Cast Iron Skillet.

[WILCO]

I mentioned in a thread yesterday that I purchased a cast iron skillet due to an interest in "Blackening" some venison steaks. I paid five dollars for it and as it turns out, now I'm hooked on learning more about cast iron cookware. There is a whole world of websites with tons and tons of info ranging from care to collecting these items. The one that I purchased is a Griswold #8 skillet. After I washed it real well, I discovered it was pretty hammered or so I thought. I did some more research and found how to restore it through the use of a wire wheel, sand paper and lots of elbow grease. Now it's all set to be seasoned and looks great!
I'm one step closer to those venison steaks being done right.
Just thought I'd share my little adventure for the weekend.

[smilie=s:

[Tom W.]

My wife buys me a cast iron skillet, griddle or whatever for Christmas. I'm awaiting a small to medium sized dutch oven, similar to the one that I melt W/W in. I have this huge thing that she bought me from Cabelas that has a tripod that goes with it. It does well for a fish fry outside...

I'd rather cook with cast iron than amost anything!

[Dave Bulla]

Ha! Now you're cookin'![smilie=w:

I don't use anything BUT cast iron and haven't for about 15 years.

You might get mad since you've already put in a bunch of time cleaning your pan but if it wasn't rusty and pitted and just had the usual thick scab of crud you could have saved yourself a LOT of work. If you find a pan at a yard sale, antique store etc that is covered in crud, (usually the outside) but is a good name brand like Griswold or Wagner the easiest way to clean it is to simply throw it in an oven and run a self clean cycle. It'll burn off every last speck of burnt on grease and all you have to do is wipe of a little ash and your pan will look like the day it was made. Season it up and don't look back. Another alternative is to throw it directly in a hot camp fire and burn it clean there.

As for seasoning, I have one little peeve...

Seems everywhere I read about cast iron the folks who are doing the writing usually end up saying something along the lines that "In the old days, people used lard to season their pans but today we have "___________" (insert the given brand of modern goop being pushed) or else they will suggest you use vegetable or olive oil to season the pan because "lard can go rancid".

EXCUSE ME????? Do they think that only lard goes rancid? I've had crisco turn rancid in the cupboard and olive oil too.

If you are using a pan more than once or so a year, it's TOTALLY a non issue. For that matter, if you season PROPERLY, it's a non issue regardless of how often you use the pan. I use nothing but lard to season a new pan and have never had one go "rancid". I actually doubt if it's even possible. The only scenario I can imagine would be if you wipe a pan down with too much lard then put it away for a long time "as is".

Also, I truly believe that a pan seasoned with lard will have a harder finish than one seasoned with vegetable oil, olive oil, shortening etc. The vegetable seasonings seem to me to build up a sort of "gummy" seasoning that is not as durable as a lard seasoned pan. Just a personal observation but one I believe in. You don't have to do all your cooking with lard. I realize many are on restricted diets but at least do the initial seasonings with it and a refresher now and then. A little tub of lard kept in the freezer can last for years. A sharp tined fork will take out enough frozen lard in a poke or two.

Proper care would be initially to heat the pan on the stove or in an oven and toss in a dab of lard. Say about a teaspoon. Let it melt and then wad up two or three paper towels and wipe it all around the inside of the pan. The wad of paper towels should soak up most of the liquid lard. Continue to wipe the inside until it is barely shinny wet then using the greasy part of the paper towel wad, wipe down the outside until it is also shinny wet. It will be about like oiling a rifle barrel. You wipe oil on it then wipe until you take most of it back off. Note, you WILL see the paper towel turn brownish like you are wiping off rust or dirt. This is normal. Put the pan back on the burner on med/low heat and turn on your vent fan. Allow the pan to heat until it starts to smoke a little. You will usually see a pattern form in the bottom of the pan. It will be a circle about the size of the burner and the oil on the inside will sort of weep into and out of the pores in the metal. Keep an eye on it and as little droplets form around the circle, use the same paper towel that you initially sopped up the melted lard with to smear a thin coat around the inside. The pan will darken slightly as the lard is bonded into the surface. You can do the same to the outside a couple times while you are at it.

