Question about corn bread 'stick' pans

[turquoisedude]

No surprise that I would have a vintage corn bread 'stick' pan - the kind that leave a corn-on-the-cob pattern on the baked corn bread.

I've used it a couple of times, but the sticks always stick... What is the best method to grease them? What is the best grease to use (I've tried cooking oil and a blend of margarine and Crisco)?
Should one heat the pans then put the batter in (like a Yorkshire pudding or popover)?

I wanted to make corn bread sticks for a dinner party on Saturday night to kick off our 'staycation' in Ogden...

 

[launderess]

Are They Cast Iron?

If so you'll need to season them well before such pans will become "non-stick".

Seasoning can be done in one day but you'll need to keep the windows in your house open. A fan or exhaust hood helps as well.

Directions for seasoning cast iron are all over the Internet but basically you need to rub the clean pans with the fat of your choice, then place into a hot oven for several hours, then allow to cool.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Fat of your choice

Something solid like lard, crisco, beef drippings etc, will give more satisfactory results faster than oil, which can sometimes bake to sticky film instead of that glassy smooth surface you want.

As for greasing we always used a bit of butter or bacon drippings, and heated the pan scalding hot before pouring in the batter. Try that and even a poorly seasoned pan should release easily. (We did this when using an iron skillet as well. In my family corn stick pans were just for when doing something a bit fancy. Regular cornbread was from an iron skillet.)

My grandmother actually said baking cornbread was the best thing for a skillet that needed a "touch up" on the seasoning. If one of hers began to stick a bit, it became the cornbread skillet for a few weeks, (she made cornbread at least every other day, usually every day), and in a short time it was set back in order.

 

[petek]

I use PAM Baking spray in loaf pans with good results.. it has flour in with the oil. Better than regular PAM for that sort of thing. Don't see why it wouldn't work for cornbread

 

[rpms]

When I worked at Williams Sonoma, they had corn bread pans. I wish I had bought them.
If I was going to season pans, I would put them on the bbq instead of the oven.

 

[dustin92]

I seasoned two cast iron skillets and a griddle, just oiled them down heavily, then put them upside down on the gas grill, closed the lid, lit it, and cooked them on high for an hour or so. Keeps all the smoke and odors outside. Then turned off the gas and waited for things to cool down before moving them.

 

[norgeway]

The Big thing is!!!

Once you get it seasoned...NEVER WASH IT! just wipe with a paper towell when cool.I NEVER let water touch my cornbread pan.

 

[turquoisedude]

Aluminum not iron...

Eep - Should have mentioned this when I asked the question! I am going to guess that seasoning is going to be less important for cast-aluminum pans... If not, thank you all for the tips and techniques for seasoning cookware. Reminds me that I have a cast-iron pan or two still packed from the move in 2007 that haven't 'surfaced' yet... LOL

 

[maytagbear]

I agree

about cornstick pans needing to be seasoned if they are cast iron....and I have never seen one that was not cast iron. I would like one in heavy tinned or stainless steel.

I would now use edible flaxseed oil instead of Crisco. New Crisco (according to many culinary professionals, including Jean Anderson and James Villas,) is no longer suitable for seasoning cast iron, and edible flaxseed oil is.

Bacon dripping might work, (your mileage may vary) but not butter. Butter burns at too low of a temperature.

I would (just saying-) make the cornbread in a 9x9 pan or 13x9 pan, depending, or an already seasoned cast iron pan of some nature, and use the cornstick pan as the basis for a dried material centerpiece. Again, just what I would do.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[vintagekitchen]

Not Cat Iron..

I have seen but not used several vintage cornstick pans made of glass instead of cast iron. No idea how they would perform, but they were pretty.

 

[dustin92]

In the case of them being aluminum, I would just coat them rather heavily with non stick spray (pam, crisco, etc.) I prefer the butter flavored.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I'm a degreed chef, and I just go with butter and a layer of flour over it....this is and always will be the best way for cornbread, sponge cakes, and pastry cakes, not for cookies as the uncovered side will let flour to burn. Usually cookies does not stick to the pan for me, they came out easily when cold, for butter cookies and so tarts dough cookies I carefully sprinkle the bottom of them with a layer of flour too before putting them in the pan.....for bread and for italian "focaccia" , for who does not know what it is: it's kinda bannock, well for them I go with oil, more for focaccia and just a little layer for bread....I also use oil to grease pans for puff pastry, or Gnocchi alla Romana...
For the flour and butter method:
Just rub cool butter from refrigerator into the pan and help to spread the excess butter everywhere with your fingers, then put a little flour and let it stick to all the greasy sides of the pan and throw the little or what's left away, add immediately the mixture or the dough.

