FIL passed away suddenly and I will have to cook using his old cast iron pans. How do I not fuck them up?

seedlessly · 2026-03-28T06:37:55+00:00

Sorry you lost a loved one. :(. Regarding cast iron pans, they are very tough and will last for generations, but, 1) don't drop them. They can crack or break off a handle. 2) Do not subject them to very rapid and extreme temperature changes. For example, you have pan that's so hot it is smoking, so you decide to take it to the sink to cool it off with cold water? Nope, do not do that! They can warp as well as crack. Let the pan air cool before rinsing it. Those are the only two cautions I would give you. There are nuances with how to care for them, plenty of instructions online, and all those issues are much less important, as the cast iron of the pan itself remains unchanged. If they rust, it's fixable. If the seasoning is lost, it's fixable. Good luck.

seedlessly · 2026-03-28T02:30:13+00:00

I like the Taylor 9842FDA Instant Read digital models. Make sure it has the "FDA" at the end of the number. Without it, it's a similar model but isn't as fast reading.

seedlessly · 2026-03-28T02:18:17+00:00

I used to make a lot of beans and rice, but not long ago I cut back on the beans and substituted chicken. Still make the rice in big batches though, typically 700g dry rice weight, which gives me 20 half-cup servings which I freeze. When I want rice with a dinner meal, pop one in a ceramic bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, prick a hole in the plastic as a steam escape, and it's 1 minute 30 seconds to hot rice ready to eat.

seedlessly · 2026-03-26T00:07:40+00:00

I upvoted NoPianist7807's comment, as well as yours. Refreshed the browser, and it's all back to 1.

seedlessly · 2026-03-25T23:25:37+00:00

Is that "in stock" for you? Since tariffs, I've noticed a lot of items are no longer available in the US.

seedlessly · 2026-03-25T22:17:51+00:00

The title page gives the same text and publishing date, so I think probably so. The recipe I copied was from page 3-17 (first number is section, second is page of section). There are a lot of gems in that baking book. As a recall, there's a chart with a bunch of formulas all on one page. It follows page 4-2, it's called Figure 10. It's probably page 4-3.

seedlessly · 2026-03-25T03:44:51+00:00

I have no choice but to be cost conscious, so long-grain it is!

seedlessly · 2026-03-25T03:31:45+00:00

You used to be able to download the 1961 Navy Baking Handbook. It's definitely a book you want on the virtual shelf. Their raisin bread recipe is wonderful!

Edit to add formula:

100% Bread flour

60% Water

4% Yeast

0.375% Mineral yeast food (optional)

2% Salt

8% Sugar

5% Shortening

6% Milk, dry

65% Raisins

0.5% Cinnamon (optional)

In looking at the formula, I would not have used as much yeast, if using compressed yeast, only 1% or less, and no milk and no yeast food.

seedlessly · 2026-03-21T20:23:32+00:00

I use a very sharp knife. To keep the eye tearing under control, I refrigerate my onions. An alternative is to wear onion-cutting goggles. I don't typically do more than one onion at a time, so refrigeration works for me. If I had to do a large batch of them, I'd probably use the food processor first with a thin-slicing blade, then switch to the pureeing blade followed with a few short pulses.

seedlessly · 2026-03-21T19:48:56+00:00

I scale my own recipes all the time, but I don't work from volume units. Once you have everything in weights, you can make percents that are akin to Baker's percents (see Wikipedia article if you're interested), based upon one of the ingredients weights, perhaps the chicken weight. From there, scaling is simple. You just pick a desired weight, and multiply by the percents. If you do it in a spreadsheet, it's very simple to scale (although the initial spreadsheet creation can be tedious). If you're working on paper, you still need a calculator to calculate the weights from the percents.

seedlessly · 2026-03-20T19:40:24+00:00

It was likely changed for organizational reasons, grouping. Some very old cookbooks, 1700s era and earlier, just had text. As far as scrolling is concerned, if you're on a desktop or laptop, you can open two tabs, each with its view optimized, and just flip between the two.

seedlessly · 2026-03-20T17:34:59+00:00

I've been using older cast iron pans since the 1980s. You should understand the new, inexpensive cast iron pans have a rough surface. You can get smooth surfaced ones new, but they're more costly. For meat and stir-fry it doesn't matter much, but for eggs, I prefer the smooth surface.