After about 3 or 4 times letting the film of lard "dry" in the hot pan and then "re wetting" you are pretty well done with your initial seasoning. Go ahead and fry up an egg or something with a little oil of your choice or some saved bacon grease and you should find it will slide around better than a teflon pan.

When you are done, simply wipe the inside dry with a paper towel and put the pan away.

The more you use it, the blacker it will get. Once it is good and black, you can occasionally rinse it out with some hot water and wipe it dry. Always put it back on the stove and add just a dab of lard or oil and wipe with the paper towel wad to just put a hint of a shine on it. It's about like putting some linseed oil on a piece of wood. Tiny drops smeared thin will bring out "color" but won't be wet to the touch.

Down the road, sometimes the build up outside will get ugly and even the inside can get some marks in the seasoning layer almost like a scratched up teflon pan. If it starts to stick, just burn it clean in the oven and re season. ** Note, the scabby look on the outside you sometimes see usually is because people carry the "don't wash cast iron" mantra a little too far. People get done frying, pour out the residual oil and a little dribble goes down the outside of the pan. The pan goes back on the stove and they wipe the inside out and call it good. WRONG! Ya gotta wipe that dribble off the outside or it will turn into burnt dribble next time you heat it up. After a couple years, and hundreds of burnt on dribbles, you have a pan with what I call a case of "scab neglect". Always scrape clean inside after use if anything tried to stick. At LEAST wipe it out with a towel both inside AND outside. If you cook something like fish or breaded meat that sticks a bit, you can scrape with a metal spatula and not hurt the pan. You can even heat the pan and pour in a cup of water to scald the pan clean. Just be sure to wipe it out, dry on the stove and do the little dab of lard "wipe on - wipe off" routine. I usually use water in the hot pan for stubborn stuff and then use one of the plastic scrubby pads that look like plastic drill shavings in a "bun" shape. Scrub as needed and then wipe. Cooking foods with high acid content like tomatoes is hard on the seasoning. It often causes it to look dull. I just scrub well with hot water and the scrubby and do a seasoning refresher which is just the wipe with lard and heat routine.

Last tip...

New cast iron like Lodge or Camp Chef are not "finished" inside like the old antique Griswold or Wagner stuff was. It has the same rough casting sand texture both inside and out. The antique pans are the better deal in my opinion though the new ones can be sanded with a power sander until smooth. I use my random orbital and about 80 grit followed by 100 or 200 whichever is handy. Bottom line, the old pans are not as bulky and the inside is milled smooth and provides a far better non stick surface after seasoning than the new stuff. I've got both kinds and would rather pay new pan price for an antique than buy a new pan at the store. Luckily, if you go to yard sales much, you can often find them for $1 to $10. Sure, sometimes people have "big eyes" and price an old Griswold at something ridiculous like $40 or $50 but I just laugh and move on. I've got about a dozen oldies that I didn't pay more than $5 for any one of them except for an old Griswold stove top waffle iron that was just too cool to pass up at $15.

[Ford SD]

2nd on the cast iron pans have 5 & have a flat one just for pancakes that even cook good on a colman stove

Season mine in the BBQ so the smoke does not set off the fire alarm

bought a newer one and everthing stuck So I took it to the garage and took a fine grinding disk to it cooks great after a fine grind and a good cleaning and new coat of crisco cooked in the BBQ

Name me another pan that you can cook on top or in the oven and hand down to the kids

also have 2 dutch ovens

[S.R.Custom]

...New cast iron like Lodge or Camp Chef are not "finished" inside like the old antique Griswold or Wagner stuff was. It has the same rough casting sand texture both inside and out...

