cast iron cookware

[indiver]

Lots of good info on youtube!

 

[Ward250]

Here goes nothing, trying the reverse sear method on a pair of juicy ribeyes tonight! Cast iron skillet is ready for action!

Going to try another whole chicken recipe in the dutch oven tomorrow.

 

[24Carat]

Crushed Taragon inside and out of chicken is amazing.

 

[MRockwell]

Lodge makes great stuff. So does Tramontina if you want purdy colors and/or enameled cast iron (doesn't need seasoning!) We have a large enameled skillet and a HUGE enameled dutch oven. Use them both often.

Whatever you get - season it well.

The Truth About Cast Iron Pans: 7 Myths That Need To Go Away | Serious Eats

EXCELLENT write-up on proper seasoning: Sheryl's Blog » Blog Archive Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning: A Science-Based How-To

Thanks for the links. I always used canola oil to season my skillet, and also have used liquid dish detergent to clean it.

I have a dutch oven that needs seasoned, think I need to find some flaxseed oil.

 

[MRockwell]

Has anyone heard of Camp Chef cast iron?

First time I saw it was at Jay's in Michigan. Looked a little rougher than Lodge, and has a comparable price-point.
JAY'S SPORTING GOODS

 

[Ward250]

Ribeyes were real good, nothing life changing but real good.


Online looking for more dutch oven chicken recipes now... Got a whole bird ready for seasoning and my temporary diutch oven table has been assembled! More trial and error on the way!

 

[dibdee83]

No matter what brand be sure you know how to properly clean them. Cast iron rusts badly if you don't keep up with its maintenance. We learned that the hard way.

 

[Ward250]

No problems with rusting thus far, sitting here watching a beef chuck roast in the dutch oven right now! We are using this one a lot. In 4-6 weeks I should get me bonus from work which is a $500 Cabelas gift card. I think we will be using it on more cast iron cookware!

 

[Expatriated]

I'm sort of a Cast Iron nut. I've done a lot of restorations to old pans. And modifications to new pans.

I started a thread on the ESEE forum that contains tons of pics and info on the subject. If you're into cast iron, whether it's restoring, cooking, seasoning or collecting, this thread's got tons of info in it. And lots of pics. I also do a complete restoration DIY with pics.

Cast Iron Cookware-Post Pics and Recipes

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I'm sort of a Cast Iron nut. I've done a lot of restorations to old pans. And modifications to new pans.

I started a thread on the ESEE forum that contains tons of pics and info on the subject. If you're into cast iron, whether it's restoring, cooking, seasoning or collecting, this thread's got tons of info in it. And lots of pics. I also do a complete restoration DIY with pics.

Cast Iron Cookware-Post Pics and Recipes

We have several vintage iron skillets and my wife uses them daily. I had picked up a particularly crusty old skillet and "cleaned" it in my wood stove (bad idea). Now it has a good bulge out the bottom and it rocks when you sit it on a flat surface. I've saved it, but I keep reading that there's no way to fix the bulge.

Got any ideas?

 

[Expatriated]

We have several vintage iron skillets and my wife uses them daily. I had picked up a particularly crusty old skillet and "cleaned" it in my wood stove (bad idea). Now it has a good bulge out the bottom and it rocks when you sit it on a flat surface. I've saved it, but I keep reading that there's no way to fix the bulge.

Got any ideas?

Generally, no. You can't fix the bulge. About the only way to ruin cast iron is to overheat it by putting it in a bonfire or woodstove like you did. They can bulge and/or crack.

It's still perfectly fine but it is annoying on today's glass top stoves. You can use it to bake stuff in the oven and it'll never be an issue. Or you can dedicate it to camping over coals/logs and the bulge won't make a difference. Or....

What you can try is to flip it over and sand or grind the bottom center bulge down a little bit. This depends on how attached you are to this thing and how much has to be sanded off. You could get it so thin, it might crack the next time you heat it. If it's a family heirloom, you're probably not interested in trying that.

I have one that I did this technique to and although I didn't get the entire bulge out, I got most of it. It just rocks a little on the stove now. But I use it primarily for baking so it doesn't matter.

This is the reason I use lye for getting all that crust off. It'll get every single spec of it off without harming the pan a bit. You can see my technique on either page 6 or 7 or so of that thread I posted.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Generally, no. You can't fix the bulge.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks.

I'll keep it for now. We have a good one the same size, so I doubt we'll use it, but you never know.

 

[Thor]

..., sitting here watching a beef chuck roast in the dutch oven right now!

Whoa! Where did you find the transparent cast iron!?! I want me some of that!

 

[Slawburger]

Whoa! Where did you find the transparent cast iron!?! I want me some of that!

Transparent iron? For the first time, an experiment shows that atomic nuclei can become transparent

 

[HamsterStyle]

Picked up these skillets this afternoon at a garage sale. $10 for the pair. One appears to be a pre-60's Lodge and the other a BSR Red Mountain Series from the 30's and 40's. I can't wait to get them cleaned up and use them.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Wow, looks like a great find. Both look like they're in good shape.

 

[HamsterStyle]

They appear to be in really good shape. They need cleaned up pretty bad but they are just crusty. No rust or damage that I can tell. The lodge appears to have some machining marks inside. I'll be able to tell better once it's cleaned up though.

 

[PistolBob]

You don't really want to cook over open fire. Set something up to hold your pan and move coals under it. You can regulate heat better, not burn the food or set fire to oils or food inside the pan. Also won't burn your hands.

if you really, really want to master Dutch oven cooking and do it often, read up on cowboy cooking and look at Dutch oven tables and stands. You can just do it in grill or fire pit as well. For true Dutch oven cooking, they are not All created equal. You want a lid that has a lip designed to hold coals on top. The one I use in my kitchen has a domed lid, no need to hold coals on top. Same lid works on my two primary pans. Use it in the kitchen in your daily life and you will master it much better then just using it outdoors.

if it has a domed lid it's not a dutch oven...actually a dutch over has legs and a lid with a lip...I have a nice big cast iron pot with a "self basting" domed lid...not a dutch over but it is great for roasting chickens, making baked beans, stews etc in the oven.

 

[Hohn]

The Cadillac of cast iron skillets is the name Griswold.

End of discussion.

Perhaps, but many of the other older American brands are close enough for someone now wanting to pay the inflated price for vintage Griswold.


I buy brand new lodge and "convert" it to vintage. That means a ton of time with an angle grinder and sandpaper, smoothing the awfully rough factory surface. It's not a good return on time investment-- I have several hours in each piece. But the result is that I have some Lodge pieces less than 2 years old that are slick smooth and can fry eggs without sticking.


Most factory cast iron is super rough now because the surface must have "tooth" for the factory pre-season process to work. Otherwise they get runs and drips in the surface.

Seasoning process is important, but surface finish more than seasoning will determine the non-stick quality. That's why the vintage Griswold, BSR, Erie, etc are so desirable.


If you want REALLY good cast iron that is heirloom, you have to look outside the Lodge or Vintage options.

The best ones around now are:
-- FINEX, made in USA and absolutely stunning quality.
-- SOLIDSTEKNICS-- made by picky Aussies to be as good as it can be.


Both are very expensive, but truly lifetime-grade pans that come out of the box with both good surface finish AND good seasoning.


I'm basically set on cast iron now, but I'd love to have a 12" FINEX!!

 

[IndyDave1776]

Lodge may have found a reason for the rough finish, but initially they stopped producing smooth finishes because someone at the factory had to do the same work you did on the clock at significant expense.