Following directions

Old cast iron and new social media.

One of our consultants–never mind which–inherited, from somewhere, an old cast iron pot.  It was seriously rusted and certainly had not been used for a long time.  Now, cast iron is supposed (by some) to be a wonderful material for cooking, though it has a reputation of being difficult to maintain.  Our consultant has no aspirations to be a serious Cook, but he thought it a shame to have something that he couldn’t use.  So he set about the task of putting the pot in order.

First came getting rid of the rust.  We won’t go into detail on that, though it was probably the most difficult part.  Next came seasoning the pot: cast iron needs a coating of oil baked into its structure, to be non-stick and to keep from rusting (again).  Our consultant looked at several sources, printed and on line, for the proper way to do this.  They ranged from a half-sentence to several paragaphs; recommended a variety of oils to use; temperatures from 350F to 500F; and many other variations in detail.  He was caught in the classic modern dilemma: plenty of information, but contradictory and with no obvious way to evaluate it.  He has limited experience in the kitchen and none in this area.

In the end, he went with the most elaborate (and highest-temperature) procedure.  This group had not only set out its recommendations, but described what others it had tried, and how they had come out by comparison.  Other sources had given only one method and no reasoning behind it.  It took all day (and made his apartment smell faintly like a fast-food place), but the result is a beautiful color and texture.  He is in the process of testing the pot now, and from the aroma we anticipate something highly edible.

During the seasoning, our consultant was operating on faith.  He trusted the recipe he was given; there was no real way for him to evaluate how things were going.  As, our photographer points out, someone developing film must operate on faith, choosing the time for each chemical according to the temperature and the printed directions, unable to monitor what’s happening until the end (when it’s too late).  The difference is, of course, that our photographer has developed many rolls of film, and the film companies many more, so that the procedure is well-tested and well-documented.

Another consultant was recently searching for information on line, and came upon several highly-rated (at least often-watched) YouTube videos.  He was impressed, but not in a good way.  One in particular was poorly made, in that the details it was describing and pointing at were completely shadowed, invisible.  Another, although useful for a certain detail he was looking for, was simply wrong in important ways.  The latter point was mentioned in comments, but the video remains the most-watched of its subject.

So we conclude: there is a great deal of information out there, but much of it is not of the best quality and some is simply wrong.  That should surprise no one, but it’s good to be reminded now and then.  And we recommend going with the source that explains its methods and range of results, rather than giving a simple answer.  Context is useful.

And we will update you on what comes out of the pot.

A day later: quite an acceptable beef stew, with the potatoes in particular having an excellent consistency.