The old skillets were cast with what's called "jeweler's sand" and is much finer than that coarse engine-block grade stuff that Lodge and others use today. Without a doubt, shop for the old stuff.

Personally, I'm fond of the Wagner pans, and have a full complement with the matching glass lids. If there is finer cookware out there, I'm not aware of it.

[sqlbullet]

I do most of the cooking at my house, which is fine by me cause I enjoy it am pretty good at it. I love my cast iron cookware. I have a set of 6 skillets, + two I acquired outside the set, one very large and one very small.

Here is a tasty trick I have developed for touching up the seasoning on a large skillet:

Preheat your oven to 350°. Cut up a whole chicken into the standard eight pieces (two each, breast, thigh, leg, wing). Peel 40 cloves of garlic. Rinse a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme.

Liberally salt the chicken on both sides, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan, heat it until it just barely smokes, and add the chicken, skin side up, to the pan. Let it just brown (about 5 minutes on my stove). Turn the chicken over (skin down now), distribute the cloves around the pan evenly, add 1/2 cup olive oil, toss the thyme sprigs on top, cover tightly, and put in the oven for 1.5 hours.

When it comes out of the oven, let it rest while you slice up a loaf of french bread. Then, using a basting brush, brush each piece of bread with the oil from the pan. Place them under the broiler until they just toast. Then spread one of the garlic cloves from the roasting pan on each slice. After 90 minutes in the oven, those cloves are like little pats of butter.

This is called 40 cloves and a chicken, and it is a huge favorite at my house. As an added bonus, your pan is now well seasoned, with no smoke and the bonus of a tasty treat.

When it comes

[Yance]

I guess I'm "old school" on cleaning the outsides of my pans. That "scale" (IMO) doesn't hurt anything.

Don't know how many pieces of CI I have, but that's what I use mostly.

Like Dave said, nothing beats lard, or in my case usually bacon grease since I save all of it, for seasoning cast iron.

When I get a new piece, or one I've had to do some serious cleanup on, I follow the instructions on the Lodge site, except I use lard or bacon grease instead of the oil they recommend since it never really hardens.

One thing about burning the crud off, if you throw your pan into a good campfire be prepared to "sacrifice" it. Cast iron CAN crack or break from the thermal shock and uneven heating. Best bet is to lean it up against your fire ring and let it start to heat slowly. It won't take long before it's evenly heated plenty hot to sear meat, then you can place it in the fire to burn off.

When you take it out get some lard on it, inside and out pretty quick. Smokin' hot is ok, just be careful, and keep laying the lard to it as it burns in. By the time it's cool enough to handle you'll have a pretty good start on seasoning.

To clean I use HOT water in a still hot skillet, a nylon bristle brush, or one of those stainless steel "curly" scrubbers. You should still have some grease smearing around since you don't use soap. Wipe it dry with paper towels then rub just a little bacon grease or lard around to "darken" it.

[45 2.1]

Only time I saw this happen was with my grandmother (from Texas). She waited until the brushpile had burnt down to coals and the red coal layer was about 6 to 10 inches deep. She placed the iron skillet top side down onto the coals (as well as one could considering she dropped it there from about 18" above the coals and they were hot enough to roast you 20 feet away) and said leave it there until the fire/coals get cold. The next day I retrieved it....... perfectly gray and completely clean in undamaged condition. It was the skillet she started housekeeping with some 50 odd years before.

[fourarmed]

In my experience, there is no sense in worrying about seasoning a skillet or griddle that is used for blackening. The high heat required burns it off anyway. I let mine cool completely after use, then scrub off the worst of the char under hot running water with a stiff brush. Dry with a paper towel, and rub a little cooking oil over it to prevent rust.

If you have a really well seasoned skillet that doesn't stick, DO NOT use it for blackening.

