Cast iron pan problem

[Dave the Cook]

What about using one of the wire brush wheels that you can attach to an electric drill?

Good idea.

[sweetblue]

To clarify about the condition of the outside of the pan, unfortunately it's not gooped-up fat from years of use... it's more like damage - crusty, flaky, bubbled-up, etc. Believe me, if it was just buildup from overuse and love, I'd keep it like it is.

Dave, that was my concern about reseasoning just for the sake of the outside - that it would take away from the now-much-loved inside. But I'll probably go the steel brush/wool route unless anyone can suggest something better.

I plan to pass this sucker down to my grandkids...

[andiesenji]

The seasoning method I advocate is, more or less, the one used by professionals on their cast iron and "French steel" cookware. It is quicker, and it creates better protection right off the bat. The oven method does not create an immediately useful utensil in my experience. You have to cook with it six or seven times before it works the way a well-seasoned cast-iron utensil should. Whereas, what I'm saying to do gives you a pan within about 45 minutes that cooks the same as one the you've had for a decade.<p>I very much discourage the use of soapy water on cast iron, at least for the first few dozen uses. Once you have the surface very well seasoned by repetitive cooking, scouring and reseasoning, it will be relatively impervious to soap. But not at first. Residue is too likely early on. Conversely, with the heating-after-cleaning procedure, you don't really need to do it once the pan is well worn. At that point, it won't rust from a little residual moisture, just so long as you towel it out pretty well. But with a relatively new utensil, you want it totally dry and heat is the best way to accomplish that.

I agree. I collect cast iron and have several pieces that are well over 100 years old.

If the cast iron is seasoned properly it is virtually non stick.

I do not use soapy water, ever.

If something sticks I put the pan on the range, pour boiling water into it, turn the heat on and let it simmer until the stuff loosens and can be brushed away.

(I use one of the bamboo brushes used for cleaning woks).

The boiling water is poured off along with whatever came loose and the pan is wiped with paper towels and put back on the heat. When it is dry I brush it with oil. Years ago I used to use lard, then crisco but after a visit with a cast iron old timer a couple of years ago began using mineral oil. Do not use olive oil or other vegetable oils, if it sits unused for awhile the surface will become sticky.

Cast Iron Jack had an ever larger collection than mine and he had been using the mineral oil for a decade. This is the stuff you buy in the drug store next to the Milk of Magnesia.....

I use this same method on my steel crepe pans and they have not been touched with soapy water for many years. Nothing sticks on them. I have a graduated set from 4 inches to 12 inches. They are so slick I can put a dollop of batter in a pan, swirl it and flip the crepe without using an implement.

Tell your wife that the cast iron can be passed on to future generations. I am the fourth generation that is using some of mine.

[oliveDC]

Help! After reading this entire thread, I'm still confused as to where me and my cast iron pan stand.

Here's my deal: Got a brand spanking new (silver gray in color) Lodge pan and followed the seasoning instructions (I think I coated with Crisco and baked in the oven for a few hours at 400). It didn't look any different (ie. black), but I started cooking in it. My most common use is to fry bacon or sausage, mainly greasy stuff. I never use soap and usually just wipe it out with veg. oil. I even repeated the Crisco/bake thing once more.

So here I am about a year later with a pan that is black in some spots, still gray in others and nowhere near nonstick. Should it be that shiny black slick surface I so covet by now? Or I am just not there yet?

Worse still, did I screw up at some point? Should I bail and get an old one from a flea market?

Cast iron gurus, please try to diagnose my problem (or lack therof?).

Many thanks.

[mnebergall]

Olive:

Describe "how" you cook with it. Do you preheat the skillet before cooking with it? I have found that preheating and then using a paper towel to wipe it with vegatable oil helps. Also, try cooking some fried potatoes in butter, that seems to help build the "cure."

[oliveDC]

I usually preheat the pan before cooking. This weekend I heated it up for about five minutes over medium heat, cooked some bacon, and later on wiped out the bacon grease and stuck the pan in the oven for an hour at about 350. I was overjoyed to see it looking blacker when it came out, so maybe I just need to persevere, fry some potatoes and watch the black dots connect.

