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old cast iron pans

All that restoration work looks great, Bill. I'm sure good cooking is to come in those.
Mom had an old CI Dutch oven - don't know the maker. My sister has it now. That thing made the best roast beef & brown gravy you could hope for! Mom used to sear all sides of the beef roast first (to get that "browned" taste), then finish covered on low heat for hours. The taste was unreal.
 
omicron1792 said:
View attachment 61360Ok. One of my grandmothers.

View attachment 61359
Can I send to you Bill and you clean up for me?! Haha
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Put that sucker in the BBQ grill on high for an hour then scrub it with scotch-brite. I bet it weighs half what it does now.

That heat ring on the bottom says that pan was probably made before electric induction stoves became popular.
 
Bill said:
Put that sucker in the BBQ grill on high for an hour then scrub it with scotch-brite. I bet it weighs half what it does now.

That heat ring on the bottom says that pan was probably made before electric induction stoves became popular.
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I mean it’s 80 years old if anything. She might have gotten it from her grandmother.

You can see from the business side of it we use it regularly.
 
Bill said:
Put that sucker in the BBQ grill on high for an hour then scrub it with scotch-brite. I bet it weighs half what it does now.

That heat ring on the bottom says that pan was probably made before electric induction stoves became popular.
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Do I scrub with metal brush?

Also, probably a dumb question, but when you season do you just do the cooking surface, or the whole skillet? I usually put a light coat on everything, but I wonder if that just creates more smoke
 
I coat everything atleast once. Then just concentrate on the cooking surface.
 
omicron1792 said:
Do I scrub with metal brush?

Also, probably a dumb question, but when you season do you just do the cooking surface, or the whole skillet? I usually put a light coat on everything, but I wonder if that just creates more smoke
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You can use a metal brush if it’s softer than the cast. Shouldn’t need to though. Just a scotch brite pad works. It will flash rust right away.

I actually wipe them with crisco all over. Put in the oven and heat to 200 degrees. Use gloves and remove and wipe the whole pan down with an old tee shirt to remove excess crisco that has melted. Put back in oven on 400 for an hour. Turn oven off and leave pan on there as the oven cools.

I do that 3 times on a completely stripped pan. May not need 3 times but that’s what I do.
 
I like to use my grill instead of the oven
 
I 2as always told to only use high heat oils like grape seed on cast iron especially for seasoning. But you guys seem to use just about anything?
I have one that I've tried to season 2 or 3 times now and it just doesn't seem to take. Could be a lot of things from cleaning procedures to just bad cooking lol. Any tips?
Also what are your thoughts on acidic foods like tomato sauces in iron?
 
Bill Loser said:
I 2as always told to only use high heat oils like grape seed on cast iron especially for seasoning. But you guys seem to use just about anything?
I have one that I've tried to season 2 or 3 times now and it just doesn't seem to take. Could be a lot of things from cleaning procedures to just bad cooking lol. Any tips?
Also what are your thoughts on acidic foods like tomato sauces in iron?
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I use grapeseed oil for seasoning, then after each use, I'll wipe it down with it before hanging them up.
 
Bill Loser said:
I 2as always told to only use high heat oils like grape seed on cast iron especially for seasoning. But you guys seem to use just about anything?
I have one that I've tried to season 2 or 3 times now and it just doesn't seem to take. Could be a lot of things from cleaning procedures to just bad cooking lol. Any tips?
Also what are your thoughts on acidic foods like tomato sauces in iron?
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Any oil with a high smoke point is fine. I found out if I put too much oil on while trying to season it caused the oil to kind of glaze over and peel off. Maybe that’s the issue.

I had a much better experience putting the oil on heating to 200 degrees and wiping as much oil off as possible then finishing the seasoning at high heat. And like Teeder wipe a bit on after using.

Tomato sauce is fine. Some people use dedicated pans for tomato sauce only.

Seems like over kill to me.
 
Bill said:
Any oil with a high smoke point is fine. I found out if I put too much oil on while trying to season it caused the oil to kind of glaze over and peel off. Maybe that’s the issue.

I had a much better experience putting the oil on heating to 200 degrees and wiping as much oil off as possible then finishing the seasoning at high heat. And like Teeder wipe a bit on after using.

Tomato sauce is fine. Some people use dedicated pans for tomato sauce only.

Seems like over kill to me.
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I would bet its to much oil.
I've always been a if a little is good alot is better kinda guy..
And cleaning? I usually lightly boil water and use a soft scrub brush, drain, wipe and allow residual to flash off then wipe with oil.
 
I have been cooking with Cast Iron for 20
years now… it is far and away my favorite cooking surface.
For about the last 10 years, I have followed a restoration and maintenance method from “The Culinary Fanatic” on YouTube. He is no longer active, but his videos are still up. The only alterations I have really made are to the oils. I will either use a very clean hard beef fat, or (preferably) a REALLY good avocado oil. The trick to good initial coatings is to have as little oil on the pan as possible. One piece of “The Culinary Fanatic”’s method that vastly improved my end product is that he wipes away the residual oil after some time in the oven. No matter how thinly you THINK you spread it to start, you can always wipe away residual after several minutes at temp.


Here are a couple Wagner Ware pans I restored using his method. Starting with a self clean cycle in the oven…. I stripped these down to bare metal, even had to grind one slightly to smooth some rust pitting. These had 6 layers of oil polymerized on them before cooking. I don’t need any oil or bacon grease to fry an egg nonstick on them. The egg will literally roll around the pan as it cooks if I tilt them.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I just took a “Wardway”, which is a Montgomery Ward private label made by Wagner, out of the oven on the first round of seasoning. Next go round I’ll try Ikeman’s method and take it out at temp and wipe it.

Not worth anything to a collector but it was free and it will cook!

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Well. Grill for 4 hours. Prob an hour of scrubbing. Best I can do. Seasoning now.

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3 rounds of seasoning.
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I ordered a wire brush bit for my drill/dremmel. Will get it all next time.

Also I don’t have a self cleaning oven and my grill wouldn’t get above 600. Will take it to in laws next time and use their oven.

Gonna fry an egg and see how it goes.
 
Bill -

Omicron's pics at post #102 ........... what the H is that black build-up all over his pans?? I've used CI ware over the years, but always wondered what that black stuff is on the outside of the pans. Mom's / grandmom's pans looked like Omicrons. Sure didn't look like rust - it looked like creosote you get in a chimney.
 
Bowsnbucks said:
Bill -

Omicron's pics at post #102 ........... what the H is that black build-up all over his pans?? I've used CI ware over the years, but always wondered what that black stuff is on the outside of the pans. Mom's / grandmom's pans looked like Omicrons. Sure didn't look like rust - it looked like creosote you get in a chimney.
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Bet it’s the same. Pure carbon.

I’ll tell you one thing. It’s a B to get off.
 
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