Picked up a Lodge loaf pan....

[WILCO]

From Gander Mountain earlier today. I've been wanting one for quite some time and I'll be putting it to work on meatloaf duty and maybe souther beer bread. [smilie=s:

[Rick N Bama]

Is it the pre-seasoned? We've just started using a new Lodge skillet that had been hiding in a closet for around 10 years or so. I don't think Crazy Glue would stick to it.

Cast Iron is good stuff. I snagged a Wagner 8 stick Breadstick pan yesterday at a Yard Sale. $2.00 OTD:)

Rick

[Tom W.]

I saw a bunch of Wagner locally, but they were all $20 - $35. Griswold is very rare.

[WILCO]

Is it the pre-seasoned? Cast Iron is good stuff. I snagged a Wagner 8 stick Breadstick pan yesterday at a Yard Sale. $2.00 OTD:)


Yep! It's the pre-seasoned one. Cast iron is good stuff. Congrats on the yard sale and closet finds! :drinks:

[WILCO]

I saw a bunch of Wagner locally, but they were all $20 - $35. Griswold is very rare.

For a while, I was buying stuff whether I needed it or not. I've since come to my senses and only buy what I need to round out a suitable collection for the kitchen.

[Blacksmith]

My Cast Iron is used every day, keeps getting better.

[Rick N Bama]

Bless her heart, but my wife doesn't like to cook in cast iron except for Cornbread which is a staple around my house. Anyway not long ago I got the 10" skillet out to fry up some Bacon with her telling me that it would certainly stick. Well sir after I fried it up I poured off the grease into the container we use for that purpose & then wiped the skillet out with some paper towels. I had one small spot that required a bit of elbow grease to remove, but that was it, no muss & no fuss! I'm frying fish this afternoon out on the grill using that same 10" skillet.

FWIW, my daughter in law & son are using a skillet that belonged to her G-Grandmother. It is well over 100 years old & still going strong. I fully expect my Grandchildren to use our CI at some point in their lives....after we're gone that is:)

Rick

[Le Loup Solitaire]

They're great for making your own bread. I'm not familiar with the one made by Lodge, but picked up one made by Griswold and another by Wagner a few years ago. They were expensive then, but needed in the collection...nowadays forget it. A Griswold now without the lid will run you $400.+ and a Wagner- well over a hundred++....if you can find either. The Wagners (there is a double version) may have been made by GHC (General Housewares Corp) a company that bought out Wagner post 1957., but it still carries the original WagnerWare logo. You can bake very well in any cast iron skillet if you want/have to. It may require a rub with some Crisco or a shot of no-stic or some bacon grease in addition to the regular seasoning of the iron, but the results are good. Cast iron made over the last century or more is still going strong; it never wears out so just keep it seasoned and keep cooking. LLS

[Wayne Smith]

I made some corn muffins in a cast iron fruit mold the other night. Usually just make cornbread in my skillet, but this was fun.

[KCSO]

I do a lot of dutch oven cooking in camp and we use cast at home for all our fried foods. Most of our cast came from older family members, I have my Grandmothers 12" skillet and a big griddle.

[ErikO]

We ahve a porceline-lined DU that works wonders. Best thing made in it so far is chicken and dumplings.

I got three CI skillets (8", 10" and 12") from a Harbor Freight type place for $20 a few years back. Even those rough cast things work great. Seasoning them made the house smell like a foundary, wish my grill hadn't died.

[Four-Sixty]

When I'm done with the cast iron I let it cool down and wipe it out. You don't need soap. That alone saves a little money (and the fact that you'll never have to replace it - unlike aluminum skillets).

But, everyone seems grossed out by that when I tell them. Heck, in the good ol' days on the range, I just found out, they used to clean them with dirt becasue they did not have soap and water handy. Dirt!

Most people today are wimps.

[Wayne Smith]

Sand is a very good way to clean CA. In fact, beach sand with salt in it works well, the only practical use of salty sand I have ever found! Hated camping in it at 13 yrs old and never have again.

[bob208]

lehmans sells new preseasoned lodge

[WILCO]

Most people today are wimps.

That's true.

[Moonie]

Love my cast iron, prefer it for cooking over everything else, I have a 12" casserole (skillet with 2 loop type handles), a dutch oven, a 12" grill pan and a 10" skillet. Wife hates it, won't lift any of it, but then I do all the cooking.

[WILCO]

Love my cast iron, prefer it for cooking over everything else........

Same here. Just did a Blueberry bread in my new loaf pan. Love the baking season!

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I have 2 of the lodge bread pans , they were only limited runs till recently , there was that much demand for them , we paid a mint for ours in a limited run 20 each i think

i just picked up a pre 1922 wagner from sydney ohio , at good will for 9 dollars the other day , burned it off and re seasoned it , i have been told by the wife i have to much cast iron so when i find pieces like this cheap i recondition them and give them as gifts i have a cousin who is getting married this year she will be getting the antique Wagner as a gift

[dagger dog]

Never clean your seasoned cast with any thing but water,and certainly don't use an abrasive.

If some thing does stick, remove what you can with wood or heavy plastic spatula, add enough water to cover the stuck on matter, put the vessel back on the burner-heat source bring to a boil, shut off the heat and let it set until it's cool. You should be able to wipe it out with a towel.

Sugar, and sugary foods are the worst and may take a couple times but this process saves the finish and keeps the non stick properties of the seasoning.

