Thread: Cast Iron Skillet Advice

poppop, got anything to cook cornbread in....lol
Super collection.

WOW!!! What an outstanding collection of ironware poppop. I'm glad Dongotto ask the question about cast iron skillets...
so that you would have a chance to share that fine collection with us. I am totally amazed at your awesome collection.
If frying is bad for you... and I'm sure it is... I would bet that collection of old cookware is responsible for more deaths than
the entire civil war.
I would also agree with the majority... Lodge iron skillets including the Dutch oven is the best and most practical to me... but runs
second to the old well-seasoned stuff... and there is definitely an art to maintaining the right seasoning and of care of any iron
cookware. I'll bet poppop could share a whole lot on that subject too.

I'm hoping he never ticks off his significant other!! Too much ammo there!

I clean my cast iron in an electrolysis I built. A piece of cast iron can stay in the electro from 30 minutes to 2 days depending on how bad it’s crudded up. When it comes out it’s down to the bare cast iron. I then wash in cold water with blue Dawn dish detergent. I scrub with stainless steel brushes...and stainless steel pot scrubbers. Don't use brass as it leaves a residue on the cast iron that won't come off. AND NEVER CLEAN ONE IN A FIRE....you might get by a few times but eventually the fire will crack it, warp it and leave a scaly residue on it that won't take seasoning.

Okay after I wash the cast iron it goes in clean water to rinse. I then take the cast iron out...dry it as quickly as possible...with paper towels. Then it goes in the oven..I start in a cold oven and heat to 250 degrees. Then it goes up 50 degrees until I get it to 450 degrees. (Lodges will take 500 degrees easily). Once it gets to 450F I take them out with a old steel hay hook. I place them face up on a stainless steel mesh screen I have.

I then take solid Crisco (and Pam seasoning on muffin pans and waffle irons) , and put a dob in the first skillet (I only work two pieces of cast iron at a time, the rest is left in the oven to keep hot). I take a paper towel crumpled up...and coat the entire pan with the melted Crisco. Then I flip it over on its face to keep the heat inside as much as possible. Then when the cast iron is cooled enough to where you can touch it with a bare hand..but still too hot to hold I wipe the melted Crisco off as much as possible.

Then I place them back in the oven which will still be on 450 degrees. After a couple of minutes..I jerk them back out, and wipe them real good with clean paper towels. If you don't the seasoning will tiger strip and streak and it looks awful. Then they are ready for the final seasoning. I leave them in the 450F oven until they quit smoking...the seasoning will polymerize into a hard outer layer.

Then I let them cool in the oven overnight or until they are cool. Lodges and Birmingham Stove and Range cast iron will almost always come out black and shiny the first time. The older ones, like Wagner and some of the older Griswold can take up to three or four times to get the black slick look I want. It’s not as hard as it appears once you get the hang of it. My skillets I use at home, will slide an egg out without sticking everytime.

There is something about holding a hundred year old piece of cast iron in your hand and wondering about the thousands of meals it had cooked, wondered who owned it, and just the history behind it.

Lodge for me.Made in good old USA! Would not trust China made pots.What could be released when hot,could be bad!

poppop How is your electrolysis bath setup would like to try it. have had a couple crack in the fire. thanks

poppop how is your electrolysis bath set up ? will try it .have had a couple crack it the fire.
thanks

55 gallon plastic barrel....line the inside with a stainless steel sheet. Fill with water...and put two handfuls of ARMS AND HAMMER WASHING SODA or PH PLUS. I take a board...bore some holes...and put a threaded rod through the hole so it hangs in the water.

I then take my cast iron....and hang it with a piece of #8 solid copper wire from the threaded rod.

I then take a battery charger...and hook the positive to the stainless steel...and the negative to the wire with the cast iron which is submerged in the water, making sure the cast iron is all the way in the water and there is at least two inches of water of watering covering the cast iron completely.

You should have an amp guage on the battery charger. Turn it on...and you will see it small bubbles rising to the top. After the water warms up....you should get some suds and the amps guage should be no more than 20 amps. Anything over 20 amps is wasting electricity. Depending on the severity of the rust...from 30 minutes to 2 days on some of the worse ones.

Just remember 20 amps is all you need..you can hang multiple pieces of cast iron in the barrel...but keep a check on it...if you overclean it..especially if your stainless steel is getting dirty will use one of your skillets being cleaned as the donor piece and it will eat pits in it. If you have multiple pieces of cast iron in there and you are getting over 20 amps..just remove some pieces until you get it back down there to 20 amps.

Every 30 hours...I take an old skillet that is busted, I hook it to the thread rod...and I connect the POSITIVE to this skillet. Then connect your NEGATIVE to the stainless steel..you are reversing the electrolysis process and you are cleaning the stainless steel lining using a skillet that is already broke.

Thanks poppop,will give it a try

Just remember after you wash the skillet, be sure to rub it down with cooking oil or it will rust...! Always leave a film of oil when you will be storing it for awhile!