Cast iron frying pans

[OVERKILL]

I'm picking up some very old, pre-seasoned frying pans for use at the house and the cottage. I'm hoping to be able to transition pretty much all my cookware to cast iron (and getting rid of anything aluminum that we might have in the cupboard), most of this based on the discussions we've had on here as to the merits of using cast iron in the kitchen.

Of course the link to aluminum and Alzheimer's certainly helped my decision here

Now, is there anything I should be aware of? I've never owned any cast iron cookware, so I'm a bit of a novice on this subject. Yes, I've used it in the past, but never actually had to care for it, as it wasn't my own.

Thanks!

 

[earlyre]

my

see this similar question posted over @ deals.woot.com a while back.
here's the tidbits i contributed though:

"the lodge people put 350 in their instructions, Alton brown said 350 on good eats, but both have said, that temp recommendation was from the lawyers. the real temp you want is 500. oil 'er up, into a cold oven, up to 500 for an hour, kill the oven, leave it in until cool.
this is going from memory BTW, could be faulty.

when i bought my woot skillet, researched the "proper way" to season, the best results seemed to come from safflower oil..IIRC..

but yeah, the best, easiest way is just to USE IT. and USE IT OFTEN."

someone asked about a pan they found @ a thrift store, with some rusty patches my response:
"sand/wire brush the rust away, then season as stated above.

if it has a funky/chunky/clunky/ otherwise bad season, there are 2 main ways to get rid of the season down to a clean starting point.
#1 involves soaking in lye, which is very caustic, and not something i wanna mess around with. (i'm sure google will turn something up)
#2 is HIGH heat. like throw it in a campfire heat. (or, put it in your oven, and run it through a self clean cycle, which is up to 800 degrees for around 4 hours.)
then just clean /brush off the ash, and season as above."

though honestly, you'll see just as many differing techniques, as you'll have people giving you advice.
the easiest, cheapest way to maintain a good season, is 1)keep soap usage to a minimum (lots of folks say never use any)
and the big one:2) USE IT! over &over &over again.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Go to lodgemfg.com site and look up Use and Care for cast iron. That info provides you with everything you need to know about its care.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JayhawkRoy
Go to lodgemfg.com site and look up Use and Care for cast iron. That info provides you with everything you need to know about its care.


Thank you very much!

 

[63Marauder]

Re-season them. You don't want other people's junk in there. Don't cook anything that has water in it. When done cooking with them wipe it out and store in your oven(that's what I do)

 

[Rolla07]

I have one and love it. I cant get used to not washing them..i wash it anyways and use steel wool to clean it. It rusts but a quick spin of steel wool and its good to go. Used mine 12 yrs so far and works great.

 

[eljefino]

+2 rubbing steel wool on it just feels cathartic. I don't care if it wrecks it.

 

[Brybo86]

don't buy lodge, Google new vs old cast iron, buy Griswold,Wagner, favorite, etc the older the better,

 

[simple_gifts]

I have a skillet that I brought brand new. It has a small lip; I find it much more useful than any fry pan, since 1/4 of the diameter of the pan is used up and it is hard to get a spatula down the side. I do boneless chicken in olive oil, burgers (about once a year lol) and pancakes.

As a rule I tend to warm it up slowly; most of what I cook is done at < 200F. Very useful.

Gets a dash of water and a scubbie pad for cleaning.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
don't buy lodge, Google new vs old cast iron, buy Griswold,Wagner, favorite, etc the older the better,


I'm not, as I said in the OP, I'm buying some extremely old vintage pans

 

[CourierDriver]

I have several cast-iron skillets. They are all Lodge skillets. Lodge Mfg is only an hour or so away from me.

My seasoning technique: If its new, I pour cooking oil in skillet just to cover the skillet and swipe the walls too. I then place the skillets in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour or so , then let cool. I just do cornbread mainly. When the cornbread falls out of the skillet when I flip it over, the skillet is perfect. If it does not fall out, I re-do the skillet with oil again.

 

[flacoman]

Clean by scrubbing with a wet paper towel loaded with kosher salt.

 

[spasm3]

If its a new pan, i like to cook a high fat, lower salt meat such as sausage ( not bacon or cured ham at first). After cooking the sausage( best done out doors on a grill sideburner) take the pan with sausage grease and heat it till its really hot till the grease is smoking ( this carbonizes the fat and fills the pores of the metal), turn off the heat and let it cool completely. Wipe out the grease. Cook several more high fat low salt meats to finish seasoning it. After that you can cook bacon, or really anything, and it will be non stick! Clean it with water only! no soap. if something is a bit stuck, warm water and a bit of salt. You will find that properly seasoned cast iron is easy to cook with and easy to clean.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
don't buy lodge, Google new vs old cast iron, buy Griswold,Wagner, favorite, etc the older the better,
Whats wrong with Lodge? I have 2 Lodge cast iron pans and they are excellent!

 

[sleddriver]

Cook's Illustrated did a test on cast iron a few years back. You might want to look it up. They discovered some different oil to season pans with worked the best. Don't remember.

I've had mine for 25+ years now. It's turned black from age & use. I use only hot water and a nylon scrub brush to clean it as rarely does anything ever stick. Don't use dish soap and don't put it in the dishwasher...ever.

If you cook a dish with lots of tomatoes, the acid from the fruit can diminish the coating over time. If you cook cornbread in it and it tastes like metal, you know your pan needs a good clean and to be seasoned.

They're great for cooking & frying. After all, they wear like.......iron.

 

[Barkleymut]

While donating blood recently I picked up a brochure on how to keep your iron levels high enough to donate. Turns out using iron cookware is one of the best ways...

That said I know virtually nothing about cooking, so why don't you want to use soap on iron?

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: Barkleymut

That said I know virtually nothing about cooking, so why don't you want to use soap on iron?


Soap will remove the carbonized fats that fill the pores of the iron. If you use soap you will unseason the pan. Unseasoned cast iron leaves a metallic taste to food and has no nonstick ability. Properly seasoned cast iron is very non stick.

 

[Rolla07]

In using steel wool soap pads ive never had any metallic taste but i do agree its not as nonstick as it used to be. Although im sure you can reseason it if you choose. I toss a little butter or margarine in when doing pancakes..dont have issues with anything else sticking though. My folks just wipe the pan out with a paper towel..although they only use it for pancakes..

 

[LAGA]

Use the burner from a propane turkey fryer to season your skillet. As earlyre said, the hotter the better. Plus when you do it outside smoke becomes a non-issue. You really need to get it hot enough for the oil to carbonize. Thats what makes the cast iron black and non stick. Once it is properly seasoned you can wash with a soapy sponge or 3M pad if needed and never touch the seasoning.

 

[UncleS2]

My standard method for cleaning cast iron skillets(an old 12" Wagner & a semi-new 8" Lodge) is this- use hot tap water & a plastic mesh pot scrubber. If something seems burned on- cover it with plain water & heat on the stove to a simmer. Turn off & let it stay there & cool slowly.

Everything just wipes out. Wipe dry with a paper towel if you like. No soap- ever. If you have to heat on the stovetop- and that should be a *Very* rare thing- it may need a light re-oil at most.

#1 best thing to make in a cast iron skillet- Cornbread!