Bought my first cast iron skillet.

[Idaho45guy]

I've cooked breakfast in it every morning using butter or coconut oil and it is slowly getting easier to clean up and scrape the food off of.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've cooked breakfast in it every morning using butter or coconut oil and it is slowly getting easier to clean up and scrape the food off of.

Yep !
just like I stated 20+ posts ago...

seasoning secret from an old bachelor:
Frying some non-acidic food with oil/butter/bacon grease is how us old bachelors season cast Iron. Griswold is my personal favorite

...SNIP

Now, that Lodge is a decent fry pan...but do yourself a favor and keep an eye out at garage sales or flea markets or thrift stores for a vintage fry pan like Griswold or others that have been mentioned...The cast iron used 70 to 100 years ago is much finer grained and just plain nicer to cook with...Good Luck

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I baked a cherry pie this morning, in my cast Iron fry pan.
I rarely wash the fry pan, just wipe it with a paper towel (if necessary).

So anyway, another lesson just learned, Cherry pie with overtones of Bass...but still tasty

[Shiloh]

Seasoned mine a few times. Crisco and coconut oil. Grill and oven. Doing it on the grill with pieces of oak created a grayish soot. Rubbed in with the coconut oil, it added a nice black finish. It is seasoned nicely and a joy to cook with.

SHiloh

[Smoke4320]

I probably committed harrisy but spent about an hr with a die grinder and a 2" sanding pad . Ground the pan smooth inside ..
then seasoned 3 times upside down in a oven .. it cooks like a dream now

[Idaho45guy]

I probably committed harrisy but spent about an hr with a die grinder and a 2" sanding pad . Ground the pan smooth inside ..
then seasoned 3 times upside down in a oven .. it cooks like a dream now

I remember a thread a couple of years ago on another firearms site in which a guy bought a new Lodgepole skillet and went to work on it with an orbital sander to get the roughness out of it. Ended up smooth as glass and he swore that it worked great. Others said that the texture helped retain the "stuff" that made it slick.

[brassrat]

I am having dry heaves and can't stop pacing while cursing at these last posts.

[Handloader109]

Easiest way to season is to fry that bacon every morning. Leave the drippings in it, heat up enough the next morning to wipe out with paper towel, and fry up another batch. In a week or two, it will be perfect. No wasted time or energy.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[gbrown]

I probably committed harrisy but spent about an hr with a die grinder and a 2" sanding pad . Ground the pan smooth inside ..
then seasoned 3 times upside down in a oven .. it cooks like a dream now

brassrat: "I am having dry heaves and can't stop pacing while cursing at these last posts."

Followed this thread but haven't posted til now. We all stumble down life's path doing the best we can. Everybody has to find their own way, and every now and then go down trails that leave others shaking their head. I'm an iron skillet kinda guy and have dozens of pieces. I clean and restore them, using non abrasive means. But I have known others who used all sorts of abrasives to clean and smooth out cast iron. I remember both grandmothers using cast iron and merely wiping them out with newspaper pieces they had saved just for that. I simply use paper towels. Most people cannot wrap their heads around a pan being wiped clean--surely you have to use some anti bacterial soap or put it in the dishwasher!! I have skillets from #3 to #12, 3, 4, 6 and 8 quart pots used pretty regularly. Plenty of hot water and wipe 'em dry, put 'em up for next time. My cast iron skillets cook like teflon. My favorite cornbread pan is an 8 made in Taiwan--you can see the machine marks in the bottom. Slickest pan I have. My wife, finally, in the past few years, has come to understand and appreciate cast iron. She was one who had a difficult time comprehending the beauty and simplicity of it. Now she grabs for the cast iron before anything else. Wonderful stuff, saddens me that few people this day and age appreciate it.

[Shiloh]

I just took the sharpness off the bottom of the pan. Looked like smooth pebbles. That was a good while ag now, and the pan is smooth and virtually non stick from using it at least 3 times a week minimum.

SHiloh

[Idaho45guy]

Was at the local hardware/outdoor/general store yesterday looking for Mother's Day gifts when I saw a new display of cookware next to their cast iron display. It was some really funky looking cast iron that I thought seemed pretty high quality and unique design.

Attachment 220217

Picked up a 10" frying pan and almost dropped it when I saw the price tag...

$250...

Yes. Two hundred and fifty dollars for a cast iron skillet...

I think the cheapest piece they had was $100.

They are made by a company called Finex in Oregon and come pre-seasoned using organic flax seed oil.