No nasty spray etc for me.... I leave them for mosquitos insecticide and furniture cleaners! LOL

I only have aluminum or stainless pans and nothing sticks into even cornbread. To be sure you should use baking paper.... LOL
The method of flour and butter is the best one, it will create an "air chamber" from pan and dough this way the dough will never touch directly the hot surface and so stick to it....for cornbread, sponge cakes and such is the best way you can go with.......

 

[launderess]

Pam & Other Cooking Sprays

Have found they tend to leave a sticky residue that is hard to shift even after washing and afterwhile turns yellow. Maybe it is the silicone and or whatever else that is in there?

Have several bits of cast alumium pots and pans for baking and cooking. Yes, you don't have to "season" them like cast iron. However make sure you are using lots of oil or fat before pouring your corn bread/stick batter.

Regarding the batter how much fat/oil does your mixture contain? Have you used it before and did the product come out of the pan easily?

These days tend to do corn muffins and use paper linings in the tins. This way one can make up a large batch then freeze any extras. Hot minute or so in the microwave and one has a quick breakfast, snack (with butter and or jam/jelly), or side to have with a meal.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Flour and butter @__@

Not for true southern cornbread!! You gotta have a crust to it, that only batter hitting a sizzling hot pan will create. Also this helps make it fluffier. It's sort of the same principle as yorkshire pudding, yeah, you can just bake it in a greased and floured pan, but it wont rise the same or taste the same as it will if you pour the batter in a sizzling hot pan. Besides, you most definitely do not want that light floury coating on the outside of cornbread, no no no.

Trust me, if there are any other southern guys on here, they will back me up that a sizzling hot greased pan is the method used by grandmothers all over the south.

Now corn muffins of the type Launderess describes one can use paper liner and a muffin tin, but here in the south, most people use preheated cast iron even for them. The antique fluted cast iron muffin tins used for it are treasured family heirlooms here.

 

[westie2]

Put a spoon full of crisco or bacon grease in each spot and stick in the oven to heat when the crisco or grease has melted good and pan is hot hot have your corn bread mixed and ready to go take the pan our of the oven tilt the pan around the corn impressions and the dump the extra out into yu corn meal batter and stir it in and then put the batter in and back in the oven. Hot pan and the grease will do it for no sticking and good brown crispy crust.

 

[launderess]

Cast Iron

Next to copper has to be one of the things one just really won't purchase again for my kitchen.

Love the results but the upkeep is just too much bother. *LOL*

Suppose if the things were used often it might be easier but don't use either that often. Have two vintage cast iron pans (Wagnerware, chicken fryer and deep grill pans), but neither see much action. For health reasons don't eat much deep fried foods, and grilling is done on a dedicated older HB unit where much of the thing can go into the dishwasher.

 

[circlew]

Southern cornbread

Vintagekitchen is right, a sizzlin' hot pan, preferably cast iron, is the only correct way to make cornbread. And very little if any sugar in the batter.

My Aunt Julie (Mississippi) always makes hers in an iron skillet, and uses white cornmeal and about a teaspoon of sugar at the most. My mom originally made hers that way, but my dad (a Yankee) didn't like it, so she started using Jiffy Corn Bread Mix. Aunt Julie came to visit, and said my mom's cornbread was more like cake because it was so sweet.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I Always made it that way and it actually comes out enough crispy and no flour coating so far....but I've undertstand what you mean and of course dropping in into the hot pan would result in a better taste, I bet it! I got what you mean! Never thought about it, actually I cook american not so often and cornbread is not so used to have at my home..... mostly what I make with cornbread are corned hotdogs to eat when I have dinner-movies with friends... Will give a try that way in September, now is just too hot to bake!
I think the method of Westie 2 would work good also, is almost what you do with omelettes and crepes.... just be sure that pan must be very hot though to avoid it to stick!