[jlchucker]

At one point, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, Lodge offered skillets that were as they are now, and a corresponding product, for a little more money , that included a smooth finish on the inside--it looked like the bottom surface had been "cleaned up" in a lathe operation. You could buy these shiney, and smooth like the old Griswolds were before seasoning. I wonder why they quit this. I've got an old # 8 Griswold that I bought back in the late 1960's with that smooth finish, and it's a lot more nonstick than my well-used by now Lodge rough-surfaced pans.

[Wayne Smith]

I have been using Cast Iron cookware all of my cooking life, my Dad taught me. Recently (past three years or so) we got a ceramic top cook stove. I never realized that olive oil would bleed through cast iron, but it does. I get a very fine sheen of oil on the cook surface after using it.

Not enough to prevent me from using it, of course!

[KCSO]

I'm still using cast iron ware i got from my Grandmother and my Wife's grandmother. As long as the inside is seasoned you are ready to go. I season with pure home rendered lard with no salt.

[fatnhappy]

I mentioned in a thread yesterday that I purchased a cast iron skillet due to an interest in "Blackening" some venison steaks. I paid five dollars for it and as it turns out, now I'm hooked on learning more about cast iron cookware. There is a whole world of websites with tons and tons of info ranging from care to collecting these items. The one that I purchased is a Griswold #8 skillet. After I washed it real well, I discovered it was pretty hammered or so I thought. I did some more research and found how to restore it through the use of a wire wheel, sand paper and lots of elbow grease. Now it's all set to be seasoned and looks great!
I'm one step closer to those venison steaks being done right.
Just thought I'd share my little adventure for the weekend.

[smilie=s:

wow, that sounds like hard work. I've cleaned up skillets and dutch oven by sticking them in the oven through a clean cycle and electrolysis. Never had to break a sweat.

I wouldn't trade cast for any other skillet in the world.

[Marvin S]

I tried them plastic coated pans once and found them be about like plastic guns. Neither is for me. You know your cast iron is just right when it shines like a cockroach back.

[bdbullets]

I have been using cast iron for cooking all my adult life and it can't be beat. I heat my house with woodstoves and use them to burn off the crud. About the only difference to Dave's seasoning is that I use the oven to burn on the lard instead of the stove top. I turn them upside down on the racks so that if I get too much lard on it will just drip off and I can do several at a time. Around here we have a lot of estate auctions every summer and I buy them all if they are a good quality and burn them off thru the winter and season them. At any one time I usually have between 100 and 200 pieces of cast iron. I collect the Griswold's and keep most of the big high quality pieces and then sell the rest of them. If anyone is looking for any let me know depending on what I pay for them I usually get 15 dollars for the small skillets and 20 to 25 for the larger skillets already seasoned and ready to cook on. I do check all I get to see if they are rare and if they are I price them to what they are worth or they go into my collection.

[PatMarlin]

All we cook with is olive oil, and all our cookware is cast. I've never had a problem with it. I'm alergic to pork and never use lard, but I just season on the stove as I go. We have a commercial range and it has some horse power, so maybe that's why olive works good here.

[PatMarlin]

What'sa good recepie for blackened venison?

[Crash_Corrigan]

When my ex decided that two alpha people under the same roof did not work for her (I have a hard time saying "yes dear" all the time) she had carpel tunnel in both wrists and could not use the heavy CI skillets that we had.

So I got them all. Boo Hoo! Boo Hoo! They are perfect for Chicken Picata and all the fish I fry in them. Pancakes and Bacon are one of my staples of food.

I take a lemon and scruff off the skin and save the shavings. I dump those into my pancake mix along with the squeezings of the lemon and a handful of blueberries.

Now I have Blueberry pancakes with a touch of Lemon. WOW! Serve this with freshly cooked Bacon with real maple syrup and you have a fine meal anytime.

The chicken picata: Do the Lemon thing as above but use two lemons. Put the results into a small dish and put aside.

