Does anyone own one of the modern cast iron or carbon steel frying pans?

[gsganzer]

I like the LeCreuset enameled stuff. Especially their Dutch oven. It's pricey, but nothing else like it.

 

[t1kilo]

I'm not sure the Smithey could be categorized as a light cast iron pan. I have the No. 10 and it's stout. I have a much larger Stargazer that's lighter. I prefer cooking on the stove with a carbon steel pan but not Smithey. I use a couple of different deBuyers and I'm pretty happy with them.

Wife and I cook pretty much everything with CI or carbon steel. DeBuyer isn’t cheap, but they are our favorite and they are non-stick as long as they are seasoned well. I cook eggs almost daily in ours.

We have pretty much every size cast iron piece from a 6” skillet to a huge Dutch oven (one with legs and one without). No soap ever, heated on the stove after washing with water, and a light coat of avocado oil. Same cleaning and oil process for the deBuyer pieces.

 

[RobertN]

We bought a cast iron pan at an estate sale. It was caked with way too much crud to even consider using. Using Easy-Off, elbow grease and other drastic means I got it down to bare metal. Then it sat on the lower rack of the oven for a while, with cooking oil (I forget what kind) in it, during several cooking sessions. It took a nice seasoning, and has been nonstick ever since.

The only cast iron I have used without stripping and seasoning was my Grandmothers. Otherwise, all of my other yard sale, thrift and flea market finds go in lye bath, electrolysis tank or both. Who knows what was in those pans, roasters and ovens... Not a bad idea to do a lead test either...

I've used Easy-Off in a plastic bag. Have had better results from a lye bath. Nice thing about a lye bath is you can use it more than once if you're collecting. Same for electrolysis tank. With the lye tank and electrolysis, I've never had to take drastic means. Sometimes I let them sit in the tanks longer, but that's about it...

 

[etpm]

I like the LeCreuset enameled stuff. Especially their Dutch oven. It's pricey, but nothing else like it.

Yeah, enameled cast iron is the best. I have several pans that I inherited from my grandmothers. From Belgium. And a couple of the LeCreuset pieces of cookware, one being a dutch oven. I love the stuff.