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Vintage Cast Iron?


willland

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16 minutes ago, willland said:

I rinse with warm water and scour with chain mail scrubber if needed.  Dry thoroughly and a little vegetable oil applied and wiped dry not not wet and sticky.

SMYLLS Stainless Steel 316 L Cast Iron Cleaner Chainmail Scrubber for Waffle Iron Pans,Seasoned Pan,Grill - Best Pot Brush (8Ã6 inch)

 

Bill

That's all that is needed unless the rust and pits are really bad. 

I use 8 different ones, I love these mostly because they're the easiest to clean and cook better than anything I have tried. I bought a large one used from someone who never used it, it had rusted pretty bad but was old and thick. I used a grinder with a medium sanding disc to get the worst part off, next a wire wheel until it was down to the metal. After washing I started seasoning it which took many times to get like I wanted, then use finished the seasoning. It's great and cost me $10 for a very heavy 15 1/4" skillet, I don't hesitate to buy used if there is plenty of metal left to work with. 

 

Many people think if they're not perfectly smooth on the bottom there no good, that's not true. I found after reading, some of the new machined to a perfect glass smooth finish on the bottom will tend to stick more no matter how there seasoned, it's the slight imperfections that make it better.

 

5 hours ago, willland said:

she gave me two of her old skillets, a no. 8 Griswold

That's probably the best and most expensive brand you can find, they get quite expensive used. I have no Griswolds unless it's unmarked or I don't know what to look for?

 

3 hours ago, jimjimbo said:

For anyone wanting to jump into the cast iron boat, the new Lodge products are pretty damn good, and pre-seasoned.

I have one Lodge, we bought it new from the outlet store and your right, it works great and just continues to season fine. I wanted it because it's unusual, it's 12" across the top and 10" on the bottom but has rounded sides instead of the normal straight on a slight angle like most are.

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Don't know what happened to that post, and it will not let me edit it, or even click the edit button?

 

 

9 minutes ago, babadono said:

Damn Yankees:)

Well at least he's washing it after use, could be worse.

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There's many ways you can clean them up after use, depends on what you've cooked, but using soap and water isn't damaging, but when that's needed I always do a quick seasoning on the stove, and they're good to go.   

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3 hours ago, willland said:

:unsure2:, but why is that? 

 

I was trying to be funny.... o O (I mean, like it was your first reply before 8:00 in the morning lol)... the cast iron skillet's remind me of the old day's, Grannie running Jethro out of the kitchen.... but in these modern time's, I use one of those copper pan's seen on the commercial's, on top of an electric Samsung glass top range...

 

But in all fairness and respect, I appreciate your restoration and vintage endeavors more than I can explain... but you can't have my T-shirt or nickname lol...

 

SLm.jpg

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I really was not sure what you meant.  If they had been severely warped, they would just go to oven duty only.

 

5 minutes ago, windashine said:

but you can't have my T-shirt or nickname lol...

 

Sorry don't want either.:D  I still have taste buds on my tongue and want to keep it that way.:P

 

Bill

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49 minutes ago, Pete H said:

There's many ways you can clean them up after use, depends on what you've cooked, but using soap and water isn't damaging, but when that's needed I always do a quick seasoning on the stove, and they're good to go.   

The soap just removes some of the oil left, I got into the habit of cleaning without soap. But like you said, I always clean and put it back on the stove to reheat and wiping with a little saved bacon grease or vegetable oil until it starts to smoke a little then just leave it cool down. Seems to work well so far.

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Always lightly grind then sand any new cast iron I get, then polish the crap out of it until  slick. Use grapeseed oil to season with, takes a little longer to get it seasoned good, but

is nonstick when your done and it stays seasoned!!

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18 minutes ago, dtel said:

They say about the worst thing is cooking tomatoes then leaving the pan uncleaned, something about the acid in tomatoes.

