Food: Read My Own Posts 😩

A few days ago a used my Carbon Steel pan to make a delicious sauce for dinner. One of the main ingredients in that sauce was four fresh tomatoes that had been peeled and cut into large chunks. While they were cooking in the sauce, I used the spatula to crush them in the pan and the sauce simmered for about 45 minutes. When I took up the sauce I saw that the acid from the tomatoes had played havoc with the seasoning in the pan. Who recently put in a Blog Post not to use cast iron or carbon steel for acid dishes like tomatoes?

I should have taken a picture of how bad that pan looked but once I got over my immediate reaction to throw it out and buy another, I moved into restoring the seasoning and did not think about pictures. I used the seasoning for a new pan technique that was in the post and that gave it a good start towards recovery. Last night I used that fry pan to make a Carbonara sauce where I simmered pancetta in olive oil as the first step. After dinner I rinsed out the pan with a little water and put it over a burner for a few minutes on each side to thoroughly dry it. While it was hot I used a paper towel to rub some of the MadeIn Seasoning Wax all over the surface. The smoke off the pan told me I was getting polymerization that was restoring the seasoning. Those two actions have it back to about 90% of where it was before I screwed up. Another couple of cooking sessions will have it fully recovered.

i really should pay more attention to my own posts!

The tomato sauce was outstanding and I will do a post on it. I put a swath on the plate and nestled some baked Alaskan Halibut in it and the combination was delicious. Beth and I agreed that sauce would be great with other fishes, chicken, and lots of other proteins. The Carbonara also won very high praise from Beth as the best Carbonara that has been served in our house and that deserves a post as well.

I promise not to screw up the Pinot Noir Tasting if there is interest in my doing that.