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

Bought Lodge deep skillet and shallow skillet that can be a lid/top .

It was already lightly seasoned , used per directions and they wouldn't get slick black like my Grannys old pans .

Did some research - more than one innerwebber expert said grind off old seasoning - went to lowes depot got grinding wheel - ground down inside to bare metal and smooth seasoned it - put in oven per directions - came out -ok- .
Used it cleaned it according to directions , starts getting black/well seasoned then seasoning peels here and there . Do more research ''always use solid'' like lard they mean -had been using olive oil .
Used crisco lard to season the damn thing 2-3 times a week --fighting it -- I bought the things to cut down on dishwashing -why am I fighting these skillets .

Not heating it up too hot or too fast . not getting them wet - no soap of coarse .

I have them in the oven right now on 375* waiting for the hour to pass - any help/advise to keep me from turning them into steel shooting plates .

I got my great grandmothers skillet. It has not been used for years. I rinsed it off and heated it up. I did not take off the old seasoning. I used bacon grease to cook eggs. It worked like grandma had just put it away.

kwg

Use and patience.....they'll come around.

Just go get a few pounds of bacon and have a feast.

It will get there just takes some time with them.

After a few cooks it gets better.
If you do wash it don't dry with a towel put it on the stove top burner on high heat and flame dry.

Get a good supply of bacon, start eating it as often as possible and just wiping out and scraping the skillet when you use it...even if it takes a while to season this way, at least you'll have the bacon.

This, all of grandmas skillets were seasoned by years of meals

You're overthinking it.....................use with oil or grease; when done wipe it out with paper towel to remove excess, add water, heat on burner, lightly scrape any remaining residue with spatula, rinse, wipe & put away until you need it again.

MM

Ol Mike,

Have you seen this site. This is their drop down on seasoning. If youve seen it just disregard.

Good luck

http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php

Shoot it,go find an old one at a flea mrkt or yard sale.Got a dz "user's" here,some from my Gmas,a few picked up here and there.The best,which DON'T have to be a "label"....are so slick you can see your reflection in the bttms,NO JOKE.

If you leave olive oil in the skillet overnight after cooking a steak will that mess the skillet up ?
Should they always be wiped out immediately ?

That's the only thing I can think of that might make it peel , I've been using it for a year ??

need meat fat not vag oil

Pure hog lard or bacon drippins' all I ever use.

I've cooked bacon in it 50 times or more , -more time ?

Besides using it as much as possible, use flaxseed oil after it’s clean and dried over a burner while it’s still hot. Then bake it at 400 degrees for an hour. Then after it cools off, coat it again and go another hour on 400. Keep doing that until it gets nice and black to where you’re happy with it. Flaxseed oil is a drying type oil that doesn’t get sticky like vegetable oil. Oh, and while you’re baking it, turn them bottom side up. The easy way to strip a piece of cast iron is in the oven on self clean.

That won't hurt it..............it's Cast Iron, it doesn't need to be babied too much.

MM

The only thing a new Lodge is good for is baking potatoes and deep frying.

My experience is to keep using them and wash them when needed or wipe them out if only greasy. If something sticks like steak or sausage I just scrape it with the turning tool and cook it on the other side. Sometime s we clean them up with soap and water and Scotchbrite pads and grease the pan. After a while they season up ok. I don't understand how people cook without cast iron.

Bacon fat in ours whenever we leave the place.

i use crisco coating then into hot outdoor grill high temps cover closed. Cool down, wipe off , then same process two more times.

After use rinse out with water, wipe off on to burner a few minutes after spray with pam. Cool down, wipe off and put away.Took about 2 months of use to get the seasoning I wanted. Great stuff, much better than the non stick pans for cooking, baking and lasts forever if cared for.

Butter works as well or better than bacon grease.

Once it is seasoned, cleanup is hot water and a chore pad. don't overdo the chore pad. wipe dry while warm. sometimes I will put a very light wipe of butter or grease on it after.

Our remote cabin cast-iron can go years between uses. I always leave it with a good coat of grease or Crisco on it, then wash before use again. No telling how many voles or shrews might have peed in it......

My lodge deep skillet with a lid took years to get smooth. My dutch oven seems to be taking a lot longer but I do a lot of braising in it and i think the acidic nature of the braising liquid is holding it up,

The lodge “pre-seasoned” pans would more accurately be called “Here, you finish it.” Have found simply following their directions using healthy amount of crisco in one, at most two, cycles in the oven turns out a fine result.

I also have a 12 qt. dutch oven - don't use it much .

All my Lodge was rough as a cob , that's what internet people said needed grinded [ground] off so I got a fiber grinding wheel chucked up on a drill and took it outside and smoothed them out inside and edges .

I'll try some more seasoning them - as MontanaMan said they don't need babied , my Grandma paid her zero attention as far as I know - that's what I wanted .

Got them cooling -going to give them another treatment tonight and if the season comes off ---oh well ..

When I read that Lewis & Clark left with Lodge cast iron cookware and came home with two things -their guns and their lodge cookware -- I had to have some.

