I use my lodge 12" skillet mostly. I just got a staub Dutch oven from the wifey for Christmas, so I have yet to try the thing out. I already own a lodge Non-enamel Dutch oven, and I use that for all my stews. I will probably switch out to the staub once I get it seasoned. I also own a 10" skillet and a 10" pancake pan. I think they are all needed =p
Cast Iron Pan
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If you want plain ole' cast iron, Lodge is probably the best brand for the money. Enameled cast iron, however, is a different story. Le Creuset is the absolute best, the benchmark, for this kind of cookware. Other brands are available for half the price, but the enamel coating isn't as durable. Plain seasoned cast iron, though, should work well for most anyone's needs.
If the surface seems too rough use some 100 grit sandpaper and take SOME of the roughness off, but not all the roughness. About a dozen times around the pan by hand is all it should take. The idea is to take off the sharp peaks yet leave the valleys. If you remove too much roughness it will not season nicely. (did that once, got a near mirror finish with some power tools....still can't get that pan to season evenly.)
Soap, regular hand washing dish soap is fine. Take the warm pan, rinse it out, use soap on the rag and then rinse and dry. Letting the pan soak is harder than a round with dish washing liquid. Washing the pan while still warm is best as cooling seems to make everything stick harder. I use soap every fourth of fifth time I use the pan. A trip through the dishwasher will strip the seasoning off immediately, which may not be bad for a garage sale find when you first get it home.
If you think the coating is getting thin, just re-season it in the oven with some shortening.
Phil
Soap, regular hand washing dish soap is fine. Take the warm pan, rinse it out, use soap on the rag and then rinse and dry. Letting the pan soak is harder than a round with dish washing liquid. Washing the pan while still warm is best as cooling seems to make everything stick harder. I use soap every fourth of fifth time I use the pan. A trip through the dishwasher will strip the seasoning off immediately, which may not be bad for a garage sale find when you first get it home.
If you think the coating is getting thin, just re-season it in the oven with some shortening.
Phil
Not surprising that so many wet shavers are also devotees of cooking with cast iron. Effectiveness, simplicity and quality as opposed to marketing carries over into all parts of life.
There is perhaps almost as much written about seasoning cast iron cookware as wet shaving. A few years ago while looking to restore a rusted cast iron double griddle, I stumbled upon my other beloved online community, chowhound.com They have an extensive cookware message board with folks who are as knowledgeable as folks on this board. Go to http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/41 and type cast iron in the search box. You could loose hours if not days reading up on seasoning strategy.
My preferences:
I view the Lodge pre-seasoning as simply that, seasoning before seasoning. Although they do a good job, it does not match the years of seasoning on Gramdma's skillet. When I get a new Lodge pan, I cover in a thin coat of Lard (and I mean thin) and bake for 1 hour at 500 degrees. I will repeat this at least one more time and use it as an opportunity to supplement the heat on very cold days. Occasionally, I'll do the same thing using vegetable shortening.
One of the posters mentioned that animal fat can go rancid, this is correct. However, it done correctly the fat molecules literally bond with the molecules of iron. If your pan is sticky, you have too much oil and should scrub it off, or bake it more. Last year for the first time, I used my cast iron on gas and charcoal grills in the summer primarily for their superb searing ability.
Frying hamburger, bacon or salt pork at high temperature is great for your pan. The best seasoning over time is to simply use the pan.
There is perhaps almost as much written about seasoning cast iron cookware as wet shaving. A few years ago while looking to restore a rusted cast iron double griddle, I stumbled upon my other beloved online community, chowhound.com They have an extensive cookware message board with folks who are as knowledgeable as folks on this board. Go to http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/41 and type cast iron in the search box. You could loose hours if not days reading up on seasoning strategy.
My preferences:
I view the Lodge pre-seasoning as simply that, seasoning before seasoning. Although they do a good job, it does not match the years of seasoning on Gramdma's skillet. When I get a new Lodge pan, I cover in a thin coat of Lard (and I mean thin) and bake for 1 hour at 500 degrees. I will repeat this at least one more time and use it as an opportunity to supplement the heat on very cold days. Occasionally, I'll do the same thing using vegetable shortening.
One of the posters mentioned that animal fat can go rancid, this is correct. However, it done correctly the fat molecules literally bond with the molecules of iron. If your pan is sticky, you have too much oil and should scrub it off, or bake it more. Last year for the first time, I used my cast iron on gas and charcoal grills in the summer primarily for their superb searing ability.
Frying hamburger, bacon or salt pork at high temperature is great for your pan. The best seasoning over time is to simply use the pan.
Try hitting Estate and garage sales for cast Iron all of mine are 50 to 100 years old and seasoned for decades by lard or bacon dripping.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
Excellent posts. I did not want to get into the What Your Great Grandma Did thing as I have also used bacon grease to season. It works very well! But, if you don't use the iron everyday and re-grease the iron after every use (I don't after every use) the grease could go rancid in warm climates.
I'm interested in the correct way to get the fat molecules bonded...please expand. Although I'm sure it's the too much grease thing.
Anyways, just slap some grease on it and get it real hot for an hour or so, then cook with it for a long, long time.
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- For me it is good to season pans while using the BBQ
- Lard, bacon and lots of it, and even hot dogs contribute to the seasoning
- Thin layers over time is the best
- Temps up around 500 F make for a black finish. For me there is a limit to how cool works . . . too cool makes a brown seasoning that is sometimes sticky.
After use . . . bit of cool down while we eat our meal. A little hot as we can get water into the pan in the sink after the meal. . . swoosh with a plastic scruber . . . rinse, dry, wipe with the paper towel that has the bacon grease on it or use a bit of oil to wipe into the pan . . . bit of heat on the burner . . . and turn burner off to dry.
