Old stew pot restoration

[RJJR]

Good evening,
I've recently come into possesion of an old cast iron wash pot or "stew pot" as they were know where I grew up. It has light rust but is not pitted or flaking. Any of you have experience in cleaning and re-seasoning the pot?
Thanks

 

[creekbend]

I have done this several times. You stated that it wasn't pitted. Just take a Brillo Pad and wash thoroughly, then dry. Get a paper towel with Crisco Shortening on it and cover the entire pot inside and out lightly with the Crisco. If it will fit in the oven, place it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn over and place back in oven for another 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Just make sure that you place Foil underneath the pot to collect any drippings.

 

[JB4310]

I have a few of cast iron pans and pots, Haven't used them in a long time, but I think they use olive oil to season them.

JB

 

[creekbend]

I have done this several times. You stated that it wasn't pitted. Just take a Brillo Pad and wash thoroughly, then dry. Get a paper towel with Crisco Shortening on it and cover the entire pot inside and out lightly with the Crisco. If it will fit in the oven, place it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn over and place back in oven for another 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Just make sure that you place Foil underneath the pot to collect any drippings.

This will season the cast iron. If it needs additional seasoning, just repeat the process making sure that you cover any area that you might have previously missed. I have cooked with cast iron for over 40 years, and have left my pots outdoors after being used around salt water. They come out just like new. My 8 pieces of cast iron were given to my Wife and I some 40 years ago. They were 80 years old then. That makes them 120 years old.

 

[CharlieS]

Olive oil is better than vegtable oils, but the best is flaxseed oil. Also you can't properly season cast ironware with only one application. After you have the pot clean, wipe a light coat of flaxseed oil inside and out and as mentioned place in a hot oven or on a stove burner over low heat. When it quits smoking, allow the pan to cool and repeat the application 8 or 10 times. In some cases more coats are needed. The ultimate goal is to build a smooth finish of baked on oil so the metal is not only protected, but is smooth as well.
For example we have a large skillet that was my grandmothers, and seasoned in the manner above by my granddad. it has never had to be reseasoned and scrambled eggs for example slide right out after cooking, requiring only a wipe with a damp rag to clean the skillet after use.
Speaking of cleaning cast iron, never put them in the dishwasher or a sink full of dishwater. Properly seasoned, all they require is wipe them out with a slightly damp rag or wipe them with a dry towel then a slightly oily (with flaxseed oil) paper towel then buff them with a dry towel.

 

[mitch becton]

by some chance did you stumble onto a syrup kettle anyway to post a picture

 

[creekbend]

The percentage of early settlers that had access to olive oil or flaxseed oil was very low. The early settlers and Country and Mountain people of this Country almost solely relied on animal fat of vegetable oil to season their cast iron cookware. Research would reveal that bacon grease was used quite frequently. These are the products that I saw being used all my life. Wikipedia and this website revealed the same. How to Properly Season a Cast Iron Pan | eHow.com I am not suggesting that the others types of oils used and suggested by other members are not correct, but I am informing you of the method that I was taught and the methods that were the norm for the majority of people. Settlers transversing this Great Country from East to West even utilized bear grease that was used to grease the hubs on their wagons on their cast iron cookware. I will make one further statement: Once you start cooking with cast iron, you will rarely use anything different. When properly taken care of, cast iron is non-stick and can be easily cleaned with a cloth towel of paper towel. Thanks for listening.

 

[Bird]

I've got some cast iron, supposedly pre-seasoned by the manufacturer, that I like to bake cornbread in. My cornbread would stick pretty badly. I tried seasoning it like the "experts" say with olive oil, and I tried using Great Value (generic PAM) spray and neither worked. I finally bought a small container of real LARD at the grocery store. My cornbread turns out great now. It worked for me; can't guarantee it for you.

 

[creekbend]

I've got some cast iron, supposedly pre-seasoned by the manufacturer, that I like to bake cornbread in. My cornbread would stick pretty badly. I tried seasoning it like the "experts" say with olive oil, and I tried using Great Value (generic PAM) spray and neither worked. I finally bought a small container of real LARD at the grocery store. My cornbread turns out great now. It worked for me; can't guarantee it for you.

I bake cornbread at least once a week. My Family loves it. It is a staple in our menu. One question? Have you ever eaten baked cornbread mixed in a glass of milk?

 

[Bird]

I bake cornbread at least once a week. My Family loves it. It is a staple in our menu. One question? Have you ever eaten baked cornbread mixed in a glass of milk?

Are you kidding? That was sometimes the whole meal when I was a kid and we had our own milk cow so more milk than we could use.:laughing: And of course we didn't have air-conditioning, so Mother would bake a big skillet of cornbread and we'd eat it in glasses of milk out on the porch where it was cooler in the summer.

And now . . . yep, I'll eat any leftover cornbread in a glass of milk for an evening snack.

I've heard a lot of people talk about cornbread and buttermilk, but I just never acquired a taste for buttermilk. I prefer sweet milk.

 

[nue2farm]

We had cornbread and sweetmilk as well with buttermilk when I was growing up. Freaked my wife out the first time I did it after we got married, 43 years ago. I still like it either way. Have fun and stay safe....

