Referring to a broad category of semi-solids, shortening is derived from various kinds of vegetable oils. So the theory suggests flax. For this very reason, we highly recommend that you make it your top choice as well. First, its on the expensive side. Ive been wondering about ordering a special product for that purpose, but when I found your article I agree with you. Soap and water, just water, or something else? My daughter used some chemical cleaner on them & let them soak in it for several hours. You dont need to spend a fortune to buy a good cast iron seasoning oil. My cast iron skillets, on the other hand, are like fine wine they get better with age! Take your oil of choice and apply THINLY to the pan (by fingers thats the best) Shortening provides a different texture and contains more saturated fats than traditional PO. See my full Terms of Use. When seasoning cast iron its important to BURN the oil into your pan thus creating a Black Patina. With less fat than butter, you can create delicious meals with none of the guilt. So the smoke point of flax at 225F does not mean that after seasoning it will burn off when you sear your steak much hotter. Its easier to use than traditional PO because you dont need to melt and stir it before use. Palm fruit produces a healthier oil, with 50 percent mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated healthy fats. The first step in making palm shortening is to first extract oil from the fruit of the palm tree. But, for optimal performance, you should still season your brand new cast iron pans before cooking with them. When choosing an oil to season cast iron, there are a few factors that you need to consider: An oils smoke point is important, because that is the temperature at which the oil starts to smoke and break down. A rich, clean buttery flavor ideal for sauting, broiling, flavor basting, pan and griddle frying. (Hint: Youll Want To Use Them Soon!)Continue. Follow The Flat Top King on Youtube for more recipes and tips for mastering your griddle! By thin I mean half a teaspoon, spread over the whole surface with a paper towel and tongs. I am unsure and have been trying to find information about the smoke point of tallow which I believe is very high but Im not sure exactly what it is. Cooked burgers on it that evening, was able to harvest all the crust on the meat. One commonly confused type of plant-based oil is palm oil and all its iterations. Great Value All Vegetable Shortening is a perfect alternative to butter or margarine for many of your favorite recipes. posted in: Cast Iron Care and Maintenance, Grill and Cast Iron. This gives a firm texture to the palm shortening making it have a high melting point. But you must know your heat source and temps. Another way to look at palm shortening is to see it as a modified palm oil. Every household probably has butter, and you can even buy it in some gas stations. While butter is a fat that is often used in its solid form in baking, the term 'shortening' rarely refers to butter. Choosing to use palm products is a personal decision. When you season, you are taking this thin coat of oil and PURPOSEFULLY taking it past its smoke point at THIS POINT no matter the type of oil, it becomes a polymer. So steer clear of oils with a higher concentration of saturated fats, like coconut oil and palm oil. Remove from heat, let cool. Well-Known Member Joined Feb 6, 2011 Messages 734 Reaction score 12 On that note, you can probably figure out where palm shortening comes from. Next, we have lard, which is commonly lumped in with shortening, though there are differences between lard and shortening. However, once it is processed, these two types of fats are separated, leaving only the saturated fats. After all, coconuts are considered to be one of the most versatile plant products around. I know its not too much oil because its not gummy/sticky. let me know your thoughts, Well not sure about other people and there are a lot smarter people than me but this is the dummy version..some oils are built different. As stated earlier, you can make shortening from a wide array of sources. It is gluten free as well as dairy free, soy free, and egg free. Now my favorite place to cook is right in my own home for my biggest critics, my family. Our shortening consists of an organic blend of virgin coconut and red palm oils. The brand name is Guaranteed Value. What type of dish soap do you use? people mention you dont want your pens to be smoking or it will just take off all of the seasoning. The shortening contains 3 g saturated fat, 6 g polyunsaturated fat and 2.5 g monounsaturated fat. I hope you found value from whatever article you read, and if you have any remaining questions, don't hesitate to contact me! Warning: Shortening will catch fire if overheated. Thank you. When consumed in larger quantities, it may increase