[PB234]

"Cast Iron is good stuff. I snagged a Wagner 8 stick Breadstick pan yesterday at a Yard Sale. $2.00 OTD"

I realize you are going to use and enjoy it yourself and its value doesn't matter, but it is worth many times what you paid for it to a collector. Nice thing about cast iron is you can use it for years and then your grandchildren can use it for years. Great stuff and makes great corn bread. Put it in the oven and let it get hot before you pour the batter into it. Gives you a better crust.

[WILCO]

i have been told by the wife i have to much cast iron so when i find pieces like this cheap i recondition them and give them as gifts......

I've done that in the past too. It's just another way to share the love of cast iron cooking.

[Rick N Bama]

"Cast Iron is good stuff. I snagged a Wagner 8 stick Breadstick pan yesterday at a Yard Sale. $2.00 OTD"

I realize you are going to use and enjoy it yourself and its value doesn't matter, but it is worth many times what you paid for it to a collector. Nice thing about cast iron is you can use it for years and then your grandchildren can use it for years. Great stuff and makes great corn bread. Put it in the oven and let it get hot before you pour the batter into it. Gives you a better crust.

I can't find the pan I bought on listed anywhere on the net which makes me think it may be have been made after the company was sold. In fact, 11 stick pans are all I'm finding in the Breadstick line & mine is an 8 stick.

It did a good job making breadsticks Wednesday and whether or not it's a collector item I'm happy with my $2.00 find:) Thing is I only bought it due to it being a Wagner and I bet we won't use it once every year or so.

Rick

[Mooseman]

Here is a Lodge 7 stick...http://www.basspro.com/Lodge-Logic-7-Stick-Cornstick-Pan/product/10202807/?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

And here is one for us fishermen...http://www.basspro.com/Lodge-Logic-Cast-Iron-Cornbread-Pan-Perch/product/56161/?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

[Tom W.]

Before my wife died I bought a Lodge biscuit pan. I love it...
http://www.basspro.com/Lodge-Logic-Cast-Iron-Drop-Biscuit-Pan/product/56159/?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i also have the biscuit pan , i love drop biscuits , they are 12 minutes in the oven , and the canned venison take just about that long to make gravy , makes for a great breakfast or dinner


I also have a 2 muffin pans , they make very nice muffins

the cast iron pizza pan is also great

[sixshot]

You hear it from time to time.....never use soap to clean your oven, I've used it for many years, once the oven is seasoned soap will have no ill effect on it. I know many guys who cook all summer in competition & many of them clean up with soap. I have 14 ovens & use them some of them every week, nothing finer.

Dick

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Wagner bought out Griswold in 1957. They continued to use Griswold patterns and marked them with both logos i.e. the Griswold double circle and cross as well as the stylized "Wagner Ware". By 1959 Wagner along with the everything that they got from Griswold was sold to General Housewares Corp. GHC continued to use the patterns of both companies for quite a while, but the quality was noticeably a lot less than what either W or G used to make. Generally two models of bread-stick pans were made; the longer ones and the shorties. The shape of the bread-stick was the same in both. They make excellent ingot molds as well as good bread-sticks. Some of the variations are rare and occasionally pop up on E-Bay or in antique shops for big bucks. A collector named Jon Haussler wrote at one point a soft cover book on the Gem Pans (as they are called) about 10 years ago dealing with the various model made by Griswold. It showed all the variations complete with pictures and prices at that time. It drove other collectors crazy and became the Gem Pan-muffin pan authority/reference for those with the interest and the money. You can find the book in many antique stores or perhaps in a library or Barnes and Noble. Its a good source for finding out according to the shape or the writing on the back of what you have and what its worth. LLS

[Wayne Smith]

Before my wife died I bought a Lodge biscuit pan. I love it...
http://www.basspro.com/Lodge-Logic-Cast-Iron-Drop-Biscuit-Pan/product/56159/?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

I just saw that on the other link. Seems to me it would be excellent for popovers? Unfortunately LOML can't eat much flour products, somewhat allergic. I won't be making them, but they are good!

[troy_mclure]

I like cooking with cast iron, but its not too friendly on the modern glass top stoves.

[Wayne Smith]

We have had a glass (tempered) top stove for the past six or seven years. Cast iron is used on it routinely, 4 or 5 times a week. I will probably cook some steaks on it tonite in my cast iron fry pan.

There is a story behind this one. For years Dad had a pan and lid, both cast. This pan has a slight rim just inside the base so the whole bottom of the pan does not rest on the burner, probably made with a gas stove in mind. I had moved out and had picked up a square cast iron pan, I have no idea where. Dad saw that one day when he was visiting and wanted it to use on his Coleman stove, he thought he would have more room with a square pan. I told him I'd trade him for the lidded one, and he bit. For years he tried to trade back, I never would. I have no idea what happened to the square one, but I still have that lidded pan and still use it. It is really useful for brazing meat.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The rim on the bottom of CI usually on older skillets is called a fire ring. It was put there, in the opinions of many, in order to prevent smoke/fumes etc from coming up around the bottom of the vessel if the cook had removed the stove plate so that the bottom of whatever was being cooked in could get the full heat from the fire. other opinion offered is that it kept the bottom of the skillet from contacting the stove plate directly and (the air cushion) deflecting the direct heat so as not to cause sticking and burning. A third version is/was that it contributed to the strength of the bottom and would prevent warping. As far as I know the issue was/has never been really decided/resolved, so its your call as cook. As for square pans they are favored and are usually worth more to collectors....especially if they have a lid to go with it. They cook the same as the round ones, but the corners are a bit harder to clean. LLS