Cast Iron and Tomato's

[Richard Chrz]

So, since i pretty much consider this site my go to site for knowledge. I bring this here. I had not realized that Tomato's and cast iron or carbon steel is a bad combo until reading it a week or so ago. One of the reasons I bought my carbon steel Paella pan, was with the idea that I could make spaghetti on the grill. How real is this don't use cast and tomato sauce (or guessing anything acidic)?

[ComfortablyNumb]

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/cook-it-in-cast-iron/busting-cast-iron-myths

[Sweaty Paul]

Great share and find.

[Spinaker]

You can use cast iron and carbon steel for cooking tomato based sauces. However, it is not recommended time and time again. The acid in the tomatoes will eat away at the seasoning polymer. That being said, as long as you do a good round of manual seasoning after cooking, you should be okay.

I try to avoid using my cast iron or carbon steel pans for acid sauces. That is why I own one All-Clad Steel pan. (It was my mothers and that is really the only reason I own it.)

It will not ruin your pan or anything like that, but it can be hard on the seasoning.

[Attjack]

^This^

[SmokeyGator]

I put canned tomatoes in my cast iron ALL THE TIME. Yea it’s acidic, but what the hell you need iron. Sometimes it simmers in my smoker at 300 for a decent amount of time.

Very little, if any, actually dissolves. I haven’t noticed anything.

[Obi-Dan]

I see ComfortablyNumb already posted the America's Test Kitchen video on cast iron. I just happened to watch this video on carbon steel pans yesterday. They address the tomato issue at 4:15.

https://youtu.be/-suTmUX4Vbk

[mountainsmoker]

Go ahead and use it, just reseason more often than normal if your going to use it for other things.

[Mosca]

I use a cast iron Dutch oven for chili. Sometimes I use tomatoes, sometimes I don’t. I’ll let it simmer for 3 hours, no big deall.

I never store leftover chili in the cast iron. When the cook is done, it gets cleaned, dried, oiled, and stored.

[CaptainMike]

Much ado over a trifling matter. I use CI and CS pans for tomatoey cooks all of the time. Paella is a tomato based dish. Clean them right after your meal and rub a little oil on while drying on the stove.

[Beefchop]

Just going to jump on the bandwagon and say I use my cast iron often to brown hamburger meat and then throw in tomato sauce and let it simmer for 30+ minutes to make a meat sauce.

I do take pains to clean it after and will let it heat so the water dissolves after washing it out, and will then oil it good after it cools. Sometimes I then bring it up to high heat and let it re-season.

[FireMan]

One of the things frequently mentioned by everybody is they use their CI & Steel a lot. And then even acid etc. on top of that. A new piece, not recommended. In a well seasoned (used a lot) piece, much ado about nothing if it’s a once in awhile thing. Like Spinaker I’ve got one skillet that I got for my wife due to the weight issue & have a couple stainless pots for other stuff. Sounds like your breaking in a CI/CS piece or two. Use em, a lot & don’t worry, be happy. 🕶