[Richard Kilgore]

It may benefit from the rubbing with bacon-grease and heating in the oven at about 350 for say three hours another time or two. Then fry chicken in it with about an inch of oil in the pan..once or twice, before cooking anything that may stick. After that, it should be fine.

[baconburner]

Hi

It is a bit like using a wok The version I have heard is the "singing wok". That means you heat it until it is very hot then put in you oil which dances on the surface. Now you are ready to cook. The same applies to cast iron fry pans.

Cheers

Baconburner

I usually preheat the pan before cooking. This weekend I heated it up for about five minutes over medium heat, cooked some bacon, and later on wiped out the bacon grease and stuck the pan in the oven for an hour at about 350. I was overjoyed to see it looking blacker when it came out, so maybe I just need to persevere, fry some potatoes and watch the black dots connect.

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[fiftydollars]

To clarify about the condition of the outside of the pan, unfortunately it's not gooped-up fat from years of use... it's more like damage - crusty, flaky, bubbled-up, etc.  Believe me, if it was just buildup from overuse and love, I'd keep it like it is.

Dave, that was my concern about reseasoning just for the sake of the outside - that it would take away from the now-much-loved inside.  But I'll probably go the steel brush/wool route unless anyone can suggest something better.

I plan to pass this sucker down to my grandkids...

←

I think the damage you are describing is similar to what I found on a pan I managed to rehab after neglecting it in a damp place for a long time. I used an aggressive grit sand paper to get down to bare, smooth metal. Then I finished it with a finer grit, brushed all the loose material with a stainless steel brush, and seasoned it.

I really don’t see any harm in breaking out the power tools either. This is, after all, cast iron. However, I did find that the sand paper, manually applied, was more than efficient at removing material, including rust, old grease, and cast iron. I should have been more careful with the cooking surface as my first pass with the sand paper ground small grooves into the surface that I later had to work out through a lot of additional sanding.

[reachej]

Try filling it with coarse salt and leaving it on a burner until the grit loosens (hours). This is quite smoky though and if that's a problem do the same and leave it in a very high oven (many many hours).

[Jim Dixon]

One hard core Griswold collector I talked to keeps a barrel of caustic soda in his garage, but I wouldn't recommend it. Just spray the skillet with oven cleaner, put it in a plastic bag, and check it the next day. If it's still crusty, repeat.

Jim

[Wolfert]

Has anyone tried putting the pan in a self cleaning oven and turning it on? You'll probably have to reseason but I'm sure anything stuck on there will turn to dust.

[maggiethecat]

Has anyone tried putting the pan in a self cleaning oven and turning it on? You'll probably have to reseason but I'm sure anything stuck on there will turn to dust.

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I have, and it works a fair treat. I've found that cooking up some bacon a couple of times is all the seasoning most cast iron skillets require.

[AndreaReina]

One hard core Griswold collector I talked to keeps a barrel of caustic soda in his garage, but I wouldn't recommend it. Just spray the skillet with oven cleaner, put it in a plastic bag, and check it the next day. If it's still crusty, repeat.

Jim

If you read all the text on those cans of oven cleaner, you'll find it's caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). For anyone curious, the soda and gunk chemically combine to form soap, though don't try bathing with it as it'll still have a heavy surplus of hydroxide.

For those without a self-cleaning oven, try putting the broiler on high. Definitely works on a gas oven, though I don't know how effective it is on electric. As long as it simply stays on, it ought to work, I imagine. I found out about the broiler by accident, I was storing my Lodge skillet in the broiler drawer, figured that the heat wouldn't harm it. Next time I pulled it out (after making two batches of flatbread in a 500F oven) some of the seasoning just turned to dust, revealing the grey iron beneath.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've used both of those methods--oven cleaner and prolonged heat, and they both work quite well, and I also discovered the heat method accidentally by making the mistake of answering the phone while my Lodge grill pan was on a medium flame. Years of accumulated gunk was all turned to cinder.