Anyone Ever Polished a Cast Iron Skillett??

[NavyVet1959]

I never made stew or chili in my old pan. I used it for frying. Breakfast, porkchops and steaks in winter, and a lot of home fries with onions.
Advice on making chili or stew. Does that dissolve the seasoning layer??

I've heard that you should not cook acidic foods in cast iron (e.g. tomato sauces). I use anodized heavy aluminum cookware (Magnalite Professional) for that. I do not use anything that has Teflon coating on it though. After may years of pre-scrubbing the anodized pots with a stainless steel scrubber, the anodized coating starts to wear off. After 25+ years of that sort of misuse, the inside of my pots are starting to get a bit lighter colored. The same type of abuse to cast iron doesn't seem to make a difference.

Chili is a slow cooking type of endeavor, so although I would have no problem with browning / searing the meat and onions in a cast iron pot, I would probably use one of the larger aluminum pots for the slow cooking of the chili.

[mcdaniel.mac]

Yeah, tomato-based sauces will eat at cast iron. I have a giant skillet just for chili and pasta sauces because of the acidity. It won't hurt you unless you're iron-sensitive. Not a bad idea if you have a family member that's anemic.

[dave roelle]

All of my old cast iron have machined bottoms. They are completely non-stop when properly maintained
The new stuff isn't finished because of cost
The vintage pieces simply WORK 😉

[ghh3rd]

I cooked 2/3 cup of sugar in mine last night ... I decided to try making Flan (desert) and melted the sugar in my small pan... worked great.

[Char-Gar]

With use, the new skillet will become slick on the bottom. Carbonized food will make it way into the pores of the iron filling them up. Take a look at the bottom and outside of a vintage skillet. They are not smooth, just the cooking surface on the bottom.

When I them through cooking, I wipe out the skillet with a paper towel and scrape the bottom with a paint scraper. I don't wash them, unless things are really bad and then I don't use soap, just hot water and a coarse plastic brush.

[Boaz]

I got little to offer but... Cast iron Was about all we used when I was growing up , mom has a few 'jet age' aluminum stewers/pots . We washed the cast iron like everything else but it was seasoned when bought . Mom would put lard in it and heat it up to near smoking several times dump the lard and just let it sit a few days ...it was seasoned far as sticking right off . Daily use finished the seasoning pretty quick , frying pans were used every meal back then .

Periodically every say...every 3-4 years dad would burn em off and start over again with the seasoning . Wood fire , heat em up dull red for a good while , let em cool .

[6bg6ga]

If you loose the seasoning layer can't you simply heat the pan and coat it with oil again? I don't own one but have watched my 92 year old mother use hers in the past.

[NavyVet1959]

If you loose the seasoning layer can't you simply heat the pan and coat it with oil again? I don't own one but have watched my 92 year old mother use hers in the past.

The more you use it, the better the seasoning layer becomes. It gets pretty non-stick after awhile. If you burn it off and have to season it again, you're starting over from scratch and it might take some time to get back to where you were.

Still, as long as you're not trying to reuse a pot that was used for melting lead, that's an option. Most of us would avoid using a cast iron pan for food if it had ever been used for casting / smelting lead.

[SteveS]

If the Lodge cast iron seems a little crude for anyone, American Culinary sells some really nice Wagner. Made in USA.

http://www.wagnerware.com/PLineCat.a...ter=PL&PLine=4

[dragon813gt]

If you loose the seasoning layer can't you simply heat the pan and coat it with oil again? I don't own one but have watched my 92 year old mother use hers in the past.

You can build it back up. I seem to always have trouble doing this. It takes a long time until it becomes nonstick again.

[handyman25]

Fry a pound of bacon and let it cool while you enjoy the bacon. Save the grease and wipe down with a paper towel. repeat. Now it is almost their. The more you fry in it the better cast iron gets. I NEVER use soap, If wiping with a paper towel will not get it clean just fill with water and bring to a boil then wipe down with a paper towel.

[dbarry1]

Grandma's cast skillets were all smooth as glass. (Wonder who ever got those...) Anyway, all the Mrs has in frying pans is cast iron. We never polished, but I've wanted to. Guess after reading this, I'll leave well enough alone.

[Nueces]

My nearly century old Griswold 8 was clearly smoothed, if not polished, from the factory. It also weighs much less than a similar sized modern Lodge.

[MaryB]

For acidic things like chili and spaghetti sauce I use enameled cast iron, Lodge makes a nice sized dutch oven that is perfect for that. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lodge-Col...-Green/8803041

[Shiloh]

For acidic things like chili and spaghetti sauce I use enameled cast iron, Lodge makes a nice sized dutch oven that is perfect for that. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lodge-Col...-Green/8803041

Going to look at one at Macy's tomorrow.

Shiloh

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Grandma's cast skillets were all smooth as glass. (Wonder who ever got those...) Anyway, all the Mrs has in frying pans is cast iron. We never polished, but I've wanted to. Guess after reading this, I'll leave well enough alone.

"Wonder who ever got those?"

Today, at the gunshow in Wells, MN ...which is about 25% fleamarket, A fella had 2 cast iron skillets marked $5 each. They both looked pretty cruddy, but not too rusty. Normally I wouldn't even look at them, but because of this thread, cast iron skillets were fresh on my mind. The top one was a 8" Lodge, I asked what the other one was, as my hands were full. He tipped it over and all he could read through the crud was EIRE PA. I could faintly make out the circled Cross trademark of a Griswold through the crud.
"I'll take it", I said.
Wahoo, a Griswold! I probably should have taken the Lodge also, it looked like an older one, but I had a lot of the show yet to see, plus a long walk back to the car (I had to park 6 blocks away) and I didn't want carry two skillets.

I got home, and heated it up, to smokin' hot, on the kitchen stove, scrapped off the crud, then scrapped it some more, wiped it down as it cooled a bit, added some pork fat and heated it back up to smokin' hot, wiped it off...Then cooked my supper. I had some leftover pizza, I heated it right-side-up, then I remove it, and put some shredded cheese in the skillet and put the pizza slice up-side down on the sizzlin' cheese...cut the heat, and put the pizza on a plate. The (new-to-me) Griswold works as good as the one I've been using for 2 decades.
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[Shiloh]

Yep,
Lodge is made in Tennessee. No location given other than USA.

Shiloh

[ghh3rd]

Still, as long as you're not trying to reuse a pot that was used for melting lead, that's an option. Most of us would avoid using a cast iron pan for food if it had ever been used for casting / smelting lead.

That's what scares me about getting used iron ware, that someone may have done something 'crazy' and used it to melt lead, like me with my Lodge pot.

On a similar note, my wife told me not to use a nice cooler I found on the road cause some maniac may have had body parts in it (too many movies ).

[NavyVet1959]

That's what scares me about getting used iron ware, that someone may have done something 'crazy' and used it to melt lead, like me with my Lodge pot.

I suspect the risk could be minimized quite a bit with a few cycles of cleaning with a sand blaster followed by a high psi pressure washer. And if you wanted even more confidence that it was lead free, there are lead test strips available.

[ambergrifleman]

Yep,
Lodge is made in Tennessee. No location given other than USA.

Shiloh

Lodge is made in South Pittsburg,Tn. About 12 miles west of Chattanooga,Tn Been to the Factory Store Before.