Black Iron and Black Magic (Part 2)

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

...Continued from previous recipe.
Use unsalted lard or shortening to completely coat the inside and
outside of the dry pot or skillet and then bake it in a 350-degree oven for
a total of 10 hours.  This can be accomplished a few hours at a time while
baking other items if you make sure the old grease is wiped clean and a
fresh coating is applied each time the pot goes into the oven.
After 10 hours of baking, test the pot by using a little vegetable oil
to fry an egg.  If the egg sticks, wash the pot lightly with soapy water
and a cloth or brush, re-coat it, and bake it for an additional three hours
or so.  Then test it again.  The sweetening process allows the porous cast
iron to absorb as much grease as possible. When completed, the pot will
take on a deep, shiny black finish.
Once the pot has been properly seasoned, never scour it or let the pot
sit in soapy water.  Never place it in a dishwasher.  Old time camp cooks
would break your arm for washing a black iron pot at all. They simply wiped
it clean and used it frequently to keep it in top condition.
When boiling foods in a newly seasoned pot, keep the water content low
and be sure to remove the lid from hot foods to avoid steaming the
seasoning off the lid.
Once the pot is conditioned, store it in a dry place without the lid on
between uses.  A paper towel in the pot will absorb moisture. Most folks
who use black iron regularly like to apply a light film of cooking oil or
grease to the insides during storage.  Finally, when you get ready to pass
along that treasured old pot or skillet, be sure the new owner also gets
these instructions.
There are other methods for sweetening black iron cookware, but none
has ever worked as well for me as the old Cherokee recipe.
Some would say black magic occurs in many forms throughout Bayou
Country.  For good cooks, in camp and at home, across Louisiana some of the
very best black magic takes form when well seasoned black iron bubbles and
sizzles up some of the finest grub in the land.
Posted to bbq-digest by Jim Anderson <anderson@magicnet.net> on May 02,
1998

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