Take your standard boneless chicken breasts and with a fish filet knife slice each breast into 3 thin slices horizontally. About a cup of milk with the white of one egg in a plate is perfect for wetting the slices of chicken one at a time. Dip in the milk/egg mixture and then dredge in a plate of seasoned bread crumbs and then into your CI skillet with a half cup of olive oil heated to just below smoking.

Cook 3 slices of meat until browned on both sides and place into another CI skillet with a cover and just keep them warm.

After all the chicken is cooked brown on both sides take the original skillet and add the lemon stuff, some capers, chopped shallots and white and black pepper and add a can of chicken broth. With a steel spatula or a putty knife scrape the surface of the skillet to remove the stuck chicken bits until the pan is smooth and keep the fire going to cook the additions. When the pan is clean dump everything into the warm skillet with the chicken and add broth so they are all at least somewhat covered. This usually takes a couple of pints of broth.

Simmer for 30 minutes and serve with brown rice, applesauce, hot italian bread and a nice Pinot Gregio wine and feast.

The same recipie works for fish fillets or pork cutlets.

It ain't fast cooking and it does generate a lot of stuff to wash but it is worth it for a special meal.

[MT Gianni]

Sounds great Crash. My wife calls the "lemon stuff" zest.

[Dave Bulla]

Okay, I already posted above but this has come up a couple times on another board I frequent so I did a post there on how I season my cast iron. I thought I'd do a cut and paste to here since I think there is a lot of good info and pictures really help.

Here it is:

Many times in the past there have been people asking about how to season, use or care for cast iron cookware. I've posted on several threads about it.

The short version of what I usually say is that the best way to strip and restore an old pan is to run it through a self clean cycle in your oven. All stuck on crud will turn to ash and brush right off. Then there are usually some basic comments on how to season and care for the stuff afterwords.

A while back I noticed that one of our favorite pans was getting a little crusty on the outside and wanted to clean it up and start over again. Instead of doing the oven self clean, I decided to get more primitive and throw it in a fire to burn clean. This particular pan started it's life with us in just that way... We'd gone camping and realized that we forgot to bring a frying pan. There was an antique store up the road a ways and we stopped in and found a square cast iron pan that would fit perfect on my Coleman stove. For about $5, it became ours. It was kinda scabbed up on the outside so that night I threw it in the campfire which was mostly hedge wood and let it burn clean and in the morning, we fried up some bacon to season it and never looked back. Fast forward about ten years... The pan had served us well and was a house favorite but it was getting a little "scabby" on the outside from years of use and little dribbles running down the side that went unnoticed and unwiped. It was time for and good stripping and reseasoning. I thought instead of the self clean thing, I'd stick with the rebirth by fire theme and throw it into the BBQ grill that had a good charcoal and hardwood fire going. Well, it cleaned it okay but not like a hedge fire. Then too, I screwed up and forgot about it in the grill since it was late and went to bed. I took it out two days later after it had rained and rust had started to form on it.. Really ticked me off! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

Today, I took it to work and used our glass bead blaster to clean it up. WOW!!! It looked like it just came out of the casting sand! Took a while but boy did it ever do the job. I left it "dry and dusty" as I knew that if I washed it, rust would start to form in minutes. When I got home, I decided to go ahead and wash it, dry it on the stove and season it. I had it hot on the stove and added a dab of lard, spread it around and thought, "I should get the camera and take some pics of this process since so many people are always asking about it. I ran upstairs and grabbed the camera and came back to the kitchen. Total time maybe a minute after I'd put the lard in and wiped it around to cover the entire pan.

Here is the picture. It's already starting to brown a little but note how silver the rest of it is. The sand blaster really took it down to the bare metal.

p.s. Please ignore the little bit of spilled stuff in the bottom of the stove. My wife does day care, we have three kids of our own, I'm a rather big fella and we USE our stove. She usually has it all clean before bed time but sometimes on the weekend she lets it slide till the next morning. She'd be pretty P.O'd if she knew I posted pics of her stove looking like this...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/castironseasoning001.jpg

Now, a lot of folks will tell you the best way is to season in the oven at about 350 degrees. I've done it and it works pretty good. However, I think doing it on the stovetop is a little faster and gives you better control. When it's in the oven, usually you just wipe it down, stick it in and walk away. Pretty easy for sure.