It can, but I've got 3 cast dutch ovens of varying sizes that have been used for batches of chili, pasta sauce, various deep fried food, hell, to much to remember and they've always survived and continued to cook well, but, I clean them up as soon as I'm done and only soak and use soap when it's needed.   

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3 hours ago, Pete H said:

It can, but I've got 3 cast dutch ovens of varying sizes that have been used for batches of chili, pasta sauce, various deep fried food, hell, to much to remember and they've always survived and continued to cook well, but, I clean them up as soon as I'm done and only soak and use soap when it's needed.   

I would not hesitate to do it either if the acid was that bad we shouldn't eat it, I guess it's just a perfectionist who says that? I read that somewhere, it made sense but also sounded a little silly.

I would think you can cook anything in it and clean it right and have no problem, it seems like my cast iron will easily outlast me unless I break it and I don't know how I could do that. I bet I could shoot it with a shotgun and not damage it.

 

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A few of the cast pieces I have are extremely old and came from my mom and my father in law and I haven't worn one out yet and can't imagine doing it.  When Denise moved in 8 years ago she brought over her cookware and all her non stick garbage and her eyes got really big when I threw it all away and she had never seen anyone cook with only cast, heavy stainless and copper clad.  I even have a cast waffle maker that goes on the grill or open flame on the gas range.  

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12 hours ago, willland said:

Well, some of the "patina" and seasoning is full of crud and flaking.  I will use the self cleaning oven method on low for two hours and after cooling, most of the crud will wash right off with rinsing with warm water.  Then scour the entire pan with 00 steel wool and ivory soap to remove any of the remaining old seasoning.  I will dry then bone dry and then start the new seasoning process with Crisco.

 

I learned all this from this guy and it is a great method to restore vintage cast iron pans and to create an even patina and seasoning.  

http://theculinaryfanatic.com/cast-iron-restoration-maintenance/restoration-maintenance-videos/

 

Bill

Do you live in the city or something? Just wondered.  That is not how it is done.  YOU BURN IT ALL OFF!  We cleared and seasoned ours twice a year when I was growing up...end of winter (last fire in fireplace) and beginning of fall  (first fire in the fireplace)...all white oak fire!  Cooks everything off of them and out of them...too easy!  Remove them after fire dies COMPLETELY...let them cool rest of the way down on edge of hearth!  Wipe them out and season them in oven!  TOO EASY!  My Dad said that you have to burn them to get EVERYTHING out of the porosity of the cast iron body of them, otherwise that stuff deep in there would NOT come out and give a weird flavor to your food, instead!  He and our ancestors always did it that way!...and so do I.  Dad refused to ever use vegetable oil or Crisco in the cast iron cookware...he said it made its way through the cast iron instead of sealing it, and caused the cookware to taste like whatever had been cooked in it using vegetable oils!  We used lard instead.  The flaky stuff on the outside of the cookware is what has made it thru the porosity of the iron from the inside to the outside...it started out as oil, grease, or lard inside of the cookware.  It will burn right off!...in a white oak fire!

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Bacon or other fat read renderings was used to store meat that was typically cured  or salted, fish for example. A can was a container of choice. After ccoking in a seasoned or even unseasoned pot or skillet,  utensil was wiped.  No worries cause other meals were to quickly follow suit. Really no wrong way to do it as, you cannot ruin the utensil, only the food so. A matter of taste as to what works best for the cook. Out of all the modern utensils, the adaptable iron one on a desert island, among other things, is what is required...

Pure out lard, some used Crisco when it came along.

Sorry Tarheel, could not erase your caption but, no directed at you.

10 hours ago, Tarheel said:

 

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5 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said:

Do you live in the city or something? Just wondered. 

Suburbs I guess.

5 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said:

That is not how it is done.  YOU BURN IT ALL OFF! 

I think 700 to 800 degrees in the oven burned it off just fine.:P

 

6 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said:

We always used the grease from the bacon-fat can on the stove for seasoning our cast iron cookware...never Crisco

My grandmother and mom used bacon grease, lard and Crisco.  Whatever they had on hand.

 

Bill

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