Likely made by dirty hippies, since it is Oregon, but they are cool looking pans that ooze quality.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

the pan looks like the bottom (internal) is enameled?

[Idaho45guy]

the pan looks like the bottom (internal) is enameled?

Nope, just highly polished...

Attachment 220245

[AllanD]

Easiest way to season is to fry that bacon every morning. Leave the drippings in it, heat up enough the next morning to wipe out with paper towel, and fry up another batch. In a week or two, it will be perfect. No wasted time or energy.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Absolutely, but for cleaning my grandfather had a somewhat different method, He grew up as the fry cook in my Great grandparents Bed & Breakfast and later dude ranch and he had some cut up bath towels that he'd wet with hot water and give the HOT pan a quick wipe.

Also you'd never catch him using "vegetable oil" to Re-season an Iron skillet, bacon only in a pan.
anyone who put a cast iron skillet in water (God forbid soap!) was likely to end up wearing it, either as a hat or a suppository!


All his cook ware lived their long lives on a wood fired stove and were only ever actually cold when the fire went out!

[fiberoptik]

New pan—fry donuts in it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brassrat]

brassrat: "I am having dry heaves and can't stop pacing while cursing at these last posts."

Followed this thread but haven't posted til now. We all stumble down life's path doing the best we can. Everybody has to find their own way, and every now and then go down trails that leave others shaking their head. I'm an iron skillet kinda guy and have dozens of pieces. I clean and restore them, using non abrasive means. But I have known others who used all sorts of abrasives to clean and smooth out cast iron. I remember both grandmothers using cast iron and merely wiping them out with newspaper pieces they had saved just for that. I simply use paper towels. Most people cannot wrap their heads around a pan being wiped clean--surely you have to use some anti bacterial soap or put it in the dishwasher!! I have skillets from #3 to #12, 3, 4, 6 and 8 quart pots used pretty regularly. Plenty of hot water and wipe 'em dry, put 'em up for next time. My cast iron skillets cook like teflon. My favorite cornbread pan is an 8 made in Taiwan--you can see the machine marks in the bottom. Slickest pan I have. My wife, finally, in the past few years, has come to understand and appreciate cast iron. She was one who had a difficult time comprehending the beauty and simplicity of it. Now she grabs for the cast iron before anything else. Wonderful stuff, saddens me that few people this day and age appreciate it.

Hehe I am kidding just thinking of the many posts I have seen on the subject. I guess the grinder guys pans are fine. I use lots of water, and rarely, boiling water to clean. Mostly a sink rag and then onto the, hot, gas stove and a wipe down with Crisco. My pans are great, but few

[Baja_Traveler]

So I have not seen anybody mentioning the use of kosher salt for cleaning. When I sear my ribeye's I wipe the majority of the grease out with a paper towel, then dump in 1/4 cup of kosher salt and using another paper towel scrub the sticky bits that are left and the salt soaks up any remaining oil pooled on the surface. I just brush out the oily salt into the sink and call it done and never use water at all. Any fine salt dust remaining in the pan is just seasoning for the next meal.

[Walks]

I guess as far as opinions on CAST IRON goes It's the standard answer. Opinions are like *******s, everybody has one.

[EMC45]

I too am a fan of cast iron. We have a good bit at the house - both store bought and passed down from my wife's grandmother (RIP). We have Lodge, foreign and other stuff. Pans, Dutch oven, pots etc. We like it all. They all cook very well. I even have an old iron pot I smelt WWs in. It was a double that my wife had so it made it to the casting area.

When I fry eggs in my pans, I pre-heat them on the stove top. I have a glass top range and I put it on 5, wait for the root of the handle to be hot to the touch and then drop in my butter for the eggs. The eggs, when they hit, just sizzle and bounce on the surface. No sticking. We oven cook our bacon. I do cook hot links in the CI though and it turns out great.

As far as cleaning is concerned..........I occasionally use Dawn and scrub them. Wife does it more than me. I prefer heating it all back up on the stove and wiping out. It will be slick and seasoned that way. Cool down and put away. When they do make it to the sink I dry them immediately and olive oil the insides. My preferred method is to just scrape/wipe them out and store them.

[calm seas]

I'm a lucky guy, I guess. Inherited family members through the years, picked old ones up at estate sales, and my wife is of the same mind set. Dutch ovens, griddles, skillets, and I don't think any are post-Depression. And all cook like a dream. We are both 'antiques', and we like our cooking gear the same