But when I do it on the stove top, I can control the amount of lard, wipe things around to sort of "smooth" the oils as it seasons and freshen it up if needed. It doesn't get the sides of the pan quite as well but you can do the bottom nicely and the rest will come with time or you can stick it in the oven after doing the stovetop method if you want and it will even things out a bit.

There is a lot of varied opinion about what is the best lube to season a pan with but personally, I feel nothing is better than lard. Especially for the initial seasoning. I've tried crisco, vegetable oil, canola oil, corn oil, olive oil etc. etc. etc. They all work to varying degrees but for consistent results and more importantly hardness and durability, I feel lard is the best there is. In my experience, all the other oils and shortenings tend to leave a slightly gummy residue that is not quite as durable as lard. Lets at least try the traditional methods first eh? Right about now is the part where someone usually jumps in and claims lard will go rancid in the pan, therefore you should use olive oil or some other oil instead. Well, all I can say is that I've been using cast iron most of my life and have never had a pan go rancid on me. I thought maybe it was because my pans usually don't sit in storage long enough for the lard to turn bad but in recent years I've had pans that sat on a shelf in the basement for a couple years until I needed them and they were just fine. I've come to the conclusion that if there is a problem with going rancid, it's a problem of not properly wiping the pans down after cleaning. We all know that you're not supposed to use soap and water on cast iron. That's a pretty good general rule but not hard and fast. At least not in our house. I usually use hot water if I cook something that leaves a lot of residue. Especially if it sticks a bit. A little bit of soap and water on a well seasoned pan (I'm talking years of use) won't hurt it much if at all. If I have to go that route, I usually dry the pan on the stove and add a dab of lard and wipe it around in a thin layer and let it set on medium heat until it appears to start to dry up and then just give it another wipe with a dry paper towel and put it away.

But I'm getting off topic or at least out of sequence. Our pan has been sitting patiently on the stove taking on a golden brown hue. Here is my little brick of lard that I feel is so important.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/castironseasoning002.jpg

About five minutes after the first wipe down with lard, this is how the pan looks.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/castironseasoning004.jpg

I've used the same paper towel I initially spread the melted lard with to sort of "refresh" the light layer of oil several times already. It's been soaking into the paper towel so when I wipe, not much goes onto the pan but it's enough to just give it a shine and change the color to a "wet look".

After another couple minutes, I decide to add another dab of lard to the pan. Might be a good time to take a pic to show how much or how little I actually use. It's not very much really. After it melts, it's just enough that a wadded up paper towel can sop up the excess from inside the pan and I can wipe down the outside and give it a little shine.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/castironseasoning005.jpg

Another 3 or 4 minutes and I've set off the smoke alarm.... Ooops! Anyway, it looks like this now.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/castironseasoning007.jpg

You will notice that there is a circular pattern inside the pan. That's because or the shape of the burner flame. It's the one advantage to using the oven. If you don't like the looks of a stove top seasoned pan use the oven. But honestly, after a few more uses, it will all even out and turn black. I still opt for the stove top method because I like the control of being able to look for little droplets forming on the surface and wiping them away before they harden into bumps like they would if left unattended. If you really want it to look even right away, after you do the stove top thing, toss it in the oven upside down at about 350 degrees for an hour or so. Or just live with it until it evens out by itself from normal stove top use.

Now, I'm not sure if this link will work or not but I went ahead and fried an egg in this pan on video. Remember, 15 minutes ago, this pan had a freshly sand blasted finish with ZERO seasoning. I'll let YOU be the judge as to whether it works or not.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/th_castironseasoning008.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/DaveBulla/?action=view&current=castironseasoning008.flv)

[pmeisel]

Nice job on the show and tell, Dave. I now have a reason to accompany my wife in antique stores.....

