Phew!!!!!, this pan is a high blood pressure inducing cooking utensil. Geez, it threatened my resolve and the only reason I stuck with it is because I am stubborn. Mama and I had a standing battle of wills for years until my father said to me, Ola, she is never going to relent, she is your mum, you are just going to have to channel that stubbornness into positive things and stop logging heads with your mother. Both of you are two of the same kind, and she was on this earth before you, so forget it, you can’t win. Mama and I, our relationship has evolved into that of mutual respect and she knows that when I have my stubborn hat on, she should just let me be until I see reason. #advantageofbeingagrownup. hahahahahaha.

Channeling that stubbornness made me stick with this stupid kasko pan. Yes, I said stupid, bite me. What the heck? All the suggestions I was given from multiple sources, did not work at first. I threw away a humongous batch of masa batter because the flipping thing kept sticking. Yes, I am mad, allow me to rant. I decided to create this post, to share my experience, which will hopefully help someone else. The thing about Nigerian cooking is that there are lots of very handy tips that are only passed down via word of mouth. We have no record of these handy tips, which is where food blogs come in. A repository for life, your quick solution to run to if you have any problems. At the height of my frustration, I googled how to season a kasko pan. Of course I knew Google won’t have the answer, but it gave me temporary relief hoping I would find something there. Of course zilch. So, I Googled how to season an iron pan, not that much help, then I remembered my grandma’s famous words, which she always brought out much to your annoyance when you were struggling with something she told you to do. It went as thus

 “nkan ti o ba lenu, o le gbon ju eyan lo”

This literally means, what can’t speak cannot be smarter than you. In summary, you have a brain, it doesn’t so it shouldn’t beat you, use your head and figure it out. My friend Ade got this pan brand new from Nigeria. She too followed the rule of rub with oil, place in the oven for 1 hour on the highest heat. Taaaa!!!! Mschew!!! It did NOT work.

This is what it turned out after the first 1 hour in the oven.

Unbeknown to me, you shouldn’t wash a kasko pan with soap and water. You only need to wipe it. Oh, now why wasn’t I told that before. I washed with soap, I forgot to put it away and my cleaning lady came over and scrubbed it with a sponge and soap again. Oh dear. Ade said, back to square one you go girl!!! So, I started again. Rubbed with oil.

ready for the oven.

Some tips I found said leave in the oven for 6 hours or overnight. Oti. This is a very apt Yoruba word for, “you must be kidding me”. 6 WHAT!!! Nuh uh. Aint getting a sweet old electricity bill because of a stupid pan, am I going to eat it? Lol

So, I placed in the oven and set the timer to max, which was 2 hours 30mins, and also turned the dial to max, 250.

2 hours 30minutes later, and leaving it in the oven to cool down undisturbed, here is the kasko pan.

Hopefully, the heat worked its magic. Major eye roll

Another tip I found was to add oil to the holes, add chopped onions to the oil and let it fry till it burns

You also get the added bonus of onion flavoured Masa.

Sieve out the onion and start frying. Oh, even after all that, the first batch I fried stuck and I was close to flinging this kasko pan out of the window. When I calmed down a bit, I figured out that it must be my Masa batter that is the problem, so I stared hard at the thing, re-jigged the batter a bit to make it thicker, added more yeast and left it to rise a bit more. I was so highly strung out by this time, I dug into the freezer for a Magum Gold bar, it never tasted so good, I swear. #teamfitfam, you are allowed to judge me, I don’t care. Loooooool.

I conquered the Kasko pan, so here is a summary of what to do. An online first. A record for life. Okay people, say thank you. Loooooooooool

• When you get a brand new pan, rub with oil, and place in the oven for 3 hours on high heat. Come on, don’t complain, I was told 6 hours. This cuts it by half. Lol
• Leave it in the oven and let it cool down undisturbed.
• if you are not frying immediately, add oil to the holes, fill with chopped onions and let it fry till the onions burn. Sieve out the onions.
• After frying, simply wipe the kasko pan. Do NOT wash the kasko pan with soap. Even if you have stuck burnt bits, just dab the burnt bits with a little water to soften, and then gently scrape off
• Re-season your kasko pan every couple of months.

If you live outside of Nigeria, an alternative to a kasko pan is the Ebelskiver Filled Pancake pan or a Norpro Danish Aebleskiver Pan. You can find it at Williams Sonomer or our friendly old Amazon. If you live in the UK, Amazon also sells it. You betcha, I am getting that pan. THE NON STICK VERSION. With all pleasure, I am returning this one to Ade.

See you on the next post, I will be discussing, well you guessed it. Masa. The recipe will go up much later in the day. Ramadan Kareem guys!!!!

The post How to season a Kasko (masa) Pan appeared first on Dooney's Kitchen.