Larry Caldwell
Super Member
Be prepared to buy a lot of flap wheels.
Seasoning a cast iron skillet....Tips please
- Thread starter General Lee
- Start date
Be prepared to buy a lot of flap wheels.
joshuabardwell
Elite Member
Can you elaborate? I can take off a heck of a lot of mild steel with a single flap wheel. Is cast iron that much harder?
Larry Caldwell
Super Member
Yes, cast iron is much harder than mild steel.
tcreeley
Elite Member
In our family we never used anything but cast iron for frying on the stove. I even have one large frying pan that we had as a kid. The pans go through the dish washer, brillo pads, steel wool pads. We cook in butter, sometimes olive oil or bacon fat. We cook on gas. Except when the pan is new- I never worry about seasoning, I just use it. Always have. -Great cooking surface. Nothing beats cast iron. Some pans have come from flea markets - cleaned them and used them.
SPIKER
Elite Member
next time you are Baking your Bacon stick your cast iron UNDER the bacon instead of the drip pan you talked about. Bacon and Lard (aka Crisco) are your BEST bets for seasoning followed up by Canola oil. Peanut oil will work but lots of people have allergies to that on top of the temps that peanut oil "cooks" at is a bit higher. we use most extensively 2 cast iron pans, and a stainless deep pan & skillets the SS for soups and acidic stuff while the cast for everything else including EGGs about the only things we ever have STICK are fried taters (we try to use as little oil as possible in them and just browning taters will burn to pan) and use olive oil in them for taste which is not very good seasoning oil for cast but good for cooking in.
The 12" deep skillet we do Old Style Southern Fried Chicken in it which makes it 100% non stick for weeks. we also have a 10" flat round skillet that we make garbage omelets in and only thing that might stick a bit would be some of the cheese.
Cleaning of the pans should be done regularly but not when hot, I ALWAYS let them cool as the oils and burnt or stuck on stuff seems to come off much easier. I also coat them well when hot with oil (bacon grease or canola) when cooling down if something dry was cooked in it. I scrape mine with the SS Spatula rounded edges and flexible so not a lot of pressure is subjected to the surfaces. I also wash mine regularly & use plastic scrubber with some dish soap (dawn) to remove the surface food bits and toss it onto the stove to dry it. I add some canola spray or a coat of bacon grease (after it is dry) and still heating and bring it up to a high heat for about a min & shut it off the grease/oil stays on until next cooking cycle.
One of the best pans I've had was made by "Imperial Ireland" & was originally a NON-STICK with a ceramic coating that had been chipped & tossed in garbage by my sister-n-law. I took it and sand blasted the ceramic that was chipped off and seasoned it. It was maybe 10" with a 10" wood handle with sloped sides instead of the flat sides like most US made ones. Eggs in it was like a non-stick commercial slide em around & right out onto a plate...
the people I sold my house to wanted to move some stuff in while I was moving stuff out. & the pan got left there & when I went back for it the young woman said she tossed it out as it was OLD & GREASY ... ug
Mark
The 12" deep skillet we do Old Style Southern Fried Chicken in it which makes it 100% non stick for weeks. we also have a 10" flat round skillet that we make garbage omelets in and only thing that might stick a bit would be some of the cheese.
Cleaning of the pans should be done regularly but not when hot, I ALWAYS let them cool as the oils and burnt or stuck on stuff seems to come off much easier. I also coat them well when hot with oil (bacon grease or canola) when cooling down if something dry was cooked in it. I scrape mine with the SS Spatula rounded edges and flexible so not a lot of pressure is subjected to the surfaces. I also wash mine regularly & use plastic scrubber with some dish soap (dawn) to remove the surface food bits and toss it onto the stove to dry it. I add some canola spray or a coat of bacon grease (after it is dry) and still heating and bring it up to a high heat for about a min & shut it off the grease/oil stays on until next cooking cycle.
One of the best pans I've had was made by "Imperial Ireland" & was originally a NON-STICK with a ceramic coating that had been chipped & tossed in garbage by my sister-n-law. I took it and sand blasted the ceramic that was chipped off and seasoned it. It was maybe 10" with a 10" wood handle with sloped sides instead of the flat sides like most US made ones. Eggs in it was like a non-stick commercial slide em around & right out onto a plate...
the people I sold my house to wanted to move some stuff in while I was moving stuff out. & the pan got left there & when I went back for it the young woman said she tossed it out as it was OLD & GREASY ... ugMark
OP
General Lee
Veteran Member
I'm gonna start keeping my eye out for some wagner and griswold pans/skillets.
creekbend
Super Star Member
In my part of the Country, they are available at local farm auctions, where one or both of the previous owners are deceased. Best wishes.
burnieman
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2012
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- Trinity County California
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An old Cajun trick for seasoning a cast iron skillet is transmission fluid. We've used it for years in the swamp. Foods don't stick and cleanup is a breeze. My uncle toufee uses hydraulic fluid but I don't . Not sure how healthy that is.