your LDL (bad) cholesterol. I pretty much only use Dawn, and Ive never really experienced any sort of smell afterwards. Derived from palm oil, palm shortening is composed of saturated and unsaturated fats in its unprocessed state. Regular palm sap = 0.142, First Street Palm Shortening sap = 0.138. (Hint: Youll Want To Use Them Soon! 3. What can I use and how can I clean it to get rid of the sticky residue so I can start all over with the seasoning process? Shortening also has a higher melting point than butter, so it helps keep the dough from getting overly soft during rolling out and shaping. However, Crisco is a trans-fat and is not recommended for good health. Most shortenings are made from vegetables, so . After all, they are both top choices for palm shortening substitutes. LocationNew York, NY. We recommend to refer to the packaging for the most accurate information. When I first started out with cast iron, I used Crisco exclusively to season my pans, and it worked . I dont think the health benefits of the oil make any difference at all once youve gone past the smoke point. Palm shortening is a popular and versatile ingredient free from trans-fat. Then two sessions of bacon repeating the sessions above. When hes not tinkering in the garden, or fixing something around the house, you can find him working on a vast array of random side projects. If you purchase the Great Value brand you are only spending $0.06 an ounce. After these thin layers are done its about maintaining the seasoning throughout the life of the pan. It can remain kind of soft n solid when left at room temperature. In conclusion, oil and cast iron cookware go together like peanut butter and jelly you cant have one without the other. No, while these two types of fats come from the same plant, palm shortening is NOT the same as palm oil. The avocado oil that I have been using for YEARS is by Better Body Foods, and it has a smoke point of 500 degrees. The Lodge company who I contacted Told me that flax would likely cause food to stick and I should use vegetable oil or canola oil. There are 4 main cast iron cookware manufacturers, and their recommendations for the best oil to season cast iron are pretty similar. Palm oil is quite common in vegetable shortening. I am currently experimenting with it nowso far I have not been impressed both on seasoning and flavor. The most effective temperatures for seasoning cast iron are between 400-500 degrees, so you need an oil with a high smoke point to withstand those temperatures. Pressed from the fruit of the oil palm tree, palm oil is quite different from palm kernel oil (PKO) which is oil pressed from the kernels or seeds of the same tree. While many vegans use coconut oil as a butter replacement, the ingredient can be finicky when baking. Creamy Shrimp and Corn Soup in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Lodge Blacklock Review After 1 Year of Use, The Flat Top King is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. But if youre looking for the best AND cheapest oil for cast iron seasoning, then you cant go wrong with Crisco. According to the product information label, one 12 g serving of Crisco contains 3 g of saturated fat, 0 g of trans fat, 6 g of polyunsaturated fat, and 2.5 g of monounsaturated fat. And since selecting the right oil is such an important part of the cast iron seasoning process, you need to do your research. I think if you insist on working with lard, you will not have the success that you are looking for. By day 3, we ended up with a nice dark brown/black glossy surface. What can be done to remove rust from the removable cast iron burners on a gas top stove? The red palm oil is sourced from small, organic family farms in partnership with Natural Habitats. If youre cooking a grilled cheese or quesadilla, you dont really need to wash it. The area of rust is about the size of a quarter. We have afantasticoverviewon the whole soapmaking process here Read our Timeless Guide To SoapmakingIf you would like to see our soapmaking posts organized by topic type See our Soapmaking Main Page. In South America, Clover and Blanquita vegetable shortenings are popular, with production in Honduras. All Things Flat Top Grill and Outdoor Cooking, Updated on September 5, 2022|By Neal|46 Comments. It is one of the most well-known and widely-consumed dairy products around. For making homemade soap, to my knowledge, yes, you can use palm shortening in a soap recipe rather than palm fruit oil. Then fry potatoes twice in canola oil with a session like the above after each cook As of 2012, Crisco consists of a blend of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, and partially hydrogenated palm and soybean oils. A product that can resemble lard, shortening is a creamy form of saturated fat made from vegetable oils. You can make flaky pie crusts, perfectly