You can season a pan on a burner on the stove but the heat from an oven or BBQ tends to do a more even job. I.e. on a burner the corners and sides don't heat up as much as the bottom.
Everybody has slightly different ways of doing this. . . eventually most work.
Some people are ok with the rough finish. My pan was prickly to the point of quickly wearing away the tip of my flipper. Eggs were difficult unless I floated them on more oil than I was comfortable with.
I used 60 grit with a palm sander followed by 100 and a bit of hand work. The pan still has more texture than my other vintage pans but now it is more pebbled than scratchy sharp.
Again it is each to our own tastes.
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that's what you are looking for. try out some easy meals with them 1st, ground beef, sausages, onions etc.
we have had ours for a while now and use it quite often, with the exception of EGGS. we've tried them a few times, never turn out.
like others have said, when cleaning up, just use a new brush and some water. we clean ours immediately after the food comes out, wash with water, pat dry with paper towel, pout 1tb of oil in and rub it around while it's still hot.
they are great pans, enjoy.
Anything from Lodge. Also, take a look at thrift shops. Don't bother with anything rusty that you have to refinish, but you can find good clean cast iron pans for next to nothing. Watch for sales and look everywhere. I mean everywhere - outdoor stores, sporting goods (in camping), home repair shops (mine carries them), in addition to the traditional store and online.
BTW - the key to eggs is (1) make sure the pan is well seasoned, (2) Use plenty of oil (I would suggest light olive oil), and (3) get the pan extremely hot - as in 8+ or so depending on your stove burner. I get consistent non-stick results in 3 cost iron pans when cooking eggs following these guidelines. If eggs do stick on me - which is rare now - I have usually not allowed the pan to heat up enough.
Also, a quick guide on what size pans you might want.
Two/Three people - 12 inch round pan.
Two People - 10 inch Square pan.
one person - 10 inch round pan. In reality, I wouldn't buy this one again. the 10 inch square pan will cover where this pan would be used.
Making cornbread - 8 inch round pan.
Finally, make sure you do a quick re-season after each use. I usually use shortening and heat the pan up for 4-5 minutes.
You will save a ton of money on worn out "non-stick" pans by going cast iron.
I just got my first Lodge cast iron pan in the mail last week and made fantastic homemade crutons in it. Even though it's already pre-seasoned, should I season it again? Any suggestions?
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Still good advise.
Still good advise.
I suggest that you just use it. Each use can help contribute to the seasoning of the pan, unless it is something with a high liquid content. lodge has good instructions posted on their site for reasoning those pans.
Two important things to do when seasoning is to make sure that you use a thin coat of oil or Crisco. And place the pan upside down in the oven so that a pool of grease does not puddle up on the bottom, which creates a soft sticky layer.
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The best things about Estate sale or garage sales ones are they are well seasoned and easy to clean to start using.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
I'm far from being any kind of expert, and you seem well versed in cast iron. But...I do have to disagree on the not bothering with rusted items (unless you just really, really, really don't want to mess with it). If you can find something that is a bit rusted, but doesn't have any pitting or not rusted through, you can use the method that I used in this thread. And...they might just give it to you!
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=171936
It's not labor intensive at all...a bunch better than elbow grease.
The Wagner and Griswold Society website is another good reference for cleaning and seasoning, among many others.
http://www.wag-society.org/cleaning.php
How do you say "Hell yeh!".
I'm far from being any kind of expert, and you seem well versed in cast iron. But...I do have to disagree on the not bothering with rusted items (unless you just really, really, really don't want to mess with it). If you can find something that is a bit rusted, but doesn't have any pitting or not rusted through, you can use the method that I used in this thread. And...they might just give it to you!
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=171936
It's not labor intensive at all...a bunch better than elbow grease.
The Wagner and Griswold Society website is another good reference for cleaning and seasoning, among many others.
http://www.wag-society.org/cleaning.php
How do you say "Hell yeh!".
That whole electrolysis process seemed a bit complicated and potentially dangerous. However, I haven't actually tried it.
Plus, on craigslist, I have seen clean, non-rusty cast iron pans for very little money, making the pure dollar trade off of doing electrolysis a non-starter for me at least.
However, if someone is just interested in giving de-rusting a shot, they can get rusty cast iron for nothing or next to nothing, do the electrolysis, and reseason and have a great pan.
The only other caveat I would give on buying used cast iron is ensure that it is flat! Bought an 8 inch pan used once and turned out not to be flat, so didn't heat evenly on the burner. Worked for cornbread though!
you can also try pawn shops.one of the ones in my town has a good selection of old cast iron.some rusty ,some perfect.dutch ovens,pans unusual cornbread molds.i bought one for making corn sticks.
Grease it with Crisco shortening and bake it in your oven at 350 degree's F. for about 1/2 hour. It should have a nice bronzed look to it after the Crisco bakes in. Afterwards just let it cool and then it's ready to go.
Clayton
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
Yes, you are entirely right on getting a pan in good shape if it is your first, second, or even third pan and then you can just get cooking!
I do agree that the electrolysis can be a hazard and inconvenience for some people, like those living in an apartment, but if you have a secure area free from disturbances and would like to rescue an item it can be an option.
There may be an analogy between getting all of your vintage razors shave ready (or close to it) off of B/S/T or the satisfaction of finding them in the wild and cleaning them up yourself!
As always, YMMV according to your circumstances...and doing electrolysis on cast iron is not like soaking something in scrubbing bubbles.
Right now I'm letting my 10 inch indoor dutch oven bake at 400 for 30 minutes after oiling...after it was cleaned up and baked without any oil for about 15 minutes at 450. I hope it turns out well.
It seems like I learn something everyday.