 

[bullbreaker]

by some chance did you stumble onto a syrup kettle anyway to post a picture

Don't know anything about syrup kettles but heres a pic of what I believe to be a sugar cane kettle. If that helps.

Boone

 

[mitch becton]

yes that is a syrup kettle also known as a hog scalder when i was growing up in south georgia. our old family kettle my brothers and i found awhile back while doing some work at the farm and as strange as it seems ours is broke almost like yours. please keep this in mind also those pots are quite valueable i have seen them go for a low of $200.00 to over a $1000.00. in the past few years there has been a big comeback in cane syrup making in the south a lot of people looking for these kettles and you can make a few gallons of syrup from a small back yard garden and seeds are available from for real feed and seed stores or can be ordered if any want to try a hand at it good lacuk

 

[RJJR]

Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas. It's a 10 gallon pot and will not fit in the oven so I'll clean it and put a fire under it and try the methods you describe. Will post some pics later.
RJ

 

[creekbend]

Are you kidding? That was sometimes the whole meal when I was a kid and we had our own milk cow so more milk than we could use.:laughing: And of course we didn't have air-conditioning, so Mother would bake a big skillet of cornbread and we'd eat it in glasses of milk out on the porch where it was cooler in the summer.

And now . . . yep, I'll eat any leftover cornbread in a glass of milk for an evening snack.

I've heard a lot of people talk about cornbread and buttermilk, but I just never acquired a taste for buttermilk. I prefer sweet milk.

Dear Sir: Our earlier lives are somewhat similar. I asked that question because I suspected that you were raised somewhat in the way I was. I almost called it "Sweet Milk" too, but I wasn't really positive that you would identify or relate to that connotation. I hate the taste or smell of Buttermilk. Everyone is my Family drank it, including members of my Father's Family. My Father, Mother and 5 of us Brothers and Sisters lived in a 4 room home until I was a Senior in High School. We were "dirt poor", but we didn't realize it, because we always had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our stomachs.

 

[schoolsout]

Tallow is the best to use, but I've actually got 6 pieces in my oven right this instant (2 hours to go) at 200 degrees coated in lard. Not a fan of hydrogenated stuff, but it is what it is.

The Griswold on the stove top has about 60 good years of seasoning on it and it gets bacon grease in it before and after I use it (keep a tupperware full of it in the fridge).



You can also toss the pan in a hot coal fire and leave it there overnight...come back, wash it up and then start the seasoning process. Several light coats of grease done over a day or three in the oven are preferable.

 

[Bill 55]

Every year my neighbor buys 12 to 16 feeder pigs and raises them up to butcher. He invites everyone to come participate in and old fasioned butchering. There is always a big meal amd a lot of companionship.He has several large cast iron pots we set over an open fire to boil the meat off the bones then add cornmeal and flour to the meat amd broth to make Panhaus. I inherited all my inlaws butchering equipment and take it along. We used vegetable oil to season the pots for storage for several years, it ends up pooling in a puddle in the bottom of the pot that turns into a semi- hard glop that is nearly impossible to remove when wwe go to clean things up the next year. Last year I took a tub of lard and used that instead of the vegetable oil. My steel 35 gallon pot is smoother than Scott's cast iron pots, and it looks just like it did the day we seasoned them for storage. I talked to him last week as we are going to butcher 14 hog the 17th and 18th. He said his pots are in the best shape he has seen them in years. Lard is good stuff for cast iron. We have never rendered lard but might do a little this year. We both have old cast iron lard/sausage presses. Last year we ground and stuffed over 500 lbs of sausage that then were smoked in his great grandfathers smoke house. I look forward to this event every year. It reminds me of when I was a kid. You just don't see much of this anymore. I glad it is time to butcher because my wife told me we are eating the next to last pack of sausage for supper tonight. The smoked sausage has been gone for a couple of months, last of the ham went at Christmas, chops and bacon are long gone, so I am ready.

 

[DJ54]

MMMM.., Cracklins fresh out of the press.... :thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

Dear Sir: Our earlier lives are somewhat similar. I asked that question because I suspected that you were raised somewhat in the way I was. I almost called it "Sweet Milk" too, but I wasn't really positive that you would identify or relate to that connotation. I hate the taste or smell of Buttermilk. Everyone is my Family drank it, including members of my Father's Family. My Father, Mother and 5 of us Brothers and Sisters lived in a 4 room home until I was a Senior in High School. We were "dirt poor", but we didn't realize it, because we always had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our stomachs.

Maybe even more similar than you know.:laughing: I can sure remember living in a house with 4 rooms and a path (the path led to the outhouse about 50 yards out behind the house. I was the oldest of 5; had 2 brothers and 2 sister. We thought we were really uptown when we got running water and later a bathroom in the house.

For some reason, my paternal grandmother liked buttermilk. I can't think of another person in my family that would drink it. The buttermilk went to the hogs and chickens. And "Sweet Milk" was a common term in my younger days, but as you said, you don't hear it anymore.

 

[Arkaybee]

I have asked for "sweet milk" to a young clerk at McDonald's and got this vacant look of "what's that . . ." I had to rephrase that to "WHITE MILK, please" and then recognition set in:thumbsup: You know, NOT chocolate milk.

Arkaybee