 

[vintagekitchen]

Cast Iron and Copper too much trouble

I second the motion! Lol.. I got rid of my copper when I realized there were more constructive uses of my time than polishing, and got rid of all but one iron skillet when I realized not using them often is the worst thing you can do to cast iron. The seasoning will slowly break down in the humid air of Kentucky if it is not fed by frequent use.

Some things reqire cast iron and just wouldnt be the same without it, but one skillet is plenty to fit my needs for those dishes.

 

[perc-o-prince]

I would personally never let anything other than the proper oil or grease touch my cast iron before baking. Never flour and never sprays that have anything other than 100% oil in them.

I have a couple of the cast iron versions of your pan, and many other pans for cornbread like sticks, wedges, etc. I've always understood that the heat/grease method for seasoning the pan, cast iron or aluminum, is basically the same. I don't think you can use the "oil-it-and-sit-it-in-a-paper-bag-in-a-warm/dark-area-for-a-month" method for aluminum.

For cooking, I always pre-heat my pan right from the cupboard then take it out, give it a quick greasing (the spray I buy is nothing but oil, but I usually use a silicone brush with butter when I wanna be really bad, or good, as the case may be!), then pop the batter in. I'm sure I could get away without greasing at all, but that does develop a good crust. The crust, IMHO, is what separates the man's cornbread from the boy's!

Chuck

p.s.- I also throw kernels of corn in mine whenever I can!

 

[launderess]

Gave Much of My Cast Iron Cookware Away As Well

Was a set one had put away in our "hope chest" ages ago that saw infrequent use once one setup housekeeping.

Fry, and various sauce pans, along with a Dutch oven and deep fryer went to a cousin who was that happy to have them.

NYC climate can be damp and or humid along with steam heating during the colder months meant the stuff usually sat mouldering and rusting from not being used. This no matter how often and well they were seasoned.

Then there is the fact certain foods just cannot or should not be cooked in or on cast iron. For instance would never make rice in a pure cast iron pot, nor anything acidic like tomato based dishes.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Then there is the fact certain foods just cannot or should n

Unfortunately so many people don't understand this, or the other point you made about them being stored away and not being used. The best friend to any cast iron pan is proper use! The more you (properly) use it, the better the pan gets!

And it's not a lot of work to properly maintain them. Use them properly, don't leave them on high, wipe them out, and dry them before storing them. If they're still fairly new, wipe them with a touch of oil before storage.

I must say that unlike Hans, I do lightly wash mine lightly with soap, and not just water, to clear away any food particles. Never scrub and never scour. I use a soft sponge like I use on the regular dishes. I always warm them after washing/wiping to drive away all the moisture.

Chuck

 

[dustin92]

I don't usually use soap on cast iron, usually just a brush and hot water, then dry it on the stove, oil it, heat it until it begins to smoke, then immediately turn off the heat. Wait for it to cool down a bit, then wipe away the excess oil with a paper towel or napkin. If things don't come off with just water, I will use a little soap, but never in the dishwasher.

 

[launderess]

Cast Aluminum and Iron Share A Number of Similar Properties.

Both are great at even heat distribution,but IIRC aluminum has a slight edge over iron in some respects or designs.

Both are inexpensive for the most part which is why you find so much early/vintage cookware made from them. Of course there are differences between BOL and TOL cookware made from each as with other materials as well. Quite allot of the cheap cast alumimum stuff comes from Asian countries such as Korea for example, and cannot hold a candle to the vintage Wagner or other American made goods.

Cast aluminum heats up faster than iron IIRC, which is good if one wants to get eggs/breakfast started in a hurry.

My previous comments aside a well made and properly seasoned/cared for cast iron or alumium griddle can be the most well used thing in a kitchen.

If you go to any diner, fast food or some such kitchen you'll see nearly 80% if not more of the dishes are prepared on a cast iron or alumium griddle. It might be a large one, but a griddle none the less. For doing eggs, bacon, flap jacks, open or closed sandwiches and countless other things you just cannot fail can you?

 

[kenmoreguy89]

When we used cast iron pans at school for omelettes and crepes we used to clean them with paper and salt......
Twice a week a wash with soap and hot water and them back all in the oven for the re-seasoning with oil, they were used almost daily, now I just do not know, cleaning with salt is what professor told us to do, always thought it wasn't a great thing for them as the salt will help and create rust on them and a professional kitchen is not what I'd call a "dry" place.....
They were used daily so rust issues never created....