formed cookies, stable icing, and frostings, or any of your favorite fried foods . This alone should make it an appealing option for those looking to start eating healthy. I actually have ghee and used it in some of my camp chef flat top videos. There are certainly a few reasons why you may be looking for a substitute to palm shortening. The most significant difference between them is that with palm shortening, some of the unsaturated fats are removed from the palm oil to make it a more stable and thick texture for all baked products. Thank you so much for putting this information together in such a sensible way to read and understand. Cast iron is cooking with a soul, glad there is so much info available these days, and people appreciate it. No stickiness with eggs. Now, the idea of mixing butter and coconut oil may seem a bit too out-of-the-box for some, but it is something we swear by. Next, we have Butter. Because palm oil is solid at room temperature (up to 70 degrees F), Spectrums shortening that has no hydrogenated oils or trans fats. For the most part, margarine looks and tastes like butter. You have now created a thin, polymerized coating in your pan! Also, you won't find many minerals and vitamins in this kind of fat. I have a griddle that goes on my new Camp Chef Grill that needs seasoning. However, we can choose to buy ethical palm oil from sustainably produced palm plantations. The company changed the formula in 2007 to use less partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils and more fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil which contains no trans fat. But compared to a vegetable oil with high levels of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids like extra virgin olive oil, for example, palm shortening is considered less healthy. I enjoy your videos. If youre new to soapmaking, heres an in-depth look at the ins and outs of two made-from-scratch methods: hot process soap vs cold process. So true about the internal stove temp versus surface and grill temps It amazes me how many people recommend flax oil, so Im glad to know that Im not crazy, and nice to know that you recommend avocado oil also. After all, it shares many of the characteristics of butter. They came out beautiful. A good rule of thumb is to always choose a seasoning oil with a higher smoke point than the temperatures that you will be using for cooking. If so is that your #1 option. Also helpful for removing adhesive from glass jars.) A healthier alternative to Crisco, palm shortening does not contain any trans fats or cholesterol. Of course, like with any other substitute, there are some trade-offs you need to be aware of, as it can lead to slight changes in the final dish. From fine dining to fast food to preparing 3 meals a day for 3,000 hungry sailors in the U.S. Navy, my culinary career has taken me to a variety of kitchens. Thats awesome Sandra! The solid Crisco shortening (the kind that comes in a metal tub) also has a high smoke point of 490 degrees. Jeff uses blue Scott Shop Towels. You can go here to read more about different cooking oils and their smoke points. Next, we have margarine. I dont know what that substance stance is, sounds not too nice. Third, you have to be careful to choose the correct variety, as many people complain that certain flaxseed oils will flake off after seasoning. As its classic blue container proclaims, Crisco is made from all-vegetable shortening though that doesn't mean it's made with any vegetables. Several coats are much more effective. What is rosehip tea good for? Palm shortening can be used in place of Crisco in deep frying and baking. The flakiness comes partially from the water content of butter, which evaporates as the pie bakes and turns to steam, separating . I loved your article! If you have a tub of palm shortening at home, you might wonder if you can use that instead of regular palm oil. If these minor differences in texture dont bother you, then you should go ahead and use butter for your recipe. Damage or serious burns may result. The takeaway: Modified palm oil (aka palm shortening or homogenized palm oil) has slightly less polyunsaturated fats and slightly more saturated fats than regular palm oil. At one point my son put the skillet in the dishwasher, came out rusty looking. MommaSoaper IrishLass Organic Matters, ORGANIC PALM FRUIT SHORTENING, mechanically pressed. When doing reviews I try to do/talk about things I personally have used to produce a opinion about. Is palm shortening and palm oil the same thing? If there is any rust after that, then it goes to vinegar and water bath. Bottom line, use coconut oil to moisturize your skin, NOT to season your skillet. Palm shortening is palm oil with some of the unsaturated fats removed so that it is even more stable and has a thick, luxurious texture that is perfect for baking.