How do you season an old cast iron cornbread stick mold?
by
The32180933
+4
I’ve tried three times: first using oil, next solid shortening and finally sausage grease, but still the sticks crumble when I remove them. Does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks!
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The cornbread sounds like it is too dry, perhaps try baking for a slightly shorter time so they don't dry out so bad.
I have one too. I scrubbed it out thoroughly, dried with kitchen towel, coated the entire pan with canola oil, heated the cast iron in low oven for about an hour, let cool then wipe excess oil off with paper towels. Viola, 'corn pones!'
Hmm, puzzles even me and some of my favorite cookware is cast iron. Here are extremely reliable sources, read through them to see what might be amiss. Old cast iron is the best! I have shipped a bunch of pieces from the south out to CA.
https://m.wikihow.com/Season-Cast-Iron-Cookware
http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-and-care/what-is-seasoning
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5820-the-ultimate-way-to-season-cast-iron
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/381-how-to-clean-a-cast-iron-pan
Keeping my fingers crossed that these work out! Keep us posted! 🌽
Pre heat the mold until the batter sizzles a little when you pour. You will be happy!
Once it's clean never wash it with soap again. Oil it with paper towel and put it in the oven for a half an hour. You may need to do this a couple times. When you do clean it sprinkle with salt and hot water, never soap. You can also go to Pinerest there are lots of info on seasoning cast iron.
Sounds like the problem may be with your recipe. Regular cornbread recipes don't work well with "shapes", being a crumbly quick bread to begin with. Cornbread sticks are thinner than what bakes in a square pan. You could try increasing the fat in your recipe but what might also work is an extra egg to hold it together. Don't overbeat your batter and it might be better to take the sticks out of the oven sooner than later - they will continue to cook and dry esp in the cast iron! The smaller sticks certainly won't require the cooking time of a pan of cornbread. My mom used to partially 'pop' out her corn muffins, just enough to lift the bottom of the muffin out of the muffin pan and leave them tilted to cool in the cups of the muffin pan. Maybe you could try to loosen your sticks before they cool too much. Hope this helps!