[fatboy]

You mean to tell me theres something ELSE to cook with? just make sure its a Griswold or a Wagner, this modern cast iron isnt finished well enough and is a real pain to get seasoned enough to cook right.

[WILCO]

just make sure its a Griswold or a Wagner....


I just picked up an old wagner #3 yesterday. Good shape too for $2.00!

[JSimpson65]

Electrolysis all the way for cleaning up old cast iron pans. One battery charger, a cup or so of Washing soda, and it's off to the races. Plus, you get to watch all the nasty stuff bubble up to the top of the soup!

I've done a couple of old, grungy and rusty skillets like that and they come out looking brand new in a day or so.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

Yes, I started doing it to restore old tools, then realized how usefull it was.

joe

[Greg]

bdBullets

e-mail sent




I have been using cast iron for cooking all my adult life and it can't be beat. I heat my house with woodstoves and use them to burn off the crud. About the only difference to Dave's seasoning is that I use the oven to burn on the lard instead of the stove top. I turn them upside down on the racks so that if I get too much lard on it will just drip off and I can do several at a time. Around here we have a lot of estate auctions every summer and I buy them all if they are a good quality and burn them off thru the winter and season them. At any one time I usually have between 100 and 200 pieces of cast iron. I collect the Griswold's and keep most of the big high quality pieces and then sell the rest of them. If anyone is looking for any let me know depending on what I pay for them I usually get 15 dollars for the small skillets and 20 to 25 for the larger skillets already seasoned and ready to cook on. I do check all I get to see if they are rare and if they are I price them to what they are worth or they go into my collection.

[steg]

I also use Lard for the initial seasoning, after putting on a good coat of it I just put the pan upside down in the Gas Grill, excess drips off and the process is quite easy, they come out slicker than teflon, and if another coating is necessary just repeat the process.............steg

[AviatorTroy]

Someone gave me a set of these one time, it was a big skillet, small skillet, and a round griddle. The finish on the skillets left something to be desired, but the griddle looked like it had been lightly machined on the inside surface. Long story short they seasoned up just fine and i use that griddle more than anything. I think I just wiped lard all over everything and put it in the oven for about an hour at 450 to season.

The small skillet never did shape up for cooking purposes, but I bet you can guess what I use that for now... :castmine:

[10 ga]

DITTOS for what fourarmed said Do not use a good well seasoned skillet for blackening style cooking. For Blackening you need the skillet VERY hot, When I do my blackening and it is dark outside, blackening makes LOTS OF SMOKE, my griddle glows light red. I actually use the cast iron top of an old "tin heater". It is round, flat and I used a grinder to cut off the coil wire handle nib. I put it on my propane burner and turn it up HIGH and leave it about 5 minutes and then ready to blacken. The cast iron will be so hot you burn any seasoning out. Oil the iron after you are finished cooking or it will rust before the next cooking effort. That Griswold is too nice a piece to use blackening. Lurk around some yard sales etc and get a no-name piece of cast iron for blackening. Venison is GREAT blackened. At the hunt club that is one of the favorite items that I fix. I prefer the "Paul Prudhomme Blackened Redfish" seasoning. It is much better then the steak or other types. Use enough to give you a good crust. Good blackening, 10 ga

[rondog]

Wow, great thread! Lots of good info here! I grew up with cast iron skillets, my mom had 2 or 3 and I have them now. But my wife, stubborn Yankee that she is, won't have anything to do with them. She'd just as soon see me throw them out, they're just heavy antique junk to her. I've also picked up a couple of old ones at Goodwill stores that I plan to try for lead melting. Scored a nasty, rusty old dutch oven for .99 cents the other day, should be a great lead pot after I bead blast it.

[MT Gianni]

Soak it in cheap cola and take the work out of beadblasting.