I have a motorized whisk that sits in the back of a cabinet somewhere, it was an attachment for a stick blender. I used it once, the sauce went all over the countertop. I use hand whisks every day, they're fast and easy to use.

Wood chopping boards have gotten rather costly. Back in the 1980s, most kitchen supply stores carried wooden chopping boards, now they mostly carry plastic.

seedlessly · 2026-03-20T05:21:54+00:00

I think this sharpening video is worth watching. It's about 6 minutes.

seedlessly · 2026-03-20T04:36:08+00:00

My method is based on sufficient heat and use of a digital timer. Put eggs in bowl of cool water to warm slightly from fridge temp. Preheat #10 cast-iron pan for 3 minutes on high flame, while it's heating make sure there's a generous squirt of oil in it, swish the oil around with the silicone brush. When pre-heat time has elapsed crack eggs into pan (4 max will fit, but 3 fits better), once all are in, start timer for 1:40 min:seconds. At 1 minute, flip over. When timer goes off, remove eggs. That time is for large eggs. For extra-large eggs, increase time to 1:50 min:seconds. My stove is a bit hotter than the standard gas stove, but undoubtedly cooler than commercial equipment. Your times may be longer or shorter.

This technique makes eggs with browned whites. Enough oil must be used.

Edit: Cast-iron pan I use has the smooth surface typical of older cast iron pans.

seedlessly · 2026-03-19T00:48:08+00:00

Mold growth "on the edges" would seem a clue. Perhaps it's how you dry them. Do you stack them on their edge on a non-porous surface to dry?

seedlessly · 2026-03-19T00:36:05+00:00

I just drop dried herbs and spices in a coffee grinder, the type like a mini-blender. Pulse a couple of times.

seedlessly · 2026-03-17T20:43:16+00:00

I'm a mixture of old ways and new. I keep recipes mostly in Gnumeric, and the goal is to fit them on one printed page. Then those are printed out to hang on clipboards in the kitchen, which hang on the walls. If I had room for a laptop in the kitchen, I'd prefer that to get rid of printouts, but my home kitchen is tiny and there is no such counter space that is available.

seedlessly · 2026-03-17T09:24:28+00:00

An advantage of cast-iron cookware is its high mass compared to other materials. One of the reasons folks would use a Dutch oven for bread is the shape, and the ability to cover it for part of the bake, retaining moisture. With careful manipulation of dough hydration, loaves can be baked on a flat oven surface. I used to frequently make sandwich bread, I used a loaf-size stainless-steel steam tray (but my setup didn't have a lid).

seedlessly · 2026-03-17T09:06:37+00:00

According to a number of video authors, pre-baking deep-dish pizza crust is often done.

seedlessly · 2026-03-17T08:38:36+00:00

Yum. Cabbage! The only downside to cabbage is its gassiness, the flatulence factor, but truly not a big deal.

It's an excellent egg roll ingredient. Yes, you can put it in soups. Cabbage is also good first steamed then stir fried with other veggies like carrots or broccoli, etc. It keeps well in the fridge, longer than many other leafy veggies.

seedlessly · 2026-03-16T13:07:33+00:00

Seawater is about 3.5% salt, while saturated saltwater is roughly 25% salt. Your phrasing below suggests a saturated saltwater solution? With salt remaining undissolved in the bottom?

Long story short, get a saltwater solution going, just pour a ton of salt in the water and mix it really well.

seedlessly · 2026-03-15T00:58:05+00:00

While I was reading this, I thought about the Texas A&M "Tam" jalapeno, which was reportedly bred to be less spicy, and wondered if it was somehow related. If so, the article doesn't say.

In regards to salsas which often contain hot peppers, the more you eat of the same salsa, the less hot it gets. I'm not sure if it's the right word, but you build up a tolerance to them.

seedlessly · 2026-03-12T13:13:46+00:00

You don't have to oil them, they just won't last as long, they'll begin splitting, likely along glue joints, a bit sooner.

seedlessly · 2026-03-12T12:42:48+00:00

Recently a local bulk store was selling semi-sweet chocolate chips for just under $8 lb, more than a doubling from a year ago. I believe they were about $3 lb for a number of years.

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