You should avoid cooking acidic sauces in cast-iron pans for two reasons: first, the acid loosens trace amounts of molecules from the metal that can then leach into your foods, imparting a metallic flavor. While perfectly safe to consume, these metal flavors can be unpleasant.
The rest of us mortals should avoid overly acidic foods in our cast irons. On the same token, it's best not to deglaze a cast iron with vinegar or wine. Not only will the acidity of the liquid potentially react with exposed metal causing damage to the pan, it can impart a metallic taste to the food.
Highly Acidic Foods (Like Tomatoes)
The most common acidic food you might not want to cook in your cast-iron skillet is tomatoes.
Do not use steam iron cleaners or other fluids like vinegar as such solutions may damage the iron interior.
Vinegar is food, so yes, it is safe to cook with it, In fact there are many recipes some with and some without meat that call for vinegar. Boiling it is also safe.
For more pronounced sour balance issues, try honey, sugar, or cream and if all that fails a pinch of bicarbonate of soda will bring some alkaline to the dish to neutralise the acidity.
Option 1: Vinegar
Place the cast iron in the vinegar solution for no more than 30 minutes. Vinegar does a great job at removing rust, but it also eats away at the iron itself.
When you soak the steel wool in vinegar it removes the protective coating of the steel wool and allows the iron in the steel to rust. Rusting (or oxidation) is a chemical reaction between iron and oxygen, this chemical reaction creates heat energy which increases the temperature inside the beaker.
Common cooking oils like olive oil will gradually produce seasoning, but won't be as effective as grapeseed oil. Canola, other vegetable oils, and shortening are a little better.
Eggs fall into the category of sticky foods that are not ideal for cast iron skillets that haven't built up their seasoning yet. While cast iron can become non-stick with sufficient use over time, a newer skillet will almost certainly cause your eggs to stick to its porous surface.
If cast iron is left in the sink to soak, put in the dishwasher, or allowed to air dry, it will rust. It can also happen when you store your cookware in moisture-prone environments, such as a cabinet near a dishwasher, an open cabinet in a humid location, or stored outside.
All cast iron, whether natural or coated, has a much higher carbon concentration than other popular food-safe metals like stainless steel and aluminum. This means that natural cast iron is more susceptible to corrosion because when carbon combines with oxygen and water, rust forms.
In many cases, you should avoid cooking acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, lemon juice, wine, and vinegar in your cast-iron skillet.
Acid Foods
Any acid substance, including vinegar, citric acid and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can enhance iron absorption from sources of inorganic iron (the form of iron found in pills or plants, like ferrous sulfate.)
Vinegar-Marinated Pan-Fried Cod Filets | TASTE. It's a brief soak in vinegar before the cooking begins that gives these lightly fried cod filets an extraordinary one-two punch of tenderness and subtle sweetness.
Vinegar is commonly used to clean these appliances, but our team advises against it. Its acidic properties are known to damage the inner mechanics of irons, possibly shortening their lifespans. Some manufacturers discourage using this cleaning agent, as it can cause warranties on the appliance to become void.
To get your pan as good as new, add equal parts white vinegar and water to soak in the pan. While the pan is soaking, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Check on the pan after 30 minutes to an hour and scrub with a stiff-bristled brush to see if the rust is coming off.
Vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid, a weak acid, in water. It will dissolve zinc fast, but other common metals like iron, copper and aluminium, very slowly. Stainless steel is impervious, likewise the so-called 'noble metals' – ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold.
The answer is that vinegar will not harm your pipes if used in small doses as recommended in many of the recipes that you find online. No matter what your pipes are made of, pex, pvc, copper, etc. Vinegar will not harm your water pipes.
Yes, you can cook acidic foods in cast iron.
How to deep clean your iron. Most steam irons now have some form of self-cleaning, or 'anti-calc' system – use these regularly following the manufacturer's instructions. Alternatively, pour equal parts distilled white vinegar and water into the water reservoir until it's a third full.
3. Never boil vinegar or even heat it up. At high temperatures, concentrated acetic acid will become corrosive and can burn through metal and rock.
Few options: balance with sugar - but this will drastically change the taste. Add more volume of whatever else is in the stew essentially diluting it. Or you could a TRY to cook it for longer, sometimes it mellows out the sharpness, but you'll have to counter that with more liquid.
Too much vinegar can make the sauce too acidic, while too much garlic can make it very pungent and overpower the other flavours. Consider the texture of the sauce when blending. Some people prefer chunky chimichurri with visible pieces of herbs, while others prefer a smooth and creamy consistency.