Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cast iron skillet ??

Funny, I've had similar luck cooking popcorn in corn oil as a fast way to re-season a pan. That was going to be my cast iron secret tip.

Boggy Creek Ranger: Where are you?

I usually use mine to just fry eggs, I use olive oil. If I use it to fry fatty meats like bacon or fattier hamburger, no problem. The problem is lean meats. However if brown porkchops then cover them and bake in the oven, well it doesn't get much better then that. (Add water while baking)

Self clean cycle for 2 hours. Then crisco coat.
Clean with bacon grease and coarse sea salt.

That's the way that my wife cleans ours. She fusses at me all the time about me using the iron skillets, and not cleaning them right. In order for an iron skillet to work the way it's supposed to, they have to be took care of properly.

As many expert opinions as there are experts. There are multiple ways to get an iron skillet seasoned, and some actually work.

If you want to clean the old coating off burn it off in a grill or fire. then wipe it out with oiled paper towels till the rust is gone. To get a good slick black coating quickly do some deep frying in it. When I cook in mine I wash it. Wipe it dry then heat it up on the stove and wipe it good with an oiled or greased paper towel. I use mine all the time to cook.Most of mine is 25 years old and my wife has some that belonged to her grandmother. The 60 year old pans are smoother than what they sell now.

I have several pieces of Lodge cookware that I have purchased over the past 5 - 10 years. They were all ok new but work really well now that I have learned to care for them properly. My tips:

1. Don't wash off your seasoning. I have found the best way to clean my Lodge pans is to use hot water and the $7 brush that Lodge sells. The brush is really good at removing residue without removing the seasoning.

Lodge Brush

If you have stuck or burned on residue use one of these plastic scrapers, no metal.

Lodge Scraper

2. Re-season with Crisco after each use. Smear a thin layer of Crisco over the clean pan and put on medium high heat for a few minutes.

3. Cook on low to medium heat only.

My stovetop.



Little pan on top left on top of dutch oven is my cornbread pan for wifey and I. That cheap red enamel pot is my bean pot and also use it for acidic stuff like tomato base food. Heck everything Ive read here will work!

My Mother would get very upset if you used Her cornbread skillet for anything other than cornbread. She had other skillets for frying the rest of the meals. My wife has that skillet and feels the same way about it. I bought a new 8" skillet to use for cornbread a while back, and the wife seasoned it really quick, but I was not part of that process. Moms cornbread skillet was bigger, and since my Wife can't eat cornbread any more, and I don't need to eat as much as I do, a smaller skillet was in order. On and related note, day old cornbread wrapped in a paper towel and microwaved for a few seconds is pretty damn good. miles

Maybe just me but I've not had good luck with Lodge stuff. Find an old classic (i.e. Griswold or Erie brand) at a yard sale or flea market if you want the real deal.

Miles!
Wifey and I can get two days worth of cornbread out of that little pan! All we need. I made big pot of beans yesterday. And day before I baked us a pair of game hens in that dutch oven! Monday I cooked us an "eintopf" in it. Kinda German version of sherperd's pie.

Grandson James wants a cast skillet for collage. I'm think on buying him a carbon steel skillet. It would heat faster.

I love my Lodge skillets. They slick up pretty quick, even after a scrubbing with soap.

Usually after use they get rinsed out with hot water then wiped out and put on a burner. I’ll spray it with canola oil when dry and let it get hot on the stove for a few minutes.

I discovered cast iron about ten years ago when I inherited my grandmother's skillet. I use them every day to make my breakfast, and the occasional steak.

Rule #1: never use soap. To start off with a clean one, season it. I use bacon fat. To start with, you want three good hard layered coats of polymerized fat (that's a fancy word for season). First cover it with a light coat all over. Put in the oven at 350 for an hour. Repeat, repeat.

Now it's simple. After you cook (use plenty of butter when cooking with them), clean it only with hot water and a brush. Only brush it in the hot water enough to get food off. Rinse with warm water. Wipe dry. Recoat with a little bacon fat (only on the inside cooking surface from now on). Put on the stove set to high heat long enough to cause it to smoke a little (It usually takes two or three minutes before it starts to smoke). Remove from heat soon after you see smoke (the smoking means that you've polymerized a layer of fat to the surface). Let it smoke too long, however, and you will burn off the season, which isn't good (You will need to do it over again if you do). Now it's ready to use again. Repeat this pattern every time.

Do this ..^^^^, but use flaxseed oil. MUCH better results.

I've moved to cast iron and I really like using it. One thing that I can not make correctly is scrambled eggs. They don't stick bad but they do stick. I use a good amount of bacon grease in the pan when making them but I must be doing something wrong.


Any tips?

Yes, use butter instead of bacon grease, and use a good bit of it. Don't overhead the skillet before you put the eggs in. Let the eggs sit in the skillet till half cooked before you mix it up. Soon as you start mixing it up, start to move toward the plate, because it will cook fast after this.

Nothin' like a wood fired stove and cast iron cookware! We use bacon fat or Crisco to season ours.

My cabin kitchen

That's awesome Tom!!!!

That kitchen is beyond cool.