Cast iron pans

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Originally Posted by BIG MAC

Funny Part about that recipe , it came out of a fishing magazine 20+ years ago ""In-Fisherman"" they had a recipe every month.

great way to cook a steak when its -30 out and not going to stand by the BBQ. :) :)

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That is a good one... I saw a similar recipe on TV 10 years ago and use it all the time...

Heat a well seasoned cast iron to a scortching heat on high for a few minutes... Then place a thin layer of salt directly on the pan. Kosher or chunky sea salt is better, but any will work. Then oil the steak(not the pan) and throw the steak on the burning salt and cook 2-3 minutes each side, or in the oven after if it's thick... Then top with pepper and maybe garlic butter if you have any and eat.

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

I have had to wire wheel a few over the years...Only safe way to remove rust. You can oil but that rust will keep coming back, and can be toxic.

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Maybe mistaken, I'd never use a sander either, unless..some of the pots and pans have an "unfinished" base on the inside of the pan, looks like it came through a brake lathe. Hundreds of circular grooves. I would find a way to smooth that right out and then go through the seasoning process. My old 12 incher, only gets wiped clean. Nothing sticks either.

My father gave me a cast iron pan and a horse shoe when I got married. He has a strange sense of humor. :)

All we use in our house is cast iron. Almost all of our pans came from yard sales or thrift shops. Never paid more than $15 for one. My favorites are older Wagners but the newer Lodge pans are usually pretty decent. The cooking surface on older pans was machined smooth which is key in my opinion. The new crap with the rough cast cooking surface is 110% useless. I've refurbished a number of old pans and I find oven cleaner works well at getting a lot of the caked on stuff off. I use a wire wheel for a final cleaning and polishing and then a quick seasoning and they're good to go.

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Originally Posted by Fisherman

Maybe mistaken, I'd never use a sander either, unless..some of the pots and pans have an "unfinished" base on the inside of the pan, looks like it came through a brake lathe. Hundreds of circular grooves. I would find a way to smooth that right out and then go through the seasoning process. My old 12 incher, only gets wiped clean. Nothing sticks either.

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The wire wheel is used when the iron has gotten rusted because some one did not care for it. To clean after use I normally scrub with hot water and a scruber, wipe dry with paper towel and then warm the pot/pan and apply oil to hot pan. My pans are dark black and smooth as glass.

None of our old cast pans ever got bad enough for drastic cleaning. The finish on this new pan looks like a step was missed in manufacturing but all the cast pans with the same name (Lagostina) were the same. Tried it with eggs and it shredded them.....even with the "preseasoned surface".
It was on sale, about 80% off, which was ok and once the chef gives up on it and it's "lifetime warrantee" I can take my grinder and polisher to it, then give it to her for Christmas next year......

I have never seen cast iron with more than a light layer of surface rust, or if it has been submerged or buried for quite a while, a bit of "blossom rust", which rubs off..Cast steel, or stamped steel will rust.

I dunno about thhe wire wheel or sanding. You guys do what you like, but your not touching my pans with that stuff. I have pans that ive been using for 20yrs or more, and have never seen a spec of rust. How can they rust if you use them all the time and oil them after each use? Doesnt make sense to me. Taking a wire wheel to them defeats the purpose of seasoning them, doesnt it? I dont even like to use aa scrubbie on mine, and 99% of the time I dont have to. Just a rinse in hot water, and wipe dry with a paper towel, set upside down over the burner I just turned off, then when dry and still warm, a light coating of oil.

S.

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Originally Posted by Sinker

I dunno about thhe wire wheel or sanding. You guys do what you like, but your not touching my pans with that stuff. I have pans that ive been using for 20yrs or more, and have never seen a spec of rust. How can they rust if you use them all the time and oil them after each use? Doesnt make sense to me. Taking a wire wheel to them defeats the purpose of seasoning them, doesnt it? I dont even like to use aa scrubbie on mine, and 99% of the time I dont have to. Just a rinse in hot water, and wipe dry with a paper towel, set upside down over the burner I just turned off, then when dry and still warm, a light coating of oil.

S.

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A wire wheel or sanding is done only IF the pan has been neglected by someone and rust has formed which causes pitting in the cast surface.
When the surface is smoothed out by preferably sanding with progressively finer sanding material, then the pan is seasoned and it is as new again.
I have done this with a couple of pans at the camp that others have left outside over the winter and for some reason or other had also scrubbed with soap and they where rusted badly, after sanding/smoothing out the surface and seasoning well they are as new again.
I have also left instructions on the cupboard on how to clean and look after them and since there have been no problems . [I said that serious harm would come to the person that neglects the cast iron pans :)] They are to use the other pans if they don't want to follow the procedure .

The ones I did were bought cheap at auction which is why they needed the cleaning/ seasoning.

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Originally Posted by patvetzal

It was on sale, about 80% off, which was ok and once the chef gives up on it and it's "lifetime warrantee" I can take my grinder and polisher to it, then give it to her for Christmas next year......

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I took my Lodge out to the garage last night and put the 120 grit resin fibre grinding disc to it (somewhat dirty job, but what grinding isn't?). What a difference. Knocked most the 'pebble' surface down and left it pretty smooth. I'll need to season it again but I can tell it's going to work better.