I've noticed that after braising with red wine in my dutch oven.Ir inse well after use and a good layer of crisco

Flax seed oil. Very thin coats wiped on and stick in oven about 400 for an hour and shut heat off, let oven cool without opening door. 5-7 Times the same process, pan upside down in oven.

this lady does an excellent job explaining the chemistry. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Thanks Sandbilly, I wrote it on my fridge grocery list ...

Yep....i use olive oil in mine all the time.
Regardless of what oil I use I wash them immediatly with hot water and a sponge and then dry em on the stove.
The eight incher that I cook my eggs in (with butter and evo) every day goes right back on the stove, the others get wiped down with a little lard and stored in a cupboard.

One thing I don't do is cook anything with tomatoes in them....other than that I use em for dam near anything.

My sister said there are some studies out there that people wit Old Timers disease have a higher probability of them using Aluminum pans . This is why I only use cast iron, your body needs it anyway. We gave our sone a Lodge cast iron pan . Just use it for beacon or butter N eggs. Sometimes I leave it in oil for a while and seldom clean it.

Yep FieldGrade I learned my lesson early on with tomato stuff - in my case it was spagetti sauce , ate the seasoning right off my dutch oven .

Thanks to everyone .

I'm subscribed on Cowboy Kent Rollins channel ., I love old timey stuff like that ..

I use my lodge more than my Wagners and griswolds. The rough texture doesn't make it more sticky imo. Fwiw, my lodge is 25 years old. I have cooked every food known, but I have never washed it.

I've used flax seed oil like Edwin 264 and it has held up well. I love my cast iron cookware and
have many pieces including a Griswold skillet that I got from my grandmother. I am always on
the lookout for more. Have a friend who got a new piece of Lodge ware, unseasoned. He carried
it to his favorite Chinese food place and had them season it. They did it while he waited and it
didn't take long. I worked one summer building tow boats. One day at quitting time,the foreman told
us to bring our cast iron the next day if we wanted it cleaned up. Seems they were prepping the
tow boat for painting the next day by sand blasting. Put your name on the bottom with an electric
engraver and at quitting time; your cast iron was like brand new; ready to be seasoned! A nice
perk thought up by the foreman. He was a remarkable man with a 6th grade education. He carried
the plans to 3 different sizes of tow boats in his head. The boss always wanted him to work with
a marine architect and convert his knowledge to paper. He always refused saying "then you wouldn't
have any use for me". He could make anything out of metal. I've never seen any one with his
skills with a cutting torch. He lost his father at an early age in the Depression and quit school to
support his family working in a blacksmith shop.

Mike...some good advice here. Sandbilly nailed it.

I've completly stripped down and seasoned quite a few CI impliments using an electrolysis bath. Always used Veg oil to season.

Use the absolute thinnest coat on all surfaces. I use a paper towel to apply.

With the pan turned upside down in a gas BBQ and using an IR thermometer to keep the pan temp around 450, I let each application "cook off" for 30-45 minutes.

...then I repeat up to 5 times. The process generates a fair amount of smoke, so outdoors is a good way to go. I keep things hot between applications.

I've brought a few relics back from the dead.

Old CI trumps new due to the finer grain sand used in the casting process, although I do have a new Lodge that works just fine.

My mother said never season cast iron with any oil or grease containing salt! Use lard not shortening! The only one of mine that was hard to season is a large chicken fryer (Lodge brand)! I finally used a scotch Brite pad on a angle grinder and smoothed it well! Then lard and in the oven several times! Now to clean I bring water to a boil, dump and wipe dry, coat with oil wipe out excess done! My Griswold 9" skillet is my favorite!

And for the love of all things holy, wipe the outside with your oil so it doesn’t look ghetto when hanging.

Pure home rendered hog lard is the only thing I ever saw my maternal grandmother use to fry or bake anything in her cast iron skillets.
Mom used Crisco solid vegetable shortening in a can sometimes but her cast iron skillet was already a slick, well seasoned hand-me-down.
We have my Mom's old skillet now and have used it for years.
Besides lard we've used all types of commercial liquid and solid vegetable shortenings but apparently it is so well seasoned from countless years of use nothing has affected the flavor of food cooked it yet.
To my knowledge it has never been washed with soap or an abrasive cleanser of any kind.

Boggy Creek Ranger claimed all you had to do to season a cast iron skillet was to make cornbread in it a couple times before cooking anything else in it.

He’s right.

To All,

My secret to finding GREAT cast iron skillets & other pieces is to HAUNT the Salvation Army & Goodwill stores for OLD cast iron. ======> MUCH better cast iron than Lodge or the other "modern" stuff.

