Cast Iron Cookware

[Green Acres Homestead]

Mother in law noticed scratches and made me stop using them.

I am kind of bummed because I forgot to consider my cast iron when we bought a new stove. Glass top. Ugg. Wife very protective.

 

[/pine]

Mother in law noticed scratches and made me stop using them.

Do you have a gas grill with a side burner(s)?...if so IMO CI works much better on gas than electric burners...
Ever tried to follow a recipe that says to "reduce heat immediately" on an electric range?...!

 

[LD48750]

Do you have a gas grill with a side burner(s)?...if so IMO CI works much better on gas than electric burners...
Ever tried to follow a recipe that says to "reduce heat immediately" on an electric range?...!

Kind of like trying to do it with cast iron.

 

[/pine]

Kind of like trying to do it with cast iron.

Understood CI holds temps...the principal still holds true...

 

[mcfarmall]

Do you have a gas grill with a side burner(s)?...if so IMO CI works much better on gas than electric burners...
Ever tried to follow a recipe that says to "reduce heat immediately" on an electric range?...!

I feel that cast iron works better on an electric stove because the circular coil of the burner has a bigger contact patch on the bottom of the skillet. When we went to a gas range, I noticed that the center of the skillet gets much hotter than the pan out by the edges. This is especially noticeable on my large diameter skillets, and not noticeable at all on the 6 incher.

Gotta gloat about my awesome score today! Was planning on buying my daughter a camp dutch oven for a wedding shower gift and my wife and I were in Shipshewana, IN today for a date day just browsing around. We were headed towards Rise-N-Roll (an awesome donut shop) and I noticed a sign for a BBQ/Alternative Energy place that was 1/2 mile west of Shipshewana on US 20 (Wellspring Components). I like that stuff so I stopped in just to look around. Inside there were some Camp Chef Deluxe dutch ovens stacked up along the wall and I noticed a sign that said everything on the wall 50% off the marked price. So I grabbed the 12 incher on display and went inside to put it on the counter. The nice Amish gal said that in fact it was half off and if I'd like she'd look and see if they had one in the box. She went to the stock room and came back with a new one still in the box and it came with a lid lifter and a Use/care/recipe book as well. The final price was $37.86 tax included.

The also sell the Big Green Egg and I saw one in there that was 36" across! Never seen one that big and I would hate to have to help someone move it!

 

[goeduck]

Cast iron works best of all on an induction cooktop. Faster than gas and more instantly off. Much, much faster than regular electric cooktops. My induction is glass, no scratches. I do have mostly Griswold which has rounded bottoms plus I oil the bottoms lightly when I put them away. I don’t see how it can scratch glass more than stainless. No sliding any pans on glass tops of course.

 

[dragoneggs]

Well it depends on what item it is.

Frying pans immediately after removing the meat I run a metal flat end spatula over the surface, splash hot water into the pan, swirl it around to remove any residue stuck on, steams pretty good, then I wipe out with a paper towel, use another part of the paper towel until it wipes clean enough, dry with anothe paper towel and good to go. One fry pan always sits beside the cooktop. If storing the pan I clean again with hot water, dry, dry on the cooktop, melt coconut oil into it and smear over the pan. Coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties from its medium chain fatty acids/triglycerides.

If it is a Dutch or oval oven, I deal with it after cooking and then run hot water over it and use a special lodge plastic scraper to free up anything stuck. Sometimes a plastic abrasive pad. Then wipe under running hot water until clean enough with a paper towel, wipe dry. Then heat on low heat on cooktop until dry, dry, and do the coconut oil treatment. Then store.

Griddles if just hot cakes or eggs, just wipe off with paper towel under water, heat on cooktop, do the coconut oil treatment and store. If bacon, or ham, then I clean like a dutch oven, getting all the bits off. Then the coconut oil.

Muffin pans, depending on what I cook I treat like a griddle.

This is about half my collection of bare cast iron. All my cast iron is Wagner and Griswold, most nearing 100 years old. All as good as new.

View attachment 536603View attachment 536604

First time I read this too fast... second time read though in Roy D. Mercer voice. Cracked the wife up! Google him if you have never listened to his radio stunts.

Roy D. Mercer - Car Dealer - YouTube

 

[N2DFire]

I am curious as to how everyone cleans their cast iron cookware? I use cooking oil & a little salt as an abrasive and scrub with a piece of potato. Seems to work fairly well.

I use a piece of stainless steel chain mail to scrub Ringer Original Stainless Cleaner
And Crisbee Cast Iron Seasoning/ to re-season.

Everything gets washed / scrubbed while hot, dried with a paper towel, re-heated and a light coating of Crisbee applied with a cotton rag (t-shirt scrap) and heated just until it smokes & then allowed to cool on the stove.

My cast iron does not harm a glass top and I have used them on regular glass tops and induction glass tops. I don't slide any pan on a glass top plus I lightly oil the bottom of the CI pans after use.

I just remodeled my kitchen in January and one of the biggest fears I had was the new glass top stove. Thus far no issues but the sliding thing is key. I don't even turn the pan without picking it up.

 

[hawkeye08]

We have propane stove, half a dozen CI pans nearby... wife has made a "cookie" in one a couple times recently when she was baking bread. I suspect a brownie mix with some extra chocolate chips on top.. I'm trying to keep my weight in check, but the rest of the family is loving them..