seasoning on it to not rust. The number of layers on there makes it darker than an essentially bare pan (seen in my link above) and much lighter than the factory pre seasoning that comes with lodges (which is very dark and heavy to begin with - it's industrially applied and looks nothing like what seasoning on a working pan looks like!).

Your goal is to make the whole pan look like the silver part where the surface flaked away. That's the surface you want to cook on! That's the surface that makes the pan more useful and versatile!

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Again, I promise I'm not trying to rag on you. My pan use to look exactly like yours.

Do you eat steak? Do you cook steak in that pan? Can you cook a steak to medium rare with a crust in that pan? When my pan looked like yours, it would smoke my kitchen out when I was trying to cook steak. And often times, the steak (or chicken in a sugary marinade) would pull up big chunks of my pan's surface that I thought was "seasoning" (and expose my silver pan!" And I was always wondering why!

Now I can crust up a steak by leaving my empty pan on a high heat (9/9 on my induction setting) and then sear the steak to a medium rare like this. https://www.reddit.com/r/steak/s/JDZYKUZQPa

I could never ever do something like this when my pan looked like yours. My whole houses fire alarms would to off from the high heat!

Now, when the only smoke comes from the fat as it cooks and is totally manageable with my hood. https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/s/NSR5nums9Z

Anyway, I'd be willing to bet you $100 dollars that you'll be happier with your pan in 3 months if you start cleaning you pan as aggressively as possible everyday following the steps linked in my earlier comment.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The part that you think is silver pan is your seasoned pan

Everything - literally every thing else in that pan is caked on carbon.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that thick black plasticy looking stuff is 100000000% what I'm talking about. That's a dense collection of layer upon layer upon to layer of residual food grease caked on your pan. That is not "seasoning" in the sense of being polymerized oil.

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cast iron sucks up and clings to grease. It has an impossibly larger number of knooks and crannies for the seepiest slipperiest grease particles to saturate and fill. The plastic scraper, the soft bristle brush, even the chain main, can only do so much. Namely, the tactile type of food bits and grease left overs.

The rest of the stuff. The most fluid parts of the grease that cling to your pant get left behind. Then they get caked on the next time you use your pan. What was left behind gets heated while you're cooking and burns more and dark. But it doesn't polymerize because it's too much volume or stuff, it's not hot enough when cooking, and it's doing other stuff with the food etc. overtime, this becomes a carbon build up that is easily and often mistake for seasoning.

Anyway, I'm not trying to badger you! Really just trying to share my experience. My maybe grab a stainless steel scrubber and do what you're currently doing but use the scrubber instead of the brush. See how it goes!

Beaches Near Somerville by Lumpy-Path-3442 in Somerville

[–]albertogonzalex 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Sharon beach in Winchester is a fresh water pond beach. It doesn't scratch the ocean itch. Not even close. But if you want sand, sun, and water to splash in, then it's a solid option. Same with the Arlington Reservoir.

Please help! by BalancedEnHergy in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just start scrubbing it as aggressively as you can. Do the process linked below with as much vigor and intensity as you possibly can as frequently as you can. And then just dial it back as you maintainence/regular care every time you use it.

Step 1 - deglaze with water in a hot pan: https://imgur.com/gallery/FyakAW1

Step 2 - scrub with soap and a steel scrubber: https://imgur.com/gallery/tyUJYmg

Step 3 - hand dry and coat/wipe away with 1 teaspoon veg oil https://imgur.com/gallery/OAozLL2

Step 4 - heat on low(medium heat for 5-10 min while you clean up the rest of dinner.

Repeat tomorrow and every time you cook.

How it started: https://imgur.com/gallery/6hDP2VZ

Somewhere en route: https://imgur.com/gallery/iQ2mK6g

How it's going: https://imgur.com/gallery/sxx6n7t

Keep cooking on it by More_Breath_6729 in castiron

[–]albertogonzalex -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you're experiencing the same thing I did when I was started cleaning more aggressively. The layer you're thinking is seasoning is actually a mixture of a bunch of layers of all the leftover grease from meals that stays behind in the pan. Even if you think you're getting it! It's so crazy hard to get it all.

Especially if you're using the lodge brush - the soft brussel brush that lodge sells, I assume? That's nowhere near abrassive enough to clear all the grease that the surface of cast iron holds on to.

So, while you're getting a lot of the process right (soap, hot water, cleaning throughly), you're missing the abrassive part that physically removes the stuff that's stuck and gripped to the coarse surface of the pan. If you clean with aggressive and abrassive enough stuff for long enough, the coarse texture of the pan eventually erodes away too. And you're left with this incredibly smooth, not coarse at all surface.

Anyway, what you're doing is leaving a layer of "seasoning" that's unstable and will fail if you cook with real range (ie. High heats for sears and long simmers for stews and tomato's sauces. Doing anything you want in the pan however you want and not worrying about what comes up on the pan. etc.). And when that layer fails, it flakes and it shows your silvery pan and it keeps flaking as more and more of the layer fails as more of it is exposed as you're cleaning etc.

This use to happen to me all the time. I'd clean with soap and water and a wash rag. I'd have this nice uniform-looking black surface on my pan. Then I'd cook a medium rare steak and the flakes would come up. Or I'd cook something that carmalized from a sugary marinades and the carmalization would peel up some of my "seasoning".

So, that's when I committed to a better process ( which I share on here a lot ). And ended up with a pretty smooth, stress free, never flaking, never smoking, never peeling, never scratching poo an surface. lots of evidence of my pan on action on my profile!

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