I've recently bought pieces at Goodwiill for 1-8 bucks each.
(My TREASURE is a 12" Dutch Oven with lid for 7.00 plus tax. - I use it mostly for frying chicken & making stews.)

yours, tex

No offense but I think if you'll just quit worrying about it and use it, it will be fine and you'll enjoy some good eats. I've got old ones that were my Mom's and Grandma's and I've got Wagners and Lodge's that we've bought. They are all fine. Honestly, I usually do use dish soap and water, then oil it up using whatever I've got. Ours are black and I haven't lost the seasoning much like everybody claims. Stuff tastes great out of them. I don't put them in the oven and re-season every time either. If they get splotchy, IDGAF. Have used about every oil imaginable on them. One of the big makers used to recommend Planter's Peanut Oil and we used that quite a bit. I've used Olive oil, corn oil, vegetable oil and I don't know what else to oil them up afterwards and to cook with. I expect the initial seasoning on the new ones was usually Peanut Oil though. I think it was ScottF who turned me on to using Safflower oil which is supposedly the best.

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.

I gave up trying to make scrambled eggs in a cast iron skillet. A non-stick pan is much better.

Is that a propane light fixture I see?

tmitch ,

Do you by chance need a full time security guard out there ??
I wouldn't charge much if I could hunt .

cast iron? Yeah, I have some. This is just the outdoor set. There is a whole different inside set, along with the enameled cast iron Dutch ovens, skillets, pots and pans...............

That’s all cast? Or some carbon?

Check out Cowboy Kent if you haven't already. His youtube channel is great.

https://kentrollins.com/2016/11/my-top-5-tips-for-cast-iron/

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Yeah, I can get a slab of cornbread outta Wifeys, but after that, DONT TOUCH!!!!! LOL, some of those were her mothers and grannys skillets, they've probably been seasoned for 100 years, Wifey wipes em out, oils em up and stores em back in the ovens.

Thanks for the tips


I'll checkout that youtube channel

whens supper???

Indeed. This was before Thanksgiving when winter came early to north Idaho. Brunch with friends.

When I use mine, I keep it "clean" using a steel turner and scrape under whatever is cooking to keep the surface clean. The problem I have is when my wife uses it and she doesn't do anything but cook and walk away. Pisses me off.

That's a nice one EdM! We started out with a mint condition Home Comfort stove, but it was stolen in '79. The top on the one we have now is badly pitted and a bit warped, but it worked fine for this past Thanksgiving turkey! YUM!







Thanks guys, it's a special place to me. A lot of family memories from the past half century there!


Yes it is Sam. No electric service there (but it's wired & we have a generator, mainly to run the well pump). We use gas lights to keep from running the generator a lot

www.stargazercastiron.com

Ordered one this very day.

Reloader28 ,

That looks real nice .

Gonna give the All American test drive.

Sure would like to see a review on this if you get the chance. Did you buy pre-seasoned?

Bearcat,

eat them eggs sunny side up, they way they's sposed t'be et!

Geno

PS, joking here, I'd go with the method suggested of letting them get cooked at least halfway thru before mixing up alot.

PPS but.......... lookin' at ya is really the proper way to eat them cackleberries.

All sorts of good info and pretty pics here,

thanks folks.

Geno

I eat my eggs sunny side up or over easy.


Scrambled is for the wife

I have a similar one........................likes 'em over..........................overdone!

Geno

PS, probably can't get away for long telling her "this ain't Burger King, you can't have them your way"

No sir. Plan to do so myself.

I'll be glad to report on it. There are also several reviews on YouTube.com

No, I'd say I'd wear my 10.5" griddle as a hat if I got too mouthy.

I bought one when they first started shipping. The one I ordered was pre seasoned, $88. Seems well built, very slick inside, good handles, heavy=good. I use it for frying steaks. I really like it, it comes with a vegetable puk, it works also. I would buy again. I have not cooked anything else, so my experience is limited.

SandBilly

there are a couple of blue steel skillets there. Is that a problem? laughing

Compadre and his wife bought a big stack of assorted cast iron skillets a while back. I think he got 'em at the feed store. Someone walked in with em. They told me to pick out the one I wanted. Picked out a "Favorite, #8 Piqua Ware". I believe its a pre-1935 mfg. Very nice pan! Cleaned it up a bit and used it this morning for elk sausage and eggs!! Worked great. Pics shortly.

Pics!

Thats a nice pan!



The best method I have found with cast iron is to cook with the damn things.

Use some grease. Clean em once in a while and repeat.

I'd give you $10 and a bottle of cheap tequila for it Bob.

Nice find. Good guys do get lucky once in awhile.


Jeff

That pan might look even better with a nice apple pie in it Bob. Make that Dutch apple!

Jim! Thats been my experience too! I cook in CS religiously! I use either bacon drippins' or pure lard. (I think I mentioned that earlier in this thread :D).

This was just a nice old pan!

Owl, very allergic!!! tequila makes me break out in handcuffs.

Wabi, you a man after my own heart! Next to peach cobbler, I'm an apple pie man too!! I think you've seen the pic!!!

Nice early Piqua.👍

Thanks FC!

I can beat that!

I'll give you $10, a bottle of good bourbon and a case of Hamms!

Ed

Growing up in the '50s most meals were prepared in cast iron on an oil stove. Lots of wintertime meals were a hearty beef stew with a crust made with lard in a dutch oven. Brings back memories of many good meals, my Grandmother was Dutch and she prepared most of the family meals.

That pie looks bad a$$!!!