Bagless Vacuums, the Dirty Secret

Heather says:

Seasoning Your Cast Iron Cookware

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I got this set of cast iron pans last year for my birthday and I know that you have to do something with them before you can use them. I “googled” it but I find soooo many different things I don’t even know where to start.

I figured you ladies would be a good place to start.

Signed,

The Cast Iron N00b

Ivy says:

As you all know, I am no cook- Mr. Ivy is a fantastic chef, so he does all the cooking and I do all the cleaning up. When Mr. Ivy and I first started living together, he brought with him his cast iron skillet that had been seasoned for years. Now I, being no cook, took one look at that crusty old thing and thought, “Eww.” So I set to cleaning it, scoured the absolute snot out of it, and got all the black “funk” off of the pan. I was pretty proud of myself. I dried it and put it in the cabinet.

When Mr. Ivy next decided to cook with his beloved cast iron skillet, he got a surprise. “Um, Ivy? Could you come here for a sec,” he said. I trotted into the kitchen and he was holding his cast iron skillet with the look of a destroyed man. “What did you do to my cast iron skillet?”

“I washed it,” I told him. “Doesn’t it look nice now?”

He then explained that that black crustiness was NOT funk, it was seasoning. And it made his pan nonstick, made food taste fabulous, and solved world poverty all at once. Well, I didn’t know.

So, yes. I know how to season and care for cast iron cookware. And I learned the hard way so you don’t have to. The crust is a GOOD thing. Don’t scrub it off.

Seasoning goes like this. First, wash your cast iron cookware carefully with soap and water. New cast iron usually comes with a protective coating like wax, so you will want to scour all that off. Then dry your pan thoroughly and get the oven to preheating at about 350 degrees.

Then (and make absolutely sure that your pan is completely dry) just coat the pan with a thin layer of oil that is high in saturated fats. Mr. Ivy thinks lard is the very best thing to use, but lard really grosses me out. If you’re like me, you can also use canola oil, vegetable oil, or even peanut oil.

Then put your pan upside down on a baking sheet to catch any drips in your preheated oven for about an hour. You can then turn the oven off, open the door a bit, and let it cool down. Then your skillet will be ready to use.

To clean your cast iron cookware, wash it in hot water. Some people say it is okay to use soap, some people say absolutely not. I will occasionally use a bit of soap to get any stuck on food bits, but I don’t do this regularly. Don’t ever let your pan sit with water in it- that will ruin your seasoning and you’ll have to start all over again. I always just try to get the pan clean as soon as it’s cool enough to touch. Make sure the water is really hot- leftover grease in your pan can become rancid and that’s not a good thing.

Never, ever, ever put your cast iron cookware in the dishwasher. Again, it’ll ruin the seasoning. If it does find its way into the dishwasher, scrub it well and then start the seasoning process all over again. It takes years to get the absolute perfect seasoning for your cast iron cookware, so try to avoid that.

Am I Doing Something Wrong?

Dear Home Ec 101,

No matter what I do, the hardwater spots on my shower and tub keep coming back?  What am I doing wrong?

Signed,

Speckled in Spencerton

Heather says:

Well there are a couple of options.  You could invest in a water softener or be super diligent and use a squeegee after every shower.

Unless your family is unusually cooperative, these spots are simply a fact of life.  If you wipe down the walls frequently with diluted vinegar you will keep those annoying spots from becoming difficult to remove.

In all honesty, it’s these never ending chores that I find most annoying.  Take heart, you aren’t going to suddenly find a Home Ec 101 Seal of Disapproval plastered on your shower stall anytime soon.   Hang in there.

Another Sticky Situation

Dear Home Ec 101,

How do you get stuck on hairspray off walls and a cheap linoleum bathroom floor?

Signed,

Tacky in Texas

Heather says:

Oh it’s the dreaded hairspray overspray!

The answer is deceptively simple.  You’ll need hot water and elbow grease.  Use an old rag and water as hot as you can stand it. This should work for semi-gloss paint and your linoleum.  If you have flat pain, wipe carefully.

If you have wallpaper, use cool water and sponge gently.

If there is a heavy build up of hairspray make a past of baking soda and water, gently rub that into the stains and then wipe off.  Follow this with clear water.  As always, please test this in an inconspicuous spot.  A last resort to try is diluted fabric softener, again test please.   Dilute 1 part fabric softener with 2 parts water.  Spray and then wipe.  Never use this method on wallpaper, as it is probably one of the most effective wall paper removers I’ve ever used.

I

Teach Your Kids To Hand Wash Dishes

Ivy says:

Last night, there were several dishes left over after starting the dishwasher. This happens with some frequency, we use a heck of a lot of dishes in our house. Normally, I would just rinse them and set them in the sink to run the dishwasher this morning, but it occurred to me that my 7 year old daughter doesn’t know how to hand wash dishes, and it’s time to rectify that. She actually enjoyed it so much, she wants to hand wash dishes with me from now on.

I think being the dryer/putter awayer is the best place to start with learning to hand wash dishes, so that was her position, while I washed, giving a running commentary on how I hand wash dishes. I always wash my dishes from cleanest to dirtiest with the exception of silverware and knives, which I do first.

I put all the silverware in the water except sharp knives, then I wash each sharp knife and rinse. I showed her how to carefully dry the knives. Then I wash all the silverware and rinse them all collectively. Then I wash the glasses, then the plasticware. Then plates, then pots and pans.

She was shocked that there needed to be some order to how you wash dishes, but anyone who has ever tried to get plastic clean in greasy water can relate- there HAS to be an order to how you do it. It’s funny to me that technology has gotten us so far from the basics, that my daughter has reached the advanced age of seven and hasn’t learned how to hand wash dishes. We don’t own much stuff that has to be hand washed, so the act of filling up a sink and actually doing dishes is a very rare occurrence in our house.

Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about the act of hand washing dishes. On one hand, it uses less electricity and presumably less water. And there’s something satisfying about “I’ll wash, you dry” and then using that time to talk with each other. Yet, I do think dishes are more sanitary when you wash them in the dishwasher, and it’s way, way more speedy.

When it all comes down to it, I think we’ll wash dishes by hand more often.

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