Cast Iron Cookware

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I stripped both of these to bare grey iron in a lye bath and re-seasoned them. the method I use is wipe them with a light thin layer of grape seed oil and put them upside down in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour. let cool. I did this 3 or 4 times for each before I started using them.
 
Deep fried chicken for supper,

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Add a few trimmings and you have quite a feast!

SR
 
Scored a ‘no-brand’, cast iron, griddle, at Goodwill, yesterday, for about $5.

Cleaned up pretty well, without having to strip it.
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I like that it’s slightly larger (1/2” wider; 1-1/2” longer) than the smaller, Lodge brand griddle, which doesn’t quite cover the burners on my stove.

(Photo is with burner grates removed for cleaning).

Philbert
 
Picked up some cast iron pans at an estate sale a while back. Got some decent ones in the lot and finally getting them derusted, cleaned, and baked.
# 8 pitted on bottom only other mark is maybe 105.8??,
#7A no other markings,
small 6 " Lodge,
Martin Stove and Range #8
#10 No name 11/3/4 made in usa

I think I paid 5 for one and 25 for the rest. First pic is where I wireknotted wheeled the pan first then soaked in diluted vinegar solution and then baking soda neutralized it. Then tried next pan with soaking first in vinegar and rinse then wire wheeled. The rest I just wirewheeled and washed cleaned. Some of these I'll just sell and keep a couple as we have the cast iron we use now.

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number8soda rinse.jpg
prior to vinegar soak.jpg
vinegar soak.jpg
 
Nice. Big transformation!

‘7A’ might be a Birmingham Stove and Range (‘BSR’) skillet.

With rusty stuff, I often soak briefly in warm / hot water (as counter-intuitive as that sounds) and brush away the loose, heavy, stuff first with steel wool, or a hand held, wire brush.

Then wash with dish detergent (Dawn, etc.) to remove anything that might keep the chemicals from reaching the remaining rust.

Philbert
 
@Philbert Good technique and I'll look into BSR.
I used Dawn as well after wire wheeling. Rinse well, then I always fill the pan up with water and put on stove bring to a boil, wash/rinse again then bake it. Pretty much just use whatever cooking oil we might have. Last night was EVOO and in the oven for an hour or so.
I'm so fond of butter next pan may get a good buttering!
 
Last night was EVOO and in the oven for an hour or so.
I'm so fond of butter next pan may get a good buttering!
Olive oil and butter have low smoke points: tend to burn before polymerizing.

Canola, avocado, grapeseed, or safflower oil are better. Or Crisco, lard, etc.

Per @svk ’s recommendation, I tried the Crisbee products (Post # 694, above). Inexpensive, either direct from manufacturer, or maybe a little more via Amazon.

Built up a protective coating fast.

SEASONING

Everyone has recommended oils and methods for seasoning cast iron, and others to avoid. On the advice of a CI friend, I tried these Crisbee products.

I felt like it was ‘cheating’, by not using plain oil, but I had over a dozen pieces to season.

I was impressed by the results. Easy to do, and very reasonable: free shipping and a discount if ordered direct from their website.
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‘Crisbee Cream’ is the consistency of suntan lotion, and is a mixture of sunflower oil and beeswax. It was easy to apply to textured surfaces, such as the deeply grooved ‘marking’ side of griddles, and the marinating ‘spikes’ on the lid of some Dutch ovens.

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‘Crisbee Puck’ is a soft wax, the consistency of ChapStick, and easy to use on broad surfaces, when warm. It is a mixture of grape seed oil and beeswax, and seemed to build and darken faster.

Crisbee says both finished seasonings are equivalent, and can be applied over each other, as well as after cleaning.

A big help was figuring out the automatic, ‘time bake’ feature, that I had never used on my oven.

That made it easy to heat pieces at 400°F for the recommended hour, then let them automatically cool down, per the directions, while I was away, doing something else.

It also let me do 3 to 4 treatments in a day, if I focused a little.

The Lodge, Dutch ovens shown are: black (factory seasoning); grey (stripped / bare); dark bronze (4 coats of Crisbee Cream on lids, 4 coats of Crisbee Puck on main pot).

Note that the dark bronze ones appear darker in person: they reflect light more than the black.

